Big Ten Football: Top 10 recruits joining the conference in 2019

Continuing on the Michigan recruiting train, Jim Harbaugh has had solid running backs during his time at Michigan. Harbaugh is still of the old school philosophy of establishing the run game before you open up the offense through the air or in other various ways. Last season, the stallion was Karan Higdon, who managed to rush for over 1,110 yards despite missing two games. Zach Charbonnet looks like he could become Jim Harbaugh’s type of back.

Charbonnet looks an intimidating for a running back standing at 6-foot-2, 220 pounds, but his style is completely different from how he looks. The best comparison I could think of while watching his highlight tape was a running back that ate up the Wolverines for one game back in 2016: former Iowa running back Akrum Wadley, an elusive runner who was surprisingly strong for a back of his stature.

Watching tape, Charbonnet lives for making defenders miss and does so over and over again throughout his tape. But, for a guy of his size, he still shows the ability to lower his shoulder and finish a run with contact to get extra yardage. His top end speed isn’t ridiculous, but his burst once getting the ball could be enough to get him out of a lot of sticky situations.