The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/447116
FOOTBALL RECRUITING BY TIM SULLIVAN I f there was one thing former Michi‑ gan head coach Brady Hoke and his staff did well, it was recruit. Even when the results on the field turned south in his final three seasons at the helm in Ann Arbor, U‑M managed the No. 7 recruiting class in the nation in 2013 and the No. 31 group in 2014 (despite the fewest commitments, 16, of any power‑conference school in the nation — a tie with fellow Big Ten member Northwestern). That prowess dried up in the lat‑ ter days of the Hoke regime, though, and the 2015 class contained just six pledges when new head coach Jim Harbaugh took the reins Dec. 30. The former Wolverine quarterback began with just more than a month to as‑ semble the remainder of his initial group of new Wolverine signees. THE PLAN Harbaugh had plenty to worry about in the early days of his Michi‑ gan tenure, from assembling a staff to getting going on the 2015 recruiting class. While future classes will become a focus in short order, closing the 2015 class is the priority in the lead‑up to National Signing Day Feb. 4. First up, Harbaugh had to recertify himself (as did his assistant coaches when they were hired by Michigan) as an NCAA‑approved recruiter. That process is relatively quick — an hour‑ long test administered by a proctor FOOTBALL RECRUITING Jim Harbaugh Gets To Work On 2015 Class Harbaugh (shown in his time as head coach at the University of San Diego) inherited a group of six 2015 commitments at U-M and has just more than a month to assemble the remainder of his inaugural recruiting class in Ann Arbor. PHOTO COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO