Kyle Whittingham is bringing Utah's offensive line coach, Jim Harding, with him from Salt Lake City. Reports broke on New Year's Day that Harding is headed to Ann Arbor to coach the Wolverines' offensive line and retain his assistant head coach title.
Harding, who is from Maumee, OH, was a four-year starting offensive tackle at Toledo (1997-2000), setting a school record with 46 consecutive starts and earning first-team All-MAC honors as a senior captain on a 10-1 Rockets team. Early in his coaching career, he spent four seasons (2005-08) at Troy High School in Michigan, serving as defensive coordinator before becoming head coach. He moved on to Wyoming as a co-offensive line coach, then the offensive line coach, and finally the offensive coordinator before moving on to Utah as the offensive line coach in 2014.
Over the last twelve seasons as the Utes' offensive line coach (adding assistant head coach duties in 2017), he's built one of the most consistent units in college football:
- Nation-leading 12 first-team all-conference offensive linemen since 2015
- Seven NFL Draft picks, including 1st rounder Garett Bolles (Denver Broncos)
- Projected 1st rounders in the 2026 draft: Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu
- Blocked for a 1,000-yard rusher in 11 of the last 12 years (2025 was the lone exception, with Wayshawn Parker finishing at 981 yards)
Harding is widely regarded as one of the top position coaches in the country. Bringing that recruiting prowess to the Midwest - where he already has ties - could be huge for developing Michigan's talented young players.
Utah has done well on the recruiting trail over the years, landing several players Michigan wanted, such as Fano, Lomu, Jackson Barton, Lander Barton, and Kelvin Obot. Furthermore, the players have been developed. Watching Utah over the last several years, even before Whittingham was a candidate for Michigan, I've been impressed by Utah's offensive line, especially taking into account how stiff some of Utah's players are. If Michigan can consistently recruit talented players and pair that with Harding's development, it should be an excellent unit moving forward.
"I've been impressed by Utah's offensive line, especially taking into account how stiff some of Utah's players are."
ReplyDeleteWhen you use the word "stiff" here, what are you referring to specifically? When it comes to the OL, I think of the ability to to stay low, and for tackles to have good lateral movement. But I'm guessing there's a lot more to the body mechanics of a good offensive lineman, I just don't know what they are.
Yeah, the lateral movement is what I see lacking most in some of Utah's offensive linemen. They just don't get great recruits, but when I watch them, the offensive line is moving in sync and they're powerful. Harding has used big guys, too, so it's not like the transition from Rodriguez/WVU where Rodriguez was using smaller OL and it just didn't fit. Harding was using 6'5"/6'6" and 315-320 lb. offensive guards.
DeleteI think Fano and Lomu are two solid players, and so was Garett Bolles, guys who can move laterally. So they're not all stiff. But I think Harding takes the Ben Bradens and Nolan Ulizios and turns them into good players. (That's probably throwing too much shade Braden's way, because he spent some time in the NFL.)
A+ hire that elevates my entire outlook on Wittingham.
ReplyDeleteWe're in for a treat. This dude take big bodies and makes them into road graders 💪🏽
ReplyDelete*and they can pass protect
Dumb question because I am lazy and sort of busy. When you enter the portal, does your scholly remain in effect, do you attend meetings and participate in strength and conditioning?
ReplyDeleteYes, your scholarship is still in effect through the semester. You can attend meetings, S&C sessions, etc., depending on the coaches. If they're 100% certain they want you gone, you may no longer have a spot on the team and you wouldn't be allowed to do those things.
DeleteFor example, Jadyn Davis entered the portal before Christmas but still did bowl prep and such.
Players can enter the portal at any time. The school has to put you in the portal within something like 48 hours of you notifying them. This portal window that opened up on January 2 is just the window of time when other schools can legally contact the players in the portal.
So right now, any other college in the country can contact Bryson Kuzdzal. The head coach, the OC, etc., from someplace like Northwestern can all have legal conversations with Kuzdzal. Any coach can contact Jadyn Davis. But nobody could legally contact those kids before or after the portal window. (Of course, there are other ways to "tamper" such as calling the high school coach, the private QB trainer they worked with, etc.)
Supposedly there's a lot of contact through the player's agents these days. So plausible deniability and no rule-breaking necessarily.
DeleteThese days everyone is a free agent every year but it's really their call how hard they want to seek those opportunities elsewhere by formally entering the portal or if they are content where they are.
What I wonder is what percent of kids have set themselves up with agents already coming out of high school. I would guess top 250 kids mostly have them.