Seven-offensive lineman set the latest example of Jim Harbaugh's Michigan zigging while others zag
Michigan Wolverines football head coach Jim Harbaugh is an innovator. Satellite camps, creative recruiting practices, you name it, he’s tried it. “Innovation” on offense in college football these days typically has to do with a spread attack, speedy players and lots of throwing.
Harbaugh and Co. are throwing it back, though, zigging while others zag.
Michigan threw out a new wrinkle in the Big Ten championship game against Purdue — seven offensive linemen on the field, along with two tight ends, a running back and sophomore quarterback J.J. McCarthy. According to Sports Info Solutions, only four other teams have run multiple plays with seven offensive linemen and two tight ends this season.
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On seven occasions versus Purdue, out came the wideouts and in came the big heavies — guard Giovanni El-Hadi, tackle Trente Jones and a pair of blocking tight ends.
Michigan had success with the look against the Boilermakers, scoring 2 touchdowns at the goal line with junior Kalel Mullings, a converted linebacker who’s played both ways late in the season.
The first was from 1 yard out. Mullings powered up the middle, struggled for a second and plowed into the end zone.
“Not much secret where they were going on that one,” Michigan radio analyst Jon Jansen said on the broadcast.
Later in the game, Mullings had just enough of a hole before breaking a tackle and churning his legs to fall forward into the end zone for a 3-yard score.
The Michigan offensive line — which lives by “smash,” a one-word mantra position coach and co-offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore created (they’re even selling tee shirts) — absolutely loves it.
“I love ‘em, because it brings back black and blue football — just smash mouth, just don’t care how they line up in front of you, just tell them, ‘This is what’s coming,'” Michigan senior right tackle Karsen Barnhart said of the seven-offensive lineman sets. “There’s really only like two plays that we can run out of it that people can see. I feel like we do a good job of smashing people off the ball and doing what we do and rolling people.”
Football is a numbers game a lot of the time, but the Wolverines, knowing they have the bigger and more physical men up front, have no problem lining up with less blockers than there are box defenders and daring the opponent to stop it. More times than not, Barnhart pointed out, the Wolverines were able to overpower the Boilermakers.
“Purdue was our first time putting seven out there,” the Michigan lineman noted. “The first time we put seven out there, they were scrambling around trying to figure out what to do.
“More and more times we did it, they put out bigger personnel, but we still got positive yards on each play that we ran it, so it’s good.”
Maybe next Harbaugh will break out the now-extinct seven-man sled in practice. Former Raiders coach and NFL broadcaster John Madden used to call “the basis of football,” after all.
Notes
• Michigan junior right guard Zak Zinter, a legitimate 2023 NFL Draft prospect, and Barnhart make up a strong right side to the line. The two are clicking and have a good rapport.
“Him and I roll pretty good together,” Barnhart said. “We communicate well and we know what to do together and how to work together and things like that.”
Barnhart half-jokingly added that he feels bad for defenders who have to go up against Zinter.
• Moore has been a difference-maker for the Michigan offensive line the last two seasons, taking it to the next level after being promoted to line coach before the 2021 campaign. The Maize and Blue have been honored with the Joe Moore Award both seasons, becoming the first program to win the trophy for the nation’s top offensive line in back-to-back seasons.
“Just the way that he comes in every day,” Barnhart said of what stands out about the Michigan co-coordinator. “His passion, his love for us, his attitude. His attitude is something else. It’s unmatched.
“The guy is positive the entire time and brings energy. If we don’t have energy, he brings it for us. He just keeps going and going and going.
“It’s great to have in that room, especially for the young guys that are on scout team and learning. They get to see what we do and get to see it through him, and where they can be at in a year or two.”
