Getty Image / Kevork Djansezian
After a nine-season hiatus, Jim Harbaugh is back coaching in the NFL this season, as the Los Angeles Chargers were the team that finally pried the Michigan Man away from his alma mater.
He’s got a pretty big rebuild on his hands in Los Angeles, though having Justin Herbert to build around will certainly help. But, there are a lot of holes on that roster and he’s been given a long leash to fix it.
Harbaugh is known for being a little odd at times and going off the beaten path. He’s done that again during Chargers training camp, as he’s using high school recruiting rankings to motivate his players as they head into the season.
That’s according to the USA Today
This seems like a great strategy to motivate players on a team that maybe isn’t projected to do well. They’re going to need to play with a chip on their shoulder to make waves in an admittedly open AFC West outside of the Chiefs.
Take franchise quarterback Justin Herbert. Herbert was considered three -star prospect out of high school in Eugene, Oregon. Obviously, he’s outplayed those recruiting rankings significantly to become one of the NFL’s better quarterbacks.
Offensive tackle Rashawn Slater has a lot in common with Herbert. He was a three-star recruit that ended up at Northwestern before he became one of the best players in all of college football and a first-round pick. He’s established himself as one of the better players at his position in the NFL, too.
I see where Jim Harbaugh is going with this. After offseason departures like Mike Williams and Keenan Allen, they need every bit of motivation they can get.
Harbaugh knows how to get the most out of these kinds of players, too. It’s not that he didn’t have talented players at Michigan, but they weren’t winning any recruiting national championships, either. But, they did win the actual national championship last year, proving that he knows how to get the most out of his players.