Deciphering Jim Harbaugh's Recruiting Strategy at Michigan

Jim Harbaugh's reputation as a head coach may have been built on his ferocity, with enough handshakes gone wrong on YouTube to qualify him as arguably the most intense sideline stalker in football history.

But before he was known for his mid-game—and postgame—explosions, Harbaugh was merely a quarterback whose personality was defined by his confidence, dating back to his guarantee of a Michigan win over Ohio State in 1986.

Over the years, that confidence has hardly eroded, a successful pro career and transition into coaching providing all the more reason for Harbaugh to believe in himself.

So when Harbaugh—back where it all started as the head coach of the Wolverines—seemingly diverged from his confident nature at a Michigan coaching clinic this week, it was easy to wonder if all was OK with the man who once used "Captain Comeback" as his laser tag handle.

"We know we're not the biggest guy on the block—Michigan State's the biggest guy," Harbaugh said at the Detroit-area camp, per Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press. "Rightfully so."

The admission from Harbaugh wasn't exactly any sort of revelation, with the Spartans having amassed a 24-3 record in the past two seasons compared to Michigan's 12-13 mark. But Harbaugh willingly acknowledging that one of his chief rivals is his own state's alpha dog? That may have seemed out of character to some.

But not to those who have been paying attention to Harbaugh's recruiting strategy since he returned to Ann Arbor.

Tony Ding/Associated Press

Despite being college football's top headline-maker since taking over at Michigan at the end of 2014, the reality is Harbaugh can't sell the on-field results of his new team.

The former San Francisco 49ers head coach's track record of turning losers into winners speaks for itself, but until he does it with the Wolverines, he'll have to find other perks to pitch.

What Harbaugh can already sell to recruits, however, are the traits that have made him such a successful turnaround artist. Among those core tenets are both honesty and respect, each of which Harbaugh showed while praising the Spartans.

"It's winning and where their program is, it's been earned," Harbaugh said of Michigan State. "We respect the job that they've done. We want people to know what our ambitions are and how we go about things and what kind of program we're developing and has been developed for many years. And get their help."

That's why while Harbaugh has been quick to make headlines with his Twitter account and by embarking on an unprecedented tour of satellite camps, he's been careful not to poke the Big Ten bears that are the Spartans and Ohio State.

You won't hear Harbaugh calling the Buckeyes "Ohio" anytime soon like Hoke did dismissively during his four years in Ann Arbor, instead defaulting to acknowledging the realities of his conference's current landscape.

And thus far, Harbaugh's approach appears to be working.

"The most important thing I saw Jim do today was he recognized, this is Michigan but right now, Michigan State is on the big block," Cass Tech coach Thomas Wilcher told Snyder. "He gave respect to [Spartans head coach] Mark Dantonio and the most important thing is he took that and will build upon that. He understands where he's at and he understands where he has to go."

Harry How/Getty Images

But while Harbaugh's vision hasn't gone unnoticed, he still has a ways to go to achieve it. The fact of the matter is that while Harbaugh is pitching promise, both Michigan State and Ohio State are in the process of putting together top-10 recruiting classes, with the Wolverines' 2016 haul currently ranked 34th in the country.

The Spartans—and one would imagine the Buckeyes as well—are currently using it to their advantage.

“Right now, we’re selling results," Dantonio said on ESPN's Championship Drive podcast earlier this month in what was perceived as a shot at Michigan. "Other people are selling hope.”

Harbaugh, indeed, falls into that category.

And as his recent comments show, he has no problem embracing it.

Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Big Ten lead writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes were obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com. Recruiting rankings courtesy of 247Sports.