Josh Gattis reveals how the offense is preparing during quarantine

Michigan offensive coordinator Josh Gattis virtually met with the media for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic and touched on several subjects, including the competition at quarterback and how the offense will utilize running back Chris Evans.

He also spoke at length about how he has been interacting with his players over video calls, and how it has actually become a positive for him and the rest of the coaches.

“(The pandemic has) created new opportunities for us to teach, and new opportunities for us to understand how players learn,” Gattis said. “I think this is something that’s going to stay with us in the coaching profession well long past this pandemic. I think this is created a new platform to being able to teach it. I know we’re excited and we’re thankful that we’ve kind of been introduced into this new platform to be able to use.”

Gattis meets with his players three times per week and they are doing “one install per week diving into the details and going back.”

“I grab the offensive unit all together on Mondays and then I meet individually with position groups on Wednesdays and Fridays. So we typically like to break down those meetings from about an hour, an hour and a half.

“The mindset and mentality and leadership, as well as learning, have been really good. Our guys are really engaged. They want to be back here in Ann Arbor. And they’re staying connected with each other. So I’ve been very much pleased with the maturity of our group, and of our team and how they’ve handled themselves in this time.”

It certainly seems like the players and coaches alike are staying busy during the quarantine. If anything, this gives players the time to mentally download everything so that when it’s time to execute, they are able to do so.

The deciding factors for CFB to return this fall

Sports Illustrated caught up with the 10 commissioners of the FBS conferences, as well as Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, to answer some of the most important questions pertaining to the start of the college football season. Some of their answers were unanimous, while others weren’t as much.

One of the questions that had differing answers was when the commissioners were asked when decision must be made to begin on-campus workouts, and on whether to delay the start of the season. Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said, “if we don’t start until the first of August, it is likely to delay the beginning of the football season. I think we have to see evidence that we can start practicing in earnest by the 15th of July or in that ballpark.” Meanwhile Mid-American Conference commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said, “if you wanted to start the season on time and wanted to be kicking off on Labor Day, it would seem we’d need to have a decision somewhere near the end of June or early July.”

Other disagreements came with whether students have to be on campus or not to start up athletic events. Bowlsby doesn’t seem to have any issue with it, but Swarbrick said the students “have to be on campus” for athletics to begin.

It is a really interesting article with so many viewpoints and opinions, so definitely give the full thing a read. It just really goes to show that no one really knows when exactly college sports will be back.

National Brews

• The MLB owners submitted their proposal to begin their season, but at least one player thinks it isn’t even worth it to do that without proper pay — Tampa Bay Rays’ pitcher Blake Snell. Snell said he will not play unless he is compensated properly.
• Meanwhile, Boston Celtic Jaylen Brown believes if the NBA season were to continue, they’d jump right into the playoffs. So you’re telling me we could have the NBA Playoffs AND the Pistons have high draft lottery odds? Count me in.
• Carolina Panthers’ owner David Tepper is very optimistic about the chances NFL stadiums are filled with (some) fans in the fall, saying, “there should be some amount of fans in the stadiums, depending on what locale and where you are and what the local rules are.”