Jim Harbaugh’s coaching staff on a tear

Kwity Paye gains confidence filling in for Rashan Gary

“Make sure you have all the tools in your toolbox at your disposal,” said U-M defensive coordinator Don Brown, whose group will battle Penn State on Saturday (3:45 p.m., ESPN) at Michigan Stadium.. “That’s part of coaching. How much is too much?

“But as coach (Jim) Harbaugh says to me all the time ‘hey, more is more.’ “

It’s a tale of two sides for Michigan at the moment. But Harbaugh’s coaching staff, from all corners, has been at the top of its game since a season-opening loss to Notre Dame on Sept. 1 by striking a proper balance for what works best for each component. 

Defensively, Brown’s kicked himself for 12 months because he took his team into a Penn State game last October with a limited toolbox. His group was too young, he thought. Not ready for more information. After watching Penn State rack up 506 yards and 42 points, Brown realized he’d undersold his group. They were more mature than he gave them credit for. 

So during the first few weeks of this season, he went for the jumbo toolbox. He added more pressures. More coverages. More everything. Maybe more than he’s ever done before. And his defense, ranked No. 1 nationally, has responded. 

“We’ve got a lot of stuff at our disposal front-wise, coverage-wise, we’ve done a good job building (our) coverages – intricacies within the coverage that can handle different scenarios,” Brown says. “We have four major concepts in coverage, it’ll fit in one of those concepts and then you can be really multiple up front and vice versa.” 

Offensively, this all works in reverse. A year ago, U-M put too much on a young team’s plate too early and ultimately fried itself before the middle of the season. Harbaugh, working with a retooled offensive staff, has went with the methodical build in 2018 and it has worked very well. 

Not too much too quickly, but a steady amount of growth. Each week a new wrinkle gets added. A new tool is delivered. Which allows for the offense to adjust and correct its own path in real-time during a game so much better than it was able to a year ago. 

Having a better quarterback in Shea Patterson helps. Having more experience across the board helps. But the coaching staff’s pushed the right buttons and operated at the right pace to ultimately find itself in a similar spot to where Brown’s group is with regard to its overall arsenal in Week 9. 

“We have tools in our toolbox to fix all problems. But you can only have two tools in your hands at once,” U-M offensive line coach Ed Warinner said earlier this season. “One in this hand, one in that hand. Here we go.

“We need a new tool? We’ll get it out next series, here we go.” 

What I’ll be watching Saturday:

Quick time

Penn State’s best hope against Michigan is a quick start. But if the opposite happens, Penn State is in big trouble as U-M is good at home. 

If Brown’s defense can carry over the type of focus it’s had for the past seven games, despite the bye, good things could be on the way for Michigan. 

Erase the small things

Patterson’s been efficient this season and he has been even better at correcting himself during the course of a game. If he misses a read early, he never misses it late. His in-game adjustments have been great as he has developed within the system. 

But he’s still hunting for that complete game. If he’s in tune with what Michigan wants to do on every snap, things could really take off. The hiccups have been minimal. But if he eradicates them completely? This offense finds another level. 

Tarik Black time

Black dressed two weeks ago against Michigan State and, barring a setback, appears ready to get himself back in action for the first time in more than a year. For U-M’s offensive ceiling, this could be huge. 

It’ll be interesting to see what kind of shape Black is in after the long layoff and, most important, if he is back to the same level he was trending toward when he went down last September. This was Michigan’s best receiver a year ago. Adding him to a group of Donovan Peoples-Jones, Nico Collins and Zach Gentry could be lethal. 

OL reality

If Michigan’s offensive line can protect against Penn State’s potent edge rushers, then there won’t be further questions about this group’s capability. The Wolverines ran the ball when necessary against MSU, the country’s top-ranked rush defense at the time. 

Protect against a Penn State front that ranks No. 3 nationally in sacks and there’s nothing else to pick at. If U-M’s offensive line proves it again this week, it’ll have the distinction as a proven commodity that might be one of the Big Ten’s best.