The Michigan Wolverines have made another hire on defense, with Boise State’s Tyler Stockton moving across the country to coach Michigan’s safeties, according to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Stockton
was a co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach with Boise State the past two seasons. Last season under Stockton, the Broncos ranked 61st among NCAA DI teams in scoring defense, 15th in passing yards allowed, 22nd in passes intercepted and 25th in opponent third-down conversion percentage.
Before his time at Boise State, Stockton worked as assistant head coach/defensive coordinator/inside linebackers coach at Ball State, so he clearly has midwest ties. He got his coaching start at UConn as a defensive graduate assistant coach from 2014-15, and worked at Western Illinois after that.
Under new head coach Kyle Whittingham, Michigan’s defensive coaching staff is full of new faces. Defensive coordinator Jay Hill, plucked from BYU, leads the unit. The hirings of Alex Whittingham as linebackers coach and Jernaro Gilford as defensive backs coach were announced yesterday, to go along with the retention of Lou Esposito, who will coach defensive tackles, and Utah’s Jerome Powell, who will coach the edge rushers.
Michigan has a couple veteran safeties in Brandyn Hillman and Mason Curtis, and young safeties to be excited about, including Jordan Young and Jacob Oden. Now that group will have a new leader and their own position coach, splitting the previous duties of LaMar Morgan into two jobs. I’m also intrigued to see what impact Stockton can have on Michigan’s recruiting; perhaps he can land Boise State safety transfer Ty Benefield and get off to a hot start.
Whittingham mentioned at the men’s basketball game on Friday that “1-2 more coaches” will be added. It’s unclear if Stockton will be the last hire, but if it is, this staff can put all its energy into retaining current talent and recruiting players to come to Ann Arbor via transfer portal. We’ll continue to keep you updated during what’s been a busy winter for the Wolverines.
