Video: Jedd Fisch and Tyrone Wheatley talk about their position groups

Hit the jump for Tyrone Wheatley's question-and-answer session.

Tyrone Wheatley, Wolverine (again)

Tyrone Wheatley

Former Buffalo Bills running backs coach Tyrone Wheatley reportedly signed a contract on Friday to become Michigan's running backs coach, replacing Fred Jackson.

Wheatley is a Michigan legend, both in high school and college. He grew up in Inkster, attended Dearborn Heights (MI) Robichaud, and was a nine-time state champion in high school (1 football state championship, 7 individual championships in track, and 1 track-and-field team state championship). He graduated in 1991 and moved on to the Michigan Wolverines.

In Ann Arbor under Gary Moeller, Wheatley wore #6 and convinced me that all good college running backs should wear that number. Michigan was the Alabama of the 1980's and early 1990's with running backs galore, so Wheatley (86 carries, 548 yards, 6.4 yards/carry, 9 touchdowns) backed up Ricky Powers as a freshman. Things got stirred up in 1992 when Wheatley won the starting job and got an increasing number of carries for the next three years, finishing with a career total of 688 carries, 4178 yards, and 47 rushing touchdowns on 6.1 yards/carry. He also caught 51 passes for 510 yards and 6 touchdowns, plus he averaged 21.7 yards/kickoff return with a 99-yard touchdown return against Houston in 1992. He ranks fifth in Michigan history in rushing yardage, second in touchdowns, and fourth in yards per carry (of players with over 100 career carries). He was all-conference his final three years and named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year in 1992.

Wheatley was also a Big Ten champion in track and field and an All-American in the 110m hurdles while running track for three years in college. Despite being listed at 6'1" and robust at 215-226 lbs. throughout college, he was a speed demon.

Hit the jump for lots more on Wheatley's playing and coaching career.

Pro Athletes and Their Spawn: 2015 Edition

That's who you think it is.
(image via Delaware Online)

This is a yearly tradition to look at high school seniors who have famous athletic fathers (or occasionally just a famous father). Below are eleven players whose names - or fathers' names - you might recognize.

The 2014, 2013, and 2012 versions are available, too, if you're interested.

Cordell Broadus - WR - Las Vegas (NV) Bishop Gorman: Broadus is a 6'2", 195 lb. prospect who's ranked as a 247 Composite 4-star, the #18 wide receiver, and #149 overall. He has a top group that includes Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, LSU, Notre Dame, UCLA, and USC (Michigan has not offered, but he has said that he would be interested in visiting now that Jim Harbaugh has been hired). It seems to be a battle between the two teams in southern California, but I'm leaning toward his father's favorite schoool, USC. That father is Cordozar Broadus, Jr., who is best known as Snoop Dogg (a.k.a. Snoop Lion). He probably needs no bio, as he is a famous rapper, protege of Dr. Dre, etc. Snoop was known to visit USC practices quite often, at least before Steve Sarkisian was hired as coach.

Hit the jump for the other ten athletes.

Michigan Assistant Coach Rumors

Greg Roman could be Michigan's next offensive coordinator

We as fans are never happy. We just got our dream coach, and now we'll be concerned about who his assistants will be. When Jim Harbaugh was asked about filling his staff, he said, "Measure twice. Cut once." So he wants to be careful about who he brings on as assistant coaches. Here is a look at some potential coaches to fill out the ten offensive and defensive staff jobs:

1. Jim Harbaugh, Head Coach: Signed, sealed, and delivered. Next.

2. Offensive coordinator: San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman has been with Harbaugh since the Stanford days, and some reports - as well as common sense - suggest that he will follow Harbaugh to Michigan. Roman is from New Jersey and has spent most of his time in the NFL, except for two years in Palo Alto. Roman has mostly worked with the offensive line and tight ends throughout his career, so I would expect him to help out with one of those positions.
Other possibilities: Andy Moeller, Tyrone Wheatley

3. Running backs: Buffalo Bills running backs coach Tyrone Wheatley has not been promised a return in 2015, and being a Michigan legend, he might feel a desire to return to Ann Arbor to help resurrect the program. Harbaugh might also float the idea of being a co-offensive coordinator, which would make a little more sense from Wheatley's perspective. He has a desire to be a head coach someday, so one would expect him to be looking for some kind of promotion up the ladder.
Other possibilities: Reggie Davis, Fred Jackson, Roy Manning

4. Wide receivers: No, this isn't the former Detroit Lions wide receiver, but San Francisco 49ers wide receiver coach John Morton is out of a job. Morton grew up in Michigan and played wide receiver at Western Michigan, so he's a midwest guy and would presumably have some connections in the area. San Francisco's wide receivers weren't spectacular, but he has worked with some pretty big names in Anquan Boldin and Michael Crabtree.
Other possibility: Ronald Curry

5. Tight ends: Kentucky tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow has been rumored to be a possibility. Harbaugh has reportedly already reached out to Marrow, whose help in recruiting at Kentucky has been pretty impressive. Marrow grew up in Ohio and played football at Toledo, so he's another midwest guy.
Other possibility: Reggie Davis

6. Offensive line: San Francisco 49ers offensive line coach Reggie Davis was with Harbaugh for each year in San Francisco. He has spent his entire playing (Washington, San Diego Chargers) and coaching (UNLV, Oregon State, San Francisco 49ers) career on the west coast. Maybe he's attached to the lifestyle, family, and friends out there. If he comes with Harbaugh, he'll be a much needed connection on the west coast.
Other possibilities: Tim Drevno, Andy Moeller

7. Defensive coordinator: Florida defensive coordinator and interim head coach D.J. Durkin has been a popular name floating around for the past few weeks. He worked with Harbaugh at Stanford and has experience working with special teams, defensive ends, and linebackers, so he could help out in any of those areas.
Other possibility: Greg Mattison

8. Defensive line: Oklahoma defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery has been suggested as a possibility. Montgomery, of course, was at Michigan for the first couple years of Brady Hoke's tenure and then left for a bigger paycheck in Norman. Montgomery was only ever in charge of part of the defensive line at Michigan, so the only real reasons to move back would be another pay raise and/or control over the whole position group.
Other possibilities: D.J. Durkin, Roy Manning, Greg Mattison

9. Linebackers: Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Mattison might be a holdover from the previous staff to this one. Mattison has family in the area, loves the University of Michigan, is a pretty good coach with NFL experience, and is a great recruiter. He also has connections to Harbaugh and potential defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin.
Other possibility: Roy Manning

10. Defensive backs: San Francisco 49ers defensive backs coach Greg Jackson will be looking for a job. He is from Florida and played college football at LSU, so his potential connections in Florida and SEC country could help Michigan's recruiting efforts in difficult locations.
Other possibility: Roy Manning

OVERALL
It would be unlikely that so many 49ers guys would follow Harbaugh to a college to which they have no connections, and other guys coming to Ann Arbor from the NFL (Wheatley, Moeller) would also be a bit of a stretch. Will all of those guys end up standing on the sidelines of Michigan Stadium? Probably not. But I would expect at least a couple of them, particularly Roman. Otherwise, some likely possibilities seem to include Vince Marrow and D.J. Durkin.

Otherwise, Michigan has a couple ace recruiters in its pocket with Mattison and Manning if they so choose to keep them. Manning is supposedly still in Ann Arbor and hoping to catch on with the new staff. I didn't list him as option #1 at any positions above, but that's partly because he has coached running backs, linebackers, and cornerbacks, and he played a hybrid defensive end position. Harbaugh could put him in a variety of spots, although Michigan's cornerbacks performed questionably this past season under his tutelage. I would not want Manning to be in charge of all the defensive back positions by himself, but maybe a year of honing his skills with the cornerbacks could help him improve in year two of coaching the position.

Coaching Candidate Rumors

Tyrone Wheatley, if for not other reason
than bringing back happy memories.

THERE IS NOTHING TO WRITE.
I have a few posts waiting to be completed, and even a few that are already finished. But a lot of them have to do with recruiting, and I don't think anyone cares much about recruiting right now. All Michigan fans care about is who the next coach will be, and I can't say I blame them. As Michigan fans, we can't move forward. (On the other hand, I have been moving forward with catching up on Parks and Recreation.)

Detroit Sports Rag contributor Jeff Moss tweeted out last night that there has been a "sea change" in the reporting on Michigan's head coaching job. Other Twitter feeds have also changed their tune somewhat, based on someone in Michigan's administration supposedly giving info that Jim Harbaugh could be leaning toward returning to Ann Arbor. Moss also said that he will release the source of this information at 9:00 a.m. today, so that ought to be interesting.

Aside from Harbaugh's return, there have also been rumors that:

• Former Michigan running back Tyrone Wheatley, currently the Buffalo Bills running backs coach, will return as co-offensive coordinator
• Former Michigan offensive line coach Andy Moeller, currently the Cleveland Browns offensive line coach, will be Wheatley's co-offensive coordinator
• D.J. Durkin is being considered as the defensive coordinator. Durkin was at Florida under Will Muschamp and is currently their interim head coach; he also worked for Harbaugh at Stanford

I am posting this info not because I necessarily believe it, but because this is all anyone seems to want to discuss. Past coaching searches have taught me not to believe anything (thanks, Kirk Herbstreit), but we all know that Jim Harbaugh is Michigan's #1 choice for the coaching job at this point. Until his situation is resolved with the San Francisco 49ers (whether he resigns, they fire him, they try to trade him, etc.), Michigan's football program and Wolverines fans are in a holding pattern.

In other news, former Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden signed a contract extension with ESPN.

Scout 300 released for 2015

Tyrone Wheatley (left) and Wheatley, Jr.
(image via Scout)

I posted the list of top 100 players for Scout the other day, and now they've released their top 300. Here's a look at the rest of that list, particularly players of note for Michigan fans; all players have been offered unless otherwise noted.

112. Anthony McKee - OLB - Ohio*
118. Jaason Lewis - WR - Virginia
120. Darian Roseboro - DE - North Carolina
125. Chuma Edoga - OT - Georgia*
131. C.J. Conrad - TE - Ohio**
136. Matt Jones - OG - Ohio**
140. Tyrone Wheatley - DE - New York
168. David Dowell - WR - Ohio*
173. Kyonta Stallworth - OT - Michigan**
182. Cassius Peat - OLB - Arizona*
186. Tyson Smith - CB - Michigan**
200. Chris Green - MLB - Ohio*
215. Chris Fobbs - CB - Ohio**
220. Tyree Kinnel - CB - Ohio**
239. Mike Weber - RB - Michigan
252. Joshua Alabi - DE - Michigan
265. Tyriq Thompson - OLB - Michigan*
268. Garrett Taylor - CB - Virginia*
272. David Edwards - QB - Illinois*
279. Andrew Dowell - RB - Ohio**
286. Christopher Young - S - Ohio**

*Player has visited or camped at Michigan.
**Player has not visited or been offered, but comes from Michigan's heavy recruiting area.

247 Sports: Michigan Legacies to Look for

Steve Lorenz at 247 Sports has a list of players to look for in the next few classes. Each of these players has a father, brother, or cousin who has played at Michigan. I'll let you click on through for more informative updates on each, but here's a list of the names:

2015
Jon Runyan, Jr. - OT - Philadelphia (NJ) St. Joseph's
Tyriq Thompson - S - Detroit (MI) King
Tyrone Wheatley, Jr. - TE - Buffalo (NY) Canisius

2016
Bailey Edwards - RB - Pinckney (MI) Northville
Cal Grbac - WR - Cleveland (OH) St. Ignatius
Daelin Hayes - RB - Orchard Lake (MI) St. Mary's
Lavert Hill - CB - Detroit (MI) Cass Tech
Joshua Jackson - QB - Ann Arbor (MI) Huron
Terius Wheatley - RB - Buffalo (NY) Canisius

2017
Joshua Ross - LB - Orchard Lake (MI) St. Mary's
Canyon Tuman - TE - Sewickley (PA) North Allegheny

Am I expecting too much from Michigan's running backs?

Brandon Minor was Michigan's most successful running back of the Rich Rodriguez era.

If you're a frequent reader, I'm sure you're aware that I've been unhappy with the performance of some of the running backs over the past few seasons.  Due to some recent conversations with fellow fans, I started to wonder: am I expecting too much from Michigan running backs? 

So I thought I'd do some research.  Below you'll find a listing of the explosive runs (20+ yards) by each starting running back for the last couple decades.  I don't have access to each and every run, so what I used was a player's longest explosive play from each particular game.  The weakness here is that a player with two 20+ yard runs in one game (say, a 50-yarder and a 25-yarder) only has the 50-yarder listed.  Additionally, the maximum number of plays to be listed is 13 (the most games Michigan has played in any given season) and the minimum is 0.

NOTE: I listed each of the team's top few rushers in the Rodriguez years just for recent comparison's sake.  However, the player with the most carries is highlighted in yellow.

Denard Robinson 2010 (256 carries): 87, 72, 47, 32, 32, 29, 24, 20, 20

Michael Cox 2010 (6 carries): 35
Michael Shaw 2010 (75 carries): 50, 39, 21
Vincent Smith 2010 (136 carries): 56
Carlos Brown 2009 (81 carries): 90, 41
Michael Cox 2009 (13 carries): 57, 24
Brandon Minor 2009 (96 carries): 55, 32
Denard Robinson 2009 (31 carries): 38, 36
Michael Shaw 2009 (42 carries): 22
Vincent Smith 2009 (48 carries): 37
Sam McGuffie 2008 (118 carries): 29, 26, 21
Brandon Minor 2008 (109 carries): 45, 40, 36, 34, 32, 21, 20
Michael Shaw 2008 (41 carries): 48, 30
Mike Hart 2007 (265 carries): 61, 54, 37, 23, 23
Mike Hart 2006 (318 carries): 54, 42, 33, 23, 23, 22, 21
Mike Hart 2005 (150 carries): 64, 20
Mike Hart 2004 (282 carries): 34, 33, 32, 26
Chris Perry 2003 (338 carries): 63, 41, 30, 27, 25, 21
Chris Perry 2002 (267 carries): 57, 43, 34, 23
B.J. Askew 2001 (199 carries): 30, 30, 25, 20
Anthony Thomas 2000 (319 carries): 68, 61, 54, 35, 32, 28, 25, 21

Anthony Thomas 1999 (301 carries): 60, 39, 31, 26, 23, 20

Anthony Thomas 1998 (166 carries): 80, 69, 59, 36, 24

Chris Howard 1997 (199 carries): 51, 30, 29, 28, 28, 27
Clarence Williams 1996 (202 carries): 32, 30, 26, 21
Tim Biakabutuka 1995 (303 carries): 60, 47, 47, 44, 37, 35, 34, 20, 20

Tyrone Wheatley 1994 (210 carries): 67, 36, 34, 24, 24, 22, 21, 20

Tyrone Wheatley 1993 (207 carries): 59, 47, 45, 43, 26, 25, 25

Tyrone Wheatley 1992 (185 carries): 88, 82, 54, 30, 23, 22

Ricky Powers 1991 (240 carries): 48, 39, 36, 33, 21

Next you'll see a chart of the top running back's rushing average for each of the past 20 seasons.  You'll notice that after Tyrone Wheatley and Tshimanga Biakabutuka departed, the running backs usually alternated one or two good years with one or two poor years.

Do those numbers have anything to do with wins?  Probably not.  The same chart as above, overlaid with the wins for each year:

CONCLUSIONS

1. Denard Robinson is awesome, as if you didn't already know.  He had a 20+ yard run in nine out of the thirteen games he played in 2010.  In the last twenty years, that number has been matched only by Tshimanga Biakabutuka in 1995.

2. Anthony Thomas was more of a big play guy than I thought.  He had at least seven rushes of 50+ yards in his career.

3. The number of carries for Michigan running backs dwindled greatly in the Rodriguez years.  From 1991 to 2007, eight running backs had 250+ carries in a season.  From 2008-2010, the highest number of carries for a running back was Vincent Smith's 136 in 2010.  Even if you combine the top two running backs from the past three seasons, the highest total is McGuffie/Minor's 227 back in 2008.

4. As far as Michigan running backs go, Vincent Smith falls at the bottom of the heap when it comes to explosive plays.  In his two seasons at Michigan, he has two 20+ yard runs.  The closest one to Smith is the 2005 version of Mike Hart, who missed several games due to injury and got only 150 carries.  Hart's 64-yarder and 20-yarder in that year are actually pretty close to Smith's longest two runs from 2010 - a 56-yard touchdown and a 19-yard run.

5. For being an offensive genius, Rich Rodriguez sure didn't have a great effect on Michigan's running backs.  I don't think there's any question that Michigan's best running back during his tenure was Brandon Minor, but Minor (109) split carries pretty evenly with Sam McGuffie (118) in 2008.  That was followed by a 2009 in which no running back carried the ball more than 100 times.  Injuries played a big part in the production (or lack thereof) from Minor, Carlos Brown, McGuffie, Shaw, etc.

6. I'm probably overreacting a little bit to yards per carry.  There are certainly more important aspects to winning football games than simple yards per carry, like turnovers, defense, quarterback play, etc.  For example, Michigan didn't lose 13 games over the past two seasons just because Vincent Smith has been a mediocre running back - the horrible defense played the biggest role in losing most of those games.  But at the same time, the only players with the same or worse rushing averages than Smith were:

a) the often forgotten Clarence Williams in '96 on an eight-win team
b) Anthony Thomas in '99, whose 4.3 yards a carry was a full yard below each of his surrounding seasons
c) Chris Perry's subpar junior season in '02
d) Mike Hart's injury-plagued '05 year
e) Sam McGuffie's freshman year in '08, when he suffered from concussions and a horrible unit around him


SO WHO CARES?

Well, I do. 

But so do defenses.  When teams don't respect your running back's ability to make big plays, they can concentrate on stopping the pass.  Or, in the case of Denard Robinson-led teams, they can concentrate on stopping the quarterback.  The lack of a big-play threat to play alongside Robinson in the backfield limits his abilities to be as effective a runner as possible.  Imagine a zone read option offense with Tim Biakabutuka or Tyrone Wheatley standing next to Denard Robinson in the backfield.  Which one do you defend?  Or do you curl up into a fetal position and pretend you pulled a hamstring?

Furthermore, big plays take away the opportunity for a team to bog down going from Point A to Point B.  Long runs aren't just fun to watch - they serve a purpose.  A guy who moves the ball in small chunks might be a fine running back, but at some point his short gains might force a few punts when the offense fails to get a first down. 

Clearly, a guy like Biakabutuka doesn't guarantee you a big play every time he starts a new series.  But he can move the ball in large chunks, and his presence opens up the play action passing game and keeps the defense off balance.

WHAT SHOULD WE EXPECT IN 2011?

Better running back play.  That's the bottom line.  Over the last twenty years, Michigan's running backs have alternated good years with mediocre ones.  On the heels of a poor year from the Wolverines' backs, it seems Michigan is ready for an upswing in running back production.  Hoke seems committed to running the ball like Michigan used to do, and unlike a season such as 2008, the offensive line should be decent, despite losing a couple senior starters in Steve Schilling and Perry Dorrestein.  Whether it's Michael Shaw, Fitzgerald Toussaint, Stephen Hopkins, or someone else, the starting running back in 2011 should be better than in 2010.

Former Michigan Athlete of the Week: Jonathan Goodwin

New Orleans Saints center Jonathan Goodwin

On Sunday night, Goodwin helped the Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl, 31-17. Wide receiver Adrian Arrington was on the Saints practice squad and former Michigan offensive coordinator Terry Malone is the Saints tight ends coach. I feel sorry for Malone, though, because that means he has to work with Jeremy Shockey every day.

Honorable mention: Former Wolverine running back Tyrone Wheatley had been the running backs coach at Eastern Michigan this past season, but he's headed to Syracuse to take the same position there. This is a step up from a bad Mid-American Conference team to a bad Big East team.

Remember Me? I'm Tyrone Wheatley

This past Saturday, an article popped up from the Ann Arbor News about Tyrone Wheatley.

Wheatley was contacted last December by former Michigan defensive coordinator and current Eastern Michigan head coach Ron English. English needed a running backs coach and Tyrone Wheatley was really really good at something having to do with football, but I can't remember what . . .

Oh, yeah:



Wheatley played for Michigan from 1991 to 1994 and racked up 4,187 rushing yards and 47 touchdowns. His best season was his sophomore year, when he averaged 7.3 yards per carry and scored 13 touchdowns. He wrapped up his college career as Michigan's second-leading rusher and with the second-highest yards per carry average (6.1).

Picked 17th by the New York Giants in 1995, Wheatley appeared to be the heir apparent to Pro Bowler Rodney Hampton.

Then that damn Tiki Barber guy showed up. (Hey, Tiki, Mercury Hayes says hello.)

Wheatley shuffled off to Oakland after the 1998 season, where he spent six years learning how not to run a football team from Al Davis. He ended his career after the 2004 season with 4,962 rushing yards and 47 rushing and receiving touchdowns. Hey, those numbers look kind of familiar . . .

Anyway, Wheatley spent one season as the head coach of his alma mater at Dearborn Heights Robichaud, where he went undefeated (thanks, Al Davis!). Then he spent one season coaching and getting educated at Ohio Northern. Now he's an FBS assistant coach with head coaching aspirations.

Wheatley was one of my favorite players growing up. He was fast and strong and I thought he got a raw deal in New York. But then again, at that point in my intellectual development, I thought every Michigan player was destined for the NFL Hall of Fame and a presidential nomination. I remember being sad when he graduated and even though several good running backs have passed through Ann Arbor in the past 15 years, there hasn't been one quite like Wheatley.

(I'm not saying they're equal players, but I'll be damned if those Wheatley highlights didn't remind me of Brandon Minor. The violent-but-upright running style, the size, and the stride all look similar.)