How successful were Jim Harbaugh’s recruiting stunts?
Jim Harbaugh got himself into a lot of shenanigans over the last few weeks of recruiting, and we are not just talking about him pulling scholarships away from previously committed high schoolers.
The Michigan coach spent time climbing trees, watching Netflix and sitting in class in an effort to woo top prospects to Ann Arbor, and now that National Signing Day is upon us we can see if all the tomfoolery was worth it.
Four-star DE Connor Murphy
Jim Harbaugh has long history of weird recruiting with the Murphy family, actually babysitting for a young Connor while successfully luring his brother Trent to play at Stanford. This time, Harbaugh tried a Netflix-filled sleepover to get Connor to be a Wolverine, but the younger Connor will be hitting the field for USC next season.
Verdict: Failure
• A recruit jumped out of a plane to announce his commitment
Four-star DT Boss Tagaloa
The Michigan coach got a lesson in world religion as part of his visit to Boss Tagaloa at De La Salle high, where he sat in on the class. The teacher mistook him for the school’s coach but the students knew they were in the presence of an enthusiasm unknown to mankind. Maybe Jim Mora was a better guest in class, because Tagaloa is going to UCLA.
Verdict: Failure
Four-star CB David Long
The former 49ers coach’s visit to David Long’s house started out with a simple game of catch with Harbaugh and the cornerback’s siblings, but it took a weird turn when Harbaugh broke away to climb a tree. Why did he do this? Because he is a crazy person. It worked though, as Long committed to the Wolverines a few days after the visit.
Verdict: Success
Four-Star K Quinn Nordin
Quinn Nordin is the top-ranked kicker in the country, so there were lots of coaches looking to get his attention, but did any of them care enough to actually spend the night at the Nordin home? Well, Harbaugh did, and it paid off, as Nordin agreed to head to Ann Arbor. The kicker first showed up on the internet’s radar last year with his outlandish private jet commitment video for Penn State.
Verdict: Success
