Jim Harbaugh has won a lot of football games since becoming head coach at the University of Michigan, there is no questioning that.
The problem is, in five seasons, Harbaugh has not been able to lead the Wolverines to a single victory over their biggest rival, Ohio State and he has not gotten his team to a single Big Ten Championship game.
This past Saturday, the Buckeyes annihilated Michigan for the second year in a row and following the game, Harbaugh was asked if he thought Ohio State has more talent than his team.
Harbaugh refused to answer the question — or as he called it, an insult — but the question has started quite the discussion about what is causing the wide gap between Michigan and Ohio State.
Many have pointed out that when it comes to recruiting, the Buckeyes have dominated the Wolverines, which according to 247 Sports, is a fact.
| YEAR | OSU RANKING | 4/5 STARS | UM RANKING | 4/5 STARS |
| 2016 | 4 | 18 | 8 | 14 |
| 2017 | 2 | 19 | 5 | 21 |
| 2018 | 2 | 23 | 22 | 7 |
| 2019 | 14 | 12 | 8 | 16 |
| AVG/TOTAL | 5.5 | 72 | 10.75 | 58 |
Though it is extremely clear that Ohio State has had more success in terms of recruiting according to 247 Sports, ESPN producer for ‘Get Up’ Paul Hembekides seems to have found some different information.
Ohio State 2016-19
4/5-star recruits (69)
1st/2nd-round draft picks (18)Michigan 2016-19
4/5-star recruits (71)
1st/2nd-round draft picks (4)Michigan's problem isn't recruiting. Player development is.
— Paul Hembekides (Hembo) (@PaulHembo) December 3, 2019
Those numbers are taken from the ESPN 300 database.
As you can see, according to ESPN, OSU has brought in 69 4/5 star recruits from 2016-2019, while Michigan has brought in 71. During that time, OSU has had 18 players selected in the 1st/2nd-round of the NFL Draft, while Michigan has had 4 during that same time period.
*Note, recruits from 2018-2019 have not yet been draft eligible.
Nation, do you think Michigan has a player development problem or is ESPN’s database fake news?
