Michigan set to name former Wolverines star to vital off-field role

According to Ant Wright of On3, head coach Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines are set to hire former quarterback Denard Robinson to their staff. He will serve as the Assistant Director of Player Personnel, with an announcement “coming soon.”

Robinson has had two coaching roles before, working with the Jacksonville University during the 2019 season as an offensive analyst and then the Jacksonville Jaguars under former head coach Doug Marrone as the offensive quality control coach in 2021. The former Michigan quarterback was not retained by Urban Meyer and will now be moving back to Ann Arbor.

Playing for the Wolverines for four seasons, Robinson threw for 6,250 yards, 49 touchdowns, and 39 interceptions throughout his career. Just as big of a threat on the ground, the dual-threat QB had 4,495 rushing yards and 42 rushing touchdowns.

Michigan Wolverines HC Jim Harbaugh addresses play calling duties

With co-offensive coordinators in Sherrone Moore and Matt Weiss, Michigan head coach Harbaugh is left with one pressing question: Who will handle play-calling duties? Harbaugh recently shared the answer to Michigan’s offensive play calling in an appearance on the In the Trenches podcast.

“We have two offensive coordinators, co-coordinators. We’re going to split the play-calling duties,” Harbaugh said. “Sherrone is going to be really dedicated still to coaching the offensive line, which is a huge undertaking. But I think he’s very much a gifted coach that will be able to coach the offensive line, which is a huge undertaking. But I think he’s very much a gifted coach that will be able to coach the offensive line, game plan the run game along with Mike Hart and Grant Newsome. Then, in the pass game, Matt Weiss, myself, Ron Bellamy, we’ll be game planning the passing game and Matt will call it.”

Harbaugh made it seem like the play-calling will be split between the run and pass game, with Moore calling the run plays and Weiss calling the passing plays. Regardless, both of his newly-promoted co-offensive coordinators have not called plays in the past, adding an extra challenge to the task at hand. But Harbaugh isn’t worried as he expressed full confidence in his cohort’s ability to adapt.

“All of these things will be — as you know, there’s a call sheet that we all go through with a fine-tooth comb. We practice it. We meet on it. And then we practice it again,” Harbaugh said. “By the time we come to the game, it’s listed what we’re going to call. I think both Sherrone and Matt Weiss — they’re going to be first-year playcallers. They both have the demeanor during the game to be calm, cool, collected, and rip off those playcalls.”