Kyle Whittingham wants to continue Michigan's physical brand of football in his own vision

One of the benefits of Michigan hiring Kyle Whittingham is that much of what he will bring to the program doesn’t stray too far from the DNA that already exists in Ann Arbor, particularly on offense.

Despite not being an offensive-minded coach, Whittingham is not one to meddle in the offensive game plan; he essentially lets his offensive coordinator and coaching staff develop their own plans and execute them.

With that said, while the scheme and other nuances of the offense will change from last season, Whittingham always makes sure all of his coaches are on the same page philosophically.

Establishing a physical brand of football.

“Physicality will be our calling card,” Whittingham said. “Utah, the place I was, we were the most physical team in the league, whichever league we played in, that’s not going to be any different here. And I believe in running the football. We were second in the nation last year, rushing the football at Utah and defending the run. If you can get those things, if you can win the line of scrimmage, all right, and be physical up front, you’ve always got a chance. And so that will be the trademark and the identity of this football team is physicality, toughness, and grit.”

So what kind of offense will Whittingham bring to Ann Arbor? While that largely depends on who the offensive coordinator hire ends up being, with all signs pointing to Utah’s Jason Beck following his head coach to U-M.

No matter what is run or how a game is called, Whittingham wants to make sure his offense doesn’t stray too far from what has worked for him in the past: establishing the run.

“Spread, spread offense,” Whittingham said when asked what his vision for the U-M offense is. “Based out of a spread, 11 personnel will be our base personnel group. We’re going to run the football efficiently, we’re going to run the ball. The only people that were in the same category as us were the service academies, the Air Force, Navy, they did that. Otherwise, I believe that if you can run the football effectively, everything happens.”