The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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FEBRUARY 2019 THE WOLVERINE 23 "He has so much information on some of these recruits that we hadn't had before," Harbaugh continued. "It's been smooth with him because he's detailed, organized and he knows what he's doing. The good ones make it look easy." Gattis called the opportunity a "no- brainer," and it might have been the same for Harbaugh. Known as one of the up-and-comers in the profession, Gattis helped coordinate an Alabama offense that went from No. 29 nation- ally in total offense to No. 6 in a year. He tweeted that he's anxious to get the ball in his playmakers' hands in space and wants explosive plays. The tweet elicited positive reaction from U-M receivers and recruits alike, just as Gattis hoped it would. "I'm pretty confident in the finger- print we're going to be able to leave," Gattis said on the podcast. "We're go- ing to do it together. This isn't going to be about Josh Gattis' offense. This is going to be about Michigan's offense. "The best teams that I've been around are all player-led teams. They're player-driven. This is going to be a fun, exciting brand. The fin- gerprint you saw at the University of Alabama and what we were able to do incorporating some of the RPOs [run-pass option] and some of the spread system, you're going to see a lot of that show up here at the Univer- sity of Michigan, but it's going to be about the buy-in of our guys. "It's going to be a total new of- fense." U-M ran some RPO, read option and more last year, but the offense sputtered against the better teams on the schedule. Some complained Harbaugh wasn't taking advantage of his weapons, and even junior quar- terback Shea Patterson said after the season he hoped they'd open it up more in 2019. That appears to be Gattis' plan. "Football is football, but it's going to be our job as the offensive staff here at the University of Michigan to make sure to put our best skill play- ers in the best position to be success- ful," he said. "We're going to be great teachers, we're going to be great de- velopers, but we're also going to put our players in the best position to be successful, and that's something that we're going to take tremendous pride in as an offensive staff." Gattis has already become famil- iar with U-M's personnel. While he's going to be hard to impress given the wealth of talent he worked with at Alabama, he likes what he has to work with. All the pieces are there, he insisted, for a great offense. "I'm excited about what we have, the depth we have at the O-line posi- tion, the depth we have at tight end," he said. "Obviously, our quarterback room is very talented, and we have good skill in our running backs and our receivers. "I truly believe we have all the pieces we need to put this puzzle to- gether. It's going to be a group deal; it's going to be a group effort. It's go- ing to come with some hard work, some belief and some trust in this of- fensive coaching staff and the plan we're going to put in place for them." The offense will remain balanced, he insisted, just as it was last year. But it's also likely to look much dif- ferent. U-M's receiver stable, for ex- ample, appears to be the strength of New offensive coordinator Josh Gattis "I'm pretty confident in the fingerprint we're going to be able to leave. We're going to do it together. This isn't going to be about Josh Gattis' offense. This is going to be about Michigan's offense." Jim Harbaugh's Coaching Staffs At Michigan Pos. 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 (as of Jan. 21) QB Jedd Fisch^ Fisch^ Pep Hamilton^ Hamilton^ Hamilton^ WR Fisch Fisch — Jim McElwain Josh Gattis* RB Tyrone Wheatley Wheatley Jay Harbaugh Harbaugh Harbaugh TE Jay Harbaugh Harbaugh Greg Frey Sherrone Moore Moore OL Tim Drevno* Drevno* Drevno* Ed Warinner Warinner DL Greg Mattison Mattison Mattison Mattison Shaun Nua LB DJ Durkin Chris Partridge Partridge Al Washington Anthony Campanile CB Mike Zordich Zordich Zordich Zordich Zordich S Greg Jackson Brian Smith Smith Chris Partridge Partridge ST John Baxter Partridge/ Partridge/ Partridge/ Partridge/ Harbaugh Harbaugh Harbaugh Harbaugh DC DJ Durkin Don Brown Brown Brown Brown * Offensive coordinator; ^ passing game coordinator Note: From 2015-17, the NCAA allowed only nine full-time assistant coaches. Starting in 2018, a full staff included 10 assistants. The Josh Gattis File Hometown: Durham, N.C. College (Graduation): Wake Forest (2006) Age: 35 Year School Position 2010 North Carolina Graduate Assistant (Offense) 2011 Western Michigan Wide Receivers 2012-13 Vanderbilt Wide Receivers 2014-17 Penn State Passing Game Coordinator /Wide Receivers 2018 Alabama Co-Offensive Coordinator/ Wide Receivers