M's 12-Man Offense Needs Explanation

Bo Schembechler always is given a look of astonishment when he first talks about his 12-man offense.
So the Michigan coach always quickly adds, "but we won't play them all at once."
Though Michigan's offense will have 11 players at any one time, look for Schembechler to run a juggling act as field position changes. Position and the introduction of the new Tartan Turf have triggered Michigan's new offensive plans.
"After we reviewed our spring training and started thinking about how important speed can be on the synthetic turf, we knew we had to have a constant deep passing threat," explains the coach.
Juniors Paul Staroba of Flint and Bill Harris of Mt. Clemens are the men with the speed and the pass-catching ability to provide Michigan with the deep threat. They will play virtually all the way although alternating at their position.
"Splitmen" is the term Schembechler uses to describe them and they'll play as the wide end or split halfback.
Harris caught 16 passes for 369 yards and four touchdowns last season while Staroba, though missing several games with injury, caught 11 for 158 yards and two touchdowns.
With this pair of splitmen, Schembechler will employ either a second tight end, called his "quick end," or a wingback. Mike Hankwitz and Jerry Imsland are the quick ends and John Gabler and Preston Henry are the wingbacks.
The Hankwitz-Imsland pair will be used in short-yardage passing situations and on tough running plays, mostly near the goalline where their blocking, along with that of tight end Jim Mandich, is expected to make Michigan's ground game more efficient.
Gabler will operate mostly as a runner and sometimes a pass receiver, slipping out of the backfield on short patterns. "When Gabler is there we can have a full house backfield (three runners in addition to the quarterback) for our running game," Schembechler said.
Glenn Doughty as the tailback and Garvie Craw at fullback will always be stationed in running positions for quarterback Don Moorhead.
"By alternating the quick end and wingback positions we can keep our best deep receivers in the game at all times and still get what we want for running and short passing," explains Schembechler.
"The 12-man alignment will, in effect, give us two offenses," explains offensive backfield coach Chuck Stobart.
"We'll be able to strengthen our passing game with the 'split-men' and to strengthen our running game by shifting to a wingback and two tight ends."
While Schembechler has the veterans to handle these multiple chores, he'll be calling on relatively inexperienced men to do most of the passing and running.
Quarterback Don Moorhead saw only limited duty behind Denny Brown last season and running back Glenn Doughty is a sophomore.
Schembechler has had his share of injury worries so far this season and there continues to be a lot of concern about Mandich, who has been ill. Mandich, who is in the Health Service, continued to run a fever during the weekend and will not practice today.

M-MSU Game To Be Seen Here
Arrangements have been made for a live, closed-circuit telecast of the Michigan-Michigan State football game and it will be shown in color in the Events Building on Oct. 18. The game, which will be played in East Lansing, has been a sell-out for many weeks. A private company will handle the closed-circuit showing. An estimated 13,500 persons will be able to see the telecast here and plans call for tickets to be sold first to students, faculty and alumni.