Jim Harbaugh, Michigan football resurgent on recruiting trail

Jim Harbaugh is coming off his worst season with Michigan football, but it hasn’t stopped him and the Wolverines from killing it on the recruiting trail.

Over the years, Michigan football hasn’t recruited as well as its biggest rival, Ohio State and the Wolverines are still a ways from reaching that level.

But that doesn’t change the fact that the Wolverines have been racking up an impressive run of recruiting victories and added one of the biggest of Harbaugh’s tenure Sunday with the commitment of five-star cornerback Will Johnson.

Johnson is a truly elite prospect and Michigan beat out USC, Ohio State and a number of other elite programs for his commitment. He’s 6-foot-3, 190 pounds, is the top-ranked recruit in the state of Michigan and in the class of 2022, Johnson is 11th overall according to the 247 sports composite rankings.

Michigan has had some great defensive backs under Jim Harbaugh. Jabrill Peppers is one name that comes to mind but even he wasn’t a shutdown corner like Johnson.

Landing the top in-state recruit and a five-star target is bound to have more ripple effects in 2022 as well, especially with Michigan clearly in the mix for the No. 1 defensive tackle in the country.

This latest recruiting victory is also the third top-300 defensive back to commit since the addition of co-defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach Maurice Linguist. He was an elite recruiter at Texas A&M and he’s brought that to Michigan.

It’s fair to say he deserves as much credit as anyone for Johnson’s commitment, however, you have to give Harbaugh credit for getting him. It was a massive hire and one that’s already paid off in a huge way.

This is also a continuation of the recruiting run Michigan had to close the 2021 class. Donovan Edwards, who was ranked as a five-star recruit in 2021 by 247 sports, signed with U-M, as did five-star quarterback J.J. McCarthy and top-100 wideout Xavier Worthy, who picked Michigan over Alabama.

On top of that, Michigan closed by adding two four-star defensive tackles in the late signing period in 2021 with Rayshaun Benny and George Rooks, both prospects ranked in the top 300 of the 247 composite rankings.

Obviously, Harbaugh and Michigan need to turn these recruiting victories into wins on the field, but the more recruiting battles you win, the easier actual victories become.