Michigan football offense plans to be more balanced and innovative

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Sherrone Moore has been preaching balance offensively, but thus far, it’s been anything but.

The offense has struggled, particularly in the second half, since Alex Orji took the helm as Michigan’s starting quarterback. The pass game has essentially been nonexistent, even before Orji took the reins. Thus, Michigan needs to find some ways to be innovative, both in playcalling as well as by formation.

One of the things Moore is looking to continue using is something fans and analysts (this site included) have advocated for — putting both Donovan Edwards and Kalel Mullings on the field at the same time. We saw the Wolverines use them both more, but with limited results due to missed assignments and failed execution.

However, Moore says you can expect to see them both in on the same play more often as the season moves forward.

“Yeah, we’ll continue to use it,” Moore said. “Obviously Donovan has a skill set that we’re going to use, and I felt it just put some eye candy, put some things on the defense. I have to think about a lot of things with both those guys on the field. So, definitely keep evolving that. There’s plays that we’ve ran in the past, plays that we’ve practiced, that we’ve never used, and we’ll start to pull those out as the season goes starting this week.”

Michigan has gone away from using Edwards heavily in the pass game, which is surprising considering how he broke onto the scene back in 2021. Long discussed as Michigan’s best pass-catcher, Edwards had 170 yards against Maryland in his freshman year. He had some key receiving touchdowns in his sophomore year before an appendage injury stymied his production on that front.

Either way, the maize and blue need to find a way to make things easier for the wide receiver corps, which has struggled mightily thus far. Through five games, the wideouts have 28 catches for 212 yards and two touchdowns. Compare that to tight end Colston Loveland, who didn’t…