In the Trenches: Connection with Macdonald Helped Helow Land in Ann Arbor
3/18/2021 9:00:00 AM | Football, Features
On this week's edition of "In the Trenches," Jon Jansen welcomes new linebackers coach George Helow to discuss his first few weeks in Ann Arbor, the early stages of establishing the defense's new identity, how he developed as a coach during his previous stops, and his close relationship with defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald.
The University of Michigan football coaching staff has plenty of fresh faces, but two defensive coaches have known each other well, thanks in large part to a coincidence with scheduling. In 2013, new linebackers coach George Helow was a graduate assistant at Florida State, while new defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald was a graduate assistant at Georgia. The Seminoles and the Bulldogs had a pair of common opponents that season -- Florida and Clemson.
As a result, Macdonald and a few other Georgia staff members made a trip down to Tallahassee to discuss those teams with Helow and some Florida State coaches. Sure enough, Helow and Macdonald hit it off, having some one-on-one discussions about football.
Their relationship grew for the few months they spent together on the Georgia staff in 2014, before Macdonald left for the Baltimore Ravens. They even took ski trips together when Helow was at Colorado State and spent time together when both were in the Baltimore area -- Macdonald still with the Ravens and Helow at Maryland. Their friendship played an important part in Helow's response to an offer to come to the University of Michigan a few months ago.
"When [Mike] and Coach Harbaugh called with the opportunity to go to Michigan, it was really a no-brainer because of our relationship and then because of the place that this is and how special it is," Helow said on this week's In the Trenches podcast with Jon Jansen.
Even though Helow, a Jacksonville, Fla., native, has spent most of his playing and coaching career in the South, he grew up understanding and appreciating the aura and mystique of Michigan football. Since arriving in Ann Arbor, he has come to love it even more.
"It is all Michigan," Helow said. "It is all 'Go Blue.' Everybody is behind us, and it's like a one-track mindset."
As the team approaches the end of spring football, Helow and the rest of this young, energetic coaching staff are focusing on building the team's culture, habits and behaviors. Defensively, Helow believes that this starts with effort.
"I want to see guys go out and give all-out effort every day," Helow said. "It's not what we do, it's how we do it. It's the way that you run to the ball, the way that you put on your helmet ... the way that you strike blockers, the way that you take angles to the ball."
There is still work to be done, but Helow is pleased with what he has seen from the linebackers and the defense as a whole.
"If you watch the tape from day one to day nine, it is like night and day, and that's gotta be your goal," Helow said. "You just take a little bit every day and you get better."
