Michigan Football: What to make of Wolverines new staff makeup

It’s a little unusual for a team to have coaching changes just before spring practice begins, but that’s where Michigan football finds itself as spring ball opens today in Ann Arbor.

Of course, the Wolverines didn’t expect to have to make any more changes. After all, Michigan football announced its staff and that was supposed to include Brian Jean-Mary.

However, Jean-Mary took a job with Tennessee and that left Michigan with an opening. Yet, instead of filling it with a linebacker coach as expected, Jim Harbaugh decided to hire Matt Weiss of the Baltimore Ravens.

Weiss was the Ravens running backs coach last season and it was reported that he would be hired to coach quarterbacks. But according to Sam Webb of the Michigan Insider (subscription required), the hire caused a shift in the coaching staff as Ron Bellamy has moved over to defense and coaching safeties.

Webb also reports that George Helow will take over as the linebackers coach and that Josh Gattis will resume his role coaching receivers in addition to being offensive coordinator.

What to make of the new moves

A lot of people have been asking questions about Weiss being the quarterbacks coach, but for one thing, Jim Harbaugh is certainly still going to have a presence recruiting the position.

Who knows exactly how it will all shake out. Maybe Harbaugh will still have a hand in coaching quarterbacks. The biggest shift is probably moving Bellamy over to the secondary. He was already recruiting at wide receiver but he’s played defensive back before.

Bellamy was also a head coach at West Bloomfield, so that’s going to give him some versatility in terms of coaching positions. He will also be dynamic recruiting.

Speaking of recruiting, it’s probably the biggest question about Weiss. It seems clear that Harbaugh wants to incorporate some of what the Ravens do offensively and Weiss has been a big part of that, especially the running game.

He’s also a guy with an analytics background and he could potentially help improve some of the game-management things, which let’s be honest, have been an issue under Harbaugh. His clock management has been frustrating and any game management help is welcomed.

The other staff felt like it had more natural fits. But Helow coached linebackers at Maryland and he’ll do fine. The dynamic with Weiss and Harbaugh at quarterback is something I’m curious about.

But for all those that were hoping Michigan would make some changes on offense, this could be the path to doing so, especially when it comes to the ground game.