Brady Hoke's Recruiting Legacy Setting Jim Harbaugh Up for Success at Michigan

Brady Hoke was far from a perfect coach during his time at Michigan.

Players didn't develop at the rate they were expected to, the Wolverines lost to less talented teams and, truth be told, he probably should have been wearing a headset.

But one thing Hoke did do well during his four-year stint in Ann Arbor was recruit. And in his first season in succeeding Hoke, Jim Harbaugh could reap the benefits.

Particularly on the offensive line, where the former Michigan head coach consistently attracted some of the nation's top talents. They may not have developed into the players recruiting services projected them to turn into under Hoke, but that could all change next season.

"There's something special in there," new Wolverines offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Tim Drevno said following Michigan's Thursday spring practice session. "I'm excited about it."

And for good reason.

Despite all of the uncertainty surrounding the Wolverines heading into the 2015 season—particularly at the quarterback position—one unit that already has some stability is Michigan's front five. The Wolverines will bring back all five starters on their offensive line from a season ago, as well as the versatile Erik Magnuson, who started five games in 2014.

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You wouldn't know it from the numbers—Michigan ranked 64th nationally in rushing a season ago with 162.8 yards per game and 63rd with 26 sacks allowed—but the talent on its starting line is there.

Left tackle Mason Cole arrived in Ann Arbor a year ago as a 4-star prospect and U.S. Army All-American before going on to start all 12 games in his freshman campaign. Cole was joined in starting every game last season by Ben Braden, a former 3-star prospect and the 47th-ranked offensive tackle in the 2012 class.

The interior of the Wolverines offensive line saw less stability, but it still possesses plenty of promise, most notably in former 4-star prospect and U.S. Army All-American Kyle Kalis. After getting off to a rocky start in the first two years of his college career, the Lakewood, Ohio, native bounced back to start the final seven games of the 2014 campaign at right guard and began to live up to the promise that made him such a coveted prospect coming out of high school.

Starting next to Kalis was center Jack Miller, a fifth-year senior-to-be who has started 16 games in his college career, including all 12 last season. Left guard Graham Glasgow started 11 games in 2014, while Magnuson, a former 4-star prospect, has the ability to play both tackle and guard.

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Between Cole, Braden, Kalis, Miller, Glasgow and Magnuson, Michigan will bring back a combined 93 starts on its offensive line in 2015. Of course, stability is one thing, but what good is it if it's from a unit that's struggled in each of the past two seasons?

The Wolverines won't find out for sure until this fall, but they already seem to be headed in the right direction. After a historically bad 2013 that included allowing an FBS-worst 113 tackles for loss, 36 sacks (109th in the nation) and 125.7 rushing yards per game (103rd in the country), Michigan improved in all three offensive-line-related statistics in 2014, although not to the standards that have been set in Ann Arbor.

Enter Drevno, who coached under Harbaugh from 2004-2013 during stints at San Diego, Stanford and the 49ers before serving as USC's offensive line coach and running game coordinator in 2014. After just two days of spring practice—neither of which have been in pads—Drevno's still not quite sure what he has in his new unit, but so far, he likes what he sees.

"It's a slow burn, but I'm feeling it," Drevno said. "These kids are great kids. They've got the want-to—they want to be coached. There's nobody resisting what we're doing."

Drevno is not only aware of the criticism that Michigan's offensive line has recently received but the talent that it possesses. And having coached some of the best offensive lines in the NFL and college football in recent years, he believes he's the man who can bring it out of them.

"I don't worry about the past. I've made mistakes as a coach, players make mistakes," he said. "But the great competitors I've been around, at the highest level, like [four-time Pro Bowl tackle] Joe Staley, some of those NFL guys I've coached, they have short-term memory. They make a mistake, they forget about it and they push on. That is a true competitor."

Drevno knows it will be a process to bring the best out of Michigan's much-maligned offensive line, one he's been through before. But he also knows the results he can yield, especially from a group as talented as the one Hoke recruited before he and Harbaugh arrived.

"It's pretty cool when it happens," Drevno said. "You get that group inside there to believe in one another and the brotherhood about the want-to and how we lead this football team. That's pretty cool."

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