Similarities Browns’ ex-Michigan players see in Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers; plus their favorite (and one previously untold) Harbaugh-ism

“Harbaugh got out there, lined up at running back, goes to run the wheel route and pulled both his hamstrings at the same time,” Hurst told cleveland.com on Thursday. “And he refused to get treatment the entire year, and would wear the little core shorts that we wear every single day, every single practice.

“But it was just funny. That’s just who he is. He tried to play it off like nothing happened, never got treatment, never anything like that, but pulled both of his hamstrings at the same time.”

That story maybe best represents Harbaugh‘s big, but old-school, personality. As the head coach at Michigan, his alma mater, that personality shined through some early lows and ultimately, the highest highs of college football, as Harbaugh led the Wolverines to a national title last year — the program’s first since 1997.

After winning that elusive championshi8p, Harbaugh returned to the NFL in the offseason (his first stint as a head coach was with the 49ers from 2011-14).

There‘s plenty of stories and Harbaugh-isms to go around the Browns’ locker room this week.

Cleveland has four players — Hurst, linebackers Khaleke Hudson (2016-19) and Devin Bush (2016-18), and guard Zak Zinter (2020-23) — who combined, were at Michigan for all of Harbaugh’s coaching tenure.

“‘Don‘t eat chickens because they’re nervous birds,‘” Bush said when asked for his favorite Harbaugh quote. “I heard he just changed it a while ago, though.”

He’s heard correctly, Zinter confirms.

“He got chickens and then he changed his perspective on chickens,” Zinter said. “He changed his whole perspective on chickens, and now he said he loves chickens. He has ‘em in his backyard and they’re hardworking and laying eggs and everything, so that‘s always a funny one. He went from ’don‘t eat chicken’ to, ‘I love chickens now.’”

There‘s the funny, but there’s also the serious Harbaugh-isms that stick with his former players.

For Hudson, it was something Harbaugh used to say with the sun beating down on their Ann Arbor practice field ahead of long camp days.

“‘Let the sun and the heat carve your mind and the body,’“ he said. ”I’m like ‘What are you talking about?’ But after going through it and practicing and not letting the heat get to your head, and keep pushing and keep going. Just embracing all the things that are uncontrollable, because you can’t control it anyway. So just embrace it and work through it, because it’s only going to benefit you.”

And then there were the practices themselves.

“Practices were hard,” Bush said. “Camp’s hard. You’re going to do a lot of running and hitting in practice. So that’s where it starts, honestly. And just the way, the type of guys, he pulls in, the type of guys he looks for, establish a certain type of demeanor about a team or a phase of the game. So it’s all in his head for real. But it’s all in the field. Big people, big groups, run the ball.”

You get the gist.

Harbaugh is who he is at this stage of life and his career.

So it‘s no surprise that he’s brought the same attitude — and some similar schemes — he had coaching at Michigan back with him to the NFL.

In only seven games with the Chargers, his fingerprints are already all over the film with their new, tough, smashmouth style that often includes multiple tight ends and an unconventional fullback, much like he used with the Wolverines.

“They run a bunch of of bigger personnels, 22 and 12 personnel,” Hudson said. “They use a D-tackle (Scott Matlock) at fullback. So definitely a lot of stuff like I’ve seen at Michigan, the things that we were doing there.

“So they’ve got a good scheme. Run, run, run, run pass. But if you match their energy with aggressiveness and just stay true to doing your job, and be where you got to be, it’s beatable.”

Defensively, several Chargers position coaches, including DBs coach Steve Clinkscale, defensive line coach Mike Elston, senior defensive analyst Rick Minter and defensive assistant Dylan Roney were on Harbaugh’s staff at Michigan.

“I went against Coach Minter in two camps, so you definitely see some similarities to it,” Zinter said. “But it’s definitely got some different flare to it now that he’s in the NFL.”

The scheme also drew comparisons to what the Browns saw last week against their AFC North division foe, the Baltimore Ravens.

Of course, the head coach there is Harbaugh’s brother, John.

The comparisons are to be expected — not just because the head coaches of both teams are brothers, but because Harbaugh has two former Ravens as his top two running backs: J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards. Dobbins has rushed for 535 yards and four touchdowns on 112 carries, while Edwards is second with 113 yards on 38 carries.

The Chargers’ offensive coordinator, Greg Roman, was also the Ravens’ offensive coordinator from 2019-22.

“Similar stuff that we did at Michigan and honestly a lot of similar stuff that they do with the Ravens,” Hurst said. “Going back-to-back weeks, there’s a lot of similarities between the two teams and obviously the two coaches being brothers, they definitely exchange information back and forth about personnel, who they have in their roster, things like that.”

Through seven games, the results for L.A. have been mixed so far.

The Chargers rank 23rd in total offense (311.1). They’re 24th in both points per game (18.9) and passing yards per game (194.0), and 20th in rushing yards per game (117.1). They are the 30th ranked team in the red zone (43.75%).

But with a quarterback like Justin Herbert (1,443 yards, eight TDs, 1 INT), who has beaten the Browns the two previous times he’s played them, the Chargers still have the potential to gash opposing defenses.

And when it comes to the similarities between the Chargers and those Harbaugh Wolverine teams, there’s also the intangibles that make them dangerous.

Those are maybe best summed up by Browns special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone, who also played for Harbaugh for two seasons in San Francisco.

“He is all football, all the time,” Ventrone said. “(H)e is about toughness, physicality, finish, hard work. I know we practiced hard when I was out there in San Francisco, we’d two spot pretty much every team drill in training camp. We practiced long, we practiced hard. He is old school. And I know that’s how he’s done a good job of being able to keep that old school mentality in this new day and age, where I would say football is much softer overall than it’s been in the past, relative to the rules and just everything that goes into it.

“Less practice time, less time with the players and things like that. You can see he’s done a good job of, even at Michigan, wherever he’s been, of maximizing the time with the players to create that culture of toughness, physicality. And it shows up in their film. I mean, their defense is really good. They run the (expletive) out of the ball. Excuse my language. And that’s his mentality and that’s how he’s always been, and I don’t see him really changing.”

Jim Harbaugh is always going to be Jim Harbaugh, no matter what level he’s coaching.

Even if it means sacrificing a hamstring (or two).