Tag: Bobby Engram

Former Wisconsin cornerback and wide receiver commits to UConn

Former Wisconsin cornerback and wide receiver commits to UConn

Former Wisconsin Badgers cornerback and wide receiver Dean Engram announced his transfer commitment to UConn on Tuesday.

Engram entered the transfer portal in January of 2023 while Luke Fickell and the new coaching staff were re-shaping the Badgers’ roster. He did not find a home for the 2023 season, but now lands at UConn for his final two years of eligibility.

Related: Wisconsin football 2024 spring transfer portal window tracker

The former three-star recruit began his Wisconsin career as a cornerback. He played in 13 games during his sophomore season in 2021, recording 20 tackles, 1 interception and 3 pass deflections. He was one of the more promising young cornerbacks on Jim Leonhard’s unit entering that offseason.

Then Wisconsin hired his father Bobby Engram to be its offensive coordinator — partially as a play to land top transfer quarterback Caleb Williams. That led to Dean Engram switching to wide receiver for that season. He recorded only 152 yards on 13 receptions and never became a focal point of the offense.

Of note, UConn listed him as a defensive back on its announcement. Engram will switch back to defensive back, where he should’ve stayed all along.

Engram now joins former Wisconsin wide receiver Skyler Bell with the Huskies, as Bell transferred there earlier this offseason.

Engram would have been an odd fit in Fickell’s new-look program. He would not have cracked the top group in a crowded wide receiver room, and would’ve been a longshot to win the starting slot corner job.

He joins a UConn program where opportunity should be available. The Huskies went 3-9 in 2023 after a program-best 6-7 2022 season. Engram and Bell will look to reverse the program’s recent on-field results.

For more on Wisconsin’s transfer portal activity this spring, check out our 2024 spring transfer portal window tracker.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion. Follow Ben Kenney on X.

[lawrence-related id=75753,75717,75748,72531,71609,71607]

Former Wisconsin offensive coordinator retained by new Commanders staff

Former Wisconsin offensive coordinator retained by new Washington Commanders staff

The Washington Commanders are keeping former Wisconsin offensive coordinator Bobby Engram as their wide receivers coach, according to a report from the Washington Post’s Nicki Jhabvala.

Engram was Wisconsin’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2022 as the Paul Chryst era came to an end. Most of his coaching career has been at the NFL level, including as the Pittsburgh Steelers wide receivers coach in 2012-2013, the Baltimore Ravens wide receivers coach from 2014-2018, the Ravens tight ends coach from 2019-2021 and now the Washington Commanders wide receivers coach from 2023 to today.

Related: Win totals released for Wisconsin, every Big Ten team in 2024 football season

The decision was made as Dan Quinn works to hire his new staff in Washington, taking over for Ron Rivera after he was fired after the team’s 4-13 2023 season.

Engram’s legacy at Wisconsin is mostly tied to the struggles at the start of the 2022 season which led to Chryst’s firing. That, and online conspiracies that offseason about whether the Badgers had a real shot to land future Heisman winner Caleb Williams.

His one-year stop at Wisconsin is his only experience as an offensive coordinator in his young coaching career.

Related: Where Wisconsin football stands in 2024 transfer portal team class rankings

Bobby Engram to return as Commanders wide receivers coach

Bobby Engram is the third Washington assistant set to return in 2024.

As Dan Quinn continues to fill out his first coaching staff for the Commanders, another holdover from Ron Rivera’s staff will return in 2024.

Former NFL player and veteran coach Bobby Engram will return next season as Washington’s wide receivers coach, per Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post. Engram was hired by Eric Bieniemy last offseason and joins quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard coaches who’ll be on Quinn’s staff.

Washington’s wide receivers took a step back last season, although that had more to do with Bieniemy’s offense than Engram’s coaching. The Commanders’ wideouts had issues separating consistently, and Washington’s route concepts were often criticized.

Engram, 51, is a former second-round pick of the Chicago Bears. He played 14 NFL seasons and finished his career with 650 receptions, 7,751 receiving yards and 35 touchdowns. His coaching career began immediately after playing with the 49ers in 2011.

In his 13-year coaching career, Engram has had stops with the 49ers (2011), Pitt Panthers (2012-13), Baltimore Ravens (2014-21) and Wisconsin (2022) before coming to Washington in 2023.

One person happy that Engram was back: Wide receiver — and fellow Penn State alum — Jahan Dotson.

Engram, Pritchard and Ryan Kerrigan will all return in 2024, with Kerrigan taking on the role of outside linebackers coach/pass rush specialist.

The only position offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury must fill on his staff now is running backs coach. Former running backs coach Randy Jordan is now in Tennessee.

Commanders hire Bobby Engram as new wide receivers coach

The Commanders also added two others to the coaching staff.

The Washington Commanders finally hired a new wide receivers coach. The team announced Wednesday it had hired former NFL wide receiver Bobby Engram as the new wide receivers coach.

The 50-year-old Engram played 14 NFL seasons between three teams [Bears, Seahawks & Chiefs] after a standout career at Penn State. Engram was a second-round pick in the 1996 NFL draft and finished his pro career with 650 receptions for 7,751 yards and 35 touchdowns.

Engram began his coaching career in 2011 with the San Francisco 49ers. In 2012, he was named wide receivers coach at the University of Pittsburgh, where he stayed for two seasons. Engram returned to the NFL in 2014 as the wide receivers coach for the Baltimore Ravens. He held that role for five seasons, and in 2019, Engram moved to tight ends coach. He was in that position for the next three years and departed Baltimore after the 2021 season.

Engram was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Wisconsin last year. However, the Badgers made a coaching change, and Engram was a free agent. He interviewed with Washington last week.

Engram isn’t the only newcomer to Washington’s staff.

The Commanders hired Shane Toub as an offensive quality control coach and Reggie Howard as a defensive quality control assistant. Toub is the son of Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub, who worked with new Washington offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy for years. Howard was a co-defensive coordinator at Campbell last season and spent parts of seven seasons in the NFL as a player. This is his first NFL coaching job.

Toub worked as a quality control coach with the Bears and spent the 2022. season at Kansas.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbykgy681k112p8 player_id=01eqbvhghtkmz2182d image=]

Commanders interviewed former NFL standout for vacant WRs coaching job

Bobby Engram played 14 seasons in the NFL.

The Washington Commanders have one remaining vacancy on the coaching staff. Washington still needs to hire a wide receivers coach. And one thing is clear, new offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy will be making that hire.

Just before Bieniemy’s introductory press conference, he and the Commanders interviewed Chiefs running backs coach Greg Lewis for a role on the new offensive staff. Bieniemy also interviewed Stanford quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard, who he recently hired as QB coach.

Earlier this week, the Commanders interviewed longtime NFL assistant and former college head coach Karl Dorrell for the vacant WRs coaching position.

Washington also interviewed former NFL wide receiver and coach Bobby Engram, per Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post.

Engram was a second-round pick by the Chicago Bears in 1996 out of Penn State. He spent five seasons with the Bears, before signing with the Seattle Seahawks in 2001, where he’d spend the next eight seasons. Engram played for the Chiefs in 2009.

He jumped into coaching as an offensive assistant with the 49ers in 2011. In 2012, he was hired as the wide receivers coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers for two seasons. In 2014, Engram signed with the Baltimore Ravens as the wide receivers coach where he remained for five seasons. In 2019, Engram moved to tight ends coach for Baltimore for the next three seasons.

In 2022, Engram was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Wisconsin Badgers.

Engram finished his 14-year NFL playing career with 650 receptions for 7,751 yards and 35 touchdowns.

New homes of former Badger coaches from 2022

An update on where some of the former Badger coaches have ended up after leaving the football program following the conclusion of 2022.

Following the 2022 season, and even during it, the Wisconsin Badgers’ football program saw substantial changes to their coaching staff.

In October, long time head coach Paul Chryst was let go and replaced with defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard as the interim head coach. After the season, athletic director Chris McIntosh decided it was time for a change, bringing in top-tier head coach Luke Fickell from Cincinnati.

As a part of him joining the Badgers, Fickell was able to bring in a greatly new staff around him, including offensive coordinator Phil Longo from North Carolina and defensive coordinator Mike Tressel from Cincinnati.

With the new staff coming in, many coaches left the Badgers and moved onto new opportunities elsewhere.

Here’s an update on where some of the former Badger coaches have ended up:

A Wisconsin WR/CB enters the transfer portal

A Wisconsin WR/CB enters the transfer portal

After three seasons as a member of the Badgers’ football team, Dean Engram announced Thursday that he is entering the transfer portal with two years of eligibility remaining.

Engram spent his first two years at Wisconsin playing cornerback while operating as a punt-return specialist. In 2022, he made the transition to wide receiver with his father, Bobby Engram, at offensive coordinator. The junior reeled in 13 catches for 152 yards while returning 24 punts for 132 yards over 13 games this season.

With Phil Longo replacing his dad as the offensive coordinator, it’s not particularly surprising that Engram has elected to potentially exit the program. Considering his experience on all three sides of the ball, Engram will likely be able to carve out a significant role at his next stop.

Penn State photo archive: 1995 Rose Bowl vs. Oregon

Check out these photos from Penn State’s trip to the 1995 Rose Bowl.

When Penn State joined the Big Ten in football in 1993, it did not take too long before the Nittany Lions won a conference championship and made a trip to the Rose Bowl. The 1994 season saw Penn State go undefeated in the regular season with spotlight wins on the road at Michigan, a blowout of Ohio State, and a memorable come-from-behind victory on the road at Illinois. With a clean 11-0 record, Penn State hoped to make a final statement for national championship consideration from the polls as Nebraska was also running through its schedule without a loss that same season. And before the BCS came into existence, Penn State being contractually obligated to play in the Rose Bowl as the Big Ten champion meant there would be no true national championship game.

So a trip to the Rose Bowl to face a surprising Pac-10 champion in the Oregon Ducks would have to do. Penn State’s high-powered offense wasted no time having an impact against the Ducks as Ki-Jana Carter raced 83-yards up the middle for a touchdown on the first offensive play from scrimmage for the Nittany Lions, and the game was hardly in much doubt from there. Despite a plucky effort from Oregon and quarterback Danny O’Neil’s Rose Bowl record 456 yards (this record held until 2022 when Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud passed for 573 passing yards… against Utah), Penn State pulled away in the second half for a 38-20 victory after only leading 14-7 at halftime.

Penn State celebrated its first, and to this date only, Rose Bowl victory and the accomplishment of completing a 12-0 season. Although Nebraska is formally recognized as the national champions for the 1994 season, there was no better way to end the year for Penn State than in the Grandaddy of them all.

Here is a look back at some of the best photos from the 1995 Rose Bowl to close out the 1994 season.

Film Room: A look at the wrinkles Jim Leonhard added to Wisconsin’s offense

Film Room: @DillonGraff look’s at the new wrinkles Wisconsin added to the offensive playbook. #Badgers

Wisconsin Badgers interim head coach Jim Leonhard took over the program on short notice and quickly acknowledged that the offense needed to make some adjustments – as not to beat a dead horse.

Making said adjustments seems easy on paper, but doing this during week six of the college football season gives little time to overhaul what the team has been running since spring and fall camp began.

Before his first game as head coach, Leonhard asked his offensive staff to find a way to manufacture touches for the team’s best playmakers and make them more dynamic.

“We have to play off our passing game,” said Leonhard. “Teams are going to stop the run. They are going to load the box and dedicate a lot of attention to our running backs and o-line. We have to be able to balance that a little bit.”

Bobby Engram heard this message clearly and answered the call, producing a season-high 515 total yards (322 passing, 194 rushing) and scoring 42 points on 7.6 yards per play.

During the 42-7 throttling of Northwestern, anyone with two eyes could see that things looked much different, specifically as it pertained to the offense.

With the proverbial handcuffs removed, the coaching staff added several wrinkles on offense that kept the Wildcats off-balance all afternoon and accentuated the strengths of UW’s best weapons.

Graham Mertz threw for 299 yards and five touchdowns, Braelon Allen rushed for 135 yards with a passing touchdown, and Chimere Dike caught 10 passes for 185 yards and three touchdowns.

If I had told you that would be the outcome after the Illinois game, you would have thought I was using illicit drugs – and I wouldn’t have blamed you.

Wisconsin’s top playmakers had a field day against Northwestern and, to the untrained eye, played loose, confident, and fast, a stark contrast from the offense we’ve watched over the past couple of seasons.

Let’s take a look at a few of the unique offensive installations implemented against Northwestern:

All-time Biletnikoff Award winners by year

Penn State is home to the first Biletnikoff Award winner, but Alabama, Pitt, and Oklahoma State are tied for the most all-time entering 2022.

The Biletnikoff Award is presented annually to college football’s top receiver, regardless of position. The award is presented by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation and is named in honor of Fred Biletnikoff, a College Football Hall of Fame and Pro Football Hall of Fame legend.

First presented in 1994, the Biletnikoff Award has been won each year by a wide receiver. Of course, for years the award was only available to wide receivers. But in recent years, the eligibility requirements have been expanded to any player who catches a pass. But the wait for the first non-wide receiver to take home the Biletnikoff Award continues.

Two players share the rare distinction of being two-time Biletnikoff Award winners. Michael Crabtree of Texas Tech was the first to do so in 2007 and 2008. Shortly after that, Oklahoma State’s Justin Blackmon became the second back-to-back and two-time winner of the Biletnikoff Award in 2010 and 2011.

The Pittsburgh Panthers are home to three all-time winners, including the most recent recipient of the award, Justin Addison. Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh, and Alabama are tied for the most Biletnikoff Award winners entering the 2022 season, although Oklahoma State’s three awards were won by just two players as opposed to three individual winners for the Panthers and Crimson Tide.

Here is a complete look at every Biletnikoff Award winner.

Follow Nittany Lions Wire on Twitter and like us on Facebook for continuing Penn State coverage and discussion.