Michigan football news: A Jim Harbaugh 'hangover', plus latest on a 5-star target

A common topic of conversation right now is what's wrong with Michigan football? And also, how can it be fixed?

We addressed the second part of that on Tuesday. Some things can be fixed. Other things probably can't be. Michigan football lost the best head coach in college football to the NFL, as well as the best quarterback it has ever had, as well as other generational talents in Blake Corum and Mike Sainristil.

The 2023 Michigan football team was a team for the ages. Jim Harbaugh left for the Chargers after the season but his month dance of will he or won't he, definitely hurt Michigan's ability to recruit players in the transfer portal, especially at quarterback.

That's part of the reason why talk of a "Harbaugh hangover" makes sense. Michigan football paid the price for having Jim Harbaugh and winning a national title. Here's what Pete Thamel of ESPN said on Tuesday about the idea of a "Harbaugh hangover" for Michigan football.

“I feel like some of this Michigan [regression] is a hangover for the timing of when Jim Harbaugh left for the Chargers,” Thamel said on the College Gameday Podcast. "They brought in a few guys from the portal —  Josh Priebe the interior O-Lineman,  the linebackerJaishawn Barham — but they did not address their needs like we’re losing 18 guys to the combine. They picked a little bit. But they have so many — you look at receiver, you look at O-Line like they needed more reinforcements. And, look, it was a hard thing to go get a quarterback when your coach knows he’s leaving. And that was essentially what we all knew. It was a matter of when and not if. I feel like the championship game, combined with the Harbaugh exit, handcuffed them from channeling the momentum from the championship to going full-throated in the portal."

Thamel isn't wrong. The timing of the playoff run, combined with Harbaugh's interest in the NFL really limited what Michigan fooball could do in the portal. There weren't any quarterbacks available in the spring and right now, it just is what it is.

But if winning the national championship means a medioce season, well, that's an easy price to pay for any college football fan, especially Michigan fans who didn't believe it was even possible.

I sure didn't. I never thought Michigan would win a national championship again in my lifetime, so regardless of the cost, it was well worth it.

Latest on Michigan football 5-star recruiting target Andrew Babalola

It's been hard to focus on recruiting after the Texas defeat. My biggest concern is that it's going to cause some of the 2025 commitments to re-think their decisions.

Michigan has already lost one top-100 commitment this cycle. Hopefully, others don't follow. Yet, there is still hope for Michigan football to land five-star offensive tackle Andrew Babalola.

The top-ranked player out of Kansas is 6-foot-6, 280 pounds. He's ranked 25th overall in the 2025 class according to the 247 Sports composite rankings. There aren't any crystal predictions right now, but Stanford has been viewed as the leader with Oklahoma, Auburn, and Michigan lurking.

Here's the latest on Babalola from EJ Holland of The Wolverine:

“I think Stanford has lost some traction in this recruitment,” Holland said. “Right now, I think it’s more likely that he doesn’t end up at Stanford. That doesn’t mean that Michigan is now clearly in the lead. Auburn has made a big push in this recruitment. While NIL wasn’t previously thought to be a factor in this recruitment, that could be changing. Auburn has a lot of momentum on the recruiting trail right now and is willing to do what it takes on the NIL front. Are academics still Babalola’s No. 1 factor? I guess we’ll find out.”

If NIL is the deciding factor, we know Michigan football won't win out, but if academics and football each matter, the Wolverines should have a great shot. We'll just have to wait and see.