Fathers Of Charbonnet, Dax Hill & Cornelius Johnson Join Harbaugh Podcast
With the Michigan Wolverines' football team on a bye and head coach Jim Harbaugh on the recruiting trail this week, the 'Attack Each day' podcast this morning replayed a segment from this past winter.
This morning's edition featured a replay of past conversations with the fathers of freshman running back Zach Charbonnet, freshman nickelback Daxton Hill and freshman wideout Cornelius Johnson.
The trio discussed their respective sons and the athletic journeys each of them took growing up.
Derrick Hill (Father of Daxton Hill):
“He’d be out with [his older brother] Justice and his friends, and he could out throw all the eighth graders on the street.
"Dax was also the kind of kid who had his own mindset. Justice was a very competitive basketball player and Dax didn’t like getting beat either.
"If you heard the door slam, it meant he got beat in basketball and then you’d hear him crying.
"By the time he turned 13 or 14, he didn’t cry anymore, and we’d hear him saying ‘I beat Justice!’”
Ben Hall (Father of Zach Charbonnet):
“Zach commanded a lot of energy and attention in the house, so things are a lot quieter now.
"We still have four boys in the house, so Mom is kind of transitioning to them. On the 20th day [he had been at Michigan], we were texting through a tough moment, and the next day he texted me saying ‘All the negativity is gone. I got under my first lift and I’m in love again.”
"He sent that on the 29th of January.
"In the offense he ran in high school, it mandated him to have some patience and wait for the hole.
"The system sometimes dictates who a player reminds you of — he’s a bit of a taller back in the 6-1 range, and can shift from speed to power and back again.
“Out of the chute, Zach had a physical makeup to suggest he’d have great motor skills. Neighbors would ask how many pushups he was doing when he was two or three years old because of how big his arms were.
"He played a lot of baseball and basketball, and played football when he was six years old.
"We got him out of football and didn’t let him play again until seventh grade. Zach had a wonderful season in seventh grade and led his team to their Super Bowl, but I didn’t know yet if we had a football player.
"We were playing a scrimmage in eighth grade and an opposing player billy-clubbed one of our guys, and I remember staring at Zach in the eyes and there was this conversion and nastiness in him, and he went on to dominate the rest of the day.
"I remember walking back to Mom with a tear in my eye and saying ‘We have a football player.’"
Claude Johnson (Father of Cornelius Johnson):
“Our youngest boy is Carnegie and he’s an eighth grader applying for secondary school. He’s doing that because he’s really good at basketball, and it’s not as competitive where we are.
"Cassius is the oldest and he’s a cornerback at the University of San Diego. As a dad, I’m just grateful and humble and open to whatever comes next.
"Cornelius and Carnegie are like peas in a pod, and are very close. Cornelius was playing varsity football as a freshman, and Cassius didn’t until he was a sophomore.
"We looked at it as ‘If you’re good, you’re good. We’ll pray that some school will find you.’ There’s the miracle of Hudl and also the miracle of Don Brown, who came snooping around here.
"Cornelius has always had a real admiration for excellence and greatness. You get a sense of greatness wherever you go, and he’s attuned to it.
"When we got to Michigan’s campus for the official visits, everything about it was just great — not just in the emoji sense, but greatness.
"That resonated with Cornelius and with us throughout the whole process.”
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