maurice linguist

Jim Harbaugh took a big gamble when he hired former Dallas Cowboys, Texas A&M Aggies, Minnesota Gophers, Mississippi State Bulldogs, Iowa State Cyclones, Buffalo Bulls, James Madison Dukes, Valdosta State Blazers, and Baylor Bears defensive backs coach Maurice Linguist, that the young assistant wouldn’t jump again until the cornerbacks room in Ann Arbor was properly restocked.

Alas, Linguist's career at Michigan couldn’t last six months. Kansas head coach Les Miles was fired in early March for sexual misconduct, the Jayhawks replaced him with Buffalo head coach Lance Leipold at the end of April, and Buffalo in turn announced today that the co-defensive coordinator Michigan hired on January 20 will take over the Bulls on May 7.

Introducing our new head coach, @CoachMo15! ?#UBhornsUP pic.twitter.com/9hlpPBfr1r

— UB Football (@UBFootball) May 7, 2021

Shit.

A crack recruiter, Linguist’s hire was the first widely regarded sign of hope that Harbaugh could turn the program around following last year’s 2-4 season. Linguist helped them secure commitments from legacy five-star Will Johnson and TN 4* Kody Jones for the 2022 class, and as of last week the Wolverines appeared to have a strong chance with several more elite athletes in the secondary. Most likely the fallout from today has changed that position significantly, especially with Jones, who committed just days after Linguist's hire. Michigan will also have to start over with top target TN 4* Myles Pollard, and explain to everyone why they go through so much staff turnover.

Not that this one is that hard to explain. There's familiarity, there aren't many head coaching offers that come along, and Buffalo is a solid MAC program that's recently been a springboard for other young coaches.

Linguist returns to the program he helped turn around as “co-“ defensive coordinator with Lou Tepper. If the name rings a bell, Tepper was head coach of Illinois in the early 1990s, after serving for years as former Bo assistant Bill McCartney’s defensive coordinator in Colorado. In their short time together in Buffalo, Tepper and Linguist installed a 3-4/3-3-5 stack defense, played match quarters behind it, and put a small scare into Ohio State in 2013. While Tepper retired not long after, Linguist has had seven different jobs since Harbaugh took his current one.

Harbaugh’s best shot at keeping it would be to find a replacement soon, get the new coach up to speed on their plans before fall camp begins in August, and avoid another program-devastating crater in cornerback recruiting when all their prospects come to visit in June. The new guy will also have to help the current roster improve on last year's abysmal output, and transition to more complicated schemes that pair with new coordinator Mike Macdonald's Ravens-like plans.

While there are coaching options in-house, Michigan’s best hope would be to pilfer some other school’s accomplished cornerback coach, preferably one who can bring a transfer or two along. Kentucky’s Steve Clinkscale, who’s been a recruiting thorn in Michigan for years, would be an obvious choice, although Clinkscale has turned down overtures from this program before. Maybe they’ll even be lucky enough to find Clink’s contract doesn’t have a massive buyout penalty for bailing mid-year. I mean, it’s happened before.

There are only comments after the jump. Do you really want to go there?

Now it's time to talk about football. Here are Nico Collins draft comps from PFF:

Do not look up target counts for Boykin, Malone, and Metcalf.

A new defense. Richard Johnson is in 538 talking with Maurice Linguist about what's going on with the Michigan D:

There are, broadly speaking, two spectrums that defenses can fall: too simple or too complex. With coverages, Michigan was certainly more of the former, especially early in Brown’s tenure, as the team played man-to-man defense almost exclusively. Though his tendencies eventually became more balanced, Michigan remained one of the most man-heavy teams in college football. Even as Brown tweaked his squad’s identity, its play only got worse. So as is often the case when you get beat up on one end of the spectrum, Michigan could flip to the other.

Is it worth building an inflexible defense made to shut out the Michigan States at the expense of being ill-equipped to respond to what Ohio State can throw at you? That’s the existential question facing the Wolverines.

“They had a system down that they felt strong about and playing a lot more man-oriented, and that’s definitely going to be a part of what we do,” Linguist said. “But there’s layers to having a great defense and just the perspective that we’re going to be bringing in. You don’t have to just live in one thing to be successful.”

The kind of things they're importing from the NFL are going to be difficult for college players, period, and it is likely to be particularly rough in year one. I wonder if they'll have the time to actually get something going. Warde Manuel is almost certainly going to be in a difficult spot next offseason.

[After THE JUMP: as the portal turns]

Michigan made significant strides in bolstering their secondary this morning, landing commitments from a pair of four-star 2022 Tennessee prospects who project to play in the defensive backfield. 247's Steve Wiltfong broke the news in rapid succession: four-star Germantown (TN) ATH Kody Jones, who projects to play corner, and four-star Cross Plains (TN) East Robertson S Taylor Groves dropped within a minute of each other.

Both prospects credited the recruiting efforts of new secondary coach and co-DC Maurice Linguist (aka "Coach Mo") for bringing them into the fold. Jones:

“The relationship I had with Coach Mo, I felt it deep down inside. Coach Mo is a great coach and I feel like he can get the job done for me on and off the field.”

Groves:

“I’d definitely say my relationship with Coach Mo,” Groves started in on his pledge to the Maize and Blue. Maurice Linguist is his lead recruiter. “We talked a lot over the last week or two. This was the right move for me and my family and I didn’t want to waste any time making it.”

There was significant competition for both players. Jones chose Michigan from an offer sheet that includes Auburn, Florida State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, Texas A&M, and Tennessee. Groves had a top group of LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Virginia Tech.

Linguist's ability to pull two sought-after recruits from SEC country is very encouraging, and it sure doesn't hurt that they're coming in at positions of need. We'll have more on these commitments soon.

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