ANN ARBOR, Mich. — For the first time in a while, there are high expectations for the Michigan football offense outside of the run game. The Wolverines have had solid offenses in the recent past, but even in years like 2023, when the pass game was solid, the maize and blue relied more heavily on being able to ground and pound.
However, with Kyle Whittingham taking over as the head coach and bringing along offensive coordinator Jason Beck, the expectation is that the pass game will take a big step forward.
Though Beck has overseen the No. 2 rushing offense in each of the past two seasons, he’s been working to revitalize the aerial attack. With that, some new faces have come to town, including redshirt freshman Jaime Ffrench, who spent his first year playing for Texas and Steve Sarkisian — a team that loves to throw the ball around. And from what he’s seen in Ann Arbor thus far, the new offense isn’t a far cry from what he witnessed during his season with the Longhorns.
“I’ll say this offense, it’s not really much different,” Ffrench said. “There weren’t a lot of concepts that’s (isn’t) the same, just different verbiage and stuff like that. So this offense is pretty much the same. I think also with it being the pass more, it’s just a lot of run schemes, and stuff (is) different, stuff like that, and pass blocking stuff is different, I’ll say.”
Ffrench may not have been around for too long, but he can already sense that things are different in Ann Arbor. Having heard from his teammates who have been around for some time (and who have heard year after year that the pass game was going to be more of an emphasis), there is a decided difference from the previous regimes.
“Man, I was just talking with Kendrick (Bell) about that, man. That’s a big plus, man,” Ffrench said. “They’re actually passing the ball. This staff is looking to get the ball out, man, and get more targets to receive. So I feel like that’s a big plus to us as well, man.”
The aforementioned Bell, who is now a senior, does believe that the new-look offense is more explosive. But he also notes, while there are some significant changes, it’s not a complete wholesale departure from what the Wolverines were before, either.
“I will say, the offense is a lot more explosive, I believe,” Bell said. “Just being able to throw the ball downfield in different ways. I mean, we’re still gonna run the ball. We’re still gonna put our hands on people in the perimeter blocking. But just the options we have to throw the ball (are) a lot better than it was, I believe, last year.”
With the new offense, Ffrench says you can expect a bit more tempo than perhaps the maize and blue are used to. A mixture of an emphasis on the quick game and the offense doing whatever it can to catch the defense off-guard appears to be the mentality that Beck is instilling (and installing) with this new attack on that side of the ball.
“Man, we want to go fast. We want to move the ball. We want to get down the field,” Ffrench said. “So I feel like that, with me, that helps me getting down the field, stopping very fast. Stuff like that will help. But, like, we want to go fast. We’re a very explosive offense. So I feel like we should waste no time when we get on the field, when we come out going.”
Fans will get the opportunity to see the new-look offense on April 18, when Michigan hosts the annual spring game at The Big House.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan football offense more explosive, ‘actually passing the ball’
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