O'Brien's Staff Becoming Clearer

Bill O'Brien needed to assemble a staff quickly and it seems like that's exactly what he's doing.

After Craig Fitzgerald (S&C) and Will Lawing (OC) were recently announced, it appears that a few other positions are just about set.

Reports out have Tim Lewis coming on board as the new defensive coordinator with Johnathan Dibiaso - a name very familiar to folks in this area - getting elevated to QB coach. Reports have also circulated that O'Brien is trying to keep Matt Applebaum (OL), Darrell Wyatt (WR) and Savon Huggins (RB) on board. Most recently on Wednesday it was reported that Washington State's Ray Brown will become the new secondary coach.

The Applebaum, Wyatt and Huggins moves are no brainers. Guys have raved about all three of them and in Applebaum's case, he was a huge reason why O-Line U returned to form last season despite many scoffing at the hire by Hafley. Applebaum, Wyatt and Huggins are all incredible recruiters and relationship builders as well. Along those same lines, keeping Dibiaso around makes all the sense in the world too given his connections to various high school programs in the area as well as his network nationally.

Lewis has been a DC at the highest level, calling signals for both the Steelers and Giants. As far as college experience goes, he's been at Pitt, Texas A&M and SMU. Brown is obviously not well-known in this area, but he too has plenty of experience having most recently worked at Utah State and Troy before his stint working with corners the last two seasons at WSU.

Later on Tuesday, Thamel reported that Jeff Comissiong will be the new D-line coach. Comissiong was here in the same role from 2007-2013 when BJ Raji became a star before heading to Green Bay. Ron Brace was also a fantastic player under his watch.

Communication and experience seem to be the driving force between O'Brien's staff building so far and it feels like there's some solid choices here as the picture starts to become clearer.