Michigan Football: Could Shaun Nua be the next D-Line coach?

Michigan football still needs a defensive line coach and one emerging candidate is Arizona State’s D-line coach Shaun Nua.

While Michigan football fans are ecstatic about the hire of new offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, the Wolverines still have a key opening on the coaching staff at defensive line.

That’s the position left vacant by long-time Michigan football assistant Greg Mattison, who coached 13 seasons for the Wolverines before leaving earlier this month to become the co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State.

Mattison was known for his ability to recruit, especially in the Midwest and also for his ability to develop talent along the defensive line. That means finding an adequate replacement is going to be key and one candidate that is gaining steam is Arizona State’s defensive line coach Shaun Nua.

Nua, who played college football at BYU and went on to play in the NFL for both the Pittsburgh Steelers and Buffalo Bills, spent the previous six season coaching at Navy before joining Herman Edwards staff with the Sun Devils last season.

The name is being floated about by a couple of different sources as the Wolverine.com and Sam Webb both have stories hinting at new D-line candidates and with the name starting to circulate around the internet and on Twitter, it’s clear that something is happening with Nua.

That doesn’t mean that he is going to get the job or even that he would leave Arizona State for Michigan. But it does indicate that Michigan football is interested in bringing him on board and when you look at his resume, you can see why.

One thing that Michigan loves to preach to recruits is its ability to send players to the NFL and no position group has done that more than the defensive line during Harbaugh’s tenure. Rashan Gary is going this year and Chase Winovich, but some of the other notable names are Taco Charlton, Chris Wormley, Maurice Hurst and more.

So it would make sense that Harbaugh would want to bring in a guy with NFL experience. Nua is also known as a good recruiter and he’s young (37), just like other recent hires in Gattis and defensive assistant Anthony Campanile.

During his two seasons at BYU before being drafted in the seventh round of the 2005 NFL draft, Nua notched 10 sacks and 16 tackles for loss. He also won a Super Bowl with the Steelers following the 2005 season.

At this point, don’t get too excited about Nua. But if you are looking for guys that could possibly fill the role on the Wolverines staff, Nua makes sense and maybe that’s why there is so much buzz surrounding him right now.