Daily Brews: Relationship continues to grow between Jim Harbaugh, Josh Gattis

Jim Harbaugh and Josh Gattis have had a lot to work through with Michigan football’s revamped offense struggling for most of the early part of the year. However, despite all of the hot takes about in-fighting and lack of identity, the head coach could not be any more positive about the relationship between the two men.

“Really well, I’m really excited about it. We get along great,” Harbaugh said on Monday. “He’s an easy person to get along great with and he’s a really hardworking coach. He’s a ball guy. We’ve all meshed and gelled well as a professional relationship and, a personal note, I think he’s a great guy. Fun to be around, all the good things. A lot of personality. I feel the same way about each and every one of our coaches. He’s all ball and fun to be around, too.”

Anyone who paid attention to Gattis coordinating the offense from the sideline on Saturday saw a guy who is very much in control of the Wolverines on that side of the ball with Harbaugh more or less taking a back seat and letting him do his thing. For now, that should put to rest the idea that Harbaugh is railroading his attempts to modernize this thing, which was silly and misguided from the start.

Zeb Jackson shines as Hoop Exchange

Class of 2020 point guard Zeb Jackson may have committed under John Beilein, but he is sticking it out and still plans to attend Michigan with new leadership at the top in Juwan Howard. Rivals wrote up its takeaways from his performance at the Hoop Exchange Fall Festival in Apopka, Florida.

“One of the highest-ranked seniors suiting up in Apopka, Jackson has continued to develop his perimeter jumper while also improving his motor,” Corey Evans of Rivals writes. “Jackson was never soft in the past but it was nice to see him compete more consistently and also become involved in more 50-50 plays.

“The Michigan commit made shots from all three levels and showed the capacity to defend either guard position. He is on track for a solid career in Ann Arbor under first-year coach Juwan Howard.”

Jackson is currently the only player committed to the 2020 class, but Howard and the Wolverines have worked their way in on a handful of elite prospects. Time will tell who joins Jackson, but he is already a solid prospect for the future.

Preseason awards announced for Michigan Hockey

Michigan hockey is about ready to get its third season under Mel Pearson underway and a handful of Wolverines have been named All-Big Ten performers ahead of the new campaign.

“Michigan senior forward Will Lockwood was named the preseason All-Big Ten second team, while senior goaltender Hayden Lavigne and freshman defenseman Cam York received honorable mention,” a Big Ten release said. “Lockwood, the 100th captain in program history, finished with 31 points (16 goals, 5 assists) in 2018-19 and led U-M in goals, power-play goals and shots. Lavigne appeared in 19 games last season, finishing with a 7-8-3 record, 3.16 goals-against average and .884 save percentage. York, selected 14th overall by Philadelphia Flyers in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, recorded 65 points (14g, 51a) in 62 games with the U.S. NTDP U-18 team last season and tallied 11 points (4g, 7a) in seven games at the 2019 U-18 World Junior Championships.”

As far as how they stack up to the rest of the Big Ten, the preseason poll has the order as follows: 1. Penn State, 2. Notre Dame, 3. Wisconsin, 4. Ohio State, 5. Minnesota, 6. Michigan, 7. Michigan State.

Other Brews

• The college sports news of Monday was a California Law being signed that would allow student athletes to profit off of their own name and likeness. As the New York Times writes, it would cause a massive change to the business side of intercollegiate athletics.
• Things are not going well for Purdue football after a 1-3 start. Quarterback Elijah Sindelar has a broken clavicle and offensive weapon Rondale Moore has a leg injury. Their slim chances of making a run in the West might be taking a major hit.
• Michigan State running back Connor Hayward has decided to enter the transfer portal. He only played in four games this season for the Spartans and is eligible for a redshirt.