Jim Harbaugh dishes on his deepest team yet, excited to 'turn it loose'

INDIANAPOLIS — Time will tell whether the 2023 Michigan football team is Jim Harbaugh and staff’s best team to date. The Wolverines are coming off back-to-back Big Ten titles, going for a third straight undisputed conference championship for the first time in school history, and have been loaded with talent the last two years. Two beatdowns of Ohio State and one total Big Ten loss indicate just how good those teams were.

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But no matter what happens on the field this year, it’s hard to argue this isn’t the coach’s deepest squad entering a season. Harbaugh and his staff have talent all over the field, with many of the second-stringers guys who would likely start at many other Big Ten schools. Thursday, Harbaugh said he didn’t really know where to start in breaking down all the talent on the roster.

“J.J. [McCarthy], he’s our quarterback,” Harbaugh announced in no surprise to anyone. “But there are other positions where it’s going to be very similar to having two starting players. And then watching it unfold, who is going to start? We’re going to play the best players. How do we know who the best players are? They play the best.

“I see that at corner. One of the starting corner positions [is up for grabs with] Amorion Walker, Josh Wallace, Ja’Den McBurrows, and some other very fine players … newcomers. But I think it will come down to a situation where Mikey [Sainristil] will be a starter, Will Johnson will be a starter, and then we’ve got, who is that other starter, whether it’s at nickel or corner? It may come in training camp. It may take into the first couple of games.”

It’s probably the same at the edge rusher position, Harbaugh added.

“I see four really good edge players there, at least, and we’re probably going to witness the same situation there that may go into game one, game two,” Harbaugh continued. “It’s very similar to what we saw last year at the quarterback position [between McCarthy and Cade McNamara]. And there are some other type battles. Offensive line … I look at 10 guys right now that are starter caliber.

“Our running back situation is two great players, Dono[van Edwards] and Blake [Corum] — Blake and Dono. It doesn’t get any better. I could go through the tight end position … [sophomore] Colston Loveland. I know I’m on camera, so the longer it takes him to realize how good he is, the better off he’ll probably be. But I think the secret’s out. He is really, really good. [Indiana transfer] AJ Barner has been a great addition to our team. We’ll have two really great players there. And then Matt Hibner, Max Bredeson … four outstanding guys. Marlin Klein’s coming. Pretty much, I could go through our roster right now and paint a similar picture.”

Working with Ben Herbert has helped them immensely, of course. Harbaugh has long praised his strength coach as one of the best in the business, and this offseason has been another feather in his cap. Several of the players have brought him up as a difference-maker in their careers, and Harbaugh provided some more evidence as to why Thursday.

“We do this thing called KPIs, Key Performance Indicators. It’s about 47, 48 categories, strength and power, speed and agility, flexibility, mobility, and every guy is always trying to up their grade,” Harbaugh said. “By far, I look at this offseason and the work that’s been put in and just seeing those key performance indicators just rise weekly and monthly … .I’m excited. I’ve very excited to turn that loose and start training camp.

“I think our team’s as healthy as you could ask for. It’s very talented, extremely hard work ethic, and not one of them wants to hear about what they did last year or the last two years. It’s always, ‘Coach — we’re doing it again, doing it now, and now is the time that matters.’ That’s the kind of attitude and effort and talent we’re taking into the start of this training camp.”