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Gold and Black Illustrated, Vol 26, Digital 6

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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 26, ISSUE 6 85 THE HARBAUGH EFFECT There is more to Jim Harbaugh than just the desire to host a bazillion satellite camps. His goal is simple: Make sure that Michigan football is on the minds of every top prospect in the country. And, based on his early recruiting returns, it is working. "Other than being a good coach, which is obvious, other than being at a historic program and having great resources, he's crazy about recruiting," said DiNardo. "That is why the SEC has dominated recruiting (recent- ly), because they are all crazy about recruiting. You can't take that away from Harbaugh. You can disagree with him, but it is hard to criticize a guy who works that hard at recruiting." With Harbaugh and Ohio State's Urban Meyer, the Big Ten has starpower on the sidelines. And that doesn't even include the person who might be its best coach: Michigan State's Mark Dantonio. In another twist, the league has coaches with NFL head coaching experience with Harbaugh, as well as Lovie Smith at Illinois and Nebraska's Mike Riley, who led the Bears and Chargers, respectively. Even Greg Schiano, who joined Meyer's staff as defensive coordi- nator for 2016, was the head coach at Tampa Bay before being released in 2013. To add a little icing to the cake, Smith and Harbaugh both took teams to Super Bowls during their time with the Bears and 49ers, each falling just short of winning the world title. Adding to the league's cache, especially on the recruit- ing trail, is that it won five bowl games in each of the last two seasons after doing it just once in the prior 14 seasons. Sure, it was helped by the fact the league now has 14 teams, but last year marked the first time the Big Ten had six schools finish in the final AP top 25 since 1999. The same number of schools recorded double-digit victories, breaking the previous record set in 2009. Things are definitely looking up for the Big Ten. BOILERMAKER CHATTER Mason, Dienhart and DiNardo are not expecting big things from Purdue in 2016. Yet, DiNardo says to look no further than Indiana as a model for the Boilermakers to follow as they move for- ward. "I know some Purdue fans won't like me saying this, but I am looking to Bloomington to determine what type of support (Coach) Darrell (Hazell) needs," DiNardo said. "It just takes time and it has for Indiana coach Kevin Wil- son. IU stuck with him and gave him a new contract. "Now, Darrell needs to show big improvement this year, but it is a long road to rebuilding a new program and just changing coaches every three years doesn't cut it." j GOLD AND BLACK'S ALL-BIG TEN TEAM OFFENSE WR Chris Godwin, Penn State WR Jordan Westerkamp, Nebraska TE Jake Butt, Michigan C Pat Elfein, Ohio State OL Mason Cole, Michigan OL Dan Feeney, Indiana OL Brian Allen, Michigan State OL Sean Welsh, Iowa QB J.T. Barrett, Ohio State RB Saquon Barkley, Penn State RB Justin Jackson, Northwestern K Griffin Oakes, Indiana DEFENSE DL Malik McDowell, Michigan State DL Sam Hubbard, Ohio State DL Jake Replogle, Purdue DL Chris Wormley, Michigan LB Jabrill Peppers, Michigan LB Raekwon McMillan, Ohio State LB Anthony Walker, Northwestern CB Desmond King, Iowa CB Jourdan Lewis, Michigan S Montae Nicholson, Michigan State S Nate Gerry, Nebraska P Cameron Johnston, Ohio State Offensive Player-of-the-Year Barrett, Ohio State Defensive Player-of-the-Year McDowell, Michigan State Special Teams Player-of-the-Year William Likely, Maryland Coach-of-the-Year Jim Harbaugh, Michigan

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