It’s no coincidence that Chip Lindsey’s best offense featured future first-round NFL Draft pick quarterback Drake Maye. The ceiling for North Carolina’s offense was heightened drastically with a star quarterback at the helm.
But even with a player of Maye’s caliber, it’s not so simple as to put them on the field, then sit back and enjoy the show. The former Tar Heels offensive coordinator Lindsey, who is now entering his first year with the Michigan football team, deserves a lot of credit for adapting his system around his star quarterback, molding one of the top offenses in the nation that year.
Though the Wolverines don’t have a signal caller who screams 2026 first-round pick, Lindsey has all spring to identify the talent Michigan does have. After that, the Wolverines are counting on him to center the offense around their strengths.
“That was the number one reason he’s (here),” Michigan coach Sherron Moore said Monday. “When you coach Drake Maye and you throw for over 3,000 yards, then you have a 1,500 yard rusher, it’s like you can adapt to your best players regardless.”
Last season Moore didn’t have anyone capable of putting up those numbers, regardless of the scheme. But he wouldn’t have fired Kirk Campbell if he didn’t believe that Campbell had the pieces to put up more than a measly 286.2 yards of total offense per game, either.
Moore’s solution to last year’s offensive disaster includes both bringing in talent at each position and hiring Lindsey to maximize it. Lindsey had a future first rounder at quarterback only that one season. Though 2023 was his most productive unit, the offense Lindsey commanded last year still posted over 400 yards and 30 points per game.
Lindsey was brought in to elevate the Wolverines to that level, and the expectation is for him to do so by scheming around the talent in the room, not just copying offenses he’s deployed in the past.
“There’s things that we’ve done, there’s things that we haven’t done, so it’s a mix,” Moore said. “But (we) feel good about where the guys are. Feel like we’re going to be explosive in the run and pass, but you know, we’ll see how it all looks when it gets to fall.”
Last week, Lindsey claimed to have stolen ideas in years past from previous Moore-led Michigan teams. Lindsey cited the Wolverines’ creativity in heavy sets as one. And with the personnel to play physically, those elements will remain essential to Michigan’s offense.
The O-line will likely remain a strength, as it has been across the past few seasons. And running behind them is a revamped running back room. Junior Jordan Marshall, who is expected to take a leap after winning ReliaQuest Bowl MVP, and junior transfer Justice Haynes, both have the upside to be workhorses.
“That DNA is kind of what ours is built on, toughness and being physical,” Lindsey said March 17. “And so from my standpoint, I wanted to keep that DNA. … Two years ago, we won the whole thing. So it’s not like it’s broken. I think there’s things that we’ll try to improve on. Everybody’s got their own little wrinkle. If all of us in here were calling the offense, we’d all have maybe a different, a different approach, but it’s going to be in that DNA of what it is.”
With Michigan sure of its identity on the ground, the degree to which Lindsey implements an air attack is likely decided by what he observes this spring. Both at wide receiver and tight end, the Wolverines are reliant on new talent emerging, as last year’s pass catchers struggled to gain separation other than tight end Coleston Loveland. Really, though, the biggest factor will be who wins the quarterback battle, and how much faith Lindsey has in them.
But that decision remains a ways away. For now, Lindsey is just evaluating the personnel as they put their pads on for spring ball, tinkering his offense to what he sees.
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