Big Ten media days: Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh and Ohio State’s Urban Meyer talk about the recruiting process

The 2016 college football season lurks just over a month away, and the formidable Big Ten Conference is offering up their best during media days this week. SiriusXM’s College Sports Nation caught up with head coaches Jim Harbaugh and Urban Meyer as they discussed their very distinct ways of going after new talent.

Jim Harbaugh absolutely loves satellite camps

Much to the dismay of Nick Saban, Michigan Wolverines football head coach Jim Harbaugh has a deep love for traveling the country and finding potential recruits at satellite camps.

Where the Alabama head coach sees the potential for rules being broken, Harbaugh sees only opportunity for his program and the young players giving it their all.

“Every single time the hair raised up on the back of the neck,” Harbaugh said. “Every youngster that came through the camp was giving it everything they had.”

Harbaugh was glowing (we’re only pretty sure since it was a radio interview) when talking about the state of football and the hardworking, strong and intelligent young players competing at the camps.

“Football’s in good hands, I was really happy,” Harbaugh said. “It was an honor to be out there coaching all summer long.”

Urban Meyer is pretty good at this recruiting thing

Ohio State football head coach Urban Meyer told College Sports Nation he wasn’t always so skilled when it came to the art of recruiting, but that has certainly changed over his time as he’s become one of the most successful coaches in college football history.

The Buckeyes are currently the top-ranked school in terms of recruiting talent for the 2017 season, which might be why he said he watches the rankings because it’s “kind of fun.”

When he was less successful with his picks, Meyer said he would take gambles by recruiting star players he hoped to mold into his team’s system. As you might imagine, that didn’t always work. Now, Meyers said, it’s all about the system and which recruits fit it best.

“They’re fitting a piece of the puzzle, every one of them, or we would walk away” Meyers said. “More than anything, and I challenge our staff and everybody, are they jumping to the front of the line? Because we are very aggressive, hardworking…you better embrace the grind.”

Their talented 2017 class currently includes 4-star recruit, cornerback Shaun Wade, as well as offensive tackle Josh Myers.

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