(UPDATE: the Jim Harbaugh halo effect kicks in! WR defects from NU to UM at the last minute)
The incoming Michigan football recruiting class is very small (just nine commits), and for the past few months their recruiting situation has been chaos (you might have heard about this program once or twice in the media). The Jim Harbaugh effect needs to kick in right now. According to 24/7 Sports, Michigan is ranked 74th nationally, and dead last in the Big Ten.
24/7 even ranks Western Michigan’s recruiting class higher than Michigan’s class. Rivals ranks Michigan 82nd, behind schools such as Texas-San Antonio, Arkansas State and Middle Tennessee. The Wolverines need the Harbaugh halo to do activate it’s magical powers in this recruiting class.
Starting now.
It begins on national signing day, with a couple of prospect decisions from big time recruits that could really bump up the rankings of the first Jim Harbaugh class. Bear in mind though, national signing day is the second dumbest day on the sports calendar. It’s the second most overrated, overblown, over-covered day of total non-news behind Super Bowl Media Day.
Yes, these two news days are even worse than those days in July when no sports are scheduled. (And the night with the Pro Bowl/NHL All-Star game/Royal Rumble is very close)
Back to Jim Harbaugh and Michigan football. Recruiting analyst Tom Luginbill was on media conference call and he was asked about the Jim Harbaugh halo effect on recruiting.
“A splash hire and a longer term solution can be two different things, but they can accomplish the same tasks,” said Luginbill.
“I didn’t expect Michigan in the position in where they’re at and what shape the roster was in, and how late in the in the game they made the hire, I didn’t Jim Harbaugh to just come in and light the word on fire.”
“Moving forward will be the tracking gauge just right now they’re just scrambling. It’s a unique and different set of circumstances that he’s going to try and weather now, get a couple of component ins and then worry about the lomg term things after signing day.”
In other words, it’s a work in progress for Michigan right now. It is the proverbial “rebuilding plan” in motion.
The Jim Harbaugh halo effect won’t make the team 9-3 or 10-2 overnight. He needs to build a program with his guys recruited to play his systems.
In the short term, Luginbill says Jim Harbaugh is “going to recruit things that you can’t teach and you can’t coach. He’s going to recruit toughness.”
This table below, constructed by ESPN PR, provides a list of some of the highest rated recruits that will announce on signing day. Jim Harbaugh is in the mix for a few of the big names below:
|
Time (ET)* |
Rank and Player |
Position (Pos. Rank) |
Hometown |
Final Schools |
|
8:30 a.m. |
No. 111 Chris Clark |
TE (4) |
Avon, Conn. |
Michigan & UCLA |
|
9 a.m. |
No. 1 Byron Cowart |
DE (1) |
Seffner, Fla. |
Auburn & Florida |
|
No. 28 SoSo Jamabo |
ATH (4) |
Plano, Texas |
Texas & UCLA |
|
|
10 a.m. |
No. 46 Jeffery Holland |
OLB (4) |
Jacksonville, Fla. |
Auburn, Florida & UCLA |
|
No. 2 Terry Beckner Jr. |
DT (1) |
St. Louis, Ill. |
Auburn, Florida State, Missouri & Ohio State |
|
|
11 a.m. |
No. 105 Josh Wariboko |
OG (8) |
Oklahoma City, Okla. |
Oklahoma, Ohio State & UCLA |
|
No. 29 Roquan Smith |
OLB (2) |
Montezuma, Ga. |
Georgia, Michigan, Texas A&M & UCLA |
|
|
No. 5 Martez Ivey |
OT (1) |
Apopka, Fla. |
Auburn & Florida |
|
|
12 p.m. |
No. 57 DaMarkus Lodge |
WR (7) |
Cedar Hill, Texas |
Ole Miss, Texas & Texas A&M |
|
No. 6 Daylon Mack |
DT (3) |
Gladewater, Texas |
Texas, Texas A&M & TCU |
|
|
2 p.m. |
No. 9 CeCe Jefferson*** |
DE (2) |
Glen St Mary, Fla. |
Alabama, Auburn Florida, Florida State, LSU & Ole Miss |
|
No. 41 Rasheem Green*** |
DT (8) |
Gardena, Calif. |
Arizona State, Miami (Fla), Oregon & USC |
|
|
No. 56 John Houston, Jr.*** |
ILB (1) |
Gardena, Calif. |
Arizona State, Miami (Fla), Oklahoma, Oregon & USC |
|
|
No. 130 Cordell Broadus*** |
WR (14) |
Las Vegas, Nev. |
Arizona State, LSU, UCLA & USC |
|
|
3 p.m. |
No. 63 Equanimeous St. Brown |
WR (9) |
Anaheim, Calif. |
Notre Dame, Stanford, UCLA & USC |
|
4 p.m. |
No. 4 Iman Marshall |
CB (1) |
Long Beach, Calif. |
Florida State, LSU, Notre Dame, Michigan, UCLA & USC |
|
No. 172 Joseph Wicker |
DT (19) |
Long Beach, Calif. |
Arizona State, Texas Tech & UCLA. |
The 24/7 Crystal Ball for Chris Clark is 67% Michigan 13% Ohio State 7% Notre Dame
Roquan Smith is 91% Georgia,m 6% Florida 3% Michigan
Iman Marshall is not coming to Michigan or Notre Dame, so I really don’t know why those schools are even listed. His ball reads 98% USC 2% FSU
Equainaemous St. Brown, who had been heavily linked to Northwestern, checks in at 82% Notre Dame %12 UCLA
Said Luginbill of Harbaugh, “I know toughness have been an element of his teams, so whoever he signs in this class will have an element of that.”
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital, eBay, Google News and CBS Interactive Inc.
You can read Banks’ feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye newspaper and listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)