ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan is hoping that it has the elixir to its offensive ills in quarterback Tommy Carr. But it’s going to be a bit of an uphill battle for the true freshman getting his (likely) first start, given that Indiana is coming to town.
The defending national champion has a very stout defense, and it’s one that is aggressive and certainly complicated for a young quarterback to go up against. Thus, while the Wolverines are hoping to get the offense moving for the first time all year, it’s not going to be an easy task.
On Friday, WolverinesWire and a couple of other reporters caught up with former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn, now with Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff. He shared his early impressions of Tommy Carr, why he got the job over Bryce Underwood this week, and the challenges he’s set to face against the Hoosiers.
You can watch the whole thing or read the transcript below.
What do you notice from Tommy Carr?
Yeah, I think I like everything I've seen so far. I mean, he came right in the way, throws a strike. It's not often you see a true freshman, guy who's inexperienced, be asked on his first play in under center to throw right over the middle like that. You know, oftentimes coaches are concerned about throwing in the middle because that's where tips, overthrows, picks typically come, but did a great job, got things started off.
Was spread out on third down, good completion. Marsh probably should have gotten the first down there if he just turns it up, trusted speed. They gave him a flea flicker. They gave him a few other plays in there too that just kind of show you they're going to give him a wide variety of things he can do within the offense. And it's not very often you see a true freshman, again, a guy who's inexperienced, come in and be able to execute all those things.
So, you know, was every pass perfect? No, it's not going to be. But even just how he handled a lot of the run game as well, the reads, the design for him within that, I thought he did a tremendous job and it really opens up a lot of things in this offense.
What are they telling him this week? Is this his first start? I mean, what do you think they're drilling into his head?
Don't try to do too much. You know, just focus on the fundamentals, focus on your execution every given play. Don't think about the last play. Don't think about the next one, just the one that you're on.
You know, oftentimes I think you can feel like it becomes overwhelming that you're playing a top team in the country right now who's just coming off a loss and they're hungry for a win and the different blitz schemes and things that Bryant Haines, their defensive coordinator, will try to do. You can get caught up in thinking about things too much and not just executing what you see out there and reacting to it.
So that's the biggest thing is just trying to play each play one play at a time.
Why do you think – I mean, you mentioned the passes and stuff earlier. Why do you think the hold of the offense was able to just kind of be a bit better than Tommy Carr?
I just think Tommy's got a better feel for how this thing's supposed to flow. You know, when you watch him — again, eight pass attempts to a short sample size — watching his eyes, watch the way he progresses, watch where his eyes are. He understands where the ball is supposed to go. He understands where he's supposed to look to kind of read the defense. Even in some of the run game too when there's a read or an element of that in there for the quarterback, I just think in a small sample size, he already looks like the offense is doing a much better job within that.
So that was one of the frustrating things I think about watching Bryce this year was at times you'd see him do it and at times you're going, what's he doing out there? And he's played too much football at this point to be able to not have progressed past what he did last year as a freshman and then what things looked like early on.
And considering that Jason Beck's system is very quarterback-centric, which isn't necessarily something we've seen in Ann Arbor really in the modern era, how much do you think that having a guy that can process seemingly like Carr can really help kind of propel this?
Yeah, I mean, look, that's one piece of it. I think also you have to have a guy with a skill set that can run Jason Beck's system. I think Bryce has that skill set. So then it just comes down to what is he doing to make sure that he's out there and he's able to process it. And it just never really fully came together.
And again, all the people who are saying, hey, it's not a great scheme to put up with their line or their personnel, et cetera. But it's like, well, when Tommy Carr comes in, you see them kind of explode in the second half. And granted, there's some turnovers, too, that help aid that. But if they have a good game again this week, you're kind of saying to yourself, like, all right, you know, maybe it is more of just the difference in personnel at quarterback and how they're operating within the system.
If you had to power rank the top three attributes of a quarterback that are important to you, what are they?
I mean, definitely decision-making and processing would be right up there. I don't know if you'd put that as one, two, or just as one, kind of as the mental aspect of it. I think you've got to be an accurate passer, too. You know, obviously you're the guy dealing with passing the football out there. That's part of it. And I think the last thing is, you know, you've got to be tough, kind of gritty, and be able to create.
So that all kind of falls hand-in-hand. But I think we saw three elements of that last week from Tommy.
What are the challenges that the Indiana defense is going to provide for him, especially as a first-time quarterback?
They've mixed up their looks and what they're going to be doing coverage-wise. You know, this isn't like last week. You're there in Bloomington where Jeremiah Smith's going to be on spot. You're going to try to double up the whole game, right? And, like, they're going to be able to say, hey, we feel comfortable putting Sharp or whoever else, one-on-one with J.J. Buchanan or Andrew Marsh, and they're going to try to stop the run and put everything on Tommy's shoulders. And in saying that, it's difficult because Tommy can run, too.
And so even then, playing a post-side safety look, you don't have enough bodies in the box to stop everyone. So it'll be a challenge, but like I said, Bryant Haines is the type of guy that can mix up coverage looks, pressures. He's been bringing more pressure the past couple of weeks, too. You know, one area that's kind of gotten to them a little bit, as well, is some of the edge pressure I think you're seeing. Like last week, the completion to Hansen running on, like, the shallow cross. They went for, like, a 22-yard gain, something like that. You know, they brought a corner blitz. I don't think Tommy ever saw it. And that kind of comes with some of the inexperience, too. Now, granted, the O-line saw it. The running back picked it up. It was fine. But when you're a defensive coordinator and you see that, you're like, all right, we can do some things to kind of bring some pressure and get some free hits on him.
And then a guy who's a freshman at 195, can he withstand the beating that he might take from him? And that was the thing that Cignetti said about Julian Sayin last week, is how do you stop Jeremiah Smith? You hit Sayin. You hit him before he gets the ball out. So I would suspect that they'll try to test how tough he'll be as a true freshman signal caller.
There's so many unknowns for Michigan offensively with Carr and everything else. What do you think is the blueprint for them to win?
It's controlling the line of scrimmage, running the football. You know, last week, one of the biggest differences we saw was running a lot more in between the tackles. I think if you go back to the previous five games or so, there was a lot of trying to get outside, trying to get some of those big plays, and they just really haven't hit for them this year.
So getting back to truly the identity, I think, of what Michigan football has been. It's been being able to bully people up front, run between the tackles when you want to, and then incorporating some of the stuff off of that. So that, to me, was maybe one of those foundational wins where you see it on film, you get a little more confidence. Now, some of the offensive linemen are questionable, so we'll see who's healthy for this one. And obviously Indiana is really good on the interior of their D-line, but I would say that's going to be one of the biggest things going into this game.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Brady Quinn explains why Tommy Carr is better fit for Michigan offense