8A — Wednesday, October 2, 2019 Sports The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Film breakdown: How Michigan’s first drive set tone for Gattis to follow Of all the contrasts to draw between Michigan’s first three games and its win over Rutgers on Saturday, the most striking was also the first. For the first three games of the season, the Wolverines put the ball on the ground on their first drive. And all three times, it foreshadowed a disappointing offensive performance. Against Rutgers, Michigan came out firing. The Wolverines played mistake-free football to start, stuck to their guns and scored in five plays. Then they marched down the field again on the second drive, going up 14-0 before 10 minutes of game time had passed. Call it a result of Josh Gattis calling plays from the field or a result of simply playing a defense as porous as Rutgers’. But, as the Wolverines worked off their script for the opening drive, the offense looked the way it was advertised for the first time all season. The Daily dove into the tape of that drive to find out why. First-and-10: Zach Charbonnet 6-yard run In the wake of last week’s loss at Wisconsin, we heard a lot about offensive identity. Specifically, the Wolverines wanted to run the ball more after throwing more than 40 times against the Badgers. Against Rutgers, Michigan starts by running a counter, clearly with establishing the run in mind. But this play has jet motion attached, so the linebackers get caught going the wrong way. In theory, senior quarterback Shea Patterson could turn this into an option with receiver Ronnie Bell, the player in motion, as well. Second-and-4: Ronnie Bell 14-yard catch This is a slight tweak to the way Gattis ran things for the first few weeks. It’s a run-pass option, but instead of Patterson standing back in the pocket, the play turns into a naked bootleg, as the offensive line goes left while Patterson goes right, without any protection. Patterson has looked uncomfortable running RPOs with dropbacks attached. Rarely had he gotten to break the pocket and throw on the move, an area in which he excelled in 2018. Here, Gattis puts Patterson in a position to do that without compromising his own philosophy. First-and-10: Christian Turner 2-yard run Gattis keeps it basic on first down again, this time with a pin- and-pull. Like the first run of the game, it seems to have an RPO attached with Bell, but Patterson hands the ball off and Rutgers linebacker Avery Young makes a nice play on the stop. Second- and-8: Christian Turner 10-yard run This is the first run of the game that appears to be a straight give, with no read of any kind attached. It’s just inside zone, hat on a hat — the kind of thing Michigan excelled at doing last season, which is apparent here. The line moves people, Turner hits the hole and it goes for a considerable gain. This is just as you draw it up. First- and-10: Nico Collins touchdown, 48-yard catch There’s nothing complicated going on here, and that’s the beauty of it. Collins is matched up against a smaller, less athletic cornerback. Gattis isolates him with a flat route while freshman tight end Erick All runs the other way. It’s what everyone clamored for Collins to get — a chance to win a 1-on-1 matchup with his physical ability. And he does just that, getting initial separation on the route, then runs right by the defensive back and has a clear path to the end zone. Gattis’ problem for the first three weeks of the year was that he couldn’t find a way to imprint his philosophy onto Michigan’s personnel. For all the talk about identity, all you had to do to see what the Wolverines wanted to be was go on Twitter at any point in the last six months. Actually doing it in a game, though, is a different matter altogether. On Saturday, from the first play, Gattis seemed to have it figured out. That all comes with the asterisk that it was against Rutgers. But the emphasis on getting Patterson out of the pocket was obvious throughout. So was using their best receivers in the passing game. Collins, Donovan Peoples-Jones and Tarik Black were noticeably more involved. More than that, Gattis put them in positions to use their physical skill, like that throw to Collins, or a fade to Peoples- Jones on the next drive. The first drive set a tone that went on for the rest of the game — Gattis’ ideology tailored to this roster. It’s no coincidence that Michigan scored 52 points once the coaching staff started to think about how those two elements could work in tandem instead of forcing one on the other. Whether the Wolverines can replicate it against Iowa or Penn State is another story. But for now, they at least know what the plans should look like. ETHAN SEARS Managing Sports Editor RUCHITA IYER/Daily Senior quarterback Shea Patterson displayed his ability to make a bevy of different throws and rushes, scoring four total touchdowns in a 52-0 win over Rutgers. The first drive set a tome that went on for the... game. Against Rutgers, Michigan came out firing. Collins remains patient with offense Nico Collins leaned back against the ledge at Schembechler Hall and smiled. His semi- sarcastic laugh didn’t nullify the validity of his answer, though. “I’m always open,” he joked, before the next question came flying in. It’s a phrase many players say, with varying degrees of seriousness. But it’s easy to get the sense that the 6-foot-4 Collins believes it. “I feel like as a receiving corps, we’re always open,” Collins reiterated. “I believe in our guys, and Shea believes in us. And I believe he can give us opportunities to go make a play.” Collins’ answer, though basic, stripped down the essence of a potentially potent passing attack to its bare bones. It underscored the optimism that was so pervasive around this unit before the season, and even offered a hint of what Collins and others believe could still be coming. Collins himself posted 632 yards and six touchdowns in 2018, seemingly a sign of an impending breakout year before a legitimate NFL decision would arrive. Then Michigan hired offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, who brought a history of producing current and future NFL talent, like Chris Godwin, DaeSean Hamilton, Jerry Jeudy and Jordan Matthews, among others. He brought a concept of “speed in space”, which was quite an appealing vision. Put your best players in the best position to make plays. By any measure, Collins is one of Michigan’s best players. And by those same objective measures, his 10 catches though four games tell the tale of scant usage in what was supposed to be a defining year. In the Wolverines 35-14 loss at Wisconsin, Collins was among those who outwardly displayed signs of frustrated On one particular route in the fourth quarter, Collins’ cornerback fell down mere yards past the line of scrimmage. Collins, hand raised, watched with the entire crowd as Patterson’s pass sailed well over the intended receiver, draped in double-coverage. “We were losing — there’s always going to be frustration when you lose,” Collins said. “Not really, it was just open, it’s alright, it is what it is, next play. I’m not going to hold a grudge. There were times I was open, but I know Shea is going to find me next time.” Late in that game, Collins started to become more involved. On one drive in the fourth quarter, he caught three targets for 79 yards, though one of the catches was nullified for pass interference. Still, the downfield sequence left fans wondering where that was two hours prior. That loss led to a week of introspection, both with the receiving corps and with the offense writ large. Collins said the group honed its emphasis on attention to detail, which translated to a clean 52-0 win against Rutgers. The win included a 48-yard touchdown for Collins, who caught a seven-yard out route, turned upfield and sprinted down the sideline for the score. It looked easy. Speed met space. Almost as though finding your best players is both simple and smart. Still, Gattis has been adamant that this offense, at its best, does not force-feed anybody. When it’s humming, everyone and everything will be an option, he emphasized. “We talk about being balanced; balance for us is not run or pass,” Gattis said. “Balance is how many guys touch the ball. We want to be balanced from that standpoint; that the ball is being distributed to all of our playmakers and all of our skill guys.” But when a player of Collins’ caliber only has 10 catches, there is a reasonable question as to whether everything has been over-thought. Collins and juniors Donovan Peoples-Jones and Tarik Black are among the three best weapons — if not the three best — this team has. To not use them repeatedly, particularly amid offensive troubles, would be to self-restrict this group’s ceiling. Asked where this offense can still go, Collins started down a laundry list. “Trusting the play-calling,” he said. “Receivers working on our details. Watching film from Wisconsin, what can we do better? We can always improve as a receiving corps, and Shea can always improve as a quarterback. We can always improve.” What wasn’t said, though seemingly implied: He’s always open. Christian Turner staying level after first career touchdown Ten months removed from the hype of the Peach Bowl, in front of an emptying stadium as a blowout took hold, Christian Turner finally scored. He emerged from the pile, a grin visible from inside his helmet and briefly celebrated before jogging back to the sideline as Michigan’s lead over Rutgers grew to 31. He didn’t want to bask in it. Still doesn’t. “Don’t want to make that some spectacular moment I think about for the rest of my life,” Turner said Tuesday evening. Turner, a sophomore running back, has already experienced the fleeting nature of these things. In Michigan football’s ecosystem — a fan base yearning for the next hit of serotonin and a roster constantly churned by competition — hype doesn’t last long. High praise about practice performance is met with wariness until anybody sees it in a game. In the run-up to last year’s Peach Bowl, Turner was the subject of that spotlight. He heard it from Jim Harbaugh, from his fellow running backs, from the rest of the offense. “He’s been tearing it up all Christmas camp,” Jon Runyan Jr. said in the days before, echoing general sentiment. In the game, for a brief moment before everything fell apart, he delivered on it, darting across the formation, taking a handoff, cutting upfield, hugging the boundary, going into the end zone untouched. Then the touchdown got called back on a penalty, and Turner finished the game with 32 yards — less than he would have gotten on that play alone had it stood. As spring approached, conversation turned to a new offense and a new running back, Zach Charbonnet. It stayed there this fall, as Charbonnet racked up 48 carries, even as Turner notched more touches in four weeks (34) than the 21 he did all of last season. On Tuesday, Turner was put in front of the media and gave a rush of cliches in a low voice. Buried underneath them, a quiet confidence simmered. “It took some pressure off,” Turner said of his touchdown. “I finally got to the end zone, but now I just want to get comfortable scoring. I don’t want to just get complacent.” Turner said his pass protection is still developing, a lingering product of the transition to college. He stressed that he didn’t get down last year when he sat nor when he got hurt. He’s staying level now, too, as the Wolverines try to develop a more steady rotation of carries. All the right things. In high school, Turner’s coach stressed the importance of keeping things steady. Turner was splitting carries with Anthony Grant, now a sophomore at Florida State, and Derrian Brown, a Texas signee in the 2019 class. They had a great backfield, but Turner played a lot less than most three- star recruits who get high-major offers. He kept his coach’s advice in mind last year. It’s not far from his mind now, either. “You can’t control everything that’s gonna happen to you in your life, but you can control how you react to it and how you respond to it,” Turner said. “That’s the R factor.” Still, when he got to Michigan, Turner got caught trying to run straight forward. Asked Tuesday about what he carried into this year from those bowl practices in December, Turner mentioned complacency twice. “Or just thinking I’m already there when I hadn’t really done anything yet,” he said. To be clear, he knew there would be a learning curve, and still acknowledges that there’s aways to go. Last year, Karan Higdon told him to be patient. Turner brought it up in the context of running the ball and waiting for a hole to open up. It was hard not to see a bigger picture coming into focus. “I was just trying to outrun everybody,” Turner said. “He was the one that told me, if you keep trying to do that, you’re gonna get hit pretty hard.” On Saturday, instead of going down when he got hit, Turner moved the pile and crossed the ball over the plane. MAX MARCOVITCH Managing Sports Editor ETHAN SEARS Managing Sports Editor KEEMYA ESMAEL/Daily Junior Nico Collins caught a 48-yard touchdown pass on Saturday. KEEMYA ESMAEL/Daily Sophomore running back Christian Turner scored his first career touchdown. Don’t want to make that some spectacular moment...