According to Ole Miss, they have poached top Michigan recruiter Chris Partridge.
From Ole Miss:
Ole Miss head football coach Lane Kiffin continues to assemble his first Rebel staff, announcing the hiring of assistant coaches D.J. Durkin, Chris Partridge and Joe Jon Finley on Thursday.
Durkin and Partridge are both former national recruiters of the year in addition to helping lead highly ranked defenses, while Finley tutored a John Mackey Award finalist during his stops as tight ends coach at Missouri and Texas A&M.
Partridge just wrapped up his fourth full season as special teams coordinator at Michigan and his second year as safeties coach with the Wolverines after mentoring the linebackers in his first two years on staff. Partridge also served as the Wolverines’ director of player personnel in 2015 when Durkin was Michigan’s defensive coordinator.
The Hackensack, New Jersey, native was named National Recruiter of the Year by Scout in 2016 and received the same honor from 247Sports in 2017. He was ranked a top-five recruiter again in 2019 by 247.
Partridge helped lead a defensive unit which has ranked among the nation’s best since he joined the Wolverine staff. U-M has ranked top-five nationally in pass defense in each of the last four seasons, and has been one of the most stout third-down defenses in the country over that span.
The 2019 Michigan defense ranked top-10 in the nation in four different defensive categories: total defense, passing yards allowed, first down defense and team defensive passing efficiency.
During the 2018 season, Partridge was part of a defensive staff which ranked second nationally in total defense and in passing defense, listing in the top 25 nationally for eight major categories. The defense allowed 14 passing touchdowns all season with 11 interceptions, and led the Big Ten in five categories, including pass defense efficiency and third-down conversion rate.
In 2017, Partridge helped lead a defensive unit that ranked top three in the NCAA in five categories. He helped Devin Bush earn third team All-American honors. Bush led U-M with 102 tackles, earning All-Big Ten accolades.
Partridge helped Jabrill Peppers to a decorated season in 2016, when he was a consensus All-American at linebacker, won the Big Ten’s Nagurski-Woodson Defensive Player of the Year, Butkus-Fitzgerald Linebacker of the Year and Rodgers-Dwight Return Specialist of the Year awards, and finished No. 5 in the Heisman Trophy voting. Peppers was a winner or finalist for seven additional national honors.
In 2016, the U-M defense ranked first or second in the NCAA in seven categories, including total defense, scoring defense, tackles for loss, first downs allowed and third-down conversion percentage allowed. The Wolverines led the Big Ten in eight defensive categories, and all 11 defensive starters earned All-Big Ten accolades.
Partridge came to Ann Arbor after serving as the head coach at New Jersey’s Paramus Catholic High School, a position he held for five seasons (2010-14). While at the helm of the Paladin program, Partridge grew a football program listed 4,250th nationally and 112th in state of New Jersey to the top-ranked team in the state and No. 4 nationally by USA Today. He coached and mentored more than 30 Division I football players during that time, as well as various All-America players.
Partridge earned his bachelor’s degree in government and law from Lafayette College in 2003.
— Report courtesy of Ole Miss Football — LINK
