Everything Michigan HC Sherrone Moore said during his bye week press conference

Opening Statement

First of all, good to be back. Missed the players, missed the coaches, staff. Vibes, energy are high. Vibes and energy were high when I left for Central. Felt like we had a really good week of preparation, and we played well. And like we did the same with the Nebraska game, and just wild with the connection of this team. They’re just completely locked into the task at hand, and what we need to do and how we need to get better. Always things to fix and correct, but how they played was the most important piece. We really emphasized that as to how, it wasn’t the what, it was the how. And there’s things we thought we had to change and fix and do a little bit different. And really adapt to our players and adapt to the people that we have in the building now. Not to what we’ve always done or anything like that. So I felt really good about that and really want to talk about our team, our players. Not my week, not what happened. What was Coach Moore doing for eight days? Like, worry about the players, this team. Because the team right now is the most important thing. These players are the most important thing. What they’ve done, how they’ve handled everything, how they’ve done everything, how the coaches have — they’ve just continued to attack this right now. And that’s all I’m worried about. That’s all I’m worried about is these players. I got numerous text messages at 12.05, 12.01. Then seeing all these guys come in yesterday. Just overwhelming love for these players and team. So that’s what I want to talk about. Just the players.

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On Rod Moore’s return to the field

Oh yeah, so powerful. Rod, when he’s just in practice is just a leader. He’s a vocal leader. He’s a leader with the team. When he’s on the field, he’s like a coach. He can make adjustments. He can make calls. Those other guys can too. But Rod’s just a little different because he’s done it for so many snaps at such a high level. So watching him go out there was magical. It was awesome to see the progress he’s made with his knee over the years and what he’s done and how he feels now. It feels great. So it was great to watch Rod make plays.

On whether Rod Moore felt good after the game

Yeah, yeah, he did.

On the blown coverages with the defensive backs

I think, one, it’s communication. But, you know, they execute too. So there’s things that we just got to get fixed. And I know they got fixed right away. So that’s a good thing to see. So I credit the staff on what they’ve done with a bunch of young players, especially in the back end, to watch a guy like Jayden Sanders, who’s a true freshman. You don’t even notice him. You notice him make plays. You notice him tackle people in the open field. B-Hill regrets that penalty, but he doesn’t regret hitting people really hard. And we like when he hits people really hard. So this team is really coming together, young secondary, young guys that are making plays all over the place and showing out. And then obviously the D-line, seven sacks, that’s all you got to say. I mean, that’s the D-line, that’s the linebackers, that’s the scheme, that’s how they’re doing it. That’s rushing four, that’s rushing five, that’s rushing three. We got sacks on all of those. So this team is in a great spot.

On whether he was able to learn something from the team from a different vantage point

I learned that we got a connected team, and it’s going to be fun to go on this adventure for the next quarter of the season. So treating it like this, we just ended the first quarter of the season. So four games, then you’ve got a buy. Four games, then you got another buy. Four games, and then you got the postseason. So that was the first quarter. We’re going into the second quarter, and we’re going to go attack it.

On Jaishawn Barham at the EDGE

Yeah, he’s a freak. It’s a problem for other people. I’m glad it’s not our problem. He’s got ability, but now he’s playing to that ability, and he’s doing it consistently. But you saw it really in spring, but then you saw it in training camp, how he practiced, because he always had the talent. But we’ve been around guys with talent that don’t ever push it to that level, and he’s pushed it to that level, and now you’re seeing it. He’s got the chance to be a first-round draft pick if he continues to play that way. We’ll continue to push him, and he continues to push himself. But it’s fun to watch him out there on the edge, man.

On Bryce Underwood’s maturity to check out of a play at the line and whether that’s above the norm for a freshman

I mean, it’s both. He is mature beyond his years. He’s got a lot of his ability to do that, but it’s also coaching, and Chip Lindsey doing a great job with teaching him what he needs to do, how he needs to do it. Bryce is really taking ownership of what he needs to do, and also for the staff on how we’ve created the game plans and what we’re doing to allow him to see that. So all of it takes a team, and he’s done a really good job of it, and Bryce just keeps getting better and better as the week goes, and we’ll see how much better we can get this week.

On diagnosing the dropped passes issue

Yeah, I think it’s consistency, being a hands catcher. We’re really harping on that. It’s a piece, it’s an emphasis this week on not allowing the ball to connect to your body. I think in coaching a lot, you hear it all the time, catch the ball, catch the ball. What does catch the ball mean? You’ve got to teach people how to catch the ball, whether it’s seeing the ball to the top, or whether it’s catching away from your body, whether it’s above your navel, catching it thumb to thumb, below, pinky to pinky. There’s all these key coaching points, so really harping on those things to make those plays we need to, because we can and we have. So that’s the goal. We’ve got to continue to do that this week.

On the lengthy scoring drive against Nebraska

Man, that drive was incredible. It was like waking up on Christmas morning, seeing all the presents opening up, and then figuring out you got that last present at the end, and you can open that present and be as happy as can be. You know you want to end it with a touchdown, but taking eight minutes, it was eight minutes and 56 seconds with 15 plays. That’s drudgery for the other team. They just got to watch you do it. So it proved to the fact the connection of the team, because I watched the sidelines and watched the defense just rooting the offense on. To watch them do that, and it’s a great rest for them too, but the O-line, a lot of pride in the O-line there to do that. I loved every moment of it, every minute of it. First of all, great job by Chip Lindsey and how he called the drive. Smart with the drive, smart with the plays. I was like, I thought about it, but we thought about the time and the maturity and the ability to do that, control the clock, and understand the game. That’s a team over me mentality, because there’s passes there that we could hit, but when there’s eight minutes and 56 seconds off the clock, that’s way more important than anything else.

On where Chip Lindsey has grown from week one to now

I think it’s not just him, it’s the whole staff, he’s done a great job of game planning and putting people in position to be successful. We’ve got to go make plays when they’re had, when they’re there, and I think he’s done a good job of being aggressive in the times he needs to be aggressive and adjusting to our players and adjusting to the strengths of our players, whether that’s the O-line, the receivers, the tight ends, all the game, but you build the game plan with the whole staff. It’s a collective effort, and everybody has their part, so everybody has to do their part, but he’s done a great job. When he gets in the rhythm, he’s really good, like every offensive coordinator that I’ve been around. That’s the key to it, and he’s done a great job.

On the growth of the OL blocking the outside zone play in Lindsey’s offense

Yeah, I mean, we’ve run it here a little bit, but it hasn’t been a major staple of what we’ve done, but that doesn’t mean you can’t always do it. That’s a great example of a change, and we’ve started to do that when Chip got here because he had comfort with it and familiarity with it. Those guys have done a really good job, and it’s really helped them progress and help the run game. When you have an explosive play of 75 and one of 50, you’re going to keep running it, but those guys have done a really good job. It goes back to the how. It’s not the what.

On the conversations about Underwood using his legs more leading up to the Central Michigan game

Yeah, I mean, we had plays for Bryce to use his legs in the Oklahoma game. They just didn’t come up, and then we actually did call one that just got hit in the backfield, and the Central Michigan game was playing in a game and seeing, okay, well, there’s open lane. I’m out. I’m taking off because we’ve always preached, if there’s a lane there and you can take it, you can run, but he just actually did it in that game. So that’s just another week of experience for a dude that’s 18 years old. So he’s just going to keep getting better and better with it.

On what he wants to accomplish during the bye week

Make sure the best players are playing on the field. Give guys opportunities to play, but they got to go earn it. So be more fundamental. Attack our fundamentals, attack our technique, attack the how, and keep everybody healthy and get guys back that are healthy. We’re going to do a good job with the plan of how we’re attacking the week, being smart with what we do in practice, so we make sure we get some guys back and get the guys that are playing their legs back. So that’s our game plan as we go next week.

On where he has seen adapting to the players pay off

Everybody. I mean, it’s not just, it’s like last year on defense, you can do things that we, or we do things now on defense this year that we didn’t do on defense last year. It’s different when you have Mason and KG, versus you don’t, you know? So our players are really good. Offensively, it’s the same thing. Whether it’s the run game or the pass game, you have to adjust to the players. You adjust, obviously, to the quarterback you have and just put them in a position to be successful. So it’s not just one position. It’s not just one player. We’ll continue to evaluate that throughout the season because you’ve got to continue to see what we’re doing really good. And if you’re doing things really good, you continue to do them. You just do them different ways. And if you’re not doing things as good as you thought, then you should probably stop doing them. So you just keep beating your head against the wall. So we’ll continue to evaluate everything we do offensively, defensively, special teams-wise and make sure we keep getting better.

On his reaction to the Hail Mary

Oh, no comment. I’ll just keep that to myself (laughs).

On whether he recalls a time where so many freshman have played roles

I look back to the years I’ve been here. I don’t know how many freshmen, especially, true freshmen, redshirt freshmen that played as early, maybe 21 because we were a little bit younger in 21 and a lot of those guys were here in 23. But I don’t know if we’ve had this many freshmen play, especially, obviously, a freshman quarterback. You got two redshirt freshman tackles. You got a true freshman corner. But, yeah, it is exciting. It’s exciting because we do got a young team. I mean, even Brandyn Hillman, he’s a third-year player, but he’s a redshirt sophomore. Evan Link’s a redshirt sophomore. You got a lot of guys that haven’t played a lot of football that have played against really good competition in practice. And so it’s fun. It’s fun, exciting to be a part of the program.

On the message he sent to his OL when he was spending extra time with the group

Get back to the fundamentals. Get back to the little things and play with that nastiness, that physical mentality, that Michigan Standard is what it’s about. Don’t worry about the play. And, again, it’s the how. It’s the violence of the play. It’s the low pads. It’s how you move. And those are the things that really win blocks. It’s not the scheme. Because at the end of the day, it’s one-on-one blocks for a line, whether you get to the first level or the second level. So those are the things that we really harped on is that mentality, the mental piece of it. And they’ve really taken ownership of everything. Coach Newsome’s done a great job with them.

On the improvement he’s seen from the OL the last two weeks

A lot of improvement. What was the rushing yards in Central? Three-something? And Nebraska? Improvement. There it is.

On what he teaches players to celebrate with the crowd

Celebrating with the teammates is the first thing we talk about. The crowd piece, we don’t really… The crowd can’t really help you win the game or help you lose the game. They don’t really give you anything for the game. So the crowd doesn’t really matter. I know our guys, they point to your family members, do that, which is cool. You like that. You love that. But the celebration piece, celebrating with each other. Because there’s so many times in college football where you see guys… A guy will make a play, and then everybody else on the field will walk off. And that’s depressing. I saw that throughout college football all weekend. I was just like, dang, that’s not… That team’s not connected. That team’s not connected. And usually those teams lose. It’s the teams that are celebrating together, celebrating with each other, and doing those things that really make you a connected team.

On whether the team has a game management-specific assistant

Yeah, we have game management.

On Justice Haynes’ play to start the season and whether he’s exceeded expectations

He’s the first running back in Michigan football history to rush for over 100 yards in his first four games. So he has exceeded it, well beyond. He exceeded it in spring. In spring ball, he would break big runs and no one would catch him. I remember Tony asking me, do you think he’s that fast? I was like, he’s not getting caught. Didn’t happen in training camp. Never get caught. And practice habits, practice things that happen in practice become reality. And he’s just been spectacular. I think he’s number one in the Big Ten in rushing. I don’t know where he is in the country. Third? Third. I don’t know where he is in the country. I mean, Tony gets mad at him because he’ll run. He’ll be at the 15-yard line and he’ll run all the way to the end zone. But dude, what are you doing? You got another play, is that right? You want to practice scoring? Yeah, you got a point. Keep doing it If you’re going to keep doing it, running like that, you can do that in practice. But that’s how he practices. So he wants to be better. He wants to continue to get better. And he’s not satisfied, and we’re not satisfied.

On what his vision of what he wanted the offense to be this season

Yeah, you want to be explosive. Like you guys all know, physicality pieces, bread and butter. But I want to make sure that we can impose our will on people, but also get those big plays because that’s how you win ballgames, right? Scoring points and possessing the football. So what it looks like is what you want. You want to make those plays in the passing game to make those catches because it shouldn’t have been as close as it was if you make a couple plays. I know Semaj is kicking himself on the double pass. It was a perfect call by Chip. And he hadn’t missed that pass for the last two months. It’s been perfect. And rewind to 2023, I had a double pass in for him and I never let him throw it because in practice he’d never throw it right. But Donovan would always throw it right. So it was a competition between the West Bloomfield boys who would get the throw. And Donovan won. But in training camp the past couple weeks, just dimes, dots. I don’t want to mess with him too much, but I got to mess with him a little bit.

On the unknown in the build up toward Saturday’s game

A lot of trust in the staff, a lot of trust in the players and who they were and their thought process, their mindset, what they were going to be about. So it was extremely refreshing to watch them be who I thought they were going to be on TV on Saturday.

On whether he was taking notes and yelling at the TV

I’ll say I was taking notes, and I graded every play.

On the offensive line progress and Jake Guarnera’s emergence

We said at the beginning of the year, and I’ve always said it, it takes 10 guys and nobody can be sad or depressed or down that we lost somebody on the line for a week or two. That’s how it is. That’s what it is. Those guys have really taken ownership of that. To watch Nate step up, watch Jake step up as a freshman who’s been playing center, it’s huge. A lot of trust in both those guys to do their job. They’ve been extremely impressive. Again, great news.

On whether he thinks opponents aren’t being called for holds enough

I mean, we’re getting tackled. You can say that. We are getting tackled a lot, but I think we got away with some holds too. If they’re just not going to call it on both sides, then we’re letting this play. That’s cool, but if you’re going to call one side, okay, cool. Let’s play, but when it becomes one-sided, then it becomes an issue.

On whether he sends plays into the Big Ten

Oh, yeah. Always.

On where he thinks the team is right now

I mean, in a great place, 1-0 in conference, end of the first quarter of the season, and the statement was that we’re not going anywhere, that we’re going to keep getting better and better with the young team we have. Really excited to see where they go and how they attack and just watching the guys come in here this morning, it’s huge to see.

On how he addresses Brandyn Hillman’s taunting penalty

You address it head-on, and it’s already been addressed. So it can’t be a yelling, bantering, because the kid plays so hard, plays so physical. He plays with emotion that you want, you just can’t be emotional, and so those things you got to eliminate, but I don’t want to take that away from him.

On Gio El-Hadi’s status

We’ll see. We’ll see how it goes this week. Not sure, but we’ll see how this week goes.