Jay Harbaugh analyzes U-M special teams after roller coaster opener
Michigan Wolverines safeties coach and special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh has a bit more on his plate this week as Saturday’s interim head coach for the first half. But the week of practice will also include hopeful corrections to a handful of special teams struggles in the opener.
U-M’s punt returner situation is still a bit of an adventure with senior wideout Jake Thaw and freshman Karmello English getting looks on Saturday. Michigan started its opening drive on its own two-yard line after a decision on whether to field a ball or not led to an unfortunate break. The offense had to shelf its game script on the opening drive, and it ultimately led to a punt after a quick three-and-out.
Thaw took the first two punt returns for six yards before English got in there for a third that went four eight yards. That’s a battle that feels far from situated, but Harbaugh pins some of the struggles on a different look than the scouting report suggested.
“The punt returners were put in a unique situation,” Harbaugh said on Monday. “They had played a different punter that was a lefty. They had benched the guy who was traditionally the punter, who was an Australian guy. That was a little bit different than they had prepared for. And they handled it pretty well. It was a lot of really low, low hang-time punts, a lot shorter than we’re accustomed to seeing. A lot of times that can be more challenging than a deeper, further punt.
“For a new returner, that’s really tough stuff because there’s a lot of decision-making that has to happen in about one to one and a half seconds of am I gonna field this ball or not? And also, are any of [their] teammates at risk of getting hit by the ball? That’s a tough thing. I thought Thaw handled it great. It was unfortunate on the first one, the ball actually hit one of their guys. So the ball should have been down back there, but he did a really nice job and it was great to get Karmelo English a little bit of experience as well. Excited to build on that this week.”
Reviewing James Turner’s debut
Michigan graduate kicker James Turner made a career-long 50-yard field goal just before halftime in Saturday’s game but missed a 52-yard attempt and an extra point in the game. He finished the day 1-for-2 on field goals and 3-for-4 on extra points.
Turner was iced prior to his attempt before the first half clock expired and banged that kick through, too, even though it did not count. He flashed the range often in camp, but the key to ironing out some of the other struggles is continued consistency in his prep, says Harbaugh.
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“Turner’s got tremendous range,” Harbaugh said. “The one that he hit was into a pretty decent headwind. He’s got a really strong leg and I think as he builds more consistency and that operation gets better and better, I think we could see him continue to hit kicks from 50 plus.”
Michigan has not changed its special teams process in the post-Jake Moody era and hopes to lean on Turner’s experience as he gets more comfortable.
“He’s kicked a lot at this level, tons of experience,” Harbaugh said. “With that position or any position in general, you don’t get negative. You just go back and look at, ‘Hey, this is what could have been better. This is what we should do differently moving forward.’ Or, ‘These are the steps to improvement.’ And you just try to carry over that improvement into the next week.”
The Wolverines are back in action next week against UNLV at Michigan Stadium. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS.
