SEARCHBITS XXXV: SURELY THIS IS THE LAST ONE

ranks high on the OMG WHAT DID DENARD DO TODAY scale
can you call him
OMG that's his phone number
wow wow… no, no don't call him I'm too nervous

JEDD FISCH? A name for Michigan's wildcard spot:

College FB news -- I'm hearing ex-Jags OC Jedd Fisch will be offered the Pass Game Coordinator job at University of Michigan. @FOXSports1

— P. Schrager (@PSchrags) January 8, 2015

Fisch was just fired after two seasons as the Jacksonville Jaguars' OC; before that he was OC at Miami for two years. That followed a vagabond existence as an NFL position coach mostly spent teaching WRs and QBs; his only college experience prior to his Miami run was a couple years as a GA at Florida under Spurrier. [UPDATE: Ace reminds me that Fisch was briefly at Minnesota as OC/QB when the Gophers were rolling with the pretty decent Adam Weber.]

Fisch and Jimmie Dougherty on the same staff would be a little awkward. Dougherty's done QB/WR as well, with a single year as a TE coach at San Diego. Either one of those two rumors is going to fizzle out or Michigan's going to have one of the two as a TE coach and leave the OL entirely to Drevno.

It's difficult to find out anything about Fisch other than that there are an immense number of websites willing to report on the firing of an NFL coordinator. Fisch was the architect of one of the weirdest FEI seasons in memory: Miami's 2011 offense, which finished in the middle of the pack in almost all standard metrics but was third in FEI that year for reasons I can't discern. All of Miami's individual FEI numbers are also mediocre. I don't get it. Miami was 23rd in S&P, the play-based metric, FWIW.

Fisch didn't do much in Jacksonville, but it's hard to see how he could:

Teams with successful rookie Qbs also don’t start 7-8 rookies on offense at the same time.

Successful rookie Qbs tend to have at least something to lean on, run game, great TE, a line, a Vet at WR, a great D.

This year was sausage being made. It is better to have the result than to see the process.

by mnkman322 on Dec 30, 2014 | 5:54 PM

Blake Bortles seemed pissed that Fisch got axed, FWIW.

Getting a guy coming off four years as an OC as basically a position coach seems pretty good, if that is the case. Without a source connected to Michigan reporting it's a possibility, not a probability.

UPDATE: Sam says Fisch is in, also WR coach.

TOLBERT IN. Anvil-lifting, weight-flinging assistant 49ers S&C guy Kevin Tolbert is unofficially official:

Source tells @NFLonFOX@49ers asst strength coach Kevin Tolbert is signed, sealed & delivered as @umichfootball strength coach. GREAT hire!

— Alex Marvez (@alexmarvez) January 8, 2015

I would hold your horses with the Gittleson worry, people who worry about those kind of things. Michigan went after Stanford's Shannon Turley hard—like seven-figure, three-year contract hard—for a reason and Harbaugh isn't going to just shrug and buy a bunch of Nautilus machines because he missed. Tolbert's been around the block with Stanford and the 49ers.

I will admit that Tolbert is one of a small number guys on staff who haven't established himself as a quality idea outside the Harbaugh orbit. I'm still not too worried about it. Harbaugh is a guy who knows how to hire guys.

zoom

WHEATLEY OFFERED. On WTKA today Sam laid out the current Wheatley situation($): offered the RB job, going back home to talk about it with his family. Currently no extra title like run game coordinator or associate head coach but a solid likelihood that one will be available in a minute here since Harbaugh people go on to do things. (His last staff at Stanford featured five current CFB head coaches and Pep Hamilton, who's probably going to be an NFL head coach in the near future.)

We should hear something soon, and that's very probably going to be yes.

OTHER NAMES. Also from WTKA today: Sam expects another coach in the secondary($) and Roy Manning is interviewing today, presumably for that spot. If Manning doesn't get that job, Marshall DC Chuck Heater is a possibility.

Heater played at Michigan and then embarked on an infinitely long career as a college assistant that has taken him through Wisconsin, OSU, ND, Colorado State, Colorado, Washington, Utah, Florida, Temple, and now Marshall. He's been a DBs coach for the large bulk of that time, added co-DC stuff under Urban Meyer for the last three years of his career there, and has been a DC the past three years. At 62 he'd probably be planning to retire at Michigan if he came, and money would not be a problem—Heater's making "just" 200k as a coordinator, something Michigan could bump a la Dougherty.

OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL. As I mentioned six months ago, DJ Durkin would be come official for the 29th time when Michigan issued an official release on his hire. They did so. Hooray, hooray.

"Reuniting with Jim at the University of Michigan is an opportunity that I could not pass up," said Durkin. "We had some great times working together at Stanford, and I look forward to producing great results at Michigan. I look forward to coaching in the Big Ten after growing up in that footprint. I am excited to return to the Midwest and recruit and teach some of the best and brightest young men in the country."

The most notable item from this blitz of non-news was Durkin saying he'd previously run both 3-4 and a 4-3 defenses and would fit the defense to his personnel. There's a distinction here that gets lost a lot: you can run a 30 front from time to time and still be a 4-3 defense. The much bigger distinction is one gap versus two gap, and a lot of 30 fronts are just 4-3 defenses in which the fourth guy is a blitzer.

FWIW, Durkin's last defense at Florida occasionally appeared to be 3-4 but played like a one-gap attacking 4-3 with a sometimes-standup Crable-esque DE and non-planet NT.

DJ Durkin Florida Defense vs. FSU Every Snapby DGDestroys

If Durkin is serious about installing a 3-4 this is what it would probably end up looking like:

• DE: Glasgow, Wormley, Poggi
• NT: Pipkins, Mone
• DE: Henry, Hurst, Godin
• WOLB: Charlton, Marshall, Ojemudia, Furbush
• SOLB: Ross, Stone, Winovich
• ILB: Morgan, Bolden, McCray, Gedeon

3-4 DEs are often three-tech types from a 4-3 under, and the nose tackles have to be super consistent at taking on doubles. Pipkins's lack of playing time last year would make me leery. Michigan has a clear 4-3 weakness—DE—as well.

I doubt Michigan will flip its defense around extensively. It's likely to remain pretty much a 4-3, give or take some frippery.

GUESSOCHART. Throwing Fisch on there and downgrading Dougherty and Manning some.

S&C: Kevin Tolbert

OTHERS: Chuck Heater(CB), John Morton (WR).