Michigan football: Sherrone Moore praises trio of offensive contributors

Michigan football has plenty of talent spread throughout its offense heading into 2022. Co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Sherrone Moore has a newer face to lean on in the trenches that continues to impress.

Fifth-year center and Virginia transfer Olu Oluwatimi has fit right in at Michigan, helping fortify an offensive line that was the best in the country last season. Moore discussed what Oluwatimi has brought to the table so far during a session with the media on Sunday.

“First is the experience,” Moore said. “He’s played started 36 games in college football. And that’s invaluable. But he’s strong. He’s smart. When he came here, it was like he’s been here for four years already. He’s an outstanding young man on and off the field. A great human being, but he’s an outstanding player. So he just has a great all-around game and what he can do, and obviously with the accolades that he had last year. He just takes it day by day and tries to get better. That’s it. So he’s really stepping up as a player trying to be a leader for the experience that he’s had in his college football career as well.”

What made Oluwatimi’s transfer so valuable was the ability to plug him right into the gap left behind by Andrew Vastardis. Most would argue he is an upgrade, given his Rimington Award finalist accolades and grabbing All-American honors last season.

He is ready-made to contribute at Michigan, but he is part of the same process everyone else is going through as fall camp gets going.

“You implement the offense, you see what you got, and then you keep going from there,” Moore said. “So you know, day four, what we’re doing. It’s not just him, but it’s everybody. The whole line. It’s the receivers, it’s the running backs, and we know who those players are, but we continue to shape and mold everything to their strengths as we go.”

Donovan Edwards brings energy to Michigan locker room

Moore has additional duties this year than just overseeing the offensive line. As co-coordinators, he and quarterbacks coach Matt Weiss have to find ways to get the skill players the football. One that will get more touches this season is sophomore running back Donovan Edwards, who has been an Energizer Bunny of sorts in the locker room.

Edwards and junior back Blake Corum are considered 1a and 1b on Michigan’s depth chart and should get plenty of touches in 2022.

“The first thing he brings is energy, because if he walked through right now, you’d probably hear him yelling,” Moore said. “Just the energy, the presence that he has, he has an infectious personality. He’s an electric player, and he’s still learning to do things, he’s by no means a finished product. So he continues to strive to get better, and he just wants to be pushed to get better. But he has a great skill set, a great toolset to be an elite player in college football. And we have higher expectations of him and he has high expectations of himself. So I’ll just continue to push him to try to get better.”

Erick All a future pro

Michigan will also be led at tight end by senior Erick All, who had 38 catches for 437 yards and a pair of touchdowns last season. The coaching staff found ways to get him involved and he started putting the pieces of his game together.

But it has been a process for him. Drops plagued the early part of All’s career, as well as struggling to learn the playbook and bring snap-to-snap consistency. Moore has been part of All’s entire career, formerly coaching the tight ends in Ann Arbor. He sees a big leap from the Michigan pass catcher.

“Erick couldn’t get lined up when he first came here. He was a mess,” Moore said. “He’ll tell you that, he’s a beautiful human. He is going to play at the next level for a long time. He has all the physical traits. Playbook-wise, he knows everything inside. Now. from a fundamental standpoint, in the run game. He’s always had to want to, just never really knew how to do it. So continue to teach him that. In the passing game, he always had the ability to run, create routes, but he just knows when to run them and how to run them. And what the specific details in all those routes are. So he’s just been great.

“And he told me the other day, he’s like 260-pounds, came in at like 219 or 215. So, he looks like a grown man walking around. So it’s also good.”