george helow

It felt inevitable once former star Michigan assistant/Paramus HC/very good LB coach Chris Partridge was returning, but now it appears official. Per Bruce Feldman, current LBs coach George Helow won't be back next year.

After bringing back Partridge, who spent the last several years as DC at Ole Miss, Harbaugh was one over the assistant limit, so somebody had to go. Helow, a former Ravens assistant who was Mike Macdonald's choice in 2021, seemed the obvious man without a chair.

Though the system had something to do with it too, Michigan's linebacker play under Helow hasn't been great. Helow also struggled a bit in recruiting—the 2022 cycle at linebacker was pretty rough, with Michigan whiffing on several top targets they thought would be in the class before lucking into Jimmy Rolder popping late. Helow was helpful in pulling Ernest Hausmann out of Nebraska.

While a bit unfair to Helow, Michigan is getting quite an upgrade. Partridge was a major recruiting asset in his first stint with Michigan, and should resume that role. He also had quite a lot of success as a linebacking coach in 2016-'17, when Ben Gedeon, Mike McCray, Devin Bush, Devin Gil, and young Josh Ross graded out between Pretty Good and Greatest Ever(?). Partridge moved to safeties in 2018 when Al Washington came on staff, before leaving in 2020 for Ole Miss. He was also an superb special teams coach.

There is no content after the jump.

1 hour and 12 minutes

The Sponsors

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, TicketIQ! and The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass.

1. Men's Basketball vs Ohio State

starts at 1:00

Bruce Thornton tha midrange god went off, but had to because Michigan kept them away from the rim. Okpara vs Dickinson was devastation. Hunter's defense so much better. Getting back in transition. OSU got no turnovers and no assists—also got *EVERY* loose ball. Jett is starting to understand the offense better, still leaves the corner open when they zone. Szelc T's up Saddi for saying "Bullshit."

[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]

Michigan lost LB commit Raylen Wilson in late June but then replaced him in the class only a couple days later in snaring Imhotep Institute's Semaj Bridgeman. The Michigan-Bridgeman courtship was pretty quick, as Bridgeman's name seldom appeared in recruiting insider pieces until mid-May and then suddenly it was on. He visited in early June, and all the predictions trended Michigan's favor. On July 1, Bridgeman made it official: 

GURU RATINGS

Last row is Seth's conversion to a five-star scale. Links are to profiles

Bridgeman is a consensus four-star recruit, with only On3 as the dissenting opinion leaving him on three-star status. ESPN is the highest on him, so take that for what it's worth, while 24/7 and and Rivals are pretty in-sync. All of the sites have him around the same height and weight, so not much to say physically here from the guru opinions. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: Many high schools mentioned]