Michigan Wolverines football coach Jim Harbaugh has tabbed Maryland special teams coordinator/inside linebackers coach George Helow to lead the Maize and Blue's safeties, replacing Bob Shoop after the latter spent only one season in Ann Arbor.
Like several of the other coaching hires Harbaugh has made this offseason, Helow fits the bill of being a young up-and-comer in the coaching industry with significant southern ties.
His resume is still fairly small, but we've nevertheless taken a closer look at his past stops and accomplishments below.
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Helow spent five years as a player for the Ole Miss Rebels in Oxford, Miss., from 2006-10, before getting his coaching career started immediately following graduation. He spent the 2011 season at his high school alma mater — Bishop Kennedy in Jacksonville — where he coached his younger brother, Peter.
Helow then joined Nick Saban's staff at Alabama for the 2012 campaign, first interning in the weight room that spring and summer, before being invited back as a defensive intern in the fall.
The Crimson Tide went on to win the national title with a 13-1 record during Helow's lone season in Tuscaloosa, finishing with the No. 1 defense in the country. He then headed to Tallahassee to join Jimbo Fisher's Florida State program as a defensive graduate assistant in 2013, with the Seminoles likewise winning the national championship and concluding with the game's third best defense.
Helow then headed off to Athens, Ga., where he spent two years (2014-15) with the Georgia Bulldogs' program under head coach Mark Richt, possessing the title of defensive quality control assistant each season.
The Bulldogs wrapped up 2014 with the nation's No. 17-ranked defense, and 2015 with the game's No. 7 defense.
Helow's career began to take off a bit when he headed out west to join the Colorado State Rams' program in 2016. He spent four years in Fort Collins under head coach Mike Bobo, serving as a defensive quality control coach and graduate assistant from 2016-17, before finally receiving a promotion and becoming the team's safeties coach from 2018-19.
The Rams' defensive unit struggled mightily during Helow's first two years on the job, finishing No. 69 nationally in yards allowed per game in 2016 and No. 98 the following year.
His tenure as safeties coach started off a bit rough as well, before pulling off an incredible turnaround in 2019. The Rams' pass defense finished 68th in the country in 2018, but saw that number skyrocket to No. 7 nationally in 2019.
Colorado State held six different opponents to 151 passing yards or fewer that year, and only allowed two clubs to throw for more than 253 yards against it (280 by UNLV and 305 by Arkansas).
Helow spent the 2020 campaign as Maryland's special teams coordinator and inside linebackers coach. The Terrapins' rush defense concluded at a dreadful 115th nationally this past season, though much of the blame can obviously be aimed at positions other than Helow's inside linebackers.
The majority of Maryland's special teams statistics in 2020 weren't pretty either. The Terrapins only made 57.1 percent of their field goals (tied for 109th in the country), while averaging just 40.7 yards per punt (82nd).
They also tallied just 15.6 yards per kick return (121st) and 2.5 yards per punt return (122nd). The club did, however, limit teams to 19.8 yards per kick return (50th) and 5.1 yards per punt return, which was tied for a respectable 37th nationally.
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