Jim Harbaugh is in his ninth season as the University of Michigan’s head football coach, and is hoping to make his third-straight College Football Playoff appearance in 2023/24. However, most of the high school players that he spends much of his time recruiting may not know just how good he was during his playing days.
Harbaugh committed to play for Bo Schembechler’s Wolverines team in 1982. He earned the starting quarterback job as a junior and began his career with an upset win over No. 1 Miami.
Over the course of three seasons, Harbaugh completed 387 passes for 5,449 yards. His senior season saw him complete 65.7% of his passes for 2,557 yards which led him to finish third in Heisman Trophy voting and be named Big Ten Player of the Year.
As a result of Harbaugh’s strong career at Michigan, the Bears selected him with the No. 26 overall pick in the 1987 NFL Draft. His best season came in 1991 when Chicago went 11-5 behind his career-high 3,121 passing yards.
Harbaugh also had stints with the Colts, Ravens and Chargers before retiring after 2001 to get into coaching. He almost reached the Super Bowl during a Cinderella playoff run with Indianapolis in 1995.
Although a 66-74 all-time record is not great, his career was better than average. In fact, one particular stat went viral on social media this week and left minds blown.
Jim Harbaugh had more rushing yards than Bo Jackson. Seriously.
Over the course of 177 appearances, Harbaugh averaged five yards per attempt and ran the ball 561 times for 2,787 yards. Jackson, widely considered one of the best to ever do it before injury cut his career short, averaged 5.4 yards per carry on 515 touches for 2,782 yards in 38 games.
Harbaugh had more career NFL rushing yards than Jackson. Chew on that one!