jedd fisch

[Patrick Barron]

Previously: B1G East, B1G West Part 2

Today is part three, the final piece, of our offseason series looking at the B1G football teams and how they handled the transfer portal and NFL Draft declarations. The final teams we have to check off are Nebraska and Minnesota, plus the four new teams. Since I am not as intimately familiar with the new teams, I won't go into as much detail as I have with the other teams, but will introduce these squads with a quick overview of their spring rosters and feel of the programs. 

 

Nebraska 

EXITS 

Nebraska's often-cluttered QB room got some clarity this offseason, as the Huskers saw both Jeff Sims and Chubba Purdy hit the transfer portal. Sims has yet to find a landing spot, but Purdy has signed on to Nevada. Elsewhere on the offense the Huskers saw eligibility expire for RB Anthony Grant and guards Nouredin Nouili and Ethan Piper, as well as WRs Billy Kemp IV and Marcus Washington. But that's mostly it, as Big Red will be able to roll over most of the rest of their production, including three RBs (two of which, Rahmir Johnson and Gabe Ervin, missed most of the season with injury), QB Heinrich Haarberg, both TEs, three tackles, and several pieces on the OL. 

Defensively they lost some pieces in the LB room and the secondary, but again come out in relatively solid position, which should allow for Matt Rhule to have a stronger second season. Starting safety Omar Brown and corner Quinton Newsome, both solid college players, have exhausted their eligibility and are moving on to further endeavors, but two separate corners (Tommi Hill/Malcolm Hartzog) and safeties (Singleton/Gifford) who gained experience this season return. Starting LB Luke Reimer moves on and LB Nick Henrich has chosen to retire after a litany of injuries, but the DL returns intact outside of reserve tackle Blaise Gunnerson, who is also retiring. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: lots of names]



[Bryan Fuller]

Michigan is in the market for a new offensive assistant. FoxSports's Bruce Feldman reports that passing game coordinator and QB/WR coach Jedd Fisch will be UCLA's next offensive coordinator.

It was only a matter of time before Fisch climbed the ladder. He joined Jim Harbaugh's first Michigan staff after a two-year stint as offensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Due in part to circumstances beyond his control, he's never spent more than two years at the same job since 2007, when he finished off a three-year assistant stint with Baltimore before working his way up the coaching ranks with the Denver Broncos, Minnesota (B1G), Seattle Seahawks, Miami (YTM), and Jacksonville.

Harbaugh will have some flexibility with his next hire because of his ability to handle the quarterbacks himself if need be. He could look for someone from his coaching tree; Greg Roman, Harbaugh's offensive coordinator for the 49ers who's looking for a new gig after an abbreviated stint in Buffalo, is already being put out there as a potential candidate, though his specialties (OL and TE) overlap with Tim Drevno's. If Harbaugh desires a more passing-oriented coach, he could go for a coach without a previous connection to him; that worked out rather well when he took Fisch two years ago.

Fisch played a big role in Jake Rudock's remarkable in-season development in 2015 and had plenty of input as a playcaller the last two seasons. We'll always have "good shit, Jedd":

Fisch will now get to work with a potential #1 draft pick in UCLA QB Josh Rosen. Best of luck to him.

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[Fuller/MGoBlog]

Jim said it was Wilton’s best game last week. After watching film, would you agree with that?

“Yeah. He was like 70% completion, made good decisions all the way across the board, was very accurate. A couple throws or a couple plays probably could have even taken back and gotten some more completions out of it. As we were looking at it, felt like there was some opportunity to even be a little bit better than that; couple more touchdowns. Excited about how he’s progressed and how he played in this game.”

What has helped Wilton really develop his consistency this season?

“He’s a consistent person, and I think it really starts from off the field and moves into the field or onto the field. He’s a guy that really does everything you want him to do. He wakes up about the same time every day. He says he goes to bed about the same time every day. He has a very consistent schedule in what he does. He’s told me weekends haven’t really changed his schedule anymore. He’s kind of programmed his body and himself really starting throughout training camp to be kind of what time he woke up in training camp is still what time he wakes up now. Just lives a very clean, consistent life, and because of that I think it’s parlayed into his football.”

Wilton talked a lot yesterday about avoiding aiming the ball. For us non-quarterbacks out here, what is the difference between aiming the ball and just letting it go, and how can you tell when that’s happening?

“It’s just like baseball. Sometimes you feel like when you’re thinking too much or you’re trying to put it in a certain spot, when you’re thinking and not following through it’s different than, hey, I’m just going to go out there and rip it, so to speak. I’m gonna go out there and I’m confident I can make that throw, I’m confident with where I’m going with the ball, I’m confident I can kind of just be free. And when you aim it is sometimes when you start overthinking, and I think that’s probably what he was thinking about, that it’s more of should I take a little bit off of this or not follow through as much as opposed to just going out there and playing.”

[After THE JUMP: impressions of State’s defense, making adjustments on the fly, and whether the staff scripts plays]