The buzz surrounding Michigan's football team this offseason has surrounded new offensive coordinator Josh Gattis and the no huddle, up-tempo style he'll be installing for the Wolverines.
It will be a change from U-M's grind-it-out, control-the-clock type of pace it ran the last few years, but at the same time is a change most felt was necessary.
The 35-year old Gattis has actually never been a team's primary offensive coordinator before (he shared the duties last year at Alabama), and is still a bit of an unknown in that regard.
He has, however, been coaching wide receivers at various colleges since 2011, and added the tiles of passing game coordinator (at Penn State from 2014-17) and co-offensive coordinator (at Alabama last season) to his resume at his two most recent stops.
With that in mind, we've taken a look back at the statistics each of Gattis' units have posted since he first became a position coach at Western Michigan in 2011.
Notes: Gattis' first full-time gig as a position coach in 2011 at WMU was a smashing success.
He saw three of his wideouts that year — Jordan White, Chleb Ravenell and Robert Arnheim — each compile at least 662 yards, led by White's 127 catches, 1,646 yards and 16 touchdown grabs.
In fact, Gattis helped mentor White into a seventh-round NFL draft pick the following spring.
The Bronco wideouts averaged 281.8 yards per game in Gattis' lone season in Kalamazoo; to put in perspective just how incredible that number is, consider this — the next-closest unit on any of the tables below is Alabama's in 2018, which averaged 242.4 yards per game.
Notes: A Vanderbilt club that has struggled mightily to move the ball through the air over the past decade or so actually saw its wideouts post respectable numbers while Gattis was leading them in 2012 and 2013.
Jordan Matthews stole the show both years, averaging 100.5 catches, 1,328.5 yards and 6.5 touchdowns between the two seasons.
Despite being just a three-star out of high school, Gattis also helped mentor him (like White at WMU) into an NFL draft pick, where he was selected in the second round of the 2014 draft.
Matthews also had a solid No. 2 option behind him each of those two years, albeit a different one each time — Chris Boyd (50 catches, 774 yards, five touchdowns) in 2012, and Jonathan Krause (41 receptions, 703 yards, three scores) in 2013.
Notes: Although Gattis led Penn State's receivers from 2014-17, he also added the title of passing game coordinator to his resume during his time in Happy Valley.
Michigan fans are probably very familiar with the work he did with quarterback Trace McSorley and a plethora of receivers including DaeSean Hamilton and Chris Godwin (for example), seeing as how U-M faced off with the Nittany Lions each of those four years.
Even though PSU's offense struggled to move the ball in 2014 (114th nationally), the wideouts had no problem posting solid numbers, led by Hamilton's 848 yards and 75 catches.
His numbers dipped to 509 yards on 40 receptions in 2015, but Godwin exploded for 63 grabs and 968 yards as a result.
The duo each hauled in over 500 yards once again in 2016 (Godwin with 795 and Hamilton with 506), while DeAndre Thompkins checked in third among the group with a respectable 431 yards.
Despite Godwin's departure, the unit's numbers were impressive once again in 2017, thanks to Hamilton's continued success (747 yards and seven scores) and the emergence of Juwan Johnson (48 catches for 635 yards).
Despite being just a three-star recruit out of high school, Gattis helped turn Hamilton into the school's all-time leader in receptions, with 214.
Notes: The numbers Alabama's wideouts posted in Gattis' one year in Tuscaloosa were off the charts, with four different receivers hauling in at least 693 yards — Jerry Jeudy (1,315), Jaylen Waddle (848), Henry Ruggs (741) and DeVonta Smith (693).
The quartet also combined for 38 touchdown receptions, led by Jeudy's 14.
Gattis shared the offensive coordinator duties with Mike Locksley last year as well, and the results were equally as impressive.
The club's overall offense ranked sixth nationally, including a No. 42 mark on the ground and a No. 6 tally through the air.
Big plays were the name of the game for Alabama's offense in 2018, averaging 7.7 yards per play (second-best nationally).
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