The pressure is mounting for Michigan Football’s Jim Harbaugh

After some big recruiting misses, the pressure is once again rising on Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh.

Although Michigan football is starting to build some semblance of momentum on the recruiting trail for the class of 2023, it still is nowhere near good enough, as the class is still near the bottom in the Big Ten.

As of right now, Michigan’s class is #45 in the country, with the 12th best class in the Big Ten, which is an absolute failure, there’s no other way to put it.

Now, there is still the BBQ at the Big House as the headline event of the summer, and there are still a few prospects out there like Enow Etta and Nyckoles Harbor, both we’ve written a lot about the past several months, but beyond those two, the options are seriously dwindling.

Even with the BBQ at the Big House, most of the prospects attending might already be committed to a program, might be ranked a lot lower in the rankings than fans would like, and/or are mainly the class of 2024 recruits.

The BBQ at the Big House might give Michigan football a commit or two, but that would probably only move the Wolverines up to 43rd or 42nd in the recruiting rankings, which doesn’t move the needle much.

Jim Harbaugh is still too stuck in the past 

The pressure is on Jim Harbaugh two-fold. He still doesn’t get it. In Year 8, Jim Harbaugh still doesn’t fully get it.

At this point in Harbaugh’s tenure, he should have no issues recruiting guys. The way Harbaugh is struggling to recruit makes him seem like a complete amateur, like he’s some first-time coach, in over his head.

It’s fine that Jim wants players to experience all Michigan has to offer, as part of his “transformational, not transactional” strategy for NIL, but, he has to realize that this is an extremely risky strategy, and one not likely to work out, and it hasn’t worked out.

If you think about it though, all players that come to Michigan are deemed “transactional”. Especially prior to NIL. The coaches got paid, but the players had to put their bodies on the line. For what? No compensation?

The coaches coached the players, gave them instructions and schemes to follow, and when those players were good enough to go to the league, they left.

Meanwhile, the coaches made money off the players with their salaries, with the potential for bonuses based on performance. Rinse, repeat every year.

So that statement that Harbaugh made doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.

Are we really surprised though that it seems Harbaugh is stuck in the ways of the past? That old-school thinking?

I mean, he hired Josh Gattis from Alabama to coordinate an offense that was supposed to be much more explosive than in years past, and all we got out of him was a better running game, but a so-so passing attack, if that.

Although Gattis wasn’t ever a great coordinator, I truly think Harbaugh handicapped his playcalling and what type of offense he wanted, which was a 1980s-style of running the football, something only a program like Wisconsin can truly sustain week in and week out.

We never got to see Gattis’s offense truly unleashed, and just when Michigan had some unexpected success, Harbaugh almost goes to the NFL, and Gattis leaves as well.

Here’s another example: the JJ McCarthy vs. Cade McNamara QB controversy. Anybody that watched Michigan football can tell right away that JJ has all the makings of a future star, he just needs more reps.

Well, instead of Harbaugh allowing JJ to have an opportunity to start games, he instead has JJ come off the bench for a snap here or there, and what does JJ do?

He runs the read-option when everybody in the building knows it’s going to be a run, not a pass. The run usually only picks up 2-3 yards, while a pass might’ve completely fooled the defense for a long gain or touchdown.

Just a waste of snaps for JJ. He needs to be unleashed. I love Cade, but the affinity for starting the most veteran QB on the roster regardless of talent and potential needs to stop.

I can name many other outdated ways of doing things or thinking by Harbaugh, but you all get the point.

This is Jim Harbaugh’s most important football season

All of this has led to my main point, which is this is Harbaugh’s most important season.

You might be rolling your eyes right now, as we tend to say this every year, but this truly is. Harbaugh went on record and said repeating as Big Ten champ is even harder than doing it the first time, which I completely agree with.

Teams will be gunning for Michigan football now more than ever before, as opposing fans (not named MSU or OSU fans) seem to love to hate on Michigan for some odd reason.

Teams have more game film on Michigan, they kind of know what to expect now from Michigan’s offense and defense. They will be more prepared.

Will there likely be some decommits during football season from other programs that Michigan can scoop up and make a part of their 2023 class? Yes, definitely, but don’t count on there being even close to as many as every other year.

Now, guys have NIL money, so even if they don’t particularly love the school or the coach, they might just stay committed to a program for the guaranteed money. Michigan doesn’t offer that, which really hurts their chances of flipping multiple prospects.

The pressure is really on to perform this year for Harbaugh and Michigan. They can’t afford a mediocre season with all of the talent they have on the roster and the season they just had last year.

I’d say anything less than 10-11 wins is a failure of a season. The team should clear 10 wins relatively easily, but anything less is massively disappointing.

I think we can throw our hopes of a top-10 class out the window for 2023, and probably even top-20 but with another successful season, Harbaugh can make us forget about a bad recruiting class for one year.

Maybe a top-25 class is possible. A TON would have to go right through. We’ll see.