With a proven track record and a balanced approach that helped develop QB Drake Maye and RB Omarion Hampton, Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore brought in offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey to immediately revitalize the offense:
After finishing the 2024 season with the 129th (out of 133) total offense, 130th passing offense and 73rd (progress!) rushing offense in the FBS, Michigan Wolverines head coach Sherrone Moore made the rather easy decision to fire offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell.
Enter: Chip Lindsey. The 50-year-old Alabama native began his career in the high school ranks in 1997 before earning his first college job — quarterbacks coach at Troy — in 2010. After various stints at Southern Miss, Arizona State Auburn, Troy (returning as the head coach), UCF and North Carolina, Lindsey brings a wealth of experience to Ann Arbor.
All that experience played a sizable role in Moore hiring Lindsey this offseason.
“Chip’s been an absolute pleasure to be with,” Moore said. “A super smart football mind. A guy that understands the game. He’s done it different ways, he’s been in different positions. It really helps me that he’s been a head coach in high school and in college, and been a coordinator, so there’s a lot less things that I feel I have to be in the room for. He’s done a really good job with the command of everything. He knows what he wants, he knows what we should be collaborative about … so it’s been an awesome experience.”
Another reason Moore went with Lindsey — his explosive, yet balanced offenses, particularly the one he led at North Carolina the last couple seasons. Lindsey helped turn quarterback Drake Maye into the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft after throwing for 3,608 yards 24 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
But that doesn’t mean the running game suffered. Running back Omarion Hampton, a projected first- or second-round draft pick this spring, also ran for 1,504 yards and 15 touchdowns that same year.
“That was the No. 1 reason (I wanted Lindsey),” Moore said. “You coach Drake Maye, you throw for over 3,000 yards and then you have a 1,500-yard rusher. You can adapt to your best players regardless. And then (Lindsey has) coached in high school, he’s been a head coach in college. All those things were huge for me and very important to bring in somebody like that.”
Lindsey ran a pro-spread offense at North Carolina. These offenses are predicated on the quarterbacks making quick decisions. Oftentimes, the play callers will dial up screen passes, RPOs and other plays that will get the ball out of the quarterback’s hand fast.
Maye had several options to work with at UNC, but most of them were bigger-bodied guys. J.J. Jones (6-foot-2) led the Tar Heels in receiving in 2023 and 2024 with 711 yards and 582 yards, respectively. Tez Walker (6-foot-1) also played a huge role in UNC’s offense in 2023 with 699 yards and seven touchdowns. Kobe Paysour (6-foot-1) has also been a steady contributor for the Tar Heels each of the last few seasons, but his best season (29 receptions, 324 yards, four touchdowns) was with Drake Maye in 2022.
Moore has made it a mission this offseason to get bigger bodies in the receiver room, and he has been able to do so via the portal (6-foot-5 Donovan McCulley) and the high school ranks (6-foot-5 Jamar Browder, 6-foot-3 Jacob Washington).
“Yeah, I feel like that group is really — obviously growing in size. That was an emphasis for me, I wanted big receivers,” Moore said. “With (Browder) and Donovan McCauley, bringing in Jacob Washington. Even Andrew Marsh, he’s not a small guy, he’s a long limb guy. I felt like we’re bringing really good size in that group to help us be more explosive in the passing game, and that’s what I wanted. Those guys have made plays and it’s been fun to watch and it’s been great for our defense and great for the DBs to go against guys that are bigger. As we know in the games that matter, you’re gonna have to play really big dudes that can go get the football up in the air. It’s been awesome and very encouraging to watch them all.”
With all these changes this offseason, it’s fair to question if this will translate to a completely new offense in Ann Arbor, or just some tweaks to what already existed. When asked about it, Moore didn’t give a direct answer, but reading between the lines, it appears Michigan will implement some things that Lindsey is bringing with him, in addition to some of the things we have been accustom to seeing out of a Michigan offense.
“It feels like we’re just progressing and just trying to get better at football every day,” Moore said. “There’s things that we’ve done, there’s things that we haven’t done, so it’s a mix. But (I) feel good about where the guys are. I feel like we’re going to be explosive in the past, but we’ll see how it all looks when it gets to fall.”