Sherrone Moore quick-hitters: Michigan staff's coaching performance, recruiting, Indiana, more

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan Wolverines football head coach Sherrone Moore met with the media Monday afternoon ahead of his team’s game against Indiana. Here are bullet points with the most noteworthy things he said.

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Sherrone Moore quick-hitters

• Michigan’s head coach acknowledged that first down plays were a problem against Oregon and that some of the third-down issues were a product of early-down failures. He praised some of the third down plays made by senior Davis Warren, who threw 2 third-down touchdowns in the 38-17 loss to Oregon.

• Moore noted that Michigan’s run game has to be better on “normal downs,” in response to a question about graduate running back Kalel Mullings forcing less missed tackles recently than he did earlier in the season. He said it’s hard to make someone miss when a defender is “right in your face,” alluding that the blocking may be an issue.

• Michigan didn’t have enough “energy” or “excitement” in the first half against Indiana, though Moore felt the players ere prepared well. He said the Wolverines “didn’t execute” early in the game. The second half, though, was a “testament to the culture” with the team continuing to “fight.” He also gave credit to Oregon for how it played in winning the game.

• Michigan’s defensive illegal formation penalty was something the Wolverines have to “clean up.” The more than 11 men on the field penalty shortly thereafter was “the first time” this season that the Wolverines have been caught with a substitution issue, per Moore.

• Michigan sophomore cornerback Jyaire Hill, who missed the Oregon game, is “trending on [to] probably playing.” On injured junior cornerback Will Johnson: “We’ll see how he goes this week.”

• On Michigan’s coaching performance as a whole this season, Moore said, “we gotta find ways to get better in every way. … But we got a chance to go fight and win some more games, so that’s the goal.”

• Moore indicated that no staff members in the Michigan press box or on the field saw an angle of Oregon’s first touchdown — which should have been called an incompletion — until after the officials confirmed the play and the extra point occurred. He noted that all scoring plays are supposed to be reviewed (he can’t challenge those).

• Moore noted that Michigan hasn’t allowed a lot of explosive runs, even though the run defense has slipped in the last few games. He said the Wolverines were strong in that area early in the game against Oregon.

• First-year Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti has done “an unbelievable job” building his team in such a short amount of time. Moore was asked about the balance between using the transfer portal, which Indiana did plenty of, and bringing in recruits from high school. He said, “You gotta figure out how you want to build a program, whether it’s with the high school ranks or all in the portal or a mix of both. We’re always going to rely on our high school players and the guys we want to build from within and keep the culture, but you’re gonna have those transfer guys to supplement different spots, which we’ll have and we’ll continue to do.”

• Moore was asked about the heat that offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell has taken from fans this season and how he’d evaluate the job he’s done. He said, “for us, it’s gotta be a collective effort,” adding that “we gotta be better as a whole group. It’s not just him.”

• There haven’t been any conversations internally about Moore taking over offensive play-calling duties.

• Asked about the 4th and 5 trick play call against Oregon and if he agrees with it after watching the film, Moore said those conversations are had “internally.”

• The “fight” of Michigan’s team has lived up to the standard this season.

• On things that Michigan can build on from the Oregon loss, Moore pointed to the stops in the second half and the score on the first possession of the third quarter. He also lauded his team’s “fight” once again.

• “Gotta get it” was Moore’s response, in part, on how important it is to get the sixth win and achieve bowl eligibility.

• Michigan has gotten positive feedback from recruits in conversations about “the atmosphere, the vision” of the program. Moore noted that the Wolverines have a lot of big-time commitments.

• He was asked his confidence level about adding a quarterback — whether through the portal or from high school recruiting — in wake of four-star Carter Smith decommitting. He smiled and said, “we’ll be fine.”

• Senior offensive tackle Andrew Gentry is out for the season with a foot injury. Graduate offensive tackle Jeffrey Persi went down with an injury on the first punt of the game against Oregon, but Moore alluded that his diagnosis on the “lower body” injury may not be as bad as it looked originally — “we’ll see” about his availability for this week. Sophomore right tackle Evan Link is “fine” after limping a bit on the last couple plays of the game.