Former Lions assistant Gattis making his return with Michigan
Josh Gattis, the former Penn State wide receivers coach, will make his return to Beaver Stadium Saturday as Michigan’s firstyear offensive coordinator.
Gattis left the Nittany Lions after the 2017 season to join Alabama’s staff as wide receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator with Mike Locksley, who’s now the head coach at Maryland. He stayed with the Crimson Tide one season before Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh hired him as offensive coordinator.
Gattis joined James Franklin’s staff at Vanderbilt in 2012 and moved to Penn State after Franklin was hired there in 2014.
“We’ve got a lot of history with Josh Gattis,” Franklin said. “(I’m) very happy for him professionally, very happy for him personally. He had a great opportunity to be the offensive coordinator at the University of Michigan.
“Everybody knows that we were together for a long time. Josh did a fantastic job. I want to thank Josh for the job that he did when we were together and again (I’m) very, very happy for him and his family.”
Under the 35-year-old Gattis, Michigan ranks eighth in the Big Ten and 58th in the nation in scoring (30.3) and 10th in the Big Ten and 84th in the country in total offense (387.3). The Wolverines have been plagued by 13 turnovers, including nine fumbles.
With Gattis, Michigan is running a run-pass-option (RPO) type of offense that’s similar to the one run by Penn State.
“There are certain things that Michigan does in the run game that are pretty similar to what we do,” Penn State safety Garrett Taylor said. “That’s helpful. We’ve seen some of the runs they do 1,000 times.”
Gattis was instrumental in recruiting many of the players on the Penn State roster, including wide receiver Jahan Dotson.
“It’ll be pretty cool to see him (Gattis) on the other sideline,” Dotson said. “He was one of my main recruiters.”
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Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford, regarded as more of a passer than a runner before the season, has rushed for 252 yards and two touchdowns. He is on pace to better Trace McSorley’s rushing totals from each of his first two seasons (2016-17) as the Nittany Lions’ quarterback.
“I’m not really surprised,” tight end Pat Freiermuth said of Clifford’s wheels. “He worked so hard in the offseason to get his feet and body right. He’s going to do whatever it takes to help the team get a win.”
Penn State coach James Franklin said he told Clifford during his first season on campus that he needed to get faster.
“He’s really worked himself into being a really good athlete,” Franklin said. “When opportunities are there for him to extend plays or make plays with his feet, he can do it. I couldn’t be more pleased with how he’s running.
“We’ve got to spend time working on his sliding. It’s literally a Little League baseball slide. It doesn’t look natural. It’s awkward. Some of it is indecision. It’s like the squirrel crossing the road. You can’t be indecisive.”
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Penn State defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos was named to The Sporting News Midseason All-American team Wednesday. Gross-Matos and Ohio State’s Chase Young are the defensive ends on the team picked by The Sporting News, which didn’t have a second team. On Tuesday, Gross-Matos was selected to The Associated Press Midseason All-American second team.