Jim Harbaugh has reportedly made another hire on the defensive side of the ball, tapping another up-and-coming assistant for his Michigan staff.
George Helow, who spent the 2020 season as special teams coordinator and inside linebackers coach at Maryland, will join the Wolverines as safeties coach, according to multiple reports.
Both ESPN and The Athletic are reporting the hire, which has not yet been announced by Michigan. Mike Macdonald, a 33-year-old assistant for the Baltimore Ravens, was named defensive coordinator on Sunday.
Helow’s resume includes multiple stops at several schools, some of which were led by some big-name coaches. He coached safeties at Colorado State in 2018 and 2019, after spending an additional two years on staff as a graduate assistant and quality control coach.
Before his four-year stint in Fort Collins, Helow (pronounced He-LOW) worked as a graduate assistant at the University of Georgia in 2014 and 2015 under Jeremy Pruitt, while earning a master’s degree.
Helow was also a graduate assistant at Florida State under Jimbo Fisher in 2013, and interned at the University of Alabama in 2012. He was a defensive back at the University of Mississippi from 2006 to 2010, and began his coaching career at his alma mater, Bishop Kennedy High School in Jacksonville, Fla.
It’s unclear where this leaves Michigan safeties coach Bob Shoop, who still has one year left on his original contract. Shoop spent most of the 2020 season coaching remotely for unexplained personal reasons, leaving his future on staff uncertain.
Friday afternoon reports out of Gainesville, Fla., also linked University of Florida linebackers coach Christian Robinson to Michigan.
