When asked Wednesday if his receivers’ issues with creating separation was causing struggles in the passing game for the Michigan football team, wide receivers coach Ron Bellamy was quick to jump in.
“You’re asking if the guys get open, that’s what you’re asking?” Bellamy responded. “They do. Yes, they do.”
But following his assertion that it’s not an issue with creating separation, Bellamy was asked where the problem with getting the ball to the Wolverines’ receivers lies, if not in them getting open. In response to that, he gave a murkier answer.
“We have to be better,” Bellamy continued. “Just protecting, pitch and catch, quarterback, receivers, collectively. One-eleventh. It’s a breakdown somewhere, and it has to get better. I’m not shying away from that, and I’m giving you my honest assessment of what I see.”
Bellamy’s honest assessment recognizes that there’s some problem with involving the receivers in the offense, but fails to get at the details behind that. He spent most of his press conference emphasizing the idea of “one-eleventh” — that every player on the field has to do their part — but never got into the nitty-gritty of why his receivers might not be doing their one-eleventh successfully.
Even without Bellamy’s assessment, the problems in Michigan’s receivers room are obvious to the naked eye. The Wolverines’ receivers have combined for a pitiful 38 catches for 342 yards through seven games this season, fewer yards than junior tight end Colston Loveland has recorded alone. Loveland also missed a game with injury, adding insult to the healthy receivers.
Still, any time a potential root cause for Michigan’s receiving issues was suggested to Bellamy, he deflected. According to him, his receivers are getting open just fine, even if it doesn’t look like that on Saturday. He gave a bit more credence to the idea that it’s a chemistry issue, exacerbated by a constantly rotating starting quarterback, but still ultimately denied that too.
“We’ve been blessed with having (J.J. McCarthy) the last couple years, you’ve had one constant quarterback, so obviously the chemistry is there,” Bellamy said. “That hasn’t been the case this year, but we’ve had so many reps together that it’s not like in the NFL, where a quarterback goes down and you get a guy off the street. … There’s chemistry with all of our quarterbacks.”
So according to Bellamy, the receivers’ struggles are due to neither a lack of chemistry nor a lack of separation from the defense. Instead, the problem comes down to some yet-to-be identified breakdown seven games into the season. The only distinct place that Bellamy identified potential improvements in was his own work as a position coach.
“How can you get the kids to play with more detail, better detail?” Bellamy asked of himself. “How can you get the kids to really be more confident out there? How can you get the kids to just be a better version of themselves? … The kid’s a reflection of you as a coach. If they’re not getting it done, then either I’m coaching or allowing it to happen.”
Though Bellamy might prefer to place the blame on himself, his receivers still aren’t getting it done. The Wolverines’ offensive scheme doesn’t necessarily expect wide receivers to be standout performers, but it relies on them to help provide balance for the run game. When the wideouts can’t threaten to catch the ball, much less stretch the field, opposing defenses have every reason to stack the box almost every play, making Michigan’s running backs’ lives that much harder.
Seven games into the season, Bellamy is still searching for answers as to why the receivers have managed such woeful production this season. If he can’t figure it out, the offensive struggles that the Wolverines have seen all season — and particularly last Saturday at Illinois — will become the norm, not a decade-long exception.
The post Ron Bellamy still trying to figure out Michigan receiver issues appeared first on The Michigan Daily.
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