Michigan Football

Michigan Football Will Have A Subtly Different Staff In 2019

by
New York Jets, Jim Harbaugh

If you were asked about the Michigan football coaching staff, the names that would come to mind would of course be Jim Harbaugh, or perhaps defensive coordinator Don Brown. Maybe even new offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, who only recently took the job in what looks from the outside to be a somewhat strange lateral move from another blue blood program, Alabama.

However, those aren’t the only faces on the coaching staff and if you aren’t paying close attention, you might even miss the fact that the team has recently made multiple changes lower down the ranks. All of these stories broke within the last couple of days, and are for relatively minor positions.

However, it shows the stature of the Michigan program when coaches who are currently working positions such as offensive coordinator for smaller schools will take a minor position just to make the move to Michigan. According to Bruce Feldman, the Wolverines are bringing in Ferris State offensive coordinator Steve Casula as an offensive analyst, with Casula having previous experience with offensive coordinator Josh Gattis at Western Michigan.

Feldman has also reported that Bethune-Cookman special teams and recruiting coordinator Aashon Larkins is set to join the Wolverines staff as an analyst, but whether Larkins will be an analyst for special teams or for recruiting is unknown at this point. It seems that Michigan looked far and wide to find the candidates for their recent hires. Bethune-Cookman is an FCS school, while Ferris State isn’t a D1 school at all but rather a D2 one.

The last of these minor hires is Pat Perles, the son of former Michigan State head coach George Perles, according to Field Yates. Perles will act as both an analyst and an assistant offensive line coach. Perles previously coached at Syracuse as an offensive line coach but also has NFL experience with the Kansas City Chiefs, which may help somewhat in running a professional style program in Michigan.

This news comes after Michigan hired Josh Gattis as offensive coordinator last month, ensuring that things definitely won’t be the same when it comes to 2019’s coaching staff.

Michigan Football: Quarterback Jeff George Jr. Will Transfer To Pittsburgh

by

Michigan quarterback Jeff George Jr. already has one transfer under his belt, but it looks like he didn’t find what he was looking for with the Wolverines. George, who is of course the son of 13 year NFL veteran Jeff George, joined Michigan leading up to this season after previously being a contender for the Illinois starting quarterback job. He’ll leave the team, though, without taking a single snap in a game.

George spent the last three seasons with Illinois, registering the most playing time during the 2017 season. Illinois had a carousel of quarterbacks last year, but George won playing time regardless and threw for 1,273 yards and seven touchdowns. Not bad for a team that went 0-9 within the Big Ten conference and didn’t exactly provide much support for its quarterbacks.

If George had stayed with the Illini, he would likely be the starting quarterback this year. Instead, he made the move to Michigan over the summer despite not having much chance to start. It looks like George hasn’t given up on his football career, though. According to The Wolverine Lounge, he’ll head to Pittsburgh as a graduate transfer.

Pitt’s likely starter, Kenny Pickett, is a sophomore who is much less experienced. He featured in four games last season, making 66 pass attempts with a 59% completion percentage. He’s competing with another transfer, former USC and Arkansas quarterback Ricky Town. The addition of George should make the QB competition more competitive than it already is, as George showed a good amount of potential while playing with Illinois.

Back in Ann Arbor, it seems that Shea Patterson has won the job. The case of the Ole Miss transfer should be one of the more intriguing ones in the country, as Patterson may be the first true star quarterback that Jim Harbaugh has had since taking over as head coach of the Wolverines.

The fact that Michigan and Pitt both have quarterback battles featuring transfers just goes to show how much they impact the game nowadays.