ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Michigan football is always under a microscope, but it's been even more so in the bye week, after direct messages from tight end Zack Marshall were leaked via social media. In them, Marshall criticized offensive coordinator Jason Beck, saying that he was told that tight ends are of little use in the offense.
In the aftermath, given that the Wolverines are now 3-2 and the offense is struggling mightily, Beck says he sat the entire offense down, not just the tight ends, to get everyone on the same page. From there, Beck says that he's working to get everyone bought into the plan and the scheme, even though there's a lot of chatter outside of Schembechler Hall that's difficult to ignore.
"Kind of with the whole offense, it was sit down, talk through a lot of things," Beck said. "When you find yourself in this kind of position, things aren't going great, the natural thing is just point the finger at the outside noise. You have a place like Michigan with a huge spotlight. In the day and age of social media, where you can only imagine what these kids are hearing. And it's not just the parents telling them something. It's everybody, you know.
"And so, absolutely, we've got to take those things on, talk about them, address them. There's tons of things scheme-wise we've got to improve and get better at. We've got to tweak, adjust. You know, there's all that. But there's also this other thing of just the mental, the attitude, the mindset, the buy-in, the word you used of the group that is going to affect that thing as much as anything else. There's no magic wand where you're just going to slap on this thing and make some special call that's going to come to the rescue. It's execution, and it's mindset, and it's buy-in as a group."
Regardless of if the buy-in is happening or not, things have to either change or improve in order for the offense to be a viable part of the team on a weekly basis. And Beck says he's constantly evaluating what he has at his disposal and is trying to figure out what the offense has to do in order to be at its best.
He says everything is geared toward the players rather than the scheme to the scheme. But even still, they're still working to get everything to click -- because it just hasn't yet.
"Well, and at the heart of what we do is we're always adapting to first your quarterback and then your personnel and whatever it takes to be successful," Beck said. "So there's no, like, just here's the playbook and here's the plays we're going to run no matter what. It's always, like, evolving, changing. You're trying to crack the code on what's best for this group. So obviously we've got a lot of cracking to do because we haven't figured that out. That's always the pursuit of what we're doing."
Even still, Beck says that Michigan has the talent to be a potent offense. And given that he's been a part of other outfits that perhaps weren't, that's something that the Wolverines have at their advantage -- even when things aren't currently working.
Beck's had some tough conversations with head coach Kyle Whittingham, and while there's a disconnect between talent and scheme, they're hopeful that everything will get evened out eventually.
"Obviously it's not great, but I've been a part of where you're not a great group, and, you know, we are not that," Beck said. "We've got some good players, good talent. We are better than what's happening on the field. So that's kind of that disconnect of, you know, we are a way better group and way more capable. And so just the different things to get there and make that happen.
"But, yeah, we have the 11 guys out there playing, those are good players. And we can play at a higher level and do better as coaches. But not, you know, this is all of us. Put them in positions to be successful, execute and get it done, and get there, make it happen, fight our way through it."
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Jason Beck reveals message to Michigan offense after leaked criticism