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Report: Michigan ‘looked closely’ at Wisconsin defensive assistant for DC vacancy

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

Michigan reportedly has its next defensive coordinator, hiring Jesse Minter away from Vanderbilt to fill the vacancy left by Mike Macdonald. But before the decision was made, Jim Harbaugh reportedly looked pretty closely at a B1G assistant.

Per Bruce Feldman of The Athletic, Wisconsin outside linebackers coach Bobby April was a strong candidate for the job in Ann Arbor. According to the report, April interviewed with Harbaugh for three hours on Tuesday.

April has been in Madison since 2018. He also has experience in the NFL, having stops with the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets and Buffalo Bills.

Had he been hired, this would’ve been April’s first job as a defensive coordinator.

Minter spent one season at Vanderbilt as the defensive coordinator. Before that, he was on John Harbaugh’s staff with the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens.

While with Baltimore, Minter spent two seasons as a defensive assistant before being promoted to assistant defensive backs coach in 2019. In 2020, Minter was the primary defensive backs coach for the Ravens.

Minter has had stops at Notre Dame, Cincinnati, Indiana State and Georgia State. He was the defensive coordinator at Indiana State from 2011-12 before taking on the same role at Georgia State from 2013-16.

Coming into Ann Arbor, Minter will have some big shoes to fill. Michigan’s defense was one of the best in the country last season, propelling the Wolverines to a 12-2 season, a B1G title and a College Football Playoff appearance. With losses of Aidan Hutchinson, Daxton Hill, David Ojabo, Josh Ross and many others, Minter will have to replace several key contributors.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB