Husky Coach Review: Schmidt Has UW on Edge of Greatness

When college football programs begin to win big, other schools aren't shy about wanting a piece of it. They run a finger down the list of coaches on a staff, looking to see who they can pilfer.

At the University of Washington, after just one season of Kalen DeBoer and Company, it might surprise you who among his 10 assistants could be the first to be coaxed away.

Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, whose reputation took off after just one season in Montlake, is an obvious candidate, having already lunched with Nick Saban and Alabama.

Receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard, who could charm a facemask off a helmet, is another with impeccable credentials now after just 13 games with the Huskies.

However, the hottest coaching prospect among the UW's all-star cast of clipboard characters very well could be the defensive tough guy with the crewcut, goatee and steely look in his eye.

Eric Schmidt.

The UW edge-rusher coach has a wider body of work to peruse, a longer run of excellence to examine, a style that screams my guys are just tougher than yours.

OK, name the Husky position coach who can claim a pair of first-team All-Pac-12 selections on his watch in 2022?

It wasn't Grubb or Shephard.

Schmidt is a 2001 University of North Dakota All-America linebacker, team captain and national championship player who coached a dozen seasons at his alma mater, handling everything from defensive coordinator to inside linebackers to the defensive line.

Should his mentor, Fighting Hawks coach Bubba Schweigert, now 60, ever decide he'd rather be ice fishing in Fargo or running with bison in Bismarck, the FCS school would probably offer Schmidt nothing short of his own Mount Rushmore-like profile across the Dakota state line in the North Dakota Badlands.

Yet Schmidt, a native of Mandan, North Dakota, near Bismarck, likely has much bigger aspirations now that he's shown he can coach with college football's big boys. Who knows, Saban might need a new Crimson Tide defensive coordinator one of these days.

Going through the coaching staff, Schmidt is next up in a series of profiles about each of the Huskies' coordinators and assistant coaches, summing up their time spent in Montlake so far and surmising what might come next for them.

Eric Schmidt is from Mandan, North Dakota, which is 250 miles from Grand Forks, where he played at the University of North Dakota.

Eric Schmidt watches as walk-on edge rusher Milton Hopkins prepares to slam into a pad during 2022 fall camp.

Zion Tupuola-Fetui and Eric Schmidt hold an in-practice discussion no doubt on the finer points of edge rushing.

The Husky edge rushers, under coach Eric Schmidt's lead, take part in this unique spring football drill.

A padded-up Eric Schmidt prepares to strike Bralen Trice during this spring practice drill, preparing him for a possible All-America run.

Eric Schmidt and Zion Tupuola-Fetui hold an impromptu, in-practice discussion during 2022 fall camp.

Eric Schmidt checks the tackling form of Maurice Heims, the sophomore from Hamburg, Germany, during spring football in April.

Eric Schmidt helped make Jeremiah Martin (3) an edge-rusher reclamation project in 2022 and the senior earned first-team All-Pac-12 honors.

Schmidt and DeBoer coached together at Southern Illinois in 2010-13, and the former brought the latter with him to Fresno State in 2020.

In a masterful piece of coaching last fall, Schmidt not only brought out the full potential in Trice and Jeremiah Martin, who were back-ups for Jimmy Lake, he convinced former first-team All-Pac-12 selection Zion Tupuola-Fetui to stay the course as a reserve, hone his game and return for a sixth season.

"I had a great talk with my coach as to how he felt about my game and everything, and how they see me," ZTF said of Schmidt. "While it may have been a step back, it may have been for the better. I was behind two All-Pac-12 guys at the end of the day. I'm not going to be mad about that at all."

Schmidt will pair Trice and ZTF together this season, and no doubt find plenty of minutes for University of Sioux Falls transfer Zach Durfee, who could be another Schmidt as a player.

Durfee comes off an 11-sack season at the South Dakota school; Schmidt holds the North Dakota school record with 11 sacks.

The Husky defense stands to be much improved in 2023, with linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio expected to return to his full effectiveness and a new set of cornerbacks, led by Oklahoma State transfer Jabbar Muhammad.

Leading the charge will be those disruptive UW edge rushers, guided by Schmidt. Husky followers best be advised to enjoy this defensive coach while they can.

ERIC SCHMIDT FILE

Background: Schmidt was the defensive leader for North Dakota's 14-1 and first national championship team that opened the 2001 season with a 17-14 victory over Central Washington in Ellensburg and finished with a 17-14 win over Michigan's Grand Valley State in the title game in Florence, Alabama. Schmidt also was the North Dakofa defensive coordinator in 2018 when the Fighting Hawks lost to the UW 45-3 in Husky Stadium.

Big Fix: Had he stuck around the program, we would have said Sav'ell Smalls, who underachieved at the UW and is off to Colorado. Schmidt instead is tasked with making ZTF better against the run, a self-admitted weakness for the Hawaiian.

Special Project: Making ZTF at least into a third-round NFL pick, if not higher, would be a worthy goal.

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published.

Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 or @UWFanNation or @DanRaley3

Have a question, direct message me on Facebook or Twitter.