ESPN Analyst: Timing of Jim Harbaugh hire caused staff to scramble on recruiting trail

Much has been made about Michigan's recent scrambling to finish out their 2015 class, which was to be expected seeing as Jim Harbaugh was hired during a recruiting dead period.

Michigan football was without their face of the program after Brady Hoke was dismissed, which resulted in recruiting time being lost and a handful of prospects decommitting. The narrative has been out there that the staff is struggling on the trail, which ESPN's Tom Luginbill shot down today.

“The position that Michigan was currently in with their roster, where they were at, considering how late in the game they made the hire, I didn’t expect Jim Harbaugh to just come on in and light the world on fire,” Luginbill said. “I think going forward is what we need to track and gauge as far as his approach and where he’s going in his recruiting efforts because right now they’re just scrambling.

“He’s coming out of professional football for several years, getting acclimated,” Luginbill continued. “I’m sure he probably had to take the NCAA recruiting test before he could go out on the road. I think it’s a unique and difficult set of circumstances and one that he’s going to try to weather now, get a couple of components in and then worry about the long-term side of things after signing day.”

This year's class likely will not be the flashiest in terms of top talent, but anything they can add from now until Wednesday will give them a solid finish to the 2015 cycle. Luginbill said that he has met with Harbaugh in the last couple of weeks, where some light was shed on what he wants to do with the Wolverines.

“The one thing I do know, and in visiting with him a few weeks ago, he is going to recruit toughness even if it means at some spot the talent might not be quite what he wants it to be,” Luginbill said. “A hallmark of his teams has been toughness, so whoever signs in this class, I guarantee you they’re going to have an element of that.”

We will not have to wait long to see how things finish up, as National Signing Day is this Wednesday, Feb. 4.