Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore hired Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns defensive coordinator LaMar Morgan to be the defensive backs coach for the Wolverines. Morgan spent the past two seasons as the Ragin' Cajuns defensive play caller. He replaces safeties coach Jay Harbaugh (Seattle Seahawks) and cornerbacks coach Steve Clinkscale (Los Angeles Chargers).
Morgan played at Louisiana, so to pull him away from his alma mater - for a "demotion" to a position coach role - is somewhat significant. He made 111 tackles, 4 interceptions, and 9 pass breakups through his career playing safety, which wrapped up in 2007. He started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Vanderbilt under James Franklin from 2013-2014 before spending two seasons as the defensive backs coach at FCS Western Carolina. For the 2016 and 2017 seasons, he was hired as the Louisiana-Monroe defensive backs coach. He then spent one season as the defensive backs coach at Houston before returning to Louisiana-Lafayette from 2019-2020 as defensive backs coach. He worked as the cornerbacks coach at Vanderbilt in 2021 before going back to ULL for the 2022-2023 seasons.
If the past is any indication, Morgan will not be at Michigan any longer than two seasons. Louisiana-Lafayette also went from #13 in yards per play allowed in 2021 - when Morgan was coaching corners at Vanderbilt - to #24 in 2022 and #47 in 2023. Those two seasons were the first two after then-rising star Billy Napier left to be the head coach at Florida, so there has been an overall dropoff in that program.
Morgan's expertise as a play caller may be in question, but he did coach under Jesse Minter in 2021 when Minter was the defensive coordinator at Vanderbilt, so he should be able to slide in pretty smoothly as a helper for new defensive coordinator Wink Martindale. This past season his defense ranked #26 nationally in interceptions, and they ranked #14 in 2022.
Morgan is from Texas and has spent much of his career in the South, so it would make sense to have him recruit down there. Michigan doesn't historically have a ton of success recruiting places like Louisiana or Texas, but they're hotbeds of talent, so it makes sense to try. Interestingly, Michigan now has two Louisiana connections on staff with Morgan and wide receivers coach Ronald Bellamy; the former spent a ton of time coaching there, and Bellamy grew up there.
Michigan's staff is now completed, though there remain some questions about running backs coach Mike Hart, who has been on a leave of absence recently:
- HC: Sherrone Moore
- OC/QB: Kirk Campbell
- RB: Mike Hart
- WR: Ronald Bellamy
- TE: Steve Casula
- OL: Grant Newsome
- DC: Wink Martindale
- DL: Greg Scruggs
- LB: Brian Jean-Mary
- DB: LaMar Morgan
- STC: J.B. Brown
I like the Minter endorsement and the fact that he was a DC. I also like the he reportedly knocked out the interview and was getting insider praise even while they were trying to hire someone else. Those are all good signs IMO.
ReplyDeleteThere is talk that Wink has been in contact with Minter and hopefully some of the coverage stuff that McDonald and Minter have been doing the last few years is carried over. If Minter trusts Morgan and Morgan knows Xs and Os well enough to be a DC, well then I think this is potentially a home run hire. Perhaps Morgan can function as somewhat of a "passing game coordinator" for Wink. There is certainly a lot on his plate in handling all 5 DB positions at once -- but Wink likes do-it-all players in the secondary.
But we'll see, obviously this is a big step up for Morgan to a blue blood program from the places he's been. He is certainly in a position to succeed by starting with Johnson, Moore, and Paige. But pressure is on to develop 4 other guys who will play starter-level snaps in the secondary and manage the transition through an all new defensive staff.
I'm skeptical of reading too much into geographical connections, but maybe Morgan can help facilitate some portal additions from TX or LA. Or tap into some hidden gems in high school. I'll believe that when I see it but Don Brown's ties to new england did prove pretty dang fruitful.
Overall I think Moore and company did a nice job with a total overhaul of the staff. Martindale/Scruggs/Jean-Mary/Morgan are all pretty impressive hires individually. Hopefully the chemistry is good between them and the analysts brought on to support are not dropping off too far from the Harbaugh era.
I am more than pleased with this first staff for our head coach: young, former players, and experience/ties to what Coach Moore is trying to get done
ReplyDeleteGO BLUE