ANN ARBOR — The scene on national signing day was not unfamiliar from countless media sessions at the University of Michigan.
Jim Harbaugh spoke to reporters, answering questions in his own eccentric style, and several players filled the Crisler Center media room — a program-record 11 early enrollees. The true freshmen enrolled at Michigan in January with an emphasis on getting acclimated to the academic rigors of college and to participate in spring practice.
They represented more than one-third of the Wolverines’ 30-member, fourth-ranked recruiting class. It’s a trend that’s exploded in growth in recent seasons, as high school seniors across the country descend on college campuses each January with visions of immediate stardom.