The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/641955
FOOTBALL RECRUITING the nation's No. 1 player, five-star de- fensive tackle Rashan Gary. While it can be debated whether Michigan's approach is a positive or negative for the recruiting process, one thing that cannot be argued is the Michigan fan base is having a lot of fun right now." JIM HARBAUGH'S FIRST FULL CLASS JOINS ELITE COMPANY Jim Harbaugh delivered one of the best first full-year recruiting classes ever assembled by a Power Five con- ference coach in the Rivals.com era (2002-present). Over the last 15 years, only eight Power Five conference coaches have engineered a top-10 class in their first full recruiting cycle (the first class af- ter the coach's first season), with Har- baugh becoming No. 9. Out of the nine, Harbaugh's No. 4 team ranking ranked fourth, better than LSU's Les Miles, Ole Miss' Hugh Freeze and UCLA's Jim Mora, among others. Only three coaches — Alabama's Nick Saban (No. 1 team ranking), Florida State's Jimbo Fisher (No. 2) and Ohio State's Urban Meyer (No. 2) — had better hauls in their first full recruiting cycle. Jim Harbaugh became just the ninth Power Five conference coach over the past 15 years to land a top-10 class in his first full recruiting cycle. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL POWER FIVE COACHES' RECRUITING SUCCESS First Record Second Coach School Full Class* Between Full Class* Les Miles LSU No. 7 (2006) 11-2 No. 4 (2007) Nick Saban Alabama No. 1 (2008) 12-2 No. 1 (2009) Jimbo Fisher Florida State No. 2 (2011) 9-4 No. 6 (2012) David Shaw Stanford No. 5 (2012) 12-2 No. 63 (2013) Urban Meyer Ohio State No. 2 (2013) 12-2 No. 3 (2014) Hugh Freeze Ole Miss No. 7 (2013) 8-5 No. 19 (2014) Jim Mora UCLA No. 8 (2013) 10-3 No. 18 (2014) Gus Malzahn Auburn No. 9 (2014) 8-5 No. 7 (2015) Jim Harbaugh Michigan No. 4 (2016) TBD TBD * Rivals.com national team ranking