DETROIT — Gophers will turn to safeties coach Danny Collins to call the U defense against Bowling Green in the Quick Lane Bowl on Tuesday at Ford Field.

It’s a full-circle moment for Collins, who was a ball boy for Western Michigan in the Little Caesars Bowl in this stadium in 2011. Then, when the U came to the Quick Lane Bowl in 2018, Collins was a gradate assistant at Minnesota for the Gophers’ win over Georgia Tech.

Collins pre-dated Fleck’s arrival as head coach at Western Michigan in 2014. Collins began working for the Broncos football department in 2012 and was a graduate assistant under Fleck in 2015-17.

Collins, of Oak Lawn, Ill., followed Fleck to Minnesota and was a defensive graduate assistant in 2015-16, then quality control and senior defensive analyst before moving into his current role in 2022.

Collins got the nod to call the defense over cornerbacks coach Nick Monroe and defensive line coach Winston DeLattiboudere. Monroe called the defense in the U’s 28-20 win over Syracuse in the Pinstripe Bowl in New York City last year.

Fleck has put together a list of candidates and said he will work to hire a new defensive coordinator after the bowl game, with a possible announcement coming in early to mid-January.

With the new coordinator, Fleck plans to stick with the base 4-3 defensive front he has used during his coaching career.

Fleck’s teams have had quality defenses before Rossi’s tenure, including in 2016 when Western Michigan was tied for 15th in the nation in scoring defense (19.8 points per game) and 26th in total defense (353 yards allowed per game).

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