Bengals DB heaps praise on Seahawks, Ravens head coaches

Not many college football programs produced multiple future NFL head coaches, but Michigan was once home to Jim Harbaugh, Mike Macdonald and Jesse Minter, all in the last five years. Cincinnati Bengals cornerback DJ Turner II, who played for all three in Ann Arbor, knew what was in store for his former defensive coordinators from the moment they set foot on campus.

Turner endured the highs and lows of Michigan as a member of the 2-4 team in 2020 and the 14-2 season in 2021. Turner singled out Macdonald as one of the biggest reasons the Wolverines turned the ship around so quickly to make the College Football Playoffs, believing the whole team “knew” at that moment what the defensive coach would eventually become.

“I knew, we all knew,” Turner said on the ‘NFL Spotlight with Ari Meirov’ podcast. “If you just look at it, my sophomore year, we went 2-4 in COVID. Coach Macdonald came and we went 14-2 and lost to Georgia in the CFP. People don’t know this — after that COVID year, we had the most people hit the portal in the country, so he made that happen off the strength of just showing up.”

#Bengals CB DJ Turner had Mike Macdonald as his DC at Michigan in 2021 and Jesse Minter in 2022.

He knew back then that the two were special—and that this wasn’t ordinary. https://t.co/M71BZXGCvV pic.twitter.com/SAQTmGCBWj

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) March 31, 2026

DJ Turner calls Mike Macdonald, Jesse Minter “NFL dudes”

Macdonald was only at Michigan for one year before returning to the NFL on John Harbaugh’s staff with the Baltimore Ravens. Turner recalls Minter coming in the following season and maintaining the standard, which convinced him that both defensive coordinators were of NFL caliber.

“I like Coach Macdonald, so I was like, ‘I’m good now.’ He leaves, so I’m like, alright. Then Coach Minter came and picked up where he left off… That was the first time I realized they’re NFL dudes. College and NFL is not the same. There’s NFL coaches and there’s college coaches. When they came in, they ran it like an NFL program. Coach Harbaugh, what he does at the Chargers is exactly what we did at Michigan.”

Macdonald was the first to become a head coach, getting hired by the Seattle Seahawks in 2024. Minter, who followed Jim Harbaugh to the Los Angeles Chargers, received his opportunity when the Baltimore Ravens tabbed him as John Harbaugh’s replacement in January.

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