Michigan football has it all heading into 2023. The Wolverines have the fifth-most returning production in college football, they have a returning starting quarterback in former five-star J.J. McCarthy, who is coming off of his first year as a starter. Jim Harbaugh thinks this is his best team since taking over the program on December 30, 2014.
And one big-time analyst thinks he’s right.
Appearing on The Rich Eisen Show, Fox Sports’ premier color commentator Joel Klatt waxed ecstatic about not only what the maize and blue have, but compared to the other powers in college football, why Michigan is in a particularly advantageous situation.
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“I know it’s early, but this is his best team coming back,” Klatt said. “It is. It is his best team he’s ever had. It’s got all the pieces.
“He’s got Ohio State trying to break in a new quarterback, he’s got Penn State trying to break in a new quarterback. He’s got Georgia trying to break in a new quarterback. He’s got Alabama trying to break in a new quarterback. I’m just saying.
“I think Michigan is going to be really good. And I think Harbaugh kicking the tires on the NFL had more to do with his relationships up in Ann Arbor than it did his desire to go to the NFL.”
So how good could the Wolverines be?
Klatt stopped short of the ‘national championship or bust’ rhetoric coming out of Ann Arbor, but he does anticipate that the maize and blue will be hoisting the conference championship trophy for the third-straight year.
“I can’t wait to see them. Blake Corum coming back and some of those (players),” Klatt said. “Will Johnson’s going to be a top corner in the draft in a couple of years. I think Michigan is going to be — and people at Ohio State hate this — Michigan is going to be my pick to win the Big Ten.”
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