Jason Beck will be the fourth offensive coordinator in the last four years for Michigan football. He inherits more talent than he's ever coached before. At Utah, he didn't have to gameplan for Big Ten defenses. Now in practice, he'll get to sharpen his skills against a defensive mind who held his offense to half of what they averaged in 2025.
Utah's offense scored more than 30 points in every win last year, while Michigan only accounted for half that production in its nine wins. In the Texas Tech loss, Utah had a season low in points and rushing yards. In year one at Ann Arbor, Beck gets the unenviable task of matching wits with three top 10 defenses from a season ago. Iowa and Penn State are not included in that category, and Western Michigan's defensive coach was promoted to Jim Harbaugh's staff.
Beck has plenty of resources to succeed though
The good news is there should be no problem running the football in Beck's offense. If Wayshawn Parker and Devon Dampier can rush for close to 1,000 yards each, then it should be a breeze for Bryce Underwood, Jordan Marshall and Savion Hiter to flirt with those numbers behind Jim Harding's strength of the offensive line.
Scoring-wise, Michigan hasn't put up numbers as Beck did at Utah since 2022. That was J.J. McCarthy's second year in the system, just like this will be for Underwood. Takeaways from the spring game didn't help the narrative that the offense is nowhere near where it should be, but history shows that is not a good source to be taken seriously.
Judging Beck by how he develops Underwood is fair. Teaching him how to pass the ball will be Beck's ultimate job. Dampier cut his interceptions in half and doubled his touchdown production in one season. If Underwood can do that, then Michigan's offense won't be so one-dimensional anymore.
You have to go back to the Rich Rodriguez days to find an offense that finished inside the top 10. Going back even further, Michigan's offense barely cracked the top 50 when it won the national title in 1997. All this means is that Beck has a near-impossible task to duplicate the success that he had at Utah. He failed at Syracuse, but if he can hover around the top 25 or so, then Michigan's offense will be considered successful and win more than it should.
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