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Posted on by Phil Callihan

2021 Michigan Football — Playbook — Hand-Off — JJ McCarthy to Blake Corum

Let’s break down Michigan’s first touchdown in the Big Ten Championship versus Iowa.

Blake Corum had a blistering 67 yard touchdown run (with a little help from QB J.J McCarthy) that maybe would have been stopped if not for some blown assignments on the Iowa defense.

Blake Corum describes what he saw during the play

PRE-SNAP

The Michigan offense lines up in the pistol formation on the right hashmark with QB #9 J.J. McCarthy and RB #2 Blake Corum in the backfield. WR #5 Mike Sainristil goes in motion from the left side of formation.

Michigan is targeting the right side of the Iowa defense, pre-snap there are good gaps for a running play and bringing WR #5 Mike Sainristil brings an extra blocker to the point of attack.

POST SNAP

#2 Blake Corum takes the handoff from #9 J.J. McCarthy in the backfield.

Check out the Michigan offensive line- #77 Trevor Keegan and #68 Andrew Vastardis double team the Iowa down lineman in front of them, taking him out of the play. #65 Zak Zinter and #71 Andrew Steuber do the same to the down lineman in front of them.

At this point Iowa is in trouble- they have two defenders #44 and #28 to account for two Michigan players– TE #86 Luke Schoonmaker and WR #5 Mike Sainristil– and plenty of space for #2 Blake Corum to make some moves.

WR #5 Mike Sainristil comes in motion and ignores Iowa defensive end #92 as he crashes and takes himself out of the play. Sainristil heads downfield to block.

And here is where things go wrong from bad to worse for Iowa. Linebacker #44 steps up into the double team of #65 Zak Zinter and #71 Andrew Steuber taking himself out away from the point of attack. Linebacker #31 slides over and is in good position to stop Corum but inexplicably takes on #86 Luke Schoonmaker.

And Blake Corum is off to the races. Note the distance between Blake Corum and J.J. McCarthy. Now Blake had to slow down a bit to evade defenders but J.J made up an incredible amount of ground.

#Roman Wilson blocks a defender while #5 Mike Sainristil blocks for Blake Corum with J.J. McCarthy joining the attack.

#5 Mike Sainristil blocks #33.

#9 J.J. McCarthy places himself between a final Iowa defender, allowing Corum to score a touchdown.

Check out the clip below to see the entire play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN9O8NHrKbI

PLAY DIAGRAM — THE ACTION

Corum took advantage of a few mis-steps by the Iowa defense and completes the scoring the play with the help of QB J.J. McCarthy whose hustle downfield makes the difference.

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