Mike Zordich Tops Michigan Football Assistant Coach Power Rankings

1. Mike Zordich: One of only two assistants that have been with Jim Harbaugh since 2015 (son, Jay, is the other), Zordich has churned out three elite cover cornerbacks in Jourdan Lewis, David Long and Lavert Hill - with rising senior Ambry Thomas on his way to being the fourth. 

He's also had legit No. 2 cornerbacks in Channing Stribling, Jeremy Clark and now redshirt sophomore Vincent Gray. More great talent awaits for Zordich to mold, beginning with freshman Andre Seldon. 

2. Ed Warinner: Through his efforts, Michigan put forth, arguably, its best offensive line (in 2019) in more than a decade, all four seniors getting selected in April's NFL Draft - a first for the U-M program. That has caught the eye of top offensive line targets in 2021 and 2022.  

His challenge this fall is to break in four new starters, though redshirt junior Andrew Steuber (a potential starting guard) and redshirt sophomore Ryan Hayes (left tackle) have some starting experience. But here's how good Warriner is and how far the offensive line has come - almost everyone expect its to be one of Michigan's top position groups this fall even with all that turnover. 

3. Josh Gattis: After a slow start in which Michigan's offense averaged just 5.4 yards per play (a season average that would rank 93rd nationally in 2019) and 367 yards per game (99th nationally) the first five weeks, U-M averaged 6.0 yards per play (54th) and 423.1 yards per game (51st) over the final eight.

With dynamic playmakers at receiver, tight end and, potentially, tailback, the offense should surge this season if - and it's a GIANT "if" - the Maize and Blue get consistently great quarterback play from redshirt junior Dylan McCaffrey, redshirt sophomore Joe Milton or redshirt freshman Cade McNamara. 

If that happens, Gattis and the offense should have a breakout season for the Wolverines, ranking among the Top 30 nationally. 

4. Don Brown: An undervalued position coach - in the past two years, Michigan saw linebackers Devin Bush, Khaleke Hudson and Jordan Glasgow all selected in the NFL Draft - Brown has an "Ohio State problem." So do a lot of defensive coordinators. Michigan's defense, however, wilts against great offenses at an alarming clip, worse than other Top 10 defenses. 

Over the past five years, U-M has given up more than 50 yards and close to 13 points more against the Top 25 offenses it has faced than the rest of the country's Top 10 defenses have fared against the Top 25 offenses they have played. Brown is only responsible for four of those seasons, but in 2019, those numbers jumped to 103.5 yards and 17.7 points more that Michigan allowed against Top 25 offenses than the other Top 10 defenses did. 

5. Bob Shoop: A noted success as both a defensive coordinator and a defensive backs coach during his long college career, Shoop has two big responsibilities in his first season at Michigan: 

1) Nurturing the precocious talent of rising sophomore safety Daxton Hill while helping underrated senior Brad Hawkins be his best. 

2) Acting as a sounding board for Brown as they try to put together a more solid defensive plan of attack for Ohio State, which Brown talked about recently. 

6. Jay Harbaugh: Jay probably doesn't get his due because of arguments about nepotism, but with the lone exception of 2017 (his first year coaching running backs), Jay's position groups - tight end in 2015-16 and running backs in 2018-19 - have been some of the top performing cohorts on the team. 

He has also been one of Michigan's elite recruiters and his relative young age (30, turning 31 June 14) resonates with the Wolverine players. 

7. Brian Jean-Mary: Like Shoop, Jean-Mary offers multiple strengths that Michigan should be able to utilize quickly, beginning with his recruiting chops, and continuing to his long history of coaching linebackers and coordinating defenses. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Harbaugh brought in a pair of former defensive coordinators in Shoop and Jean-Mary to offer assistance to Brown as U-M looks to get over the hump against rival Ohio State. 

8. Sherrone Moore: In his third year coaching tight ends, Moore might have his best collection yet, led by fifth-year senior Nick Eubanks and rising sophomore Erick All. 

I believe Eubanks is a star-in-waiting if he can get enough opportunities to stretch the field and score TDs - his touchdown rate of 16% in 2019 was fifth all time among U-M tight ends behind Devin Funchess (33% in 2012), Doug Marsh (32% in 1978) Eric Kattus (21% in 1985) and Jerame Tuman (17% in 1997).

9. Shaun Nua: Perhaps this is too low (though someone has to be Nos. 9 and 10), but Michigan's defensive line severely underperformed when it needed to be at its best - at Wisconsin, at Penn State, home to Ohio State and in the bowl game opposite Alabama. That might not be entirely Nua's fault, the defensive tackles were incredibly undersized and he wasn't responsible for recruiting them, while depth was lacking from previous teams that could go 7-8 deep. 

Nua has a strong contingent to work with this fall, including four returning defensive tackles and two elite ends in senior Kwity Paye and junior Aidan Hutchinson. If this unit is as good as the 2016 cohort, Nua will move up this list quickly. If it underperforms, he'll stay right where he is. 

10. Ben McDaniels: When you're essentially responsible for one player and that player experiences a significant regression from 2018, much of the blame will fall on his position coach (though a change in offense was obviously a contributor). Shea Patterson fell from 8th nationally to 32nd in ESPN QBR (a rating of 81.5 in 2018 to 71.9 in 2019) and from 2nd to 6th in the Big Ten. 

His completion percentage dropped from 64.6% to 56.2% as his mechanics - throwing from inconsistent arm angles and poor footwork in his drops - and confidence in the pocket waned considerably. 

There were some better moments from Oct. 26 (Notre Dame) through Nov. 23 (Indiana) when Patterson averaged 10.1 yards per attempt, completed 63.6% of his 99 attempts, and had a 15:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio. 

McDaniels starts from scratch this fall, with three candidates all vying to be first-year starters, and how the starter performs will ultimately determine Michigan's fate in 2020. 

Who do you think will move up the most in 2020? Who is destined to fall?