Ex-Michigan OL Coach Reunites With Harbaugh Tree in New York
This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.
Grant Newsome coached Michigan’s offensive line last season. He handled tight ends before that and was part of the 2023 national championship staff. Michigan fired Sherrone Moore last month and hired Kyle Whittingham from Utah. Newsome needed a new job. He just found one with a coach whose last name he knows well – the Harbaugh coaching tree.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Monday that New York hired Newsome as assistant offensive line coach. He joins John Harbaugh’s Giants staff after spending seven years working under Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. Matt Zenitz and TremendousUM broke the news first for CBS Sports.
Newsome was a graduate assistant from 2020-21 and a student assistant from 2018-19. He played offensive tackle for the Wolverines in 2015-16 before a knee injury ended his playing career five games into his sophomore season.
Jim Harbaugh said of Newsome in 2023:
“He is the tight ends coach now, but [we are] already grooming him to be the offensive line coach,” Jim said, per Thamel. “And then, once he has maybe a year or two under his belt as offensive line coach, just like Sherrone Moore, he’ll be the coordinator.”
Michigan allowed 21 sacks in 2025 under Newsome’s watch, ranking 14th in the FBS. The Wolverines gained 5.44 yards per carry, ninth nationally. Newsome also coached Colston Loveland at tight end. Loveland went 10th overall to Chicago in 2025 and caught 58 passes for 713 yards with six touchdowns as a rookie.
John Harbaugh’s New York Needs Immediate Help
The Giants gave up 48 sacks in both 2024 and 2025. Things were catastrophic before that.
New York surrendered 85 sacks in 2023, the second-most in a single season in NFL history. The offensive line has been a problem for years, and Newsome inherits a unit that desperately needs fixing. John Harbaugh ran Baltimore for 18 years before landing the Giants’ job in January. He went 180-113 with the Ravens and won a Super Bowl in 2012. Baltimore missed the playoffs this season with an 8-9 record and fired him.
John’s building his staff now, and Newsome represents another branch of the Harbaugh coaching tree. Jim developed him at Michigan from a student assistant to a full-time coach in seven years. That climb doesn’t happen often, especially for someone still in his 20s. John gets a young coach who knows how to develop players and protect quarterbacks.
Michigan ran for more than 210 yards per game in 2025 under Newsome. The Giants ran for far fewer yards while their quarterbacks were destroyed. Newsome walks into a job that demands results immediately.
