ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said a frantic month of compiling a new coaching staff and trying to piece together his first recruiting class in five years was less taxing than many would expect.
"It wasn't difficult," he said Wednesday. "It was a real joy. It was a real pleasure."
Twelve prospects sent their letters of intent to Michigan -- including two quarterbacks who the coach said will have the chance to battle for the starting job -- before Harbaugh's afternoon news conference. Two more players announced plans to join the Wolverines later Wednesday afternoon.
Landing the smallest class among all Power 5 conference schools wasn't a shock for a coaching staff that got a late start on the recruiting trail.
The task of assembling a signing class less than a month after Harbaugh's arrival at Michigan was made steeper because of the staff's relative lack of recent experience on college sidelines. Five of the program's 10 coaches, including Harbaugh, came to Michigan from the NFL, which means they were unfamiliar with the 2015 crop of recruits. The last time Harbaugh evaluated high school players was in 2010, before he left Stanford for the San Francisco 49ers.
"Did I just go right into it and pick up where I left off back when I coached at Stanford? No, I didn't," he said. "I picked up two days after an NFL season and had to familiarize [myself] with who the players are. I hadn't spent the whole fall evaluating tape."
The late start meant many of the prospects Michigan courted already had committed to other schools. The school signed recruits previously committed to Cal, Northwestern, Iowa and Texas, among others. Harbaugh said he didn't have a particular philosophy on pursuing recruits after they've pledged elsewhere, but peeling a few away from other schools was a necessity.
"That's kind of the way the pickle squirted this year. I don't see that happening going forward," he said.
Harbaugh said he focused more on finding tough, competitive prospects this year than attempting to fill specific position needs. Eight of the 12 players who signed Wednesday are slotted to play offense, including a pair of quarterbacks.
Early enrollee Alex Malzone and 6-foot-7 New Mexico product Zach Gentry will both get a chance to compete for the starting job along with the two scholarship quarterbacks already on Michigan's roster. Harbaugh said the quarterback job will be a "meritocracy," but the two incoming freshmen would have a significant amount of ground to make up.
"It's going to take a lot. All of that will be determined on the field," he said. "This will be a lot of fun. We'll throw the balls out there, and the guys will compete."