NFL combine behind the scenes: Jim Harbaugh hugs former Michigan player: 'Let it rip'
INDIANAPOLIS — Jim Harbaugh extended his arms and smiled before he let out a slight yell.
"CJ!," Harbaugh exclaimed. "Let it rip!"
The former Michigan football coach — back where he won his third consecutive Big Ten championship just three short months ago but this time as head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers — embraced Cornelius Johnson in the lobby of the Westin downtown and shared the short message with his former receiver.
While it was somewhat of a coincidence for the two to run into one another here, it wasn't that shocking.
The Wolverines are the most well represented team of the NFL combine, they have an event-record 18 former players from last season's there there and the wide receiver is one of them; scheduled to interview Friday and perform on-field drills Saturday, as is J.J. McCarthy and Roman Wilson, among others.
"Yeah, they're everywhere," Harbaugh told the Free Press on Thursday. "Tremendous to see."
Harbaugh, 60, is now back in the NFL after nine years in Ann Arbor, the last of which ended on the top of the college football mountain as national champions. U-M (15-0, 10-0 Big Ten) completed its first undefeated season since 1997 and became just the fourth team in the history of college football to go 15-0 in a year.
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Just a few weeks after Harbaugh led Michigan to its 34-13 national title game victory over Washington, he accepted the head coaching position with the Chargers.
Harbaugh said the "continuity" has helped ease the transition, but added he believes the staff in Ann Arbor under Sherrone Moore remains in a good place.
He took a number of his staffers with him, including strength & conditioning coach Ben Herbert, defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, defensive analyst Rick Minter, defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale, defensive line coach Mike Elston and analyst Dylan Roney.
"They've got a lot of great coaches there, too," he said. "Feels like everybody wins."
Harbaugh has relocated to the West Coast, but the full moving process is still underway. The house is not yet finalized, however he said it's getting close and the goal is to have his entire family in place by April 1.
Harbaugh was heading out the door for Lucas Oil Stadium, where cameras later that hour caught him hand-timing 40-yard dashes from the stands, when he acknowledged that it was good to be back in the city, and stadium, where his name hangs in the ring of honor.
"Always," he smiled.
Just smile and keep walking
Josh Wallace, the former U-M cornerback who transferred from UMass, is polite, but a man of few words. When speaking with reporters Thursday morning at the combine he rarely answered in more than one sentence, maybe two, that is until he was asked about his former coach.
As a transfer, Wallace had an idea of what he thought Harbaugh would be like and then had the experience of finding out what it was actually like. It's why he'll never forget that summer day at the facility.
"My first couple weeks at Michigan we had summer workouts," Wallace said. "I'm walking past our cold tub room, we call it the car wash, he's in full uniform. He had the khakis and the polo in the ice tub. I mean, it was crazy.
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"I just walked past, like that was kind of different to me. I just gave him (raises hand) one of those."
Wallace was later asked if he could be any animal, which would it be, he chose a rhinoceros. Why? "Nobody wants to mess with them."
The Olney, Maryland, native finished his U-M career with 33 tackles, two for loss, four passes defended, two fumble recoveries and one forced fumble.
Down for Detroit
Kalen King left his home state of Michigan and became a standout cornerback at Penn State, but that doesn't mean he doesn't still have love for the mitten.
A Detroit Cass Tech graduate, King will have the chance to get drafted in his hometown next April, something that would only make a day that's long been a dream all the more incredible. King said Thursday it was the mentality that was engrained in him each and every day in the city that got him to this point, and vowed it would never change.
"Growing up in Detroit, you already know how it is, we start at a disadvantage" King said. "They already don't think we got talent in Detroit. They already think we're below everybody. So really just having the same mentality mentality, that's what I carried through my college career.
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"Some people lose their hunger for the sport, so me, just going from high school to college, I made sure I kept the same energy, same technique, same mentality from when I stepped in until now."
King, most frequently projected as a Day 2 selection, shared a few more interesting thoughts. He said a baby ostrich would have "no chance" in a fight against him and yes, birds are real. However, the moon landing for some reason, he believes did not happen.
"Nah," he said. "Honestly, nah."
Contact Tony Garcia: apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him at @realtonygarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: NFL combine behind the scenes: Jim Harbaugh, moon landings and more
