Michigan football's new offense under coordinator Jason Beck emphasizes a more free-flowing, 'backyard football' style, according to tight end Zack Marshall. This marks a significant shift from the previous pro-style system used by Jim Harbaugh.
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The spring game didn't necessarily show how different the Michigan football offense will be this season under new offensive coordinator Jason Beck. But, appearing on the In the Trenches podcast, tight end Zack Marshall is singing Beck's praises, sharing more about how much of a departure this new offense will be this year.
For Marshall, it's already a bit of a difference just by virtue of having a different voice in the room, something he's relatively accustomed to, as it is.
"I've had a different O-coordinator every single year, which is a funny stat, right? Four years, four offensive coordinators," Marshall said. "The first three years it was a similar offense. I want to say the same offense, right? From a very Harbaugh-centric to Sherrone and what we grew into with Chip -- those three kind of unique yet similar. Like being able to do that, a bird's-eye view only happens when you understand football as a whole. Not just your terminology, but how defense is run."
That's the behind-the-scenes stylistic change. But what about the offense itself? Marshall says that the Beck offense allows the pass catchers to have a lot more freedom to play old-school football. It's not stodgy in the way that Harbaugh's offense was, where it was based on a pro-style system. This is more, go out there, get open, and get the football than anything.
"Yeah, horizontal, let's get the cat out of the bag," Marshall said. "I think everyone knows this, if you watch Jason Beck's offense, right? It's like it's all about horizontal spacing, and yes, we can beat you down the field. We can run the ball in the box, too. But the ability for the jet sweep to just open up or the ability to be able to get on the perimeter quick screens -- now the screens are different than screens that people think of. Everything's an RPO. Everything has a second option. Everything has a QB pull press. Having that versatility going horizontal is so different than anything we've had before, and it's simplified to a point where you're able to just go out there and play right? Once you've got it, you've got it.
Michigan football's offense is shifting to a more free-flowing style under new coordinator Jason Beck, moving away from the previous pro-style system.
Zack Marshall is a tight end for Michigan football, and he described the new offense as allowing pass catchers more freedom, likening it to 'backyard football.'
Jason Beck's strategy focuses on a more relaxed, improvisational approach compared to Jim Harbaugh's structured pro-style offense.
Zack Marshall has experienced a different offensive coordinator each year, which has given him a unique perspective on the evolution of Michigan's offensive strategies.
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"I wouldn't say like there are very, very technical parts about it, but you can go out and learn the offense in it. I mean, I'm not gonna say in a day, but like learn what you're doing and get rolling, and it's a lot less dependent on being ultra specific. It's about getting open, playing a little bit of backyard football, having versatility in what you do, not just sitting in one place. Like those kinds of things are so different than A. some of the pro-style offenses that you see, right? Like, there's a lot of times in pro-style offenses, you're running to get covered. In this offense, you're never running to get covered. You are trying to get open. You're ready to get the ball. All five eligibles can get the ball, and the quarterback, yeah, he can run that ball too, no matter what in Jason Beck's offense."
With this new-look offense, Marshall is convinced that Michigan will improve greatly on that side of the ball. Whether or not it means it will show in the win-loss column is a different story. But, given the previous experience of the players on offense mixed with what this staff is doing, Marshall is sure that immediate dividends will be paid.
"Accomplish those goals 100%," Marshall said. "From a physical standpoint, we're the strongest, fastest, and most conditioned than we've ever been. Hats off to the strength and conditioning staff. They've done an incredible job with us already, right? They we came in we we had deficiencies. There's no doubt about it.
"Now were we uniquely strong in other areas, of course, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, right? Like our old staff versus our new staff, but being able to kind of encapsulate all of the good that we've gotten. Take the old training with the new training because a lot of the way that it's been the last three years, it's been so similar that if you told someone, 'OK, but I learned this from them,' there would be no correction. Now it's, 'Well, I think that's great, but we've been doing this for a long time. We've seen this happen,' right? So, we have so much breadth of knowledge to be able to improve and have improved that we can make that kind of run now from a football perspective work, no one's gonna know what we're doing, which is pretty fun, right?
"Like a Jason Beck offense in the Big Ten isn't something you're very expected to see, and I mean, obviously we can't sit here and say, 'Yeah, we're gonna win every single game.' We want to we're gonna work our butts off to go do that. But to be able to have something new, right? We're not running the same duo concept that we've ran. We're not running the same. It all blocks up different, but it's the same, but it's still -- it's coached different so we're working to different people, and that nuance and newness of it is going to mess with other people's defenses.
Now our defense is also so different here. Now I mean, we used to work, play so much quarters, and it's so much -- I mean so much blitz with Wink -- you can probably pick that up, right? Yeah, the differences are so unique but are gonna be executed so well that this is the year of any year to go do it."
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan football's new offense is 'backyard football'