One of the best bits of news Michigan football fans heard in the three weeks since Brady Hoke took over as head coach was that quarterback Denard Robinson would be staying with the program. With the switch from Rich Rodriguez's spread option offense to a more pro-style system, the question has been how Robinson would be utilized next season.
↵The Detroit News' Angelique Chengelis spoke to several members of the new offensive coaching staff about what kinds of changes can be expected and how that will affect the incumbent players. In particular, offensive coordinator Al Borges provided a glimpse into what the Michigan coaches have in mind for Robinson.
↵↵↵"To a degree … we're blowing a lot of it up," new Michigan offensive coordinator Al Borges said. "In our offense, I don't see Denard rushing for 1,700 yards, and I told him that. But I could see him rushing for 1,000 yards, and I could see him throwing for that 700 or 800 he didn't rush for."
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Not a surprise. As potent as Michigan's offense was last season, compiling 6,353 yards and scoring 424 points, the system was entirely dependent on Robinson. And when opposing defenses figured out how to contain him, or Robinson wasn't throwing the ball well, the offense couldn't score when needed.
↵Besides becoming one-dimensional in the spread, Robinson also took a beating with 256 carries and clearly wore down toward the end of the season. That was an important aspect of Borges' pitch to Robinson.
↵↵↵"They were tattooing him," Borges said. "I came at him that way — we can save you a little bit. Everybody knew Denard was the show. He's tough, he's smart and he's athletic, and we have to get the most out of him."
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Borges also went on to tell Chengelis that he was impressed by how accurate Robinson was as a passer last season (62.5 percent), which should help him adapt to a pro-style system.
↵Click over to the article for more, including running backs coach Fred Jackson highlighting two tailbacks that appear ideally suited to the new offense and how wide receivers coach Jeff Hecklinski is approaching a deep corp of wideouts.