New Michigan offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey brings a fresh perspective to offensive play calling, but there is one main thing he did at North Carolina that has us thinking he could immediately turn the offense around in 2025:
When Michigan took on Alabama last month, no one really expected this team to win. The Wolverines had some of their best players sitting on the sidelines preparing for the NFL Draft , but they still found a way to win the game despite that, as well as starting quarterback Davis Warren exiting the game due to a torn ACL.
Wins over Ohio State and Alabama set the program up for optimism in 2025, as do the acquisitions of Mikey Keene and Bryce Underwood at the quarterback position. However, there is one glaring thing that did not take place all that much in 2024, and that’s getting freshman quarterback Jadyn Davis meaningful playing time to set himself up for the future.
When Warren left the ReliaQuest Bowl due to his injury, it was Alex Orji — the same Alex Orji that was in the transfer portal — and not Jadyn Davis that came into the game. For some people, the reason why is that Davis just isn’t that good or he’s still young and wasn’t ready.
That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me when we all knew Orji was hardly going to pass the ball. In fact, he only attempted three passes in the game and one of his throws was an interception. The Wolverines were happy to let Orji hand the ball off time after time.
Orji was the safer choice to replace Warren, but when you have a “dual-threat quarterback” who carries the ball four times for nine yards, it doesn’t seem like his legs are that much of a threat either. It would have been nice to see what Davis can do because unlike Orji, Davis is going to be on the roster in 2025.
Those decisions weren’t just reserved for the bowl game. Earlier in the year, the coaching staff kept starting Donovan Edwards at running back, even though Kalel Mullings was the more consistent productive player. Edwards had a few big chunk players throughout the season, but Mullings was the more overall reliable player.
These personnel decisions were questionable at the time, and are even more questionable in hindsight. However, if there’s one saving grace moving forward, it’s that head coach Sherrone Moore brought in offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey to help balance the offense. But more than that, Lindsey knows how to assess his team and make adjustments in-game and throughout the season.
North Carolina had Drake Maye in 2023, and the Tar Heels passed the ball about 48 percent of the time that year, including the bowl game Maye didn’t play. In 2024, that number went down to 44 percent for a number of reasons, but the most obvious being Maye got drafted and the Tar Heels didn’t have a consistent quarterback situation this past season.
Perhaps the most encouraging part is that in 2024, North Carolina was not a copy/paste version of its offense from 2023 with a prolific quarterback like Maye. Instead of asking new starter Jacolby Criswell to do the same thing Maye did, the Tar Heels varied their run plays, worked in some trick plays, and did enough to help open some gaps for star running back Omarion Hampton to work in the next level.
If you’re not convinced, look at Hampton’s stats in 2023 — he rushed 253 times for 1,521 yards. Maye was that team’s second-leading rusher with 582 yards. In 2024, the coaching staff upped Hampton’s carries, going for 1,700 yards on 281 carries.
Unfortunately, we’ll still have to wait and see what the Wolverines will do in 2025 and how much influence Lindsey will have on the offensive structure, but it’s encouraging Moore went after a coordinator who still had balance without approaching each season with a copy/paste mentality.