Michigan Football: Jim Harbaugh talks Daxton Hill, Zach Charbonnet

Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh spoke to the Big Ten Media Friday and after his main presser, he offered some comments on key incoming freshmen.

When it comes to Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh, fans don’t get a ton of opportunities to see him do press conferences and gather with the media.

During his time at Michigan football, Harbaugh has made himself less and less available to the media and Friday, at the 2019 Big Ten Media Days, was one of the few chances reporters will get to pose extensive questions to Harbaugh about the upcoming season.

Of course, during the press conference Friday, it didn’t take long for reporters to get into his comments about Urban Meyer or to ask about the heavy expectations on the Wolverines as the favorites to win the Big Ten.

However, later in the day, Nick Baumgardner of the Detroit Free Press was able to get even more info out of Harbaugh, especially on a pair of key incoming freshmen, Daxton Hill and Zach Charbonnet.

In terms of Charbonnet, the Wolverines top offensive recruit in the 2019 class, Harbaugh said he has been killing it in the weight room, which also drew praise from senior Khaleke Hudson, who also was a topic of conversation in an unorthodox way Friday.

While Harbaugh mentioned Charbonnet positively, the scope that kept the running back out during the spring has caused some concern about depth at the position. But according to Harbaugh, there are some contingency plans in place, like moving Hudson to the offense to carry the ball.

In other notable news, Harbaugh talked about five-star recruit Daxton Hill and he said that he wants him to stay at safety, even though there are rumors that Hill has been getting snaps at nickel back and could play significant snaps there during the season.

If Hill was to stay at safety, it’s possible that he will wind up starting there, which could be the best thing for Michigan’s defense. The Wolverines desperately need his 4.3 speed on the backend of their secondary.

Erasing big plays and being a reliable tackler would be huge. He also has really good ball skills and should be able to limit completions on deep balls down the field too, in part, because he can make up ground so easily.

However, it’s also not hard to imagine Hill playing as the nickel corner and wreaking havoc. He could blitz, cover, defend the run and with his versatile skill set, it seems like a waste to not play him there at least a little bit.

But, seeing as he is a freshman, sticking to one position might be best for now. Either way, if this Michigan football team is going to meet expectations, it needs a positive impact in 2019 from both Hill and Charbonnet this season.