Harbaugh Explains Heated Exchange With Quinn Nordin

By: Will Burchfield
@burchie_kid

Once sleepover buddies, Jim Harbaugh and Quinn Nordin have hit a bit of a rough patch.

After Nordin missed his third straight field goal in Michigan's win over Maryland on Saturday, a slump dating back to the Rutgers game on Oct. 28, Harbaugh called him out on the sideline. Nordin fired back, and television cameras caught the exchange.

Harbaugh's message to Nordin was simple: Make your kicks, or I'll find someone else who can.

"I was telling the truth to him: 'You have to make 'em, Quinn. I'm going to give you one more shot.' And he said, 'I will make it, coach. I got this,'" Harbaugh told the Jamie and Stoney Show on 97.1 The Ticket. "Well, talking about it's not going to get it done. The ball needs to go through the uprights."

Nordin, a redshirt freshman, made good on his next opportunity, knocking through an extra point on Michigan's final score of the game. He went 5-5 on extra points on the afternoon, after missing two in the team's previous three games.

"I think he was understanding what I was saying, I was understanding what he was saying, and then I hope he was understanding back that it doesn't matter what we're saying. You have to make the kicks," said Harbaugh. "It's on each player on the team to execute their responsibility and do their job. And that's his job."

Harbaugh is hopeful that Nordin can respond to his struggles in the same way former kicker Kenny Allen did last year. After temporarily losing his job to Ryan Tice in October, Allen made 15 straight field goals to close the season.

"You go back to the drawing board, back to the practice field, back to the training to get that execution exactly where you want it. But I think we understand each other. He has to make the kicks and the team needs him to do that or somebody else will trot out there and try to make those kicks," Harbaugh said.

Nordin hit 13 of his first 15 field goals before his current skid.

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• Jim Harbaugh