Chris Partridge hired as defensive assistant at Ole Miss

It looks like the Michigan Wolverines are down a defensive assistant and top recruiter.

Safeties coach and special teams coordinator Chris Partridge is taking a defensive assistant job at Ole Miss.

Partridge will be joining a new look Ole Miss coaching staff with head coach Lane Kiffin at the helm. Partridge has been a hot name for a couple years now on the coaching circuit and it was only a matter of time before he bit at another offer. Partridge will be joined at Ole Miss by former Michigan defensive coordinator and former Maryland head coach D.J. Durkin.

The 39 year old coach was named national recruiter of the year by in 2017 by 247 Sports and earned the same accolade from Scout in 2016. 247Sports has listed Partridge as one of the top five recruiters in three of the last five seasons. Partridge came to Michigan after a successful stint as head coach of Paramus Catholic in New Jersey. Partridge helped land players like Rashan Gary and played a pivotal role in opening up a recruiting pipeline in Jersey.

At the time of publishing it remains to be seen whether Partridge will be the defensive coordinator at Ole Miss or if he’ll serve as a position specific assistant. We’ll update the story when his exact role is announced. For Michigan, though, they lose one coach and have two slots to fill, safeties coach and special teams coordinator.