Michigan Football OL Coach Grant Newsome on Offensive Scheme: ‘Always a Balance’

Michigan football may have found their quarterback solution against Michigan State. Davis Warren and Alex Orji both produced, and the latter led the Wolverines in rushing with 64 yards. Going forward, the Michigan offense will look to avoid being predictable. 

Grant Newsome on Offensive Scheme

“That’s always a balance,” Michigan offensive line coach Grant Newsome said. “You never want to get into a situation where — with anything — you have a big indicator or big tendency. It’s something we were conscious of last year, and something that (tight ends) Coach (Steve) Casula has done a better job than I did last year with (fullback / tight end) Max (Bredeson). Hey, every time Max is in the game, it can’t just be a direct fullback run, even though he’s obviously elite at it.”

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Bredeson saw 26 snaps against MSU, so it would be rather easy for other teams to figure out a tendency if it existed. Newsome said there’s an effort to combat predictability in all aspects of the offense.

“So it’s always a balance,” Newsome reiterated. “And it’s a balance with receivers and alignments and splits and personnel groups. That’s something you look at, and (offensive coordinator) Coach (Kirk) Campbell looks at, every single week in multiple different respects — looking at tendencies, looking at trends, because defenses look at them.”

Orji was in the game exclusively for run plays against the Spartans. Even though it was certain that Orji was running, MSU couldn’t stop it. Newsome said he hopes defenses know that Orji can still use his arm. 

“The good thing is that it’s not like you’re bringing in a wildcat tight end,” Newsome said. “He’s still a good thrower of the football. You hope defenses respect that, and then if they don’t, it’s on us to make them pay for it.”

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