Michigan Football: Amara Darboh, Jehu Chesson Emerging

We’ve seen Michigan football‘s offense come a long way since the beginning of the season. Though still limited is some areas, the Wolverines really aren’t 7-2 without this continued evolution, and a lot of credit has to go to senior wideouts Arara Darboh and Jehu Chesson.

Michigan isn’t the type of team to go out and throw the ball 40 times a game—the Wolverines are averaging 28 pass attempts per game—and it wouldn’t surprise me at all to know that Harbaugh wants that number even lower.

When you have an offense that’d dedicated to the ground, the receivers become that much more important. Their windows for opportunity are smaller, and each performance is thus magnified.

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What we found in the beginning of the season was a receiving crops that simply couldn’t be used more than 10 yards down the field (not their fault), which meant short-and-dirties that hopefully were able to be turned into something bigger.

We also plenty of end-arounds, especially with Chesson.

That vanilla offense is fine most of the time, but occasionally you’re in need of more, and that’s where this offense has taken its strides this season.

Michigan is able to give more.

More specifically, Michigan is able to put the ball in the air.

Now, before you say it, yes, Rudock deserves a lot of credit for advancing in that part of his game. But we also need to acknowledge that Darboh and Chesson are giving an edge to this offense.

A major critique to Chesson’s game for a long time has been his hands. They’ve been deemed unreliable by many, but I’m not seeing a case of the drops this season. In fact, I’m seeing very reliable hands out there.

Chesson and Darboh are both crisp route runners and do a lot to assist Rudock in the passing game.

Here’s a good example of that from the Minnesota game:

Screenshot courtesy of MGoVideo.com, a great resource for Michigan fans.

Here you see Chesson and Darboh stacked (with Chesson on the bottom). Chesson’s running a post while Darboh runs an in, and they’re making the safety commit one way or the other.

Screenshot courtesy of MGoVideo.com, a great resource for Michigan fans.

The safety goes under with Darboh, leaving Chesson in one-on-one coverage in the end zone. Two things have to happen at this point.

Wilton Speight needs to make that read, which he does. And Chesson needs to get on the inside of the defender, which he does.

Screenshot courtesy of MGoVideo.com, a great resource for Michigan fans.

Now we see a beautifully placed ball from Speight, and Chesson reaches out to secure it and put Michigan ahead late.

These things aren’t taking Michigan’s offense over the top, but they’re making it respectable. If you stacked the box against the Wolverines in the first half of the season, you probably got away with it. Do it anymore, and there’s a legitimate chance you’re getting burned.

Not saying it’s a sure thing, but the potential is at least there now.

Next: Takeaways from Rutgers win

That’s a big part of why this offense is progressing.

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