Mitch Sherman, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Big Ten morning links

Tuesday brought an end to questions about the final spots on the coaching staffs at Michigan and Nebraska.

Both are now full, though at Michigan, the addition of Mike Zordich as secondary coach and Jay Harbaugh as tight ends coach came as no surprise. Nebraska, more than two weeks after Mike Riley unveiled additions to bring his staff to eight, tabbed a receivers coach, Keith Williams, from Tulane.

An official announcement is forthcoming after Williams, 42, spent time Tuesday in Lincoln.

The highlight of the Jay Harbaugh hire came as the head coach’s 25-year-old son revealed that his dad once poured Gatorade on his cereal.

Excuse me, what? Way to set the bar high on your first official day, Jay; we’ll definitely expect more where that came from that in future interviews.

Fact is, Jim Harbaugh could have hired daughters Grace, Addie or Katie, ages 14, 6, and 4, respectively, to fill a spot on this staff, and Michigan fans would have leapt with joy. Such is their level of excitement with Harbaugh, as it should be.

And that’s no knock against Jay, 25, who worked for his uncle, John, the past three seasons as an offensive quality control coach for the Baltimore Ravens. The young Harbaugh looks like a fine pick, especially paired with Jedd Fisch and Tyrone Wheatley on the offensive side and veteran special teams coordinator John Baxter.

If Jay brings a fraction of his father’s enthusiasm, he’ll be a big hit on the recruiting trail.

Back to Jay Harbaugh. It’s interesting that he worked on Riley’s staff at Oregon State as an undergraduate assistant for four years. Not surprising, though, that Jim’s son got his foot in the door with Riley.

The Riley-Harbaugh connections run deep. New Nebraska running backs coach Reggie Davis came to Riley from Harbaugh’s San Francisco 49ers.

And oh, yes, Harbaugh played on Riley’s San Diego Chargers in 1999 and 2000.

When Nebraska and Michigan meet again in 2018 -- if both coaches last that long and they don’t meet first in a Big Ten title game -- it’s going to feel a little like a family reunion.

Around the rest of the Big Ten:

East Division

  • Quarterbacks battles in 2015, including a look at Ohio State, Michigan, Nebraska and Wisconsin.

  • An appearance, too, from the three-headed OSU QB in SI.com’s 2015 Heisman outlook. They noticed in Michigan that Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook didn’t make it.

  • Another sad chapter in the case of Kosta Karageorge.

  • Looking back at Indiana’s season.

  • Rutgers will have a nice showing in the Super Bowl, thanks to the Patriots.

  • Assessing the potential impact of Maryland’s big recruiting weekend.

  • Penn State is planning a party.

West Division

  • Defensive coordinator Dave Aranda represents success and stability in a time of change at Wisconsin.

  • Illinois coach Tim Beckman is looking forward.

  • Three Iowa freshmen start school a semester early.

  • Purdue receivers coach Kevin Sherman leaves for the same position at Pittsburgh.

  • Another development in the player-unionization movement in the wake of the actions last year at Northwestern.

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