Michigan football: Mike Hart contributing via Zoom, Fred Jackson bringing 'awesome' input
Michigan Wolverines football saw running backs coach and run game coordinator Mike Hart collapse and suffer what was reported as a seizure in last Saturday’s game at Indiana. Analyst Fred Jackson has stepped in to fill the void. A Michigan assistant for 22 years, including coaching Hart while he was a player, Jackson rejoined the staff this past offseason.
Hart announced Monday that he was back in Ann Arbor, “trending in the right direction,” and excited to rejoin the team when he could. According to Michigan co-offensive coordinator and line coach Sherrone Moore, Hart hasn’t been back in the building, but he’s been helping out virtually.
“Oh, man. Fred is awesome,” Moore said with a huge smile. “Really nothing has been different, we’ve had Mike Zoom in. He’s doing well, as he’s put out [in a statement]. He’s Zoomed in on meetings, so game planning has been the same. Coach Jackson always has an input in the game plan, so it’s been good and the game planning has been the same.”
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It’s unknown if Hart will be with the Michigan team for its Saturday showdown against No. 10 Penn State at The Big House.
“I don’t know yet,” Moore said. “That’s all up to the doctors, so whenever he gets released … we’ll find out more.”
After Hart went down last Saturday, Michigan players appeared rattled, and some were seen with tears in their eyes. They had to resume play, of course, and the Wolverines’ offense sputtered toward the end of the first half. The sideline energy was off until the team reset at halftime, learned Hart was OK and could process everything.
“You watch the first drive — really good execution,” Moore said of Michigan’s 31-10 win over Indiana and the impact the incident may have had on the offense’s struggles. “You watch a couple of those drives in there and it’s just up and down.
“I do think there was an emotional factor of the kids thinking about Coach Hart. It’s not an excuse, but it’s real life. You’ve got 18- to 22-year-old kids thinking about a coach that just went down.
“It really was the execution piece, we did things that were kind of out of character. We had penalties we usually don’t get, guys not in the right spot in the passing game. In the run game, not ID’ing where we need to be. I think that was a big part of it.”
Michigan scored 3 touchdowns and racked up 263 total yards in the second half while running away with the victory.
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“In the second half, we regrouped and you saw what you saw,” Moore said. “I think it was a really great job by the kids to handle that situation the way they did and play the way they did.”
Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy’s first interception of season a ‘teaching moment’
Michigan sophomore quarterback J.J. McCarthy threw his first interception of the season against Indiana, on a ball into coverage that was tipped by graduate wideout Ronnie Bell and eventually picked off.
“It’s a teaching moment,” Moore said of the interception. “The ball, it was tight, tight coverage. It was really, actually, a good ball. It was a moment where you say, OK, ball placement, receiver alignment …
“It’s two-fold, right? It’s not just J.J., it’s how you run the route to get open. It’s all those things because he’s been incredible with the ball and taking care of it.
“Great teaching moment for him. In those situations, it’s just best for him to see it and learn it, understand it. He’s learned from it and moved on.”
McCarthy responded nicely, leading two touchdown drives in Michigan’s final three possessions to close out the win. For the afternoon, he completed 28 of his 36 pass attempts for 304 yards and 3 touchdowns.
