Who is the freshman Jim Harbaugh called ‘an absolute gift from the football gods?’
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Every year in the offseason, one of the big questions — not just with Michigan football, but across college football as a whole — is which players will come seemingly from out of nowhere to become household names. There’s particularly ample opportunity among those who are arriving for their very first year of college football, AKA. the freshman class.
When he was asked at Big Ten media days this week about which freshmen have stood out thus far, Harbaugh gave a cryptic answer.
“The new guys coming in? It’s really good. I mean, I probably won’t talk about it right now just because I’d leave somebody out that’s gonna be good,” Harbaugh said. “But we saw midyear players 11, 12 — was it 12 or 13? They were really good — and then we got 11, 10 more that came in in June that are outstanding, too. So, it’s a good class, too. Good, good group of football players.
”I got one I think is just an absolute, absolute gift from the football gods. Who? I’m gonna write it down on a piece of paper here. Seal it, just see if I’m not right!”
Though he wouldn’t reveal the player to the media at large, he may have revealed who he was talking about to Fox Sports sideline reporter and The Athletic college football insider Bruce Feldman. He discussed his first-year players with Feldman. While he praised the receivers, there was one he mentioned specifically, which one could surmise to be the aforementioned mystery player.
Chatted with Jim Harbaugh for awhile today. He was extremely excited about his freshman class. Among the guys generating a lot of buzz inside the Michigan program, a trio of freaky WRs and two big DTs. Harbaugh told me Kenneth Grant weighs 349 and clocked a sub-5.0 40.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) July 26, 2022
Given the specificity, Grant would be the likely candidate Harbaugh was referring to — especially because Feldman’s tweet was posted before Harbaugh met with the media for the podium session.
Grant hails from Merrillville (Indiana). He was a four-star according to 247Sports’ proprietary rankings, but a three-star according to the website’s composite. He chose Michigan over Ohio State in one of the few head-to-head recruiting battles in the 2022 cycle. What’s more, he’s at a position of need: The Wolverines have few established interior defensive linemen after Christopher Hinton and Donovan Jeter departed this offseason.
If Grant is who Harbaugh was talking about, it could be that much more beneficial for the program this fall than, say, a wide receiver, given that position group is loaded with experienced playmakers. We should hopefully know more come fall camp.
