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A slight smile stretched across the face of Sherrone Moore, Michigan football’s new head coach, as he fielded questions Tuesday afternoon in Oosterban Fieldhouse, currently being used as a make-shift media room while renovations are completed at the Towsley Museum inside Schembechler Hall.
Much like the scene a few weeks back at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Moore was peppered with inquiries, running the gamut from NCAA investigations and culture curiosities to how he intends to replace record-levels of departing talent and of course the most-desired piece of information: who, if anybody, is ahead in the quarterback battle?
Moore, as he tends to be, was rather coy with his answers, never revealing too much but generally speaking around the subject to provide enough of a response.
The team is “cooperating” with the investigation. The culture is about “being great people off the field.” Don’t worry about who left, he says, there are depth pieces to fill in those roles (like TJ Guy on the edge).
Oh, and the quarterback battle has seemingly worked its way down to a three-man race: Alex Orji, Jack Tuttle (who Moore said has “been good,” despite rumors that he had sustained another injury) and Davis Warren. Beyond that, it’s said to be a decision that will likely be made during game week.
Moore kept things at an arms distance as best he could, until he gave one answer that was extremely telling about his expectation for the season.
On paper, the Wolverines have a deeper schedule this year in a newly expanded Big Ten, not to mention two of their three non-conference games appear much harder than anything U-M had on its schedule the past three seasons during its 40-3 surge.
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Moore is well aware there will be some tough tests, but he also had a friendly reminder to share of his own.
“They still gotta play us,” Moore smiled. “The way we practice is to make sure that we’re ready for games, regardless of who we’re playing … Our guys are excited about the schedule, competitive schedule. When you’re in the Big Ten, there’s not really an easy schedule. So everybody is going to have to deal with it.
“Everybody is going to have to deal with a competitive schedule, and that’s what we want.”
The Wolverines open the season with Fresno State (Aug. 31), a nine-win team from last season, that spent much of the year in the top 25. After that, Michigan welcomes Texas (Sept. 7) to town, a College Football Playoff team from a season ago which enters with a mentality similar to the Wolverines of a season ago, led by quarterback Quinn Ewers who was on the College Football 25 cover with U-M running back Donovan Edwards.
Two weeks later, the University of Southern California (Sept. 21) comes to Ann Arbor for the first time since Sept. 27, 1958, when Michigan defeated USC 20-19 in front of 77,000 after fullback and captain John Herrnstein ran 26 times for 144 yards and two scores.
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The first road trip of the season is to Seattle in early October, a rematch of last year’s national championship game vs. Washington (though the Huskies roster was even more depleted than the Wolverines’) and don’t forget perhaps the two toughest games on the entire schedule: at home against Oregon (Nov. 2), then on the road in Columbus to finish the season (Nov. 30) at Ohio State.
To be sure, in the newly expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, U-M could lose one game and probably two and still make it into the postseason field with relative certainty. A third loss and things would get extremely dicey, but it’s something that’ not even entering Moore’s mind.
“We’re never thinking about that, we’re going to try to prepare every game,” Moore said. “That’s always the goal for us. I think in fall camp, you have to build the callous, you have to get better, have to push each other … but it doesn’t change anything with our mindset.
“You don’t win, you’re probably not going to get in, so that’s our mindset.”
After three consecutive years of experiencing winning almost exclusively, Moore explained why he feels it’s certainly repeatable for a group that appears relatively new. The team is focused on the process, not the prize, Moore said in one breath, before he added that his team is “having fun, (but) competition is at an all-time high” in another.
“The way they walk in the building, the way they carry themselves,“ Moore said of what gives him the most confidence. “You’re like, ‘Oh yeah, we’re going to be good.’ You can feel it. You can sense it.”
There are little signs of it everywhere, Moore detailed. Like the extreme care with which the players treat their new locker room, making sure never to leave dirty clothes or trash strewn about or the high-end talent: AKA the team’s “four or five” projected first-round picks in next year’s draft, something U-M has literally never had.
It’s not that Moore doesn’t know or acknowledge the turnover from last year. The program is quite proud of the 18 players it sent to the NFL combine and the 13 who were drafted last April, it’s just that it doesn’t change expectations.
“When you’re at Michigan you always want to win it all,” Moore said. “That should be our goal every year.”
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Is that a lofty goal for this season? Sure. But on the heels of winning the national championship just seven months ago, it’s not entirely far-fetched given the standard in the building is well known. Take the offensive line unit, for instance, which just lost Moore as its positional coach and all five of its starters from a season ago.
That didn’t stop Moore from doubling down on the group, saying anybody who thinks they aren’t going to be ready should just ask U-M’s vaunted defensive line, highlighted by Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, Josaiah Stewart and Derrick Moore, if they’ve been getting pushed around in practice.
“I know as long as I’m here, we’re gonna be good up front,” Moore grinned. “We’re gonna be violent, we’re gonna be physical, gonna be tough, relentless − all the things you want.”
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Publish date : 2024-08-14 23:09:00
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