Some may wonder how Michigan will find playing time for the six defensive backs it signed yesterday, but that isn't a concern of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh. "We really feel like we needed that," he said on the In the Trenches podcast yesterday. "Our starters are getting up there in age and class and this is the future and I think a lot of these youngsters will have the license and the ability to play right away. And I wish I could tell you right now sitting right here who’s better than who and who’s going to get on the field first but it’s really take your pick. Love ‘em all."

One key to finding space for all six class of 2022 signees is the way the coaching staff views their fit, or in this case lack thereof. None of the six is stapled to a certain position group, as the staff recruited players that fit multiple places.

"Probably one thing that stands out is whether they’re a corner or whether they’re a safety will be determined, but they’re really all athletic enough to be corners or at least nickels. When I say ‘at least,’ I mean, a nickel really takes kind of a good combination of a safety and a corner, covering slots but still being able to tackle in the box. And the corners are physical enough to be safeties, and they move well enough to be corners and nickels."

Harbaugh went on to describe each player in detail, starting with the linchpin of the class, five-star Will Johnson. It seems that a fair analogue to Johnson's importance to this signing class is Aidan Hutchinson's importance to the 2021 team. "He’s been fantastic. Been one of our best recruiters," Harbaugh said. "Michigan legacy. Everything you want in a corner as far as length, movement, skill, traits. Fantastic. And I’ll also say Will is a signature guy in the class. He’s a 99.00 five-star. I mean, and he’s an even better guy. Can’t tell you how much he’s meant to us and this recruiting class. Everybody in the class wants to room with Will and just a great guy. Really, Will Johnson’s really been the anchor to this entire class."

"I could go through it. Who’s really better–I mean, Keon Sabb is a tremendous player. Kody Jones might be the best one. Might be the most versatile; corner, nickel, can play safety. Zeke Berry comes from a tremendous program. You talk about a guy that can play both offense and defense, he’s done that in high school. Real football player. Compare him a little bit to Rod Moore, who was the only freshman who played for us this year in the secondary, and did a tremendous job. Micah Pollard, I mean, turn on the first play of his highlight tape, the very first one, and he looks like Jack Tatum coming up there to hit somebody. And the movement skills are really outstanding."

Earlier this season, Jim Harbaugh told Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde that he likes guys that like football and the guys who like football like him back. This quote was top of mind as Harbaugh launched into what you can see is a multi-paragraph story on Damani Dent, who is clearly a guy who likes football.

"Damani Dent, he’s a guy I’ve really gotten so close to in the class. There’s guys you talk to every day, they text me or I text them every day and Damani’s certainly been like that," said Harbaugh. "Amorion Walker…they seem to like me. You can’t help it, you really get in the habit of ‘Hey, how’s your day? What are you doing today?’ or they’re texting me ‘What are you doing?’ or ‘How are you doing?’ Great personalities. Damani Dent, he’s kind of like looking in a mirror when you see the enthusiasm, the love of football. He just really, really stands out to me that way."

"But he is also going to be one of those really good movement skills but tough. Tough, tough as you’d ever want a defensive back to be. Loves to work out. He plays a game and then goes and works out. Call him up. ‘What are you doing?’ ‘Working out’ (or) ‘About to go work out.’ (or) ‘Just finished a workout. Gonna go get another one in this afternoon.’ He loves running the hills, he loves running these sand hills. I’ve got pictures of him. He’s passed out, he’s like ‘Yeah coach, I just was running in this sand.’ He’s down and he’s got sand all over him. I don’t know, he just–I’d compare him to Erick All that way. Just guys you just know love football. Erick’s that way. You’ve got a special place in your heart for them so yeah, super fired up.

"All these guys, every single guy we’ve talked about, I mean, they are going to love coming and being a part of this team because we’ve got so many guys like that. So many guys on this team that you have to pull back. You never have to talk Erick All into doing something or working out, but you do have to pull him back because he’ll do too much. He’ll run too much, he’ll hit too much. It’s just a whole roster of guys like that and there’s so many guys in this recruiting class that are exactly that way and our guys on the team are going to really love these guys. They’re going to love our team and our team’s going to love them."

The enthusiasm in Harbaugh's voice was unmistakable. His love of competition has been thoroughly documented, and in the 2022 class he has six defensive backs that can push each other at multiple positions. Based on the stories he shared, it sounds like that's exactly what they'll do.

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