How former Notre Dame DL Tyler Stockton feels coaching at Michigan

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Often, despite hating opposing rivals during their time as players, when those former players graduate into being coaches, they end up on the other side. It also happens with coaching, moving from one rivalry to another.

Michigan saw Greg Mattison leave for Ohio State, but he was once a Notre Dame coach, as well. Al Washington made the move from Ann Arbor to Columbus at the same time. Neither played at either school, but Washington was the son of a famed Buckeyes legacy. Tony Alford was the latest to change sides in that rivalry, abandoning OSU for Michigan in 2024.

Most recently, the Michigan and MSU rivalry has seen some interesting coaches join their ranks, as former Wolverines quarterback Nick Sheridan took the Spartans' offensive coordinator job. And the maize and blue now have a former Notre Dame player working with the Wolverines' safeties.

Appearing on the In the Trenches podcast, Tyler Stockton, who came aboard after spending two seasons as a co-defensive coordinator at Boise State, shared what it's like now coaching at Michigan after having played as a defensive tackle at Notre Dame. In terms of the rivalry, he doesn't mind spending his days now elevating his former enemy, but he would like to see the Wolverines face the Irish sometime before 2033, when they're next scheduled to face each other.

"I love it, because like I said, I want to be around good people, and Coach Whitt is the best head coach in the country," Stockton said. "And really for me, obviously I loved my time at Notre Dame, but now I'm a part of this university. And I'm just fired up to see where we can take this. And hopefully we can get the Notre Dame game back on the schedule as well, because I'll be fired up to play my alma mater, no different than when I was at Boise State last year, and we played Notre Dame too. And that was a game that was special to me, but obviously the guys knew it as well, but I want to get that game back on the schedule."

Stockton got his coaching start as a grad assistant at UConn, but his first real job was at Western Illinois, where he naturally worked with the defensive line. So, Jansen asked, how did he end up coaching safeties? After all, it's a big change playing and coaching the defensive line to working with defensive backs.

Given what he wanted to do in his career, Stockton knew he needed more experience across the defense. He worked with linebackers while still at Western Illinois, and continued at Ball State, where he got his first defensive coordinator job. From there, he moved to Boise State to act as its co-DC and start his work with safeties. But he left that post, because, as he noted, he believes in Kyle Whittingham.

"Really, the big thing for me was, I always wanted to coordinate, so I knew I had to coach the linebackers," Stockton said. "And then I really, I was never afraid of a challenge, I was never afraid to be out of my comfort zone. My first full-time job was at Western Illinois, I was a D-line coach, and then I got bumped up to coordinating and coaching the nickels. And then I got an opportunity at Ball State to coach the linebackers.

"I was never afraid of uncertainty, if I can do it or not, because I believe in my abilities, and the big thing was the people that I've been around believed in me as well, so I knew no matter what position I was going to coach, I was going to crush it."

Stockton has a deep room to work with, with Rod Moore, Mason Curtis, Jordan Young, Jacob Oden, Kainoa Winston, and some true freshmen all vying for two roles. He's also shown himself to be a voracious recruiter in his short time in Ann Arbor, having secured four-star Tavares Harrington and three-star Charles Woodson Jr. in the 2027 class.

This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan football S coach Tyler Stockton on having played for Notre Dame

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