With new faces, Michigan football's offense may take time to find rhythm

When tight end Colston Loveland takes the Big House field for defending national champion Michigan football against Fresno State on Aug. 31, he will do so with a host of new faces around him.

No matter where he looks − left, right, or behind him − he won't see a single player who was a full-time starter alongside him in the maize and blue a season ago.

The Wolverines graduated their starting quarterback (J.J. McCarthy), running back (Blake Corum), both wide receivers (Roman Wilson and Cornelius Johnson), entire offensive line (Karsen Barnhart, Trevor Keegan, Zak Zinter, Drake Nugent and LaDarius Henderson) and their in-line tight end (AJ Barner), from the best team in program history.

Michigan also moved offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore to head coach, quarterbacks coach Kirk Campbell took over as offensive coordinator, while Grant Newsome moved from tight ends to coach the O-line.

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It's a stark contrast to last offseason when the only major move the Wolverines had to make was replacing the fired Matt Weiss with Moore as a play-caller.

"It's definitely different, you can look out there and see it's different," Loveland told reporters Wednesday afternoon inside Al Glick Fieldhouse. "A lot of new players which is not a bad thing at all, I mean, just so much room for a lot of opportunity for these guys ... new offense, new identity.

"Obviously we're going to do what Michigan does, but I'm just excited to see how we all form together."

In order to find their new identity, the Wolverines first have to identify a starting quarterback. Arguably the best collegiate quarterback in program history walks out the door in McCarthy, which has left room for a truly open competition at the most important spot on the team.

The candidates: seventh-year grad transfer Jack Tuttle (in his second season at U-M), sophomore Alex Orji, sophomore Jayden Denegal, junior Davis Warren and true freshman Jadyn Davis. Loveland, like the players and coaches who've spoken the past two weeks as U-M's worked its way through spring camp, said each different player brings his own skillset to the position.

He noted how Orji is the most mobile option while "Deny (Denegal) throws a good ball, Dave (Warren) throws a good ball," but he said everybody has done well thus far, which includes most experienced option in the room in Tuttle, and the young tantalizing prospect (though he's likely a project) in Davis.

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While it's cordial now, the competition will begin to get more cutthroat as the season draws near. One would figure it needs to happen before the season for U-M's offense to have some time to gel together.

"That's a great point, finding that chemistry between the competition," Loveland said. "But first, it starts with the competition. It's set out great, everybody's got a fair opportunity to win the job. We got time, it's spring ball, we got all summer to get it right too, hopefully we find that out.

"But I don't think anyone in here is worried about who will be our starting quarterback and who will take charge, just kind of let life play its course right now."

In this situation, the need to find the right person seems to be exacerbated by how wildly different the playing styles are of the quarterbacks in the room.

With multiple styles of quarterbacks in the mix, U-M isn't just creating chemistry with the players, but Campbell and Moore have to decide which style will put the team in position to be successful.

"This year, who the starting quarterback is going to be, make sure we put his assets out there to be able to shine so he can produce the best," Campbell said on Inside The Trenches Podcast last month. "Let's make sure we build the offense around our key pieces."

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Quarterback is far from the only spot where U-M will have to find new chemistry. Michigan replaces its all-time rushing touchdown leader in Corum, but a re-fueled Donovan Edwards, paired with Kalel Mullings and Benjamin Hall, seems a good place to start.

Identified as next up in line as pass catchers? Semaj Morgan, Tyler Morris and Fredrick Moore.

Another concern? An offense is only as strong as its offensive line, which is as big of a question mark as quarterback. Myles Hinton returns with nearly two dozen (21) starts to his name, while Gio El-Hadi has played in 20 games on the line, Greg Crippen has played in 15 at center, Jeff Persi has played in 11 on the line. U-M also added Josh Priebe, a captain and multi-year starter at Northwestern.

Again, it's not a talent question, but about chemistry.

"It takes a minute for offensive lines to gel together," Edwards said Monday. "There's different personalities, people are stepping into different roles. I love the guys we have here. ... it's going to continue to take time for them to be able to connect, understand each others playing style.

"But it will be amazing to see the development and change at three months and at seven months."

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So, what does it look like from the other side of the field through five days of spring camp? That's not exactly fair considering Michigan's defense returns a host of starters in Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, Will Johnson, Makari Paige and others who rotated like starters such as Ernest Hausmann, Josaiah Stewart and Derrick Moore.

"I'd like to say we've been getting after them every day in practice," Johnson said. "I mean, it's a little different than it was last year offensive-wise, so I think they're just getting used to it back there."

Loveland pointed out multiple times Wednesday this group only has had five practices under its belt. It's not going to look like a well-oiled machine. And while that's fair enough, Michigan still needs to find the balance between its competition playing out, and showing a sense of urgency to identify the new leader.

U-M's quarterback competition between McCarthy and the incumbent Cade McNamara lasted into the 2022-23 season and though it didn't derail anything, there's always the chance it didn't go so smoothly. Ideally, this competition doesn't drag into the season, and U-M's offense can truly take shape.

"The offense is going to be based around the skillset that quarterback has," Loveland said. "I can't answer that question now, but we'll see when whoever becomes the starting quarterback."

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football's new-look offense may take time to find its rhythm