(WXYZ) — University of Michigan offensive coordinator Josh Gattis was named the 2021 Broyles Award winner Tuesday. The award honors college football's top assistant coach and was established in 1996 to recognize legendary head football coach Frank Broyles.
2021 Broyles Award Winner: @UMichFootball OC Josh Gattis. He said trophy is representative of players he coaches. "It's an unreal moment for me. When they said my name, I'm left speechless. It's truly the highest honor of all honors for an asst. coach."https://t.co/PDkJY6CuqH pic.twitter.com/DJ8fYIbMDt
— Jeanna Trotman (@JeannaTrotmanTV) December 8, 2021
Gattis is U-M's second-ever winner, joining Jim Herrmann (1997). He was given the distinction among four other finalists: Jeff Grimes (offense, Baylor), Jim Knowles (defense, Oklahoma State), Dan Lanning (defense, Georgia) and Warren Ruggiero (offense, Wake Forest).
As a unit, the offense ranks top 20 nationally in 10 categories: tackles for loss allowed (1st), sacks allowed (3rd), red zone offense (7th), rushing offense (10th), scoring offense (13th), fumbles lost (13th), turnovers lost (15th), total offense (18th), first downs (22nd) and third down conversions (23rd).
Michigan is second in the Big Ten and 13th nationally in scoring at 37.7 points per game. The Wolverines have scored 490 points through 13 games, scoring 61 touchdowns and 22 field goals. The 490 points scored so far this season is the sixth highest total in school history.
2021 Broyles Awards 𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐑.
— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) December 7, 2021
🏆 @Coach_Gattis
🗞 https://t.co/JCrWNFdDwx#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/IDmIBYPVbV
Under Gattis' direction, the offense has a 1,000-yard back in Hassan Haskins (1,232 rushing yards) and has a chance at a second in Blake Corum (939). On 455 carries by non-quarterbacks, U-M ball carriers have generated just 21 negative rushing yards, leading to a run game averaging 224.9 yards per contest.
In beating Ohio State at the end of the regular season, U-M scored its most points against OSU since 1946 (42), its largest margin of victory in the rivalry since 1993 (15 points), its most rushing yards (297) since 1995, and its most total yards (487) since 2013.
