Michigan football: Jim Harbaugh got his mojo back on the recruiting trail

The job that Jim Harbaugh has done on the field over the past couple of seasons has been nothing short of unbelievable. The Michigan football coach turned the Wolverines around from 2-4 in 2020 to back-to-back Big Ten champions and two straight playoff appearances.

What kind of classes did Harbaugh bring in following those Big Ten title-winning seasons? The No. 12 class in 2022 and No. 19 in 2023. Not bad, but you’d expect more from an elite coach.

Great coaches have won without reeling in elite talent before, but Harbaugh had always seemed to recruit at a high level before COVID-19 and it just felt like something was missing.

It felt like Harbaugh had lost his mojo on the trail a bit.

Well, that’s changing quickly with the 2024 class. Heck, even Brandyn Hillman brought some late momentum to the 2023 class.

Harbaugh, Michigan football have a ton of recruiting momentum

Along with the aforementioned Hillman who got a release from his NLI from Notre Dame, Michigan has landed five 2024 commitments since December, four of which are four-stars.

Not only is Harbaugh putting in some serious work in the 2024 class which currently ranks No. 3 in the country, but he’s also dipping into his top rival’s state for some big-time recruits. Four-star running back Jordan Marshall, four-star lineman Luke Hamilton, four-star defensive lineman Ted Hammond, and three-star tackle Ben Roebuck all reign from Ohio and most of them grew up rooting for the Buckeyes but realized Michigan was the place to be.

I’ll admit, as a Spartan fan, I thought Michigan’s Big Ten reign would last for that one year in 2021 as an outlier, but after 2022 and after seeing the recruiting results improve, I think the Wolverines are going to be the top dog in the conference for a while.