Jim Harbaugh knows ball. Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise.
The latest example, outside of winning a national championship, three consecutive Big Ten championships, and coaching a team to the Super Bowl, as well as two different NFL franchises to the playoffs, is the fact that three former players for Harbaugh with the Michigan Wolverines were selected in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft.
These weren't five-star recruits either. Mason Graham (5th overall), Colston Loveland (10th overall), and Kenneth Grant (13th overall) were each ranked 247th or lower in the 247 Sports composite rankings for the 2022 class.
Grant was a three-star recruit. Graham was a three-star when he first committed to Michigan football, before being upgraded to a four-star prospect. Loveland was a four-star, and Harbaugh won him over by flying out to Idaho and pumping weights with him.
Those three players were part of the backbone of a national championship team. Before Grant and Graham ever played a snap for the Michigan Wolverines, Harbaugh said they were "gifts from the football gods."
Three years later, after winning a national title, both of those players were selected in the top 13. The tight end from Idaho, Loveland, who caught a 45-yard touchdown pass against Ohio State as a freshman, went 10th overall.
Will Johnson, a five-star recruit in that same class, fell out of the first round due to injury concerns. Still, it's incredible to have three underclassmen drafted in the first round, especially when none of them were expected to be premier NFL draft picks.
That's the genius of Jim Harbaugh, who added another feather to his cap on Thursday night.