AED: The Harbaugh Podcast (Chabonnet & Early enrollees)
This week's Attack Each Day: The Harbaugh Podcast included special guest Ben Hall, who's the father of incoming running back Zach Charbonnet. Snippets below, but in terms of the podcast itself, this is my first listen and I really enjoyed it. I know even Michigan fans sometimes grapple with Harbaugh being "weird", and he can be and is and will continue to be. But he's also very engaging and interesting, and this AED podcast with his dad is a great forum to hear that. Hosted by Ira from WTKA.
Listen here:
https://www.podcastone.com/episode/Lucky-Sports-Parents-with-Ben-Hall
Rivals has a nice summary here:
https://michigan.rivals.com/news/michigan-wolverines-football-jim-harbaugh-zach-charbonnet-podcast
Harbaugh on Charbonnet: "He's the best, and there is nobody more loved in this recruiting class than Zach. It's rare for a freshman to arrive wanting to get in the weight room at 6 AM and be in bed by 10 PM — it usually takes guys a few years to get that way, but he has it. Zach reminds me of [former NFL running back] Edgerrin James in some ways, because he can jump gaps due to how light he is on his feet."
Jack Harbaugh on the 8 early enrollees: "This group of eight is fascinating to me, because they've come together and bonded as one. Zach seems to be the glue that holds them together."
Jim Harbaugh on same: "They all get to class 20 minutes early and are always ready to go, and are here at the facility the majority of the time too. [Defensive tackle] Mazi Smith and [defensive end David] Ojabo are together at all times too. The entire group seems so serious about what they're doing."
More at the Rivals link. Spare a listen if you need a podcast today, Charbonnet's father has some really interesting things to say and Jack Harbaugh is a treat always. Bonus snippet: Charbonnet is from California, and Harbaugh asked his dad how he handled the polar vortex, and basically Zach said "these people are crazy, it isn't that bad." Very excited about this kid and the entire incoming class, and for next year's team overall.
February 14th, 2019 at 11:59 AM ^
Charbonnet, apologies for the title. I guess we can't edit posts?
February 14th, 2019 at 3:57 PM ^
No, the ability to edit posts on a blog is a programming leap that's still far, far in the future. Might need AI to help the humans figure it out.
February 14th, 2019 at 12:12 PM ^
If you like the conversation with Ben Hall, you should go back an episode or two where they speak with Claude Johnson. He's Cornelius Johnson's (WR) dad. That guys is super interesting.
February 14th, 2019 at 12:20 PM ^
I'll do that, thanks
February 14th, 2019 at 12:29 PM ^
I will second that - the Claude Johnson talk was pretty interesting.I have been enjoying the podcast generally as well.
February 14th, 2019 at 12:24 PM ^
Ben Hall a Classic.
Strong positive to M.
Welcome.
February 14th, 2019 at 12:44 PM ^
TLDR; from the segment: Charbonnet learned to ride a bike in 90 seconds without training wheels when he was 4 years old
February 14th, 2019 at 12:50 PM ^
Meh … the RB's at OSU, Clemson, UGA and Alabama learned to ride bikes in 10 seconds when they were only 3! How are we EVER going to beat them when our RB's took so long to learn something so simple?!?!?!?! Just another example of example of Harbaugh not getting it. BPOPE.
/S
Did I do that right?
Seriously though, I am really excited to see Zach run the ball. Michigan has been in need of a game changing runner … the last being Denard.
Glad to hear he's got the work ethic to go along with his talent, and that he's bonding well with his teammates.
Go Blue!
February 14th, 2019 at 4:20 PM ^
Yes. Great reminder. If one can't remember what a true game changer running the ball looks like, go look at Denard's highlights!
February 14th, 2019 at 6:15 PM ^
His first career touch in the Maize and Blue was a portend of what was to come … simply electrifying. That run at ND Stadium was pretty awesome … " and they're never going to catch him … shoelaces flapping in the wind!"
February 15th, 2019 at 9:11 AM ^
Hope Zach is every bit of this!
Here’s a longer version of that game -
February 14th, 2019 at 12:52 PM ^
That is exactly like my son! Only it took him 18 months with training wheels when he was six.
February 14th, 2019 at 1:07 PM ^
Pffft my son rode a bmx straight out of my wife's Virginia with a baseball card somehow already in the spokes.
February 14th, 2019 at 1:20 PM ^
"out of my wife's Virginia"
I'm curious how different that is from the rest of Virginia
February 14th, 2019 at 2:43 PM ^
I hope its a lot different...
February 14th, 2019 at 3:30 PM ^
Maybe he meant to say my West Virginia. That would make a little more sense, but not much.
February 14th, 2019 at 3:41 PM ^
This entire conversation has me rolling. Fake upvotes to all!
February 14th, 2019 at 5:23 PM ^
South Virginia.
February 14th, 2019 at 8:34 PM ^
You sat Virginia. I say Virgina. Let’ get the whole thing off.
February 14th, 2019 at 3:50 PM ^
I hear Virginia is nice this time of year.
February 14th, 2019 at 3:59 PM ^
They always say that Virginia is for lovers, but you've added a new wrinkle. I bet those baseball cards hurt coming out sideways.
February 14th, 2019 at 8:30 PM ^
No hands, no helmet, riding a wheelie off the little man in the boat!
February 14th, 2019 at 10:42 PM ^
Would that be right below her Blue Ridge Mountains?
February 15th, 2019 at 9:23 AM ^
Training wheels are an impediment to learning how to ride a bicycle. It is akin to learning how to ride a unicycle by first mastering the tricycle.
February 14th, 2019 at 1:14 PM ^
My son is 33 and still uses training wheels. Is that bad?
February 14th, 2019 at 1:09 PM ^
Jim Harbaugh, on how he met his Wife, Sarah:
"I was coaching the Las Vegas All-American Classic, and had gotten sick of the Chinese buffet the hotel was serving.
"I walked down the street to a P.F. Chang's and got an early dinner at 3 or 4 o'clock, and Sarah came in to get takeout, and the rest is history.
"The chances of us meeting that way are like lightning striking."
..............
The fact that Harbaugh got sick of a Chinese buffet to only go to a different Chinese restaurant is absolutely phenomenal!!!!
February 14th, 2019 at 5:54 PM ^
His next move will be to change out of his khakis and put on tan pants.
February 14th, 2019 at 1:46 PM ^
Zach's dad said something interesting I hadn't considered:
"Talk is cheap, and he wasn't interested in tweeting out any of his offers throughout the recruiting process. "We quietly went on a few unofficial visits, and checked out Michigan last March. ...I told him he should take an official visit first, so he took one in June — it was the only one he went on, and he was done from that point on."
I know there are a lot of people on this board who were happy to avoid the curse of the 5* running back, but from this it sort of sounds like Charbonnet probably had a lot more offers and interest than the 11 schools listed on his rivals profile (247 lists more but very few even have recruiter populated). He simply didn't play the recruiting game or try to boost his ranking. He also didn't get to participate in the post season games that can help a lot with rankings.
Lets say he expressed interest in Georgia/OSU/Clemson, and he had the offers and real interest...does that move him into 5* territory?
Clemson took the #14 RB in Chez Mellusi. Georgia took the #11 RB in Kenny Mcintosh, and OSU took the #26 RB in Marcus Crowley I have a real hard time believing those three programs had no interest in him. It's just that he wasn't really playing that game. Unfortunately I think a lot of the rankings are based on real interest by teams, and requires the player to "play the game". Ronnie Bell didn't play that game either.
I won't be surprised if Charbonnet has a killer year. Also it sounds like he at least has an interest in learning how to block.
February 14th, 2019 at 9:33 PM ^
Lets say he expressed interest in Georgia/OSU/Clemson, and he had the offers and real interest...does that move him into 5* territory?
Considering that a fake Alabama offer to a recruit that does not even exist gets you a three star . . . I would say yes.
February 14th, 2019 at 1:48 PM ^
"I will not get sucked into offseason hype"- Me every offseason before I get sucked into offseason hype.
Oh, who am I kidding!? My expectation is that Charbonnet could come in and have a freshman season similar to what AJ Dillon (sigh) had at B.C.
Stats from Dillon's frosh year- 1589 yards, 14TDs, 5.3 yards a carry
Do I think he'll be that high? No. Main reason is the plethora of WR talent we have returning and Gattis #SpeedInSpace movement.
However, Charbonnet remains the recruit I'm most excited about in this class for sure. Homerun hitter at RB changes everything!
February 14th, 2019 at 1:57 PM ^
Landed an absolute gem when we got Charbonnet.
I'm really liking how the pod is bringing on players' fathers. Very interesting
February 14th, 2019 at 2:00 PM ^
So Ben Hall is his step father, by the way. I believe his birth father is also very active on twitter and supports Zach. I remember stumbling on his account a few weeks ago
February 14th, 2019 at 2:53 PM ^
Yeah, what's apparent is that in both of these cases, and likely with most of the other dads, is that Harbaugh really wins the trust of the boys' fathers. Most of them are roughly the same age as JH and he seems to develop a genuine friendship with them. Not sure how this approach helps recruiting overall but with certain individuals--and especially with the types of kids we want in the program--it must really help.
Paramount to winning is that Harbaugh represents the university and the program and his players with tremendous character and perspective. He gets it. There is nobody else out there who I would want running the program.
February 14th, 2019 at 3:12 PM ^
You can tell he genuinely cares about these kids. Everyone involved with the program does. He knows all of their siblings names, etc... it’s nice to see
February 14th, 2019 at 5:12 PM ^
Nice testimonials for the parents of the 2020 class to hear.
February 14th, 2019 at 4:16 PM ^
This is going to feel weird to say but maybe this is the year our offense's mentality outshines our defense. To elaborate: Maybe we finally see our offense get the right plays called that play to our strengths while having a few new guys (Charbonnet, C Johnson, etc..) step up.
I'd be OK if our defense loses a step or two as long as it means we put more points on the board and doing so often.
February 14th, 2019 at 4:25 PM ^
Another item to note is that Zach's dad said Jay Harbaugh was able to build a relationship that was stronger than any of the other coaches recruiting his son. Sam Webb said repeatedly throughout the recruiting cycle that Charbonnet was one of the staff's highest priorities regardless of position, even when no other sites were talking about him. This was a big get for Jaybaugh.
February 14th, 2019 at 10:01 PM ^
If Jay wasn’t Jim’s son most of the people on his ass would not be.
February 14th, 2019 at 8:06 PM ^
Per my many years of playing, coaching, pediatric nursing, parenting, grandparenting and living in general I was very pleased with what I heard-on the WTKA segment. It has long been apparent to me that Cade is a young man of very high character and an exceptional leader...I am thrilled that Zach is evidently equally impressive. This is one helluva a way to get this class on the ground and running-and should bode very well on into the future. Physically the ceiling of this class is very high...when character is high as well the possibilities are boundless. This is what I love about interscholastic sports!
February 14th, 2019 at 8:26 PM ^
February 14th, 2019 at 11:47 PM ^
I appreciate the sentiment, but isn’t arriving 20 minutes early to class actually a poor use of time? These guys could use the extra 15 minutes of sleep.
February 14th, 2019 at 10:00 PM ^
I read this and I can’t help but feel it confirms my belief that Harbaugh considers character and work ethic equally as important as physical attributes.
He puts together quality guys and a good lockeroom.
Note: The above is part but not all of the discussion of how we recruit Michigan.
February 15th, 2019 at 10:20 AM ^
Just a side note: BVS is at LB full time heading into spring practices.
February 15th, 2019 at 10:33 AM ^
Who the heck is backup FB? Or is FB playing a much smaller role now with Gattis?
February 15th, 2019 at 10:58 AM ^
It's either that or they have a walk-on FB they feel comfortable with.
I imagine Van Sumerin takes over the Furbush role in the 3-3-5. Brown must want to keep that. Depth is a little weak at MLB and WLB though, so maybe he's being given the chance to do that. Reading and reacting is such an important part of playing MLB, it's hard to gauge his potential to do that until you see it. But his athleticism is off the charts.
February 15th, 2019 at 12:12 PM ^
Charbonnet is just one of those kids who make you think he’s gonna go down as one of the best. He’s seemingly the complete package.
February 17th, 2019 at 3:45 PM ^
Only concern I had over Charbonnet was his speed as not being elite. However, after reading an article from 247 https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1669734. I realized, that he is the perfect mix of acceleration, size and agility. You;d want his body mass to withstand and deliver blows although given this means his top speed is less than a smaller back. This article covers NFL running backs of a past year but is applicable to present. Can't wait to watch him grow into the primary back roll at Michigan.