Michigan Football: 5 questions for Wolverines offense in 2019

Will Michigan throw more under Gattis?

Michigan football had a solid rushing attack in 2018 with an average of 202 yards per game and 4.8 yards per attempt. At times, the Wolverines dominated opponents on the ground and in the wins over Wisconsin, Penn State and Michigan State, they were particularly impressive.

Yet, if the Wolverines want to beat teams like Ohio State, Notre Dame and Florida, they have to ditch the run-heavy approach and whether or not Gattis will be allowed to do that is a huge question mark going into next season.

While the Wolverines ran the ball a lot because of big leads, at season’s end, they averaged 42 run runs a game compared to 26 passes. For comparison, Alabama threw the ball 30 times per game and ran it 39 and that’s with a lot of second-half runs in blowout wins.

Balance is a good thing but the Wolverines need more of it. They need more passes on first downs and more shots down the field. UM has Donovan People-Jones, Nico Collins and Tarik Black — three legitimate deep threats, so it needs to take more chances and throw more 50/50 balls.

More than anything, Michigan needs to stop being so predictable with its run-pass ratio, especially early in games, against elite teams. Whether or not it happens under Gattis this season remains to be seen, but it’s something that needs to be changed desperately.