Michigan DC Jesse Minter named finalist for Broyles Award

The Broyles Award is an annual award given to honor the best assistant coach in college football. In his first season leading the Michigan defense, Jesse Minter is finalist for the award.

Jesse Minter came to Michigan after 1 year as the defensive coordinator at Vanderbilt, where he ran head coach Clark Lea's defense. But that isn't what brought Minter to Ann Arbor.

In 2021, in the midst of a coaching staff overhaul head coach Jim Harbaugh was considering two coaches for the defensive coordinator position, Ravens assistants Mike Macdonald and Jesse Minter. While he ultimately picked Macdonald and considered Minter for a different role, Minter instead pursued the Vanderbilt opportunity. When Macdonald returned to Baltimore to take the open DC position the choice to replace him was obvious.

Minter was familiar with the scheme installed by Macdonald and would be "year 2" of the defense that helped lead Michigan to the Big Ten Championship. While we knew there would be subtle changes with Minter and his own ideology, the defense was expected to stay largely same with scheme and terminology. Would there be a drop off with Minter and the loss of players like Aidan Hutchinson, David Ojabo, Dax Hill, and James Ross?
The answer was a resounding no.

Michigan is 2nd in team defense in the nation. It leads the Big Ten in yards allowed, rushing defense, and was 2nd in the conference in sacks despite losing Hutchinson and Ojabo.

Two Michigan coordinators have won the award in the past. Defensive Coordinator Jim Hermann won the award in Michigan's 1997 National Championship season and Offensive Coordinator Josh Gattis is the most recent winner of the award, winning the award in 2021.

The 27th winner of the Broyles Award will be announced at a ceremony on December 6.

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