Inside Michigan Football: Fresno State Edition

[Music] the big house is already rocking Michigan Fresno will kick off the 2024 football season for us it's not about the number or the ranking or anything like that we just we have to go prepare to win that game and whoever you're playing to face this upon our hair is on fire we just can't wait waiting for this moment for a long time around this we say you have to respect your oppon opponent during the week to disrespect them on [Music] [Music] Saturday inside Michigan football presented by Meyer hi again friends and welcome to another edition of inside Michigan football Doug car alongside John Jansen the defending national champ start the season 1 and0 with a 30 to10 win over Fresno a win is a win and there's a lot to get better before Texas comes to town next week yeah they're going to have to get better in a hurry but it's much more pleasant to get better after a win than it is a loss every single time and a lot of the improvements are simply assignments which are easy to fix uh some of its awareness which again once these young players that are seeing the field for the first time get a chance to see things at live speed they're going to they're going to you know in the comfort of the meeting rooms they're going to be like oh I get it now and so though a lot of those things will be self-corrected all right well the Wolverine's big play defensively early on great quote from Zeke Barry after the game tips and overthrows we got to get those got to get those every single time and obviously there's a tip he comes up with it it's a great way to start off defensively and then Alex ory comes in they rotated quarterbacks did you like that uh you know what as long as it works sure we could say we like it um but it's when Alex ory comes in it's almost predetermined that it's a run so that's one thing that they're going to have to caution themselves on but you also have to stop it and they broke a tendency by throwing with him for the touchdown if you can establish a tendency in the first quarter of the first game of the year but the offense didn't exactly Cruise early in this game they really didn't put together sustained drives after that first touchdown what were some of the reasons for the struggles well it was nice to be able to capitalize on that when you get that opportunity you've got to make sure that you do so they do and then all of a sudden instead of starting on the 35 yard line the plus 35 you've got to start backed up on the 20 yard line and there were times where hey you'd get one or two plays that would work well and then some something would break down they'd have to punt part of that is some of the things I talked about before where you have you know your tight end falls down or you have a miss assignment or a miscommunication I saw a lot of that up front and when you have five new guys up front some of those miscommunications are going to happen they've got to iron those things out to sustain those drives okay so it was in the second quarter Michigan at this point had negative 10 yards of offense in the second quarter and they bring in Greg krippin at the center spot and they start to get kle mullings going here they start to get some Run game and that guy coulston Loveland gets involved this drive really was the beginning of the offense getting going yeah and it's one it's Davis Warren getting comfortable get getting Coulson leveling the ball two it's Greg krippin you've got a veteran guy in there calms things down a little bit I know he wasn't in there long but sometimes that's all you need is that calming presence and I really felt like khell mullink all game long had a good feel of what the defense was trying to do to stop him and he was able to hit a lot of those cutbacks all right so now coulston lelin gets involved he's going to be an All-American tight end if if nights like this are typical yeah and hey Davis Warren you've got to find that Target that you're most comfortable with in whether it's stressful times or it's just you need to get something going Coulson Lin's going to be he's the biggest Target on the field and he's got great hands Dominic Zada finished that drive off with a field goal it was 10-3 he had a good night all right the defense in the first half they took some chances in the secondary but the pass rush was effective the pass rush was whether it was bull rush it was speed around the edge when you get tackles that are guessing on what you're doing I've been in that position it is uncomfortable and it is a huge disadvantage and then in the middle Mason Graham had his way with guard Center guard it didn't matter who he was against in the run or the pass he was living in the back field all right let's go to Jansen vision for some a look at some of the first half highlights yeah this one comes in the first quarter and this is samage Morgan who's going to start over here he's going to come in motion and he's going to eventually get the ball but I want you to keep an eye on Donovan Edwards miles Hinton and obviously Colston Loveland when these guys pull all right you see I'm not you see the setup right here you get a big guy out in space you got to love it but the key block right here is Colston leveland and he does a great job of keeping his feet moving keeping the defender in front of him so when he comes off to the side he doesn't get caught for holding you're going to have Donovan out here he's going to take out two miles Hinton in here You've Got A train running down the tracks and no way to stop him great block by Donovan Edwards and he did just a great job in blocking today and the second play that I'm going to show is this one's on the defensive side and this is Jan baram how I talked about he was lined up over the center all right this is going to be what we call a cross dog because technically Jim Jim rer is going to stand right behind him you're going to see uh baram go in here and roller come around the side and what it does is it speeds up the operation all of a sudden you feel this threat of somebody and all of a sudden you're throwing off off Pace off balance and that's where you you may not get the pressure physically but the pressure is there on the quarterback and our final play big day for 18 and this was in the second quter yeah and here's what I want to show on this one is you've got Coulson levelin all he's going to do is come up here he's going to sell that he's heading out and then come back in here but I want to you to watch the protection and the the the great protection you're going to have here and when you see this opening in the field this linebacker can't get back fast enough to defend coulston leveland and as you as it starts to play here you're going to see he comes in the middle here and there's just no one there great job great Vision By Davis Warr to see that that was going to set set up that was a tight window well delivered football we'll come back we'll have our thoughts on the second half and a little bit later on we'll hear from the head coach Chiron Moore here on inside Michigan football feels good to get a win in college football so happy about the win got lost to clean up but we'll get there takes the snap he's going to roll to the right and throw he's got Donovan em out of the Back Field who will walk into the end zone and I love how they work together you know there's no beef they they they respect each other they love each other and we we know we know they're both going to take care of us the pass fires he's got C muin inside the 10 to the five C mlin to the end zone just really proud of the group the way we fought the way we battled it you know it was one of those days where you know things didn't feel easy out there but I I was proud of the way that we just found a way to keep pushing through and and made some plays when we had to and ultimately got the win inside Michigan football is brought to you by Meyer presenting sponsor the 2024 Michigan football season prob sponsor of thousands of local sports teams across the Midwest inside Michigan football is brought to you by University of Michigan Health there's a difference between an answer and a Michigan answer to learn more about Michigan's best hospital visit Michigan answers.com Doug cars John Jansen back at the big house inside Michigan football let's go to the second half at halftime Chiron Moore told the team in the locker room on the offensive line be violent The Wolverine finished the first half with a field goal they got a field goal out of their first drive of the second half and they were more violent K mullings making some runs well K mullings was doing a great job of those cut backs all day long but it's really those backside blocks where everybody says you know it's hard to be violent back there if you can wash everybody down and that's where the the defense wants to go hey I don't I'm not going to fight it just push them that way they were 0 for four in the first half on third down Colston Lov him with two conversions on Third and six and third and four on this opening drive he does a great job of understanding one down in distance where he's got to get to to pick up that first down but also making himself available to the quarterback and as I've already mentioned he's a big Target you put it anywhere near him he's going to catch it Dominic zavada a career long 52 yd field goal Michigan was up 13 to3 the pass game still a bit of a work in progress we saw a couple of instances where the Wolverines the receivers didn't find the football in the air yeah and some of that could have been the lights some of it is just simply not understanding and not having the the best relationship yet with your quarterback sometimes when a quarterback is under duress and you've got to understand that there's a blitz you got to look back a little bit sooner whether it's you can't find the ball or you don't see it those are all things that I mentioned are easy to work out hey pressure look quicker Wolverine's got some timing things to straighten in the pass game all right this was a big Drive later in the game this is Alex orgy maybe his best play this is a third third down quarterback keeper and he gets a first down and this is where you see his skill set on display yeah I mean whenever he's in the game you know there's always a threat to run the ball and he does a great job on those read options of identifying who they're optioning whether it's the outside linebacker or end and you know holding that ball in the in the running back's belly sometimes you got to give it sometimes you got to keep it and he does a great job of making that decision this drive also featured some hard running from kle mullings will have that later in Jansen vision and then the 18 yard touchdown pass to Colston Loveland he had a career high in receptions and just shot a career high in yardage yeah and I mean this is one where you can see he catches the ball on about the 5 yd line just the desire and the drive to get in and not have to you know bring everybody back out to try for a goal line stand we talked about third down conversions here's somage Morgan over the middle on a third and six young receiver sits down in zone coverage and D Donovan or Davis Warren excuse me delivers yeah and he knows it's third and six he's got to get past that first down Mar marker he goes to eight he gets it he gets drilled gets driven back but he knows he caught it in first down yardage so it's a first down and then another career high from zavada this one 55 yards good Michigan led the game 1613 later it got interesting but will Johnson will Johnson with a highlight pick return to the house we'll look at that at Jansen Vision let's go to second half Jansen Vision highlights yeah and we're going to start off here I want you to see this is the one where Josiah Stewart made a big hit out here but why was that available they end up dropping Josiah Stewart into coverage and they bring everybody from this side well this tackle right here he's setting out here on Josiah he's setting on a ghost because he doesn't end up rushing tries to get back inside to help out but as he does it's too late all of a sudden hey Mason Graham he's already creased this you've got unblocked uh pressure coming from over here and now all of a sudden he Outlets it to the receiver and Josiah do Stewart does a great job of closing and making the play there all right the Big Bus got going we've talked about him in the second half Kell mullings and this is one where you just see everybody wash down this side of the of the of the defensive line but I want you to watch coulston Loveland here this is not an easy block you got to stay Square you can't allow him to pinch across your face you don't want him to leak out backside he does a great job as khil Mullins approaches the line of scrimmage of stay in square that's the key block there everything after that is all K mulling and it's a thing of beauty all right and finally will Johnson big time player and this sealed the deal yeah and I mean he's been baiting the quarterback all game long you can see he's got his eyes on the quarterback he knows exactly what's coming that's film preparation something that we've heard a lot about from will Johnson and as soon as this ball is released I want you to watch right here the ball's not even snapped will Johnson's already starting to creep towards the line of scrimmage he hits it in full stride and there is absolutely nothing that's going to stop him and look how fast he is it's unbelievable touchdown touchdown Michigan will Johnson gets the turnover Buffs and Michigan gets the win over Fresno 30-10 Ed kerski has our Iron Man of the week that is coming up and later Michigan head coach Chiron Moore here on inside Michigan football wasn't the prettiest at times and felt like we were getting behind the sticks and struggling a little bit with with just little things here and there wasn't anything major um but to get the wind to go out there when we needed a drive and to really put it to him and put off finish it off with you know first touchdown pass that was pretty special feeling back to passes team Here Comes theity St down back at his own 37 yd line by Josiah Stewart defense came out hot start off the game hot um you know we had our slips but you know that happens you know we count on the offense to you know have our back and keep it around te fires quickly picked off will Johnson and he's in the clear I've seen it countless times already only been here one other season and I've seen it plenty of times time so when I'm seeing him catch that catch that flat rout and taking it to the crib I'm like yeah that's that's will you know you can't try him twice left a lot out there but just proud of how we fought at the end there and when we needed to get it done got it done uh always good to come out with the win now we're just got to have a great week of prep for Texas this week's El Rose steel Iron Man of the week is tight end coulston lovelin the All-American from Idaho hauled in eight passes for 87 yards and scored the insurance touchdown in the fourth quarter get used to it Loveland will be a go-to option for this club all season long being one of their number one guys is uh yeah it's a blessing when want to be other way and you know I just want to be the guy that we need something to happen I can go out there and make it happen when uh my my number's called he's quarterback's best friend just security blanket I know I can go to him and throw the ball and at the same time like you know I I feel that way about about eight and about zero and about Kendrick Bell and about Marlon Klein and Freddy and donno and kle so those guys I know you know they're prepared when when their numbers called and the opportunity to present themselves to to them but you know if they give us the opportunity to throw the ball to eight we're going to we're going to we're going to throw his way and and he's going to make plays for us and he did a great job getting the End Zone on that one quarterbacks as we know were the Hot Topic going into this one going all the way back to last winter Davis Warren got the start went 15 for 25 and he told us he felt more than prepared for the moment I was prepared for the nerves and I was prepared to play the game and Coach Campbell did a great job preparing me preparing us as a quarterback room to to really go out there and and play well and I felt like you know definitely some plays I want back here and there but overall U feel like I operated the offense well Warren reemphasized the competition under Center is a healthy one as he and Alex orgy each toss their first career touchdown passes we're like best buddies truly like it's we really care about each other we respect each other's games we respect who we are we're always texting each other different stuff about quarterbacking or just random stuff that you know we both like and and it's a really cool relationship when you root for each other like that that is the sign of a healthy locker room stick around John Jansen goes one-on-one with head coach Chiron Moore when inside Michigan football continues our conversation with the coach is brought to you by Meer feels good feels good to get a win in college football so happy about the win got lot of clean up but we'll get there what did you see differently from the first half to the second half from your team I thought defensively um all game really was pretty consistent made plays got pressure on the quarterback kept them uncomfortable um a couple deep balls we had one uh missed Simon on the touchdown but besides that I mean those guys played really good uh on offense little up and down we got to be more consistent that last Drive was was was good to see those guys pick it up and and really run the ball well and uh hit in the end zone for a touchdown Davis Warren obviously his first start what did you see from him yeah I thought he was good you know he had the pick early but also we you know receivers got to do a better job of going to get it and uh for us it's going to be about you know find those Playmakers to go make the plays in those big- time situations but I thought he did a good job overall you know controlling the offense in the second half we saw KH Mullins really take off what did you see from him was it a hot hand decision yeah I mean he was running hard physical I mean he's a 220 lb 62 so he ran behind his pads and ran physical so it was awesome to see and then the offensive line obviously a position that you and I love dearly and and we had a chance to see not always perfect but they got the job done yeah um you know a lot of stuff to clean up always hard on those guys but I think they see the the things that they can do better and we'll definitely get those cleaned up Colston levelin eight catches I mean he was he was there all game long uh just talk a little bit about his performance I mean that's that's how he's been in Camp he just all over the place plays hard plays physical plays tough uh hard to cover you know make all the great plays he's going to be mad about the one drop but uh I thought he played really well we saw Will Johnson take a gamble early on the game it didn't work out in the in the second half in the fourth per fourth quarter did yeah I mean he's a he's a great player he's a smart player he knows when to take gambl and he was he was so upset he got beat on one ball and uh that's a competitive nature in him so you love to see it what do you expect to see from week one to week two yeah you're we're going to improve you know we're going to work hard we're going to put our hard hat on and just make sure we get back in the lab and get better every single day we're going to correct the film tomorrow as a staff and then correct it with the players and and get to the next game coach I appreciate it thank you appreciate it ke takes the snap back to pass fires Crossing rout it's TI the kick going the other direction the Wolverines picked off it is zek Barry his first career start it being the first game I mean it's a big win all the time they win every game but you know it's uh the season opener so I mean it's a big one for us and starting off a season strong so many new pieces on offense just and so many new pieces on the team um just finding that gel finding that Rhythm uh you know it might not and it didn't just happened right away uh but you know we all know that and we all understand that and we all know that um each week is important each practice is important because we need to get better and gel together and learn how to play together all right Michigan beats Fresno 30 to1 in the opener this Fresno team might be a problem for teams in the Mountain West we'll watch how their season unfolds Michigan season gets real next week man Texas comes to town first trip to the big house it's going to be a wild adven it's going to be an unbelievable scene and when you commit to go to a program like Texas or when you commit to come to Michigan these are the games that you dream about and they get this one early it's a departure from what we've seen in the non-conference this is as exciting as it gets this early in the season all right talking about the Michigan offense are they ready earlier in the show you implied that there's a lot of stuff that's easily correctable it is and whether it's Awareness on the field of firsttime players being out there firsttime quarterback young receivers all of these things sometimes there's there's an aha moment and they'll have that in in film and coaches will make sure that they have the aha moment uh and and whether it's that or it's just simple footwork there are a lot of things out there that they'll be able to fix quickly all right it's Michigan in Texas next week and we'll review it right here on inside Michigan football we'll see you then inside Michigan football is brought to you by Meyer presenting sponsor the 20124 Michigan football season PR sponsor of thousands of local sports teams across the Midwest