Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh needed to make a big hire to replace Mo Linguist, now the head coach at Buffalo. He did that and then some in hiring Kentucky defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale, one of the top up-and-comers in the profession, from Kentucky.

Wildcats writers universally lamented the loss as a big one for Mark Stoops’ program. Clinkscale is renowned as both a recruiter and a coach, making him one of the most sought-after assistants in the nation every time a program had an opening. U-M has looked into hiring him two other times, but Harbaugh made it known from the get-go this time that ‘Clink’ was his guy.

“He obviously checks all the boxes Michigan is looking to fill,” CatsIllustrated.com’s Justin Rowland said. “He’s been recruiting the state since 2009 back to well before being at Kentucky, for Cincinnati and others We didn’t really know what to expect when he was hired because he was the least known of the guys they hired from Cincinnati several years back.

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“He turned out to be a rising star in the profession. He landed five-star [DT] Justin Rogers from Michigan [Oak Park], [four-star Marquan] McCall, [receiver] Earnest Sanders, [Detroit tackle] Jeremy Flax … if they needed an instate recruiter, he can certainly do that.”