Michigan Football: Another smart recruiting hire by Jim Harbaugh

Jim Harbaugh realized that Michigan football needed to make some changes to its recruiting operation and the Wolverines have made another recruiting hire. 

After a disastrous 2-4 season in 2020, Michigan football needed to make some big changes. Those changes didn’t include a new head coach, which many fans wanted, but the man in charge, Jim Harbaugh has revamped his coaching staff, and his recruiting operation.

And that makeover continues with the addition of Aashon Larkins as Michigan football’s new director of recruiting.

Larkins isn’t a new addition to the staff. He was actually hired for an off-field analyst role in 2020 and then spent some time coaching safeties when Bob Shoop was unable to coach for personal reasons.

So far in the 2022 class, Larkins has been a key figure for Michigan, helping the Wolverines expand their presence in the south, Alabama in particular.

Now, we know that Larkins has taken over the job of Matt Dudek, the former director of recruiting who left for Mississippi State. He will also be working under Courtney Morgan, a former Michigan player Harbaugh brought in to be the director of player personnel.

Michigan hasn’t made an official announcement, but Larkins has updated his Twitter profile to show the change and multiple outlets are reporting it too.

What the new role means for recruiting

Larkins came to Michigan with a background in recruiting and was the director of recruiting for Bethune-Cookman, an HBCU in Florida. He’s also coached special teams and cornerbacks before at Jackson State in Mississippi, so he’s got great ties to the South.

He’s also played a key role in the recruitment of four-star defensive end Justice Finkley, a top-200 defensive end prospect taking a visit to Michigan in June. Here’s what Finkley’s dad told the Michigan Insider about Larkins:

"“Naturally, there are some horror stories you hear when you hear about high profile programs recruiting your son, and as parents oftentimes, they come through us to talk to him. Just like we mentioned earlier, sometimes we have to read the article to see who he’s communicating with. When we met Coach Larkins, we had our walls built up and had our expectations in place and Coach Larkins checked every box.”"

Analysts have been talking about how Harbaugh needed to expand his recruiting operation and have more of these off-field roles.

Before, everything was on the plate of Matt Dudek. Now, Michigan football is starting to get the resources its needs and with some big-time hires such as Mike Hart, Ron Bellamy, and Steve Clinkscale, in-state recruiting should be on lockdown.

And recruiting as a whole has gotten a fresh start which was desperately needed.