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[Note: there were no microphones for media so I can’t get the questions verbatim from my recording. Instead I’ve gone with the gist of the question.]

Opening remarks

“Thank you. Good to see everybody. Thanks for coming out today. Exciting day for us as a football program, for the families, and for the youngsters who work so hard to earn a football scholarship and to see that hard work come to fruition today is a very exciting day. We’re very pleased with our class. Very proud, really, and I think everybody that loves Michigan is going to be proud to call these youngsters their own.”

On how difficult it is to come in late in the recruiting process:

“It wasn’t difficult. It was a real joy. It was a real pleasure. Just the things that I learned about some of the players that were already committed under coach Hoke and his regime, and they did a tremendous job.

“You talk about some of those guys- Andrew Paul David. And his confirmation name is John, if you were wondering. Andrew Paul John David. You pretty much got the gospel covered right there. Grew up a Michigan fan. Great love of Michigan.

“Tyree Kinnel, somebody who was handed a Michigan football at birth, was committed here.

“Also, John Runyan Jr. I was told he wore a Michigan onesie when he was a year old.

“People have a love and passion for Michigan football. Grant Perry’s another who recently committed here and signed today. Grew up and Mark’s dad- Mark was a record-setting receiver in the state of Michigan. Over 13 records. But he grew up like me, Grant did. In the shadow of Michigan Stadium, getting autographs from football players and basketball players, dad was a coach. Mark was telling me that he’d bring Grant to practice and as a seven-year-old he always found a way to get a helmet, be running routes, [and] doing amazing things with the football at every practice that he went to. A winner. That’s what I’m really excited about in this class. Those two things; a lot of youngsters that have a real deep desire to be at Michigan and have won, and in Grant’s case he’s won at everything he’s ever done going back to little league baseball, basketball, and football, including three state championships at Brother Rice along with Alex Malzone, who’s also in our class.

“Did I tell you Andrew David was a really good short stop? Heck of a baseball player, too.”

[After THE JUMP: the pickle quote]

On shaking off the rust after not recruiting for a few years:

“Somebody asked me a question did I just go right into it and pick up where I left off back when I coached at Stanford. No, I didn’t. I picked up two days after an NFL season and had to familiarize yourself with who the players are [and] high school coaches again. Hadn’t spent a whole fall evaluating tape. Been coaching the San Francisco 49ers, so yeah, it took some time.”

On what has changed in recruiting since he was at Stanford:

“There’s some things maybe, some small things that have changed, but I don’t think the process has changed at all. The great thing about being able to go recruiting, because you go north, you go south, you go east, you go west, and you meet families that care about family. They have a love for family. They have faith. Good, genuine people, and what they want is what’s best for their sons in this process. Parents that want to see their son get the best of a chance and the best opportunity that they can possible have and that hasn’t changed a bit. That’s what this process is materially.”

On Alex Malzone and Zach Gentry, and what Harbaugh has seen on film and in person:

“I’ll start with Alex. As I said, another example of somebody who has been a winner. Everything he does he wins, and excellent thrower of the football. He’s got a real savvy in the pocket. I think his accuracy is outstanding and jumps off- jumps out on tape, the way he’s able to scan the field and go from a receiver to a secondary receiver and move his feet. Just…and then the last thing I would say is he’s been here. He’s been here for three weeks so we’ve been around him since week one when the students came back to school. He does not seem like a freshman. He…I don’t know if he’s got an older soul to him but he has fit right in. He’s been very serious about football. I like that about him. He’s been serious about school and it’s been very good.

“Zach Gentry, very similar kind of demeanor. Zach is also very talented. He’s very fast. He’s got some real physical attributes not every quarterback has, and he is somebody that works extremely hard at the game, especially in the offseason on his technique and on his throwing.

“Excited about both Alex and Zach, and the two things common to them and with everybody in this class has really been fantastic to see is a desire to compete in the classroom and on the football field, and I really like those guys, those kind of people the most that compete in both those areas to the highest level.”

On whether there was a difference in how many already-committed prospects Harbaugh pursued compared to his time at Stanford:

“No, I mean, there was recommendations, there was…we watched tape and we’d call people and see if they were interested and we’re trying to build a recruiting base and that’s kind of the way the pickle squirted this year. I don’t see that happening going forward.”

On whether he has a philosophy on recruiting already-committed prospects:

“No, I don’t. And…philosophy? I have a hard time spelling philosophy, let alone saying I have a philosophy on that.”

On the late push to build a class:

“Yeah, you know, really good and you make a call and you ask somebody if they’re interested in talking about Michigan and certainly if somebody says no it’s no but if somebody says yes then I want to show them Michigan. Karan Higdon [is a] great example. There was time enough to make a decision, about a week that he flew up here for an official visit and didn’t make it on the first day. Didn’t make it through security, but came back the next morning and caught a 5:20 flight to come up to Ann Arbor and that was the night we had the five, six, seven inches of snow and had to get up at two in the morning. That spoke volumes to me that he got up here for one day on an official visit and now he’s a Wolverine, and he is an excellent example of somebody that competes at the highest level in the classroom and on the football field. Wants to go to medical school, and Michigan, I found this interesting stat, sends the most undergraduate students to medical schools of any university in the country.”

On what things you stress to recruits with little time left in the recruiting cycle:

“Well, in Karan’s case right there as I mentioned he wants to be a medical student and play football at the highest level, and Michigan sends the most undergraduate students to medical schools of any school in the country and that was a big deciding factor. Wouldn’t call that a pitch, just call it a fact, and facts are stubborn things. Like I said before, people want what’s best for their youngsters, their children.

And the other thing, too, I noticed is everybody that we dealt with, that I dealt with personally, when talking to families I really thought the student-athletes did an incredible job of making their decisions on what was best for them and doing it the right way. Studying, studying the facts, looking at criteria, praying about it, talking about it as a family. Not only the ones that chose Michigan but chose other schools where I could witness that they were making decisions that way. You know, those decisions are hard to make. They’re hard to make for a 51-year-old, let alone a 17 [or] 18-year-old. So this is a landmark day, a signature day, and very happy for a lot of people, including ourselves.”

On freshmen earning playing time:

“I always like to think that they have the license and the ability to do that, and it’ll be- all things will be earned on the field. There’s no guarantees, only opportunities and they’ll have a great opportunity here are the University of Michigan to compete at the highest level academically and at the highest level athletically.”

MGoQuAcetion: Do you think you’ll hold on to any scholarships now to use in 2016?

“It’s, uh…don’t know exactly if we’ll have any from this year to use next year. There’s a few things still to be determined, still to shake out.”

On whether there’s an expectations for more players to join the class [Note: this was a little after 2 PM]:

“It’s possible.”

On how to gauge toughness:

“There’s several ways to gauge that. There’s…how do you gauge someone’s toughness? What’s their contact courage? Does a back lower their pads going through a hole, a defender that can’t wait to get from point A to point B and go hit somebody.

“Keith Washington, who I’d just like to talk about for a little bit, [is] one of my very favorite players in this class from Prattville, Alabama. He hurt his MCL the first round of the playoffs and took his team to a state championship. He’s a very, very humble person but a winner. Another theme with this recruiting class that we have. He went to Prattville only one year but when he showed up he told them that he was going to take them to a state championship and he did just that, and on an MCL that he hurt the first round of the playoffs. He was a quarterback in high school and played corner in high school, but he’s going to concentrate at corner when he comes to the University of Michigan. So those are just a few of the ways that you can tell toughness on the football field.”

On the disadvantage of starting to recruit late (I think):

“I thought our staff did a tremendous job. Worked very hard to get UMGs; UM Graduates is what we were looking for. Guys who were serious about football and who football was important to. I thought we did a tremendous job with that. Most of the credit does go to the staff on that.”

On whether Harbaugh’s NFL experience helps in recruiting:

“Yeah, I think it does. When you put together a staff you’re looking for great teachers, first of all. Men that are high character, that understand their specific area of expertise in football, and I think it does help that there’s been NFL experience in a lot of our coaches’ backgrounds because a lot of these youngsters, that’s one of their goals [is] to make it to the National Football League and we don’t discourage that. In fact, we try to teach it.”

On taking lower-ranked prospects over four- or five-star recruits:

“When we first took the job we were waiting during the dead period basically in a three-point stance. Couldn’t wait to hit the road, but in that time we were watching tape and going through lists and Nolan, we popped in his tape and watched it and really liked it and kept watching it and really liked it a lot more and more and more and called him and asked if he was interested in coming to Michigan, and he was.

“With Keith, that was- I’m going to have take a little bit of a deep, long bow because I’m kind of Keith’s recruiting coach, area coach, position coach. I just really, really liked watching him play on tape right away. And then when I went down and visited him along with coach DJ Durkin we were there with his father, big Keith, and he’s got a great mother, Candice, as well, but the four of us are sitting there, big Keith, Keith, coach Durkin and I, and I’m talking to him and I asked him how fast he was and he said, ‘I’m a 4.3, coach.’ And c’mon, 4.3!? Nobody’s a 4.3. Everybody thinks they’re a 4.3. And he goes, ‘I’ll go out in the parking lot and run it for you right now,’ and he was serious. Dead serious. And I liked him even more because I knew he was a competitor. Got a great feeling from him. You’re going to like him.”

“But to answer your question, watching tape.”

On what a QB has to show Harbaugh to see early playing time:

“Well, it’s going to take a lot. All that’ll be determined on the field. There’s five quarterbacks that are here right now and they’re all training, they’re all lifting, they’re conditioning themselves readying for spring ball. This’ll be a lot of fun. We’ll throw the balls out there and the guys will compete. There’ll be scrimmages, seven-on-seven, there’ll be team drills, and the 11-on-11 football will be the most important; who moves the team the best, who avoids turnovers, who takes care of the football, who can rally his team? All that’ll be played out on the football field. It’ll be a meritocracy at its best.”

On whether it’s easier or harder to recruit legacy players:

“Jon Runyan Jr. This is…you’re testing me. Who are the others?”

A couple of Wangler’s sons.

“Oh, yeah! You said in the program. Yeah, John’s got two, two players in the program.  How hard is it to coach them?

Yes.

“That’s a good question. Probably suppose it makes it- it’d vary with each one of those youngsters but can’t be around two better guys than the Wangler sons and the branch doesn’t fall too far from the tree, because nobody was better than John Wangler that I remember coming through this program. And then Jon Runyan Sr., the great player, the son [is] very similar, so just great at the highest level. To answer your question it probably makes it a lot easier when dealing with guys like that.”

On what Harbaugh will be looking for in spring practice:

“Yeah, I think you can tell I’m excited about all the youngsters we’ve signed in this class and excited about our entire football team. The current team, been getting to know them and recognize a lot more faces and a lot more names now. Haven’t studied a lot of tape on the current team just because I want to put a fresh eye on it for them to know that it’s time to make a first impression again and they’ve got the ability to do that. You don’t know what somebody’s been coached, you don’t what they were told, so I think it’s better just to go in with a fresh eye and let everybody know that everybody starts the same. Everybody’s got that first chance to make a great first impression.

“What I’m looking most forward to is a great meeting tonight. We have an offense and defense meeting tonight with our team and we’ll have great, high expectations for that.”

On Brian Cole, what Harbaugh has seen since he enrolled, and what position he might play:

“We don’t mandate what position the student-athletes start at. They can compete and start at whatever position they’re most fired up about, basically.

“Brian wants to do that at receiver and he’s been tremendous at that. I’m glad you brought him up because he’s one of the very favorite players in this class. He has a special gift of personality and class and humility and a real winner. Great parents. This is a class with great families and great parents. We talked about the branch not falling too far from the tree. We got some incredible youngsters. He is- there’s great stories to be done on him, and I look forward to you writing those. This is a giving, caring individual and [he’s] special.”

On whether Michigan will set up a department focused solely on recruiting:

“We’ll make some improvements in all areas of our organization. I look at it that way. Always be striving to get a percent better, a mile an hour faster, better today than we were yesterday, better tomorrow than we were today in all areas, in everything that we do so yeah, we’ll take a look at how we’re doing it and start with why and attack even a .01 percent improvement if we can find it. Just like the NASCAR boys, see if we can’t get a mile an hour faster.”

Will there be a specific department for recruiting?

“We’ll look at it and attack it just- how are we going to approach it? We’ll continue to attack all areas in how we do things.”

Jake Butt and Drake Johnson injury updates:

“He’s [Johnson] doing ok. He’s got to wear his knee brace more. He wasn’t allowed to be out of his knee brace, and had to get on him about that but he’s coming along fine. Seems to be a very fast healer. I think the same for Jake.”