Michigan Football: For Jim Harbaugh, it’s now or never

Jim Harbaugh has four years under his belt coaching Michigan football; four years without a playoff appearance and four years without a Big Ten title. That has to change this year.

Recruiting for Michigan football has never been a problem, developing those top stars is the problem. When Rashan Gary – the No. 1 ranked prospect to ever play for the Michigan football program in the last two decades – was evaluated, the professionals saw what everyone else did. A rare and raw player who has yet to reach his enormous potential.

That’s exactly the opposite of what you want to hear as a coach.

On the other hand, Michigan’s most hated rival Ohio State sent out Nick Bosa in the same draft and the evaluators noticed how technical he was and how the big-time defensive end was a plug and play commodity for any NFL team.

That’s exactly what you want to hear.

Coaches wear many hats; teachers, evaluators, and mentors among other titles. They are supposed to mold their young pupils and ensure they’re ready for the next step. At Michigan, some of those aspects are neglected.

With the addition of Josh Gattis, head coach Jim Harbaugh noticed the gap and fixed it with one phone call.

The past

10 wins are not going to get you into the College Football Playoff. Going 0-4 against rival Ohio State isn’t going to get you to Indy, in fact, it’s a sure way to find yourself back on the street. That’s not to say Harbaugh is on the hot seat, just that the fans and the university don’t accept losing year after painstaking year at the hands of the Buckeyes.

We cannot accept a role as the whipping boy for That Team Down South.

2017 could have been seen as somewhat of an anomaly. The QB by committee didn’t work here just as it has never worked anywhere else. Someone must establish themselves at the position. What if – in 2018 – Tua Tagovialoa at Alabama and his counterpart Jalen Hurts switched out every game with freshman Mac Jones getting more of his fair share under center. It may not have ended at 8-5 but I doubt they would’ve had a CFP appearance, let alone making it to the title game.

It was a disaster highlighted by the addition of Amazon’s TV camera’s following the drama from start to finish.

The mind behind the offense rendered powerless to head coach Jim Harbaugh who fostered a run first/pass on third down offense. The handcuffing averaging less than 8 yards-per-passing attempt, much lower than the elite in college football.

The only person on UM benefitting from the antiquated play-calling was Karan Higdon who leveraged the opportunity to rush for over 1,000 yards his senior season. But even his 72 yards were no match for the Mike Weber-J.K. Dobbins duo who put up 142 together adding to 567 total yards Ohio State amassed in their 62-39 route of the maize and blue down in Columbus.

A change was needed. Harbaugh knew something had to give and it took four years to understand that he didn’t need to take on extra responsibilities. He needed to shed some.

Josh Gattis era

The hiring of Josh Gattis as a play-caller for a Power Five school was tough to swallow on the surface. Going from never having full control of an offense on game day to the unquestioned command of a historic program leads many to the questions; most importantly why him? why now?

“Coach Harbaugh’s been awesome in making it a system to where I’m going to have full control”. Gattis said, eager to make his mark on the college football landscape.

After a brief conversation with Alabama’s head coach, Nick Saban, they both understood the Tide faithful weren’t going to pull the trigger on Gattis as the sole OC as Saban wanted a proven coordinator to take the Crimson Tide back to the promised land.

When Gattis took Jim’s phone call he knew what he wanted and Jim knew what he was giving up. Both men on either end of the telephone spewing their own agenda, concluding the call realizing they had the same dream and they wanted the changes.

“So, I called him at 10 o’clock in the morning and by 3:30, he was coming to Michigan with a signed memorandum of understanding,” Harbaugh said of the call.

Gattis isn’t going to come to Michigan football and mold defensive players like Gary – even though he spent his entire playing career on defense. What he is going to do is make sure the Wolverines offense will not fail as it has in the past.

No one underachieves under Gattis as highlighted by the receivers he taught day-in-and-day-out at his past stops, as highlighted in the Wolverines Wire article Why Josh Gattis can make Michigan’s 2019 wide receiver corps elite.

Brandon Knapp observed in the Gattis statistics,  “Only four years out of 20 were Michigan able to have over 2,000 yards” split between the top three receivers with the average coming to a disheartening 1,669 yards.

You have to wonder what Donovan Peoples-Jones was thinking when he chose Michigan over other schools who sling the rock on almost every down.

Under Gattis and the new offense, Michigan football is projected to dominate. From 2011-2018, Gattis, in some form of offensive coaching capacity, had only three seasons where the top three receivers achieved under 2,000 yards and even when he didn’t reach the mark he was still within 100 yards.

This is the year

Devin Bush and Rashan Gary are gone, however, a treasure trove of talented young men remain on D.

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Chris Evans was canceled for 2019 following an academic issue which could be viewed a blow if not for Zach Charbonnet who is the No. 4 RB in the country for the 2019 class – a top-ranked class in the Big Ten and eighth nationally.

As for the opponents, Notre Dame brings their own continuity on both sides of the ball albeit this time they bring it to Ann Arbor.

Arguably, the only other true threat to an undefeated Michigan football team is the Buckeyes who lost their ethically challenged head coach, bringing on newcomer Ryan Day.

They also lost their first-round draft pick QB Dwayne Haskins to the Washington Redskins. Unlike the coaching hire, OSU didn’t bring up one of its internal candidates to lead the team, instead of seeking the importation of Justin Fields from Georgia – a point of contention for the broken transfer process. But again the game is in Ann Arbor.

If Michigan football and Jim Harbaugh have another 10 win season, it’s not successful, it’s another underachievement medal to add to the ever-growing underachievement trophy case.

It’s now or never for head coach Jim Harbaugh and Co. It’s time to take the team to the playoffs and win it all; starting with a trip to Indy.