Jim Harbaugh

It's safe to say Jim Harbaugh is relieved to have his starting quarterback back on the field.

The Los Angeles Chargers head coach joked that he "heard music" when Justin Herbert returned to practice on Monday after not seeing action since July.

"I felt like music should be playing. I thought I heard music," Harbaugh said. "Voices of angels maybe. It felt great. It felt great."

Before Monday, Herbert's last practice was July 31. He injured the plantar fascia in his right foot and has worn a walking boot for two weeks, recently shedding it and getting back on the practice field.

Herbert missed the last few weeks of the regular season in 2023 after suffering a finger injury in December. Before that injury, he had started 62 consecutive games dating back to his rookie season in 2020.

In 13 games last year, Herbert had 3,134 passing yards and 20 touchdowns. In his last full season in 2022, he collected 4,739 passing yards and 25 touchdowns, leading Los Angeles to a playoff appearance where it fell just short against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the wild-card round.

The Chargers are coming off a disappointing 5-12 season that saw the firing of head coach Brandon Staley. They replaced Staley with Harbaugh after he won a national championship at Michigan, and they're hoping the new head coach plus a healthy Herbert will yield positive results this season.

Los Angeles opens its season with a matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sept. 8.

As former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick still holds out hope for a return to the league as a player, he is not coming back as a coach just yet.

Jim Harbaugh confirmed the player will not be on the Los Angeles Chargers staff.

"I love Colin, but he's not going to be on the coaching staff I set for this year, and he's not going to be playing on the roster either," Harbaugh told reporters Thursday.

The coach added that the last time the two spoke was in February.

Harbaugh previously told Jarrett Bell of USA Today that he had discussions with Kaepernick "about joining the Chargers in a non-playing capacity" shortly after he was hired as head coach in January. However, Kaepernick chose not to take him up on his offer.

"Yeah, we talked a little bit about it," Harbaugh said last week. "He's considering it. He was out of the country. He said he was going to get back to me. We haven't reconnected since then. That was early, early in the year."

Kaepernick recently told Sky Sports that he is "still training, still pushing" for a return to the NFL. However, Harbaugh believes he'd find success if he were to transition to coaching.

"If that was ever the path he was to take, I think that would be tremendous," Harbaugh said. "He'd be a tremendous coach, if that's the path he chose."

It's likely that Kaepernick hasn't taken Harbaugh up on his offer because of his desire to resume his playing career. He hasn't been signed by a team since he became a free agent in 2017 after he ignited protests against police brutality and the killing of unarmed Black men by kneeling during the national anthem.

"I mean, it's something I've trained my whole life for," Kaepernick told Sky Sports of a potential return to the NFL. "So to be able to step back on the field would be a major moment, a major accomplishment for me."

Harbaugh, who coached Kaepernick during their time together with the San Francisco 49ers, has been one of the biggest supporters of the signal-caller during his time away from the NFL. He organized an open workout for Kaepernick during a spring game at Michigan in 2022.

However, Bell noted that Harbaugh, through a team spokesperson, declined to comment when asked about Kaepernick's continued desire to resume his playing career.

Harbaugh added that he understands that Kaepernick has other obligations as a civil rights activist that would factor into his decision on whether to join his coaching staff.

"I see him as a hero," Harbaugh said. "Heroes get no days off. And he's being a hero right now and he's not getting any days off. It's not for me to choose what path he takes. That's his decision."

Four days after Michigan announced Jim Harbaugh would serve as the honorary captain for the 2024 season opener against Fresno State, the Wolverines' former head coach has had a change of heart.

Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore told reporters on Tuesday that Harbaugh informed him he won't be able to pull himself away from his new job with the Los Angeles Chargers.

Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said last week on the 1 Star Recruits podcast (h/t ESPN's Jake Trotter) that Harbaugh accepted an invite to the Aug. 31 game.

"I look forward to having him back in Ann Arbor for that game," Manuel said.

The announcement came after the NCAA issued a four-year show-cause order for Harbaugh on Aug. 6, stemming from recruiting violations that occurred during a COVID-19 dead period.

Per the NCAA's statement, Harbaugh "engaged in unethical conduct, failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance and violated head coach responsibility obligations."

The show-cause order runs through Aug. 6, 2028, and requires any school that might hire Harbaugh to suspend him for his first full season. He would also be barred from taking part in any athletics-related activities, including team travel, practice, video study, recruiting and team meetings, after the suspension is over through the end of the show-cause order.

Michigan is also in the midst of a separate NCAA investigation into sign-stealing allegations involving former staffer Connor Stalions.

Harbaugh led the Wolverines to a national title last season, the first for the program since 1997. They won a school-record 15 games and defeated Washington in the College Football Playoff Championship Game.

Two weeks after the victory over Washington, Harbaugh agreed to a five-year contract to become Chargers head coach. He is returning to the NFL for the first time since parting ways with the San Francisco 49ers after the 2014 season.

The Aug. 31 opener for Michigan would come during a break in the Chargers' schedule. They wrap up preseason play on Aug. 24 before starting the regular season against the Las Vegas Raiders at SoFi Stadium on Sept. 8.

Head coach Jim Harbaugh made his Los Angeles Chargers debut on the sideline of Saturday's 16-3 preseason loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

Harbaugh sent out quarterback Easton Stick, who was listed as backup to Justin Herbert on the Chargers' first unofficial depth chart, to start before third-stringer Max Duggan took over in the second half.

The former Michigan head coach even helped Stick warm up for his preseason start by throwing to him before the game:

Neither signal caller could get the ball into the end zone, however, and the Chargers finished out the loss with only a single field goal on the scoreboard.

Stick completed the first half having gone 5-for-13 for 31 yards and one interception, while Duggan connected on 4 of 7 passes for 41 yards. The pair was sacked a combined three times.

Luis Perez came in to finish out the game, completing 5 of 12 passes for 61 yards.

The quarterbacks' struggles in Harbaugh's debut left Chargers fans disappointed their team couldn't begin the preseason with a victory.

Stick and Duggan's struggles were particularly difficult to watch for Chargers fans as J.J. McCarthy, Harbaugh's former quarterback at Michigan, threw two touchdown passes during his own preseason debut for the Minnesota Vikings.

Football fans were still excited to see Harbaugh return to an NFL sideline for the first time since parting ways with the San Francisco 49ers in 2014.

The Chargers preseason opener also pitted Harbaugh against his son, Jay Harbaugh, who is working as special teams coordinator for the Seahawks.

Harbaugh will look for his first win as a Charger when preseason action continues next Saturday for the chargers with a intra-city competition against the Los Angeles Rams.

While he won't be leading Michigan on the field this year, Jim Harbaugh will make at least one appearance at the Big House during the 2024 season.

Per MLive's Aaron McMann, Harbaugh will serve as an honorary captain for the Wolverines' season-opener against Fresno State on Aug. 31.

After winning a national championship with Michigan in January, Harbaugh left the Wolverines to become the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, returning to the NFL after a nine-year stint in the collegiate ranks.

According to McMann, the plan to bring Harbaugh back to Ann Arbor has been in the works for months, first being suggested by Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel in January. The date worked out best for both Harbaugh and the Wolverines, as the Chargers will have a free weekend before starting the NFL season a week later.

While Harbaugh will get to relive the college football coaching experience to an extent later in August, it could be a while before he's on the sidelines for a collegiate team.

The NCAA recently announced a four-year, show-cause order for Harbaugh because of recruiting violations during the COVID-19 pandemic. That order says that Harbaugh "may not participate in any coaching activities, including but not limited to team travel, video study, recruiting and team meetings" as an employee of an NCAA member institution, effectively barring him from being a coach in the NCAA until Aug. 6, 2028.

Michigan suspended Harbaugh for the first three games of the 2023 season over the same recruiting violations.

But Harbaugh will look to move forward from the violations and focus on his new duties as an NFL head coach. He inherits a Chargers team that went 5-12 a season ago, firing Brandon Staley after 14 games.

In his previous stint as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 to 2014, he led the team to three NFC Championship Game appearances and a Super Bowl appearance in 2012. Now back in the NFL ranks, he'll look for similar success in Los Angeles.

The NCAA has disciplined former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh for recruiting violations that occurred during a COVID-19 dead period in 2020.

Per the NCAA's official release, Harbaugh has received a four-year show-cause stemming from a Level I-Aggravated violation for his "unethical conduct and failure to cooperate with the membership's infractions process" by providing false or misleading information.

Harbaugh would be barred from all athletic-related activities, including team travel, practice, video study, recruiting and team meetings, at any school that employed him during the show-cause order period. If he were to be hired by a school during the four-year period, he would be "suspended for 100 percent of the first season of employment," and the results from those games wouldn't count toward his coaching record.

Harbaugh's attorney, Tom Mars, issued a statement about the NCAA's ruling:

The NCAA announced in April that Michigan received three years of probation, a fine and recruiting limitations as part of the COVID-19 dead period violations.

That punishment included infractions involving five current and former Wolverines coaches, but Harbaugh was not among that group because he failed to cooperate with the investigation.

Harbaugh and the NCAA attempted to negotiate a resolution to the situation, but ESPN's Pete Thamel reported in August 2023 the resolution was not approved by the NCAA Committee on Infractions.

This led to Michigan announcing self-imposed sanctions, including a three-game suspension for Harbaugh to be served at the start of the 2023 season. He returned ahead of the Sept. 23 game against Rutgers.

Harbaugh received a second three-game suspension from the Big Ten in November stemming from a sign-stealing scandal involving staffer Connor Stallions and others.

The NCAA's investigation into the sign-stealing allegations remains ongoing. Larry Lage and Ralph D. Russo of the Associated Press reported on Monday that new head coach Sherrone Moore, who served as Michigan's acting head coach for four games last season, is facing allegations he violated NCAA rules related to the investigation.

Harbaugh led the Wolverines to a national title last season. It was the program's first national championship since 1997.

Two weeks after the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, Harbaugh was hired as head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. He is returning to the NFL for the first time since leaving the San Francisco 49ers after the 2014 season.

It sounds like Los Angeles Chargers star safety Derwin James could have the opportunity to be the league's next two-way star.

During an appearance on the GOAT Farm Show, James revealed that new Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh is open to using him on offense during the 2024 season.

"I might have a little package," James said. "I told coach, 'If you need me at receiver, coach I'm going in.' I asked him and he was like, 'I don't know, we'll see,' then he said, 'I got you.' ... Harbaugh's that cool, he'll make it happen.'

James is a three-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team All-Pro. He's at the top of his game, as he recorded a career-high 125 total tackles in 2023 while adding seven pass deflections, two sacks, two fumble recoveries and an interception.

The Chargers lost their top two wide receivers this offseason, as they parted ways with Keenan Allen and Mike Williams so they could get some cap relief.

Perhaps James will be the game-changing weapon Los Angeles needs on offense this season as Harbaugh tries to lead the franchise back to playoff contention.

Anyone who expected Jim Harbaugh to apologize for his alleged role in Michigan's sign-stealing scandal that is still being investigated by the NCAA was wrong.

"Never lie, never cheat, never steal," the former Michigan coach and current Los Angeles Chargers coach told reporters Monday.

"I was raised with that lesson. I have raised my family on that lesson. I have preached that lesson to the teams I have coached. No one's perfect. If you stumble, you apologize and you make it right. Today, I do not apologize. I did not participate, was not aware nor complicit in those said allegations. So for me, it's back to work and attacking with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind."

His comments come after ESPN's Dan Murphy and Pete Thamel reported on a draft of the NCAA's eventual notice of allegations. According to the Sunday report, Harbaugh was among the former Michigan staff members who was accused of committing Level I violations.

Murphy and Thamel explained the draft of the notice of allegations is still subject to change as the NCAA continues to investigate the situation.

However, it paints a worrisome picture for the Michigan football program.

Head coach Sherrone Moore, who took over after Harbaugh departed for the Chargers job, could face a show-cause penalty and suspension as a possible repeat offender. He allegedly contacted recruits during a COVID-19 recruiting dead period and then allegedly deleted 52 text messages with former staffer Connor Stalions.

Stalions resigned after he allegedly spearheaded a sign-stealing scandal that the draft said continued from 2021 to 2023 and included impermissible scouting of at least 13 future opponents on 58 different occasions.

While Moore is accused of a Level 2 violation, former staff members Harbaugh, Chris Partridge, Denard Robinson and Stalions are facing more serious Level 1 violations. The school as a whole is as well due to a "pattern of noncompliance within the football program" and overall efforts against the NCAA's investigation.

Harbaugh was suspended three games to start the 2023 season because of recruiting violations and then again for the final three games of the regular season for the school's sign-stealing scandal.

Yet he returned for the College Football Playoff and led the Wolverines to a national title before leaving to become the head coach of the Chargers.

According to Murphy and Thamel, the coach could face a "show-cause" restriction if he ever does return to college football.

Before the alleged scheme started in 2021, Harbaugh's Michigan teams were 49-22 overall, 0-5 against rival Ohio State and never reached the College Football Playoff. Whether he would be fired or not was also a serious discussion.

However, the Wolverines went 40-3 overall, 3-0 against the Buckeyes and reached the College Football Playoff three times, including when they won the national title last season, after the alleged scheme started.

He is now looking to help the Chargers bounce back from a 5-12 effort in 2023.