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New Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham has hired his offensive coordinator: former Utah play caller Jason Beck. On New Year's Day, Whittingham himself spilled the beans during an appearance on ESPN's College GameDay. The move had been rumored since Whittingham's hire was finalized just before Christmas.
A former BYU quarterback (2004-06), Beck also played at Ventura College and College of the Canyons. He started coaching as a graduate assistant at BYU and LSU before landing his first position gig as QBs coach at Weber State (2009-11). From there:
- QBs coach at Simon Fraser (2012, where he was also OC and turned a bottom-ranked offense into a conference leader)
- Back to BYU as QBs coach (2013-15)
- Virginia QBs coach (2016-21) under Bronco Mendenhall, developing guys like Bryce Perkins (who set the school record for total offense) and Brennan Armstrong (who set the school records for season passing yards, individual game passing yards, and touchdowns in a game)
- Syracuse QB coach/OC (2022-23)
- New Mexico OC/QB coach (2024)
- Utah OC/QB coach (2025)
Beck has a reputation as a quarterback whisperer, and his signal callers have routinely put up big numbers. (Side note: I saw some Syracuse fans say their offense got better after Beck left, but in 2023, starting QB Garrett Shrader got hurt so they actually turned to former Michigan QB - who had transitioned to TE - as essentially a wildcat QB, and Villari completed 23/33 passes - including 14/14 against Georgia Tech - and ran for 323 yards and 2 touchdowns over the final four games.)
Utah's offense was a major problem for defenses in 2025:
- #5 in scoring offense (41.3 points/game)
- #4 in total offense (482.9 yards/game)
- #2 in rushing offense (266.3 rushing yards/game) and #1 in yards per carry (6.02)
This seems like a home run on paper. Sophomore QB Bryce Underwood, the former #1 overall recruit, is a dual-threat talent who showed flashes as a true freshman but was held back by inconsistency and a conservative scheme. Beck's track record with mobile QBs (Perkins, Armstrong, Dampier) could unlock Underwood's potential in a big way. Add in a solid running back room, talent on the offensive line, and a good group of tight ends, and this could be a pretty exciting group in 2026.
From a scheme perspective, I think Michigan is going to look different without needing to change much. Underwood should be more of a factor in the run game and more things should open up in the pass game, but Michigan can still be a physical team using a lot of big, powerful personnel. Opponents are going to get a lot of different formations, a lot of eye candy, and a higher number of +1 runs. This offense is going to look like the power spread that Urban Meyer ran at Ohio State with guys like J.T. Barrett.
"This offense is going to look like the power spread that Urban Meyer ran at Ohio State with guys like J.T. Barrett."
ReplyDeleteIs that a good thing or a bad thing, given all the changes in college football over the years? Urban Meyer has been out of the college game since 2019, and in that time we've seen LSU, Alabama, Georgia, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State win the championship. Has the game moved past Meyer's "power spread?"
Utah seemed to be able to offense pretty well. In my experience, having a great OL goes a long way to making any particular offense work. But to your point, offenses completely change in 4-5 years as do defenses. The constant? Good OL with Good QB's.
DeleteI don't think the game has moved past the power spread. There are still teams that run it successfully. It might not be the championship teams over the past few years, but sometimes that's just coincidence.
DeleteWe don;t deserve the goodness that we just received. We hit a homer IMO with this staff and the HC.
ReplyDeleteWatching Bama get pushed around like rag dolls, cant run, cant protect, cant stop the run, well, sometimes not getting what you wish for is good thing. I think Deboer is a solid coach, but whatever is going on at Bama it not good. IU is a good team, maybe the best, so losing to a great team is not the issue. It happens. But getting pile driven into the turf like you are cupcake? By Indiana ( who we know is a great team, but minute ago they were a joke) will get all the good will spent. Bama has already been humiliated 4-5 times in the last couple years. Ken will not last 5 years IMO. Next year might be hot seat year with year 4 make or break.
Next year is year #3 for DeBoer, and I think it's make-or-break for him. I don't think that means win the NC, but I do think it means win the SEC and make the playoffs. And more importantly: don't get embarrassed like they did against Georgia, and against Indiana.
DeleteAlabama was given a gift by their ticket to the playoff, despite their three losses. That was a gamble on the part of the tournament committee, and given how they looked against Indiana, they'll think twice about doing that again with a DeBoer-led Alabama.
With the way the last couple years went with Moore I would say we deserve an excellent coaching staff.
DeleteRelative to most of the other staff it seems like Beck is relatively higher risk/unproven. He's promising no doubt but his track record as an OC is pretty limited and his success tied closely to Dampier. QB development I don't question but to be a Michigan level OC usually takes more than 2 years of success.
ReplyDeleteI am hopeful but not entirely confident. Pairing him with Harding resolves a lot of concern though. If they can get back their young OL pieces I will be further excited.
I will say that I keep hearing Beck is supposedly able to adapt to his personnel. If that's the case -- Underwood is very different than Dampier. So I would not necessarily expect the same style of offense. Underwood's value is primarily in his passing ability and utilizing that golden arm. I think you want to limit his exposure in a way that wasn't true for Dampier or Barrett. Run the ball yes, but 15 carries a game? That seems like a bad idea for Underwood.
The idea of a big powerful personnel and a balanced offensive attack is certainly tantalizing though. If Beck hits with Underwood you'll see his name on head coaching searches within a couple years, as with Hill.
Go back to his earlier offenses, and Beck is not just Meyer's spread to run. Dampier being a quick runner but not much of a passer is what created the utah/New Mexico offense
ReplyDeleteThat's not Bryce's game though, so we can expect some adaptations