GBMWolverine: Mailbag Question — Michigan Football — Is Newsome a Pass First kind of Quarterback

Posted at 4:00pm — 4/29/2008

GBMWolverine: Mailbag Question — Michigan Football — Is Newsome a Pass First kind of Quarterback

I’m an avid reader of your site and I have a question regarding expectations given Newsome’s commitment.

So it seems that Newsome is a pass-first guy, pro-style by all accounts, who happens to run really fast. I know you’ve evaluated all the QB below, but I’m wondering, what do you think RR will do with his system having Newsome as the QB? It just occurred to me that everywhere RR has gone; he has tweaked his system different on almost every occasion.

Do you then expect us to pass a lot more than, say, he did at WVU w/ White? Because UM has way more talent at WR than he ever had at WVU, and Newsome is also an incredible talent. Do you see another evolution for RR’s read option spread attack? Perhaps a way-faster version of what we did at the Capital One bowl coupled with a QB who can run, but also pass well while executing read options effectively? Doesn’t that seem to be the supreme tweak for RR’s offense?

Many think that WVU w/ White represented the pinnacle of RR’s offensive scheme, but when executed with better receivers, better RBs, better all-around athletes in the skilled position, and a quick QB who can pass well wouldn’t that, in fact, be the pinnacle of his offensive scheme? And so, does it not seem that with top WRs, and a top QB who can run well and pass very well, that the pass will be a significant part of the offense, and not a run-heavy style a la White?

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance Go Blue!
Michael

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We think Newsome wants to be a pass first, pro style quarterback, not sure that he is. We need to get him on campus and go through practices before making an accurate evaluation with him and this offense.

From film available, some of his best plays are with his legs. He is capable of breaking tackles and than outrunning the secondary. He shows a very strong arm, but definitely needs some refinement in the short game. He does seem to have more potential in the passing game than White. In addition, we would fully expect to see more balance to Michigan’s attack than was used at West Virginia.

Still think the quarterback read option would be the basis of the offense. When you are running that scheme with quarterbacks like Threet and Cone, it tells us you truly believe in the scheme.

We do agree that with the wealth of talent at both tight end and split end will give Michigan the capability of being a more explosive, diverse offense. With more options to throw at the defense then staff had at West Virginia. However, Tight Ends were very situational players during practice and spring.

What Michigan that we think they will be looking to do is keep the strong running attack in the quarterback read package, and tweak it slightly by using Tight Ends and some additional vertical game with Michigan’s excellent split ends. We do not expect at this time to see anything close to pro style, multiple wide receiver set offense.

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff

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