Michigan Football: 5 things we learned from Wolverines 2018 season
Michigan needs an elite RB
On top of needing better play from the quarterback and more production out of the passing game, the only thing that the Wolverines really need is an elite running back.
Some might say that Michigan football had that this season with Karan Higdon but they would be wrong. I love Higdon and he was a great back. It was awesome to see him get 1,178 yards this season and I expect to see him get drafted by the NFL in April. But he’s not elite, not even close.
When I say elite, I am talking like Heisman Trophy candidate kind of good or least a guy that could contend for Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. That might seem like an unrealistic expectation, but if Michigan is going to keep relying on this power running game as the backbone of the offense, then it needs to be to run the ball like Georgia did last season with Nick Chubb and Sony Michel or like Zeke Elliot did for the Buckeyes in 2014.
Higdon and even Chris Evans are good players, but they aren’t the kind of guys that can carry an offense. With Patterson, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Nico Collins and Tarik Black, the passing game could do that, yet who knows if Harbaugh will ever open up the playbook to give it the chance.
If not, the best hope Michigan has is finding an elite back and in Charbonnet, it looks like Harbaugh might have found that. Christian Turner, who impressed during bowl prep is another possibility.
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Whether it’s him or another back really doesn’t matter, but one of the biggest lessons from 2019 is that the offense was not dynamic enough to win games if the defense struggled and finding a back with the ability to take over games could be the answer for that, once and for all.