Football Roundup: Enter LaMar Morgan, Exit Keon Sabb
A pair of headlines involving Michigan Football this Friday, the reported hiring of LaMar Morgan as defensive backs coach and the decision of S Keon Sabb to enter the transfer portal. We'll check off both of these in today's short combo piece:
Introducing: LaMar Morgan, DBs Coach
If you read my piece about the new coaches on Wednesday and then tuned out until today, you are probably stunned since I introduced a DBs coach in that piece, Stephen Adegoke. Well, as it turned out, after Adegoke accepted the Michigan job, DeMeco Ryans of the Houston Texans put on the full court press to keep Adegoke's services. As it seems to go these days, if a college team finds themselves seriously bidding against the NFL for a coach's services, they are usually going to lose that battle, as Michigan did. Thus, we have a new new DBs coach to introduce:
Michigan is hiring Louisiana defensive coordinator LaMar Morgan as defensive backs coach, sources tell @247Sports.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) February 16, 2024
Morgan impressed Michigan during the interview process and came recommended from ex-Michigan DC Jesse Minter, whom he worked with at Vanderbilt.… pic.twitter.com/rYiiXy4O8M
Morgan was one of the two finalists alongside Adegoke for the job, so it was a pretty easy pivot for Michigan when they lost Adegoke. And while some may view Morgan as "Plan B" his profile offers lots of reasons to get excited. While Morgan is not nearly as young as Adegoke, he is still under the age of 40, keeping the theme of this very young staff. He was a safety for the University of Louisiana-Lafayette in the mid-2000s before going into coaching, which began as a GA under James Franklin at Vanderbilt in 2012-13, the last time the Commodores were any good. From there Morgan moved on to be a DBs coach at Western Carolina in 2014-15, then coached by Mark Speir, followed by a stint at University of Louisiana-Monroe in 2016-17. After that he did a year at Houston as the safeties coach under Major Applewhite (2018) and then returned to his alma mater Louisiana-Lafayette as an assistant head coach/cornerbacks coach.
Morgan held that job down for two seasons (2019-20) before leaving for one year to take his first P5 job, as cornerbacks coach of Vanderbilt under new DC... Jesse Minter. The two worked together for one season but when Minter departed for Michigan, Morgan headed straight back to ULL, where he got to be his alma mater's defensive coordinator under new head coach Michael Desormeaux, in addition to coaching the safeties. For the past two seasons Morgan has coordinated ULL's defense, the team finishing 29th in SP+ defense in 2022 and 107th this past season. What do we take away from that? Probably not all that much, as there was likely a bit of a talent decline with another year removed from Billy Napier's juggernaut teams that went 23-2 between 2020-21.
[AFTER THE JUMP: More news]
[Brad Kemp/ULL Athletics]
As I alluded to in my piece on Wednesday when I was writing about Adegoke, Morgan seemed like the much safer option among the two candidates because his track record is much longer. Morgan brings with him a decade of experience as a positional coach in college football (FCS and FBS), having coached both safeties and corners. By comparison, Adegoke had one total year of positional coaching at any level of football and had never once coached corners. Moreover, Morgan has been a defensive coordinator for two seasons in the FBS, while Adegoke had never called plays. There are some unknowns with Morgan, such as that he's never coached at a program of Michigan's caliber and he's spent one total year in the P5 (and it was on a team that is barely P5 caliber), but he has vastly more experience overall.
I can't speak much as to how Morgan is as a recruiter, since he hasn't stayed in one job long and again, has never coached at a school like Michigan to have a feel for what he can do as a recruiter (in contrast to Greg Scruggs and Brian Jean-Mary, who both have). But like the other coaches on staff he's a younger guy and an ex-player, so he shouldn't be terrible at it. Morgan's biggest asset in this process was his strong recommendation from Jesse Minter, who was a big fan of his during their time together at Vanderbilt, presumably making up for the fact that Sherrone has no personal history with Morgan, unlike every other coach he's hired. Furthermore, if the goal was to hire coaches who could potentially be the next defensive coordinator if/when Wink Martindale departs for an NFL staff, LaMar Morgan checks that box in emphatic fashion as someone who already has been an FBS DC. From a bird's eye view, you'd have to consider him to be the favorite to be next-in-line for the DC job just from that experience alone.
Overall, while losing Stephen Adegoke was disappointing, I don't really see this hire as an obvious downgrade. Both guys had different appeals and I didn't obviously think one was better than the other. Adegoke had reasons to be very high on him, but also some reasons for concern. I don't think Morgan is any different.
[Patrick Barron]
Exit: Keon Sabb
The other piece of news was the most notable Michigan transfer portal departure to date:
Michigan Safety Keon Sabb has entered the transfer portal, per @mzenitz pic.twitter.com/h0lpMTcdqi
— PFF College (@PFF_College) February 16, 2024
This is a bummer, but not stunning if you were following some of the NIL insider gossip. Since the transfer period opened following Jim Harbaugh's departure, offers were being made to a number of Michigan players and eventually someone was going to get picked off. That it took this long for a player of reasonable consequence to be poached is a good sign, and even then Sabb was the perfect mold of player that will always be vulnerable. With Rod Moore and Makari Paige both returning, Michigan could not guarantee an immense workload for Sabb, even if they were planning to use Moore as a nickel and play Sabb as a "starting" safety. It was a talented DBs room and it will always be a fight for snaps. When that is the case and another team can come with an offer of both a large financial package and security in the form of a guaranteed starting job, it's hard not to at least think about it.
For Michigan, it's disappointing to have spent two years developing Sabb into what looked like a very good player (his performance against Washington was eye-opening) but this is how college football works nowadays. Michigan's NIL operation is not as strong as the teams that can offer players like Sabb, but even at an optimum level, it is going to be difficult to keep guys this far down the depth chart when other schools can make them higher financial priorities. As for 2024, the loss of Sabb hollows out the safety depth beyond Paige and Moore and is going to require one of either Zeke Berry (Sabb's classmate) or So Brandyn Hillman to be ready to step up and take some snaps on as the rotational #3 safety. Not the end of the world but also not ideal.
February 16th, 2024 at 2:11 PM ^
alternative headline: "Easy come, easy go. Onward!"
February 16th, 2024 at 2:15 PM ^
Is there any hope that Sabb would come back after meeting with Morgan or does Sabb leaving feel like a done deal?
February 16th, 2024 at 2:38 PM ^
Alex made it sound like this was purely an NIL thing, not related to the coaching hires. Personally I think if Coach Clink were still around he'd have been more likely to stay, though still not 100 percent. NIL giveth, NIL taketh away.
February 16th, 2024 at 2:52 PM ^
That's an interesting take on NIL!
I don't see it hath giveth much, but it apparently has helped retaineth until Sabb.
But it most certainly has taketh, both in HS crootin, and now Sabb, Amorion, and possibly more to come.
Very glad Michigan has at least begun to stir from its hibernation on this front. Hopefully this will be the last of definite contributors departing 🤷♂️
I actually have a question on Walker - did he go to Ol Miss to play WR or DB? Does anyone know? Seems if he wanted to return to WR we could have used him, no?
February 16th, 2024 at 3:59 PM ^
I'm conflating NIL with the transfer portal, but we've gotten a lot from the transfer portal. No idea how it works with inducement and tampering and all of that, but we got a lot of guys who helped us win last year. NIL giveth.
February 16th, 2024 at 6:42 PM ^
This. Also with player retention after last season.
February 16th, 2024 at 4:47 PM ^
It gaveth last season. The transfer portal haul from last year was fantastic with some major contributors. Some in that class will probably be major contributors this season as well. I fully expect some transfer portal pieces to come this spring as well, once the portal has opened back up to everyone.
One of the biggest downfalls to making a run is going to be the lack of time at recruiting the portal. Do you recruit while trying to win it all, or do you put everything into winning the whole damn thing? I'll go with option 2. Maybe one of the reasons for them hiring a GM is for this exact reason.
February 16th, 2024 at 4:28 PM ^
Sam Webb interestingly enough said on WTKA that he was not a big Clink guy.
February 16th, 2024 at 8:36 PM ^
Well after he reportedly told players he'd be staying but only because of his buyout, I wasn't either. Not an inspiring message!
And then left anyway!
February 16th, 2024 at 3:02 PM ^
It just feels like if you decide to go in the portal, you probably have already been tampered with.
February 16th, 2024 at 3:14 PM ^
I suspect many players have opportunities to leave which they don't exercise. It continues to feel that Michigan is still fighting with one hand tied behind its back due to the continued presence of Manuel and a bunch of Regents still living in another time.
Speaking of Manuel, I just received from our AD an email catching me up on Michigan Athletics including the latest bit on NIL.
February 16th, 2024 at 11:03 PM ^
You can't let go of your Dr. Pepper hand.
February 16th, 2024 at 3:16 PM ^
Certainly at this time of year it reeks of tampering. Less so at the end of a season when you can actually enroll in classes prior to the next semester.
February 16th, 2024 at 4:23 PM ^
Exactly. Is the NCAA even going to pretend to do something about tampering?
February 16th, 2024 at 8:06 PM ^
Is there actually an NCAA rule against it?
February 16th, 2024 at 8:38 PM ^
There actually is.
See the Florida coach who obviously thought ncaa rules only applied to Michigan, so tampered blatantly & openly.
If you cheat really badly they'll get you because you embarrassed them!
February 17th, 2024 at 3:33 PM ^
Only if UM does it
February 16th, 2024 at 4:56 PM ^
Exactly. These guys have a very solid idea where they are going and what they will be getting for that signature, prior to entering the portal.
February 16th, 2024 at 6:26 PM ^
How is that possible I thought we were using NIL to keep our talent?
Keon Sabb was able to cover Odunze man on man in the middle of the field in the end zone and Odunze couldn't shake him. The kid is going to be a high draft pick. You don't let guys like that leave.
Michigan is being cheap at every turn. I mean you let 3 5 star QBs leave your state because you're cheap cheap cheap.
This is the tip of the iceberg with fat fingers Warde and the current decision makers in charge.
February 16th, 2024 at 7:52 PM ^
Do you know we’re being cheap or are you assuming?
February 16th, 2024 at 2:16 PM ^
Respectfully Alex losing Saab is a much bigger deal than merely a "bummer." I thought UM's transformational over. transactional NIL policy took care of our established players.We just lost a kid who was going to be a starter for the next 2 years.
February 16th, 2024 at 2:21 PM ^
He might start the next two years, but I bet only one of them will be in college. Still, I take your point.
February 16th, 2024 at 2:21 PM ^
I don't think he was planning on being a starter for *two* seasons and that is partly why he is on his way out
February 16th, 2024 at 2:45 PM ^
Keon Sabb will be 22 in September. It is completely rational for someone of his talent to want to be a starter (and not just a "starter") and get a lot of plays on tape for the NFL.
I think "bummer" is the right way to classify it -- I don't like it, but it doesn't impact the starters and there are reasonable replacement options for the no. 3 spot (e.g., beyond Berry, go look at Brandyn Hillman's offer sheet -- that's the type of dude who should be ready to at least be a solid backup as a sophomore). It is not reasonable in today's college football to hold onto older, talented players who don't have starting positions. I can't get upset about that.
February 17th, 2024 at 3:33 PM ^
Yet OSU retains 4 guys who could start at safety including "older guys' who could have been drafted while they brought in the #1 freshman in the safety from Bama. stop excusing it
February 17th, 2024 at 7:14 PM ^
Maybe Sabb leaving creates room for Zeke Barry to step in and become a star. Sad to see him go, but this could benefit multiple parties
February 18th, 2024 at 8:57 AM ^
Bird in the hand or two in the bush. I’d take Sabb who’s proven any day. Huge loss and somehow would have seen the field as a starter at some point. Top 100 kids who pan out are ones you wanna keep. Oh well, shit happens.
February 16th, 2024 at 2:28 PM ^
I'm not so sure he was going to stick around past this season either way. He'll be draft eligible next year, and he's got eyes on the NFL.
February 16th, 2024 at 2:53 PM ^
So he needs to...
1. Find a place with decent success and decent coaching
2. Play major snaps.
3. Get some money but not necessarily top dollar.
Gotta do what you gotta do. If getting to the league is the highest priority then get to a situation that will get you maximum exposure. If I'm correct about all this I can not blame Keon at all. Good luck. You will always have 2023.
February 16th, 2024 at 6:36 PM ^
So let's allow all of our players that are 3 and done type talents which usually means high draft pick....WTF?
Our fan base is in such denial.
Keon Sabb was incredible in the national championship game. His ability to break on the football is 2nd to none. Covered Odunze all by himself. He the exact player we should be spending to keep.
February 16th, 2024 at 8:47 PM ^
Lol. Not even Will Johnson covered Odunze by himself but a safety did? Sure bud
February 16th, 2024 at 2:51 PM ^
Honestly, I think NIL plays a role in Sabb's departure but I think it is incorrect to point to that as the main problem. I think the problem is that he was expecting to enter his junior year as a starter looking toward the NFL after a solid finish to his season and instead the two guys who started ahead of him both decided (in a surprise) to come back. Money alone isn't going to keep some of these kids. I think you have to really over-pay a kid to take a bench role over getting to start.
February 16th, 2024 at 3:04 PM ^
Somewhat inclined to agree with your take. We aren’t talking about a dominant established starter here who would get 7 figures on the market. He’s talented and shown flashes, but you have to think he wants a full starting job for exposure.
February 16th, 2024 at 3:00 PM ^
1. Absolutely no guarantee Sabb would start for Michigan in '24, in fact likely would not. Potentially wouldn't play significantly more than in '23, although the path to more PT was certainly there to compete for.
2. What Michigan related NIL consortiums paid Corum et al to stay in '23 was certainly below "market rate" and strictly worked because those players wanted to come back & accomplish exactly what they did accomplish.
3. With the new "GM" and alliances with commercial ventures invested in Michigan's success, perhaps Michigan will be able to pay 3rd safeties as much or more than other schools are willing to pay in the future 🤷♂️
And more importantly, 1st string DTs!!!
February 17th, 2024 at 7:18 PM ^
Respectfully disagree with this. No way they could keep Sabb off the field in '24. If he or Rod moved to nickel, it just makes them even more valuable in NFL Draft. But next man up, Berry & Hillman lfg
February 16th, 2024 at 7:00 PM ^
Agree. Saab looked pretty fantastic on the field this season
February 16th, 2024 at 2:20 PM ^
Can’t we replace Sabb through the portal when it next opens? We’ve done pretty well there in the past couple of years.
February 16th, 2024 at 2:36 PM ^
Depends on whether there are any Safeties who"ve already taken the Freshman level Lit.Class UM made Myles Hinton repeat.
February 17th, 2024 at 3:35 PM ^
admissions says no
February 16th, 2024 at 2:27 PM ^
Just remember the lesson from Rick & Morty: Portals are two-way transportation devices, folks.
February 16th, 2024 at 2:38 PM ^
Wasn't Clink plan A, Adgoke plan B and thus Morgan plan C? Doug Mallory might have even slotted in there somewhere.
February 16th, 2024 at 2:42 PM ^
I think keeping Clink was always preferred for a lot of reasons. Once that fell through, it likely came down to who said yes first between Adekoge and Morgan. That's how I've read the situation.
Like Alex said, Adekoge has VERY little experience as a coach. Being young is cool and all, but experience matters a lot. Morgan gives you the best of both worlds while also being a future DC candidate. Adekoge probably wouldn't have stuck around long anyway.
February 16th, 2024 at 2:47 PM ^
I have no idea who will be better and literally never heard of either of them before a few days ago but it seems pretty clear that Morgan was the 3rd one to receive and accept the job. Hopefully 3rd times a charm.
February 16th, 2024 at 2:54 PM ^
And it sure seems like Adekoge got the nod over Morgan because he and Moore had a history together, not because he necessarily was a better coach or recruiter. Adekoge might well be better in those regards, but I'd honestly rather have a more established CFB guy.
February 16th, 2024 at 3:31 PM ^
Every coach currently employed anywhere is the "plan A" for that spot, so that probably isnt a constructive way to look at it.
February 16th, 2024 at 4:26 PM ^
i mean sure, but it wasn't Clink vs. these other two guys lol. They wanted to keep Clink and then when they didn't they moved onto a process that turned up these two candidates
February 16th, 2024 at 2:40 PM ^
Thanks for this. Now I can look at the Agedoke/Morgan swap the same as the upgrade from Macdonald to Minter.
February 16th, 2024 at 2:47 PM ^
It is unfortunate that the young man has likely decided to transfer. Should he proceed with it, I hope it's a playing time issue and not a financial decision.
The latter is changing the nature of the sport and I fear that they are killing the goose that laid the golden egg.
Paying recruits and paying players to remain on a roster have nothing to do with the spirit and original intent of NIL.
February 16th, 2024 at 3:21 PM ^
Ugh, if anyone should get paid it’s established players like Sabb that have put in the time and effort and are proven commodities.
I’d much rather see Keon Sabb go out and get paid than some unproven 5* freshman making bank off potential. That said, let them all get what’s being offered.
It’s currently mercenary capitalism with no rules, contracts, caps, salaries, structure, etc, etc. I’m guessing this corrects, although slowly, because SEC and OSU have zero appetite to equal the playing field on incentivized talent acquisition and the NCAA is a feckless, corrupt organization more concerned with hamburger related recruiting violations than the prior 25 years of pay for play when it was a level 1 violation.
February 16th, 2024 at 4:02 PM ^
The NCAA follows what its members want. Its members are large bureaucratic institutions that are slow to change. Of course "slow to change" can just as easily be framed as "respects tradition." Right now those institutions are resisting the pull to treat athletes in revenue sports as employees for some obvious reasons, but it's pretty damn clear that whatever was the case in the 1970s isn't as relevant now, and in the current environment the schools need players to sign contracts with schools that call for the player to be paid.
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