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Sunday, January 17, 2021

Mike Macdonald, Wolverine

 

Mike Macdonald (image via MGoBlue)

Michigan has hired Baltimore Ravens linebackers coach Mike Macdonald to be the new defensive coordinator, replacing Don Brown, who is now at Arizona.

Hit the jump for more.

Macdonald is just 35 years old, so his coaching history is somewhat limited. He did not play college football while attending Georgia's business school, but he coached high school ball while a college student. He then became a quality control guy for the Bulldogs from 2011-2013. In 2014 he became a defensive intern for the Ravens, then coached as a defensive assistant (2015-2016). He became the defensive backs coach in 2017 and moved to linebackers coach from 2018-2020.

Of course, Jim Harbaugh's brother John is the head coach of the Ravens, so the recommendation for a new defensive coordinator almost certainly came from John. The two have cooperated numerous times on players and coaches: the Ravens have drafted Willie Henry, Chris Wormley, and Ben Bredeson, while Jim plucked Jay Harbaugh from the Ravens staff in 2015, too.

It's unclear what base scheme(s) Macdonald will employ at Michigan, but considering his background, but I would expect to see Michigan run more 3-down looks with a rush linebacker. I expect Michigan's defense to look more like it did under D.J. Durkin than under Don Brown. Georgia and Baltimore have been more 3-4 teams over the years. Baltimore runs a lot of zone blitz schemes with the 3-4, frequently showing single-high coverages but then dropping a safety deep to play more of a Cover 2 or Quarters look.

One criticism of Don Brown was that he stuck too much with man coverage, and I do not think that will be an issue with Macdonald. With Brown it was either man coverage or Cover 2. I think Macdonald will be more multiple than Brown was.

As a recruiter, Macdonald is young and has NFL experience with an elite professional defense. He also played high school ball at Roswell (GA) Centennial and coached at Georgia, so he presumably knows the area and has at least a few connections in the South. I know people were down on Brown for recruiting the Northeast so heavily - which I think he was unfairly vilified for - but that probably won't be an issue for Macdonald. (I won't spend too much time on this because it gets off track, but players from the Northeast have generally played well and stuck around, whereas players from the South have generally underperformed and/or left early.)

Macdonald has also never been responsible for calling a defense, which means Michigan now has two coordinators on staff (along with offensive coordinator Josh Gattis) who had never been play callers before coaching in Ann Arbor. While there's an inherent risk with a rookie/inexperienced play caller, I do like Macdonald's career track. He has coached in two solid defensive programs, and his positions have done well in the NFL.

Overall, I think this is about as good of a hire to be made aside from hiring a proven coordinator. Macdonald checks all the boxes (NFL pedigree, youth, southern connections, winning tradition, good positional play) except for play calling experience. I look forward to seeing what Michigan's defense will look like under him.

19 comments:

  1. 3 down with a rushing LB,
    He has Michael Barrett, who might fit in well for that. Barrett is from Georgia too. So that might lend some help in communic..
    Jim HHarbau. Gh also had a new LB coach lined up to hire with MacDonald. A man named Christian Robinson, the LB ciach at Florida..But it just cam out that Florida is going to fgive Robinson a raise in trying to keep him. So it's up in the airif he's coming to Michisgan.

    a

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    1. Lots of typos. Theres some kind of glitch make the cursor type move and put letters in a place i am not typing.

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  2. To make a 3 down work you habe to have a big ox in the middle. Michigan had Bryan Mone. He never got pushed around in the middle. They will need more like him. They don't have anyone like him now. There must be someone out there

    joseph dreamed dreams

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  3. The next chance they have at a huge DT is in the 2022 class, a 6'4", 300 lbs (that was his weight at a high school sophomore) from Tennessee.

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    1. This is the player, Walter Nolan: https://247sports.com/player/walter-nolen-46083769/

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  4. Here's Walter Nolan's highlight video. Keep in mind he is a sophomore playing on varsity.
    https://247sports.com/Video/Walter-Nolen-Olive-Branch-2019-sophomore-season-highlights-9683452/

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    1. https://247sports.com/Video/Walter-Nolen-Olive-Branch-2019-sophomore-season-highlights-9683452/

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    2. Maybe this link is better:

      https://www.hudl.com/video/3/11988625/5da73cec4df6110ca475dea4

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  5. A lot of fans optimistic about this hire. I've even seen comparisons to Hafley

    But my concern is having coordinators on both sides without experience, and - if we play 3down - who is the Nose???

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    1. We can only hope MacDonald is smart enough to realize without a big NT, he can't easily run a 3-down front, and he'll improvise. We can hope.

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    2. But if that's the goal, we need to recruit to it (after not doing so for years). This includes the portal ... let's go already

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    3. I wouldn't be too overly concerned about the nose tackle. I mean, yes, it is an important position, but it doesn't necessarily mean you'll have a guy head up on the center every play. You can still shift to shades, 1-techs, etc., you can hammer/cock the nose tackle, etc. I don't think we necessarily need a Bryan Mone to plug the middle, though it would help the defense be more versatile.

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    4. OK, but who do we have? The last two years Wisconsin has run through & over us. Even the bodies we have, aren't putting up the fight NW, Indiana and even minnesota were able to

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  6. What other successful college program brings in NFL coaches like Harbaugh does? Examples: Jedd Fisch, Pep Hamilton, Ben McDaniels, and Mike Zordich (via a short stint at Youngstown State), and now MacDonald.

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    1. ohio state did the same with hafley. We'd be smart to pair him with a mentor ... and get him some help at DT & CB

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    2. Greg Mattison spent quite a few years in college before going to Ohio State. Mattison spent 3 years with Baltimore before going to Michigan in 2011, so there's that. It just seems Harbaugh has a thing for NFL types. The success rate has not been great. Not horrible, just not great.

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  7. Seems like a smart guy in terms of who he is choosing to work with early in his career. I'll reserve judgement but this seems like a risky hire. I'd prefer to see a more proven college coach as Co-DC. I feel we've been a bit spoiled with Mattison and then Brown and now we are going with a rookie. Swinging for the fences I guess.

    Seems premature to guess at his scheme and personnel choices to me given he's never been the guy running things. Hopefully it's somewhat driven by personnel because if 2021 is a failure it's likely he'll be out along with JH.

    -Lank



    -Lank

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  8. It's an extremely young defensive staff. I think only one (BJM) is over 40. I hope they have some veteran analysts in place who are a bit more experienced in play calling and scheme. And that those analysts will have some voice on gamedays.


    -Lank

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