Jon Runyan played for Jim Harbaugh as a Michigan freshman. He knows exactly what Harbaugh prizes and demands of a football player.
“He wants somebody that’s smart,” Runyan told The Post at his Giants locker. “Tough. And they’re going to go until he says stop. He wants somebody that’s always going to ask for more. He wants guys that are going to fight through adversity, and they’re not going to break, they’re just only going to get stronger as whatever — the elements, the adversity — tries to bring ’em down. He wants guys that are going to be mentally and physically strong enough to fight through that. I feel like he’s tried to recruit those players to whatever program he’s been at since he’s been coaching football.”
It is why Harbaugh and J.K. Dobbins seem fated for a marriage made in heaven.
“He’s himself. He’s unique. He’s competitive. I think that’s what’s making him a great coach,” Dobbins said via audio file from the Chargers’ public relations department.
It wasn’t so much the 211 rushing yards, four touchdowns and 49 receiving yards Dobbins accumulated in a 56-27 Ohio State will over Harbaugh’s Michigan men in 2019 as much as it was how Dobbins has willed his way all the way back from a torn Achilles suffered in the Ravens’ 2023 opener.
Chargers center Bradley Bozeman was entering his third season with the Ravens when Dobbins, easily the best player available, was the second-round draft choice in 2020.
“He’s got great patience, he’s got great eyes, he’s got great vision, he runs hard, he makes people miss, he can see the game so well,” Bozeman told Serby Says by phone.
Bozeman was a teammate when Dobbins suffered his ACL tear in 2021.
“But to see J.K. just continue to come back, think he’s had two season-ending injuries, and to see him just come back, pop back, and just continue to keep that same attitude and keep that same drive, it’s just inspiring,” Bozeman said.
Dobbins is writing a Comeback of the Year story alongside Aaron Rodgers. After the first two weeks, he led the NFL with 266 rushing yards on 9.9 yards per carry. He missed 43 of 67 regular-season games his three years in Baltimore.
“It’s just the time and the place right now,” Dobbins said. “I can’t really say I’m proud or anything because I’m in the moment right now, working hard trying to accomplish my dreams and my goals that I set out, but it’s pretty nice to see hard work coming to fruition.”
After Dobbins became the first player in franchise history to rush for 100-plus yards in back-to-back games to start a season, Harbaugh paid tribute to the will of a man who saw this day coming when maybe no one else did.
“I didn’t really have an emotional low,” Dobbins said. “I knew I was going to come back from it. Yeah, I mean it sucked that it happened, but I really didn’t get down about it. I was pretty optimistic about I the whole time even when it happened.
“I walked down to the locker room and I told the guys I was built for it, and here we are today.”
When Bozeman, following four years with Ravens coach John Harbaugh and two with the Panthers, was looking for a fresh start in free agency, it was clear to him that brother Jim Harbaugh, with former Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman, would be a fit.
“I know the Harbaugh family tree, and I know they’re winners, and I want to win,” Bozeman said.
Runyan is certain that both Dobbins and Bozeman landed in the right place with the right coach.
“His track record everywhere speaks for itself every place he’s been,” Runyan said of Jim Harbaugh. “I think the thing that makes him such a good coach is the people that he surrounds himself with, whether that’s the staff or the players. He listens to them, doesn’t have a big ego and he’s willing to take criticism and grow from that.
“He’s open at looking at things from a different perspective, and guys appreciate him for that. Guys respond well to him and his coaching style, and who he is as a person. He’s one of those coaches that’s been there and done that, so I think that’s another added player of trust and respect he’s able to gain from everybody else. Everywhere he’s gone he’s been a proven winner, and I don’t see that stopping.”
Jim and John Harbaugh are the sons of former Western Michigan and Western Kentucky coach Jack Harbaugh.
“They’re not hypocrites. What they say is what they do,” Bozeman said. “They’ll probably be in the Hall of Fame for sure one day.”
Jim Harbaugh’s love affair with the game of football knows no bounds.
“He just takes it day by day, he talks about attacking each day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind, and that’s the kind of person he is,” Runyan said. “He exudes it, and people look up to him and they follow his lead, not only as a coach but as a man.”
From afar, he appears to be a kinder, gentler Jim Harbaugh — formerly more intense, without compromising any of his principles.
“The way he sees the game, the way he looks at the game, the way he coaches it, the way that he just attacks every single day with enthusiasm unknown to mankind,” Bozeman said. “He really does. He practices what he preaches. To see him come in, maybe in the cold tub with us, getting his body right ’cause he’s going to be ready to roll. I’m hoping to play for him for a long time.”
Roman’s offense wasn’t built in a day. It’s built to ground and pound (second in rushing offense). No one was surprised when Harbaugh drafted right tackle Joe Alt with the fifth-overall pick as a bookend for stud left tackle Rashawn Slater.
“It’s smashmouth football,” Bozeman said. “He is old-school in ways, with new-school tendencies. He does whatever is needed to be done.”
Dobbins’ emergence eases the burden on quarterback Justin Herbert. There is no doubt in Dobbins’ mind that he is elite.
“Some really good vision … explosiveness … speed and power combined … an all-around back that can block for you, catch for you, do whatever.”
Jets left guard John Simpson played last season with Dobbins.
“He’s a dawg, man,” Simpson told Serby Says. “He was my locker buddy before he got hurt and went on IR. He’s a great dude. He deserves everything that’s coming his way for sure.”
Runyan recalls Jim Harbaugh occasionally mentioning losing Super Bowl XLVII to John Harbaugh’s Ravens.
“You can tell that Super Bowl loss to his brother still really bugs him,” Runyan said. “He wants to change that. He wants to go get a Super Bowl and avenge that loss he has.”
Now the 2-0 Steelers try to stop Harbaugh and Dobbins from running the Chargers’ record to 3-0.
“Everywhere he’s been, it’s taken time to build a program,” Runyan said. “I think in a couple of years, they will be a really good franchise. They might be a good franchise this year. He’s just proven everywhere he’s been he’s been a winner, so expect nothing less.”
The great coach from Michigan embraces the comeback running back from Ohio State. The comeback running back from Ohio State embraces the great coach from Michigan. Go figure.