The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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Harbaugh landed one of the big- gest names in college football special teams wizardry in John Baxter. He culled more talent from the NFL in new passing game coordinator Jedd Fisch, who has held pro jobs in Hous- ton, Baltimore, Denver, Seattle and Jacksonville. The rest of Michigan's new staff has NFL experience as well, most as coaches at the highest level. It's precisely what Harbaugh has always done, according to former Stanford offensive lineman Chris Marinelli — put great coaches around him, add- ing to his already relentless pursuit of winning. Here's a deeper look into Har- baugh's staff, in the eyes of those who were coached by U-M's new assis- tants in other venues. DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR D.J. DURKIN Harbaugh puts substantial focus on his quarterbacks and offense, and trusts his defensive coordinator to make it happen on that side of the ball. He knows what to expect out of Durkin, who coached defensive ends and served as special teams coordina- tor at Stanford from 2007-09. Durkin distinguished himself in recent seasons as Florida's DC, put- ting up impressive numbers over the past two years. In 2013, the Gators were eighth nationally in total defense (314.2 yards allowed per game), sev- enth in passing defense (171.8 yards allowed per game), sixth in average first downs allowed (16.1 per game) and 15th in scoring defense (21.1 points allowed per game). This past season, Durkin's defense ranked No. 15 nationally in total yard- age allowed per game (329.8), fifth in yards per play (4.45), ninth in yards per rushing attempt (3.16) and 10th in yards per pass attempt (5.9). Michael Taylor played linebacker under Durkin over the past five sea- sons. The coach who has already stated his defenses at Michigan will be situational — and able to move between 4-3 and 3-4 looks up front — will keep opponents off balance, Taylor assured. "He's like this: We're going to hit you in the mouth," Taylor said. "We're going to get you out of your game plan, make you feel uncomfort- able in what you're doing, knock the timing off your routes, stuff the run. You have to do things other than what you do regularly to win the game. You're not going to win the game in your regular offensive rhythm. "He does a lot of prep work. He puts in the time, like Florida players and coaches put in the time to make it all work. When the time presents itself, he'll heat you up. "I know in the last couple of games, against Florida State and ECU, we blitzed them more than we blitzed anybody we played. If a quarterback looks uncomfortable in the pocket, he'll come after them." In fact, Taylor insists Durkin had Florida State quarterback Jameis Win- ston tied in knots when the Sunshine State archrivals met at the end of the regular season. The Seminoles es- caped, 24-19, but not because of an offensive explosion. Winston went 12-of-24 passing in