Harbaugh: "Peppers Is Way Too Hard On Himself"
By: Will Burchfield
@burchie_kid
When Jabrill Peppers gave himself a C-minus for his play through the first six games of the 2016 season, he admitted, "I'm my worst critic."
His coach would agree.
"Way too hard on himself, no doubt about it," Jim Harbaugh told 97.1 The Ticket on Thursday morning. "I talked with Jabrill about that. He is a high achiever, he has set very high standards for his team and himself, there's no question about it. But, yeah, I think he was way too tough on himself.
"I would be giving him an A."
Peppers has starred for the Wolverines on defense and special teams this season, and Harbaugh suggested earlier this week that the red-shirt sophomore will grow more involved on offense in the coming games.
With No. 3 Michigan (6-0) on a bye last week, Harbaugh used the time to go on a recruiting trip to California. He happily joined the chain crew during a game at St. Mary's High School and announced the homecoming queen at Antioch High.
"It was a lot of gun, great fun, great atmosphere at high school football games," Harbaugh said. "I would encourage everybody to get out and watch a high school game."
The Wolverines will take on Illinois (2-4) on Saturday at the Big House (3:30 p.m., WWJ Newsradio 950). They haven't played since crushing Rutgers 78-0 on Oct. 8.
"We're aware the two scariest weeks of the season are the week going into the (bye) and the week coming out of it," Harbaugh said. "So we're aware of that and we're finding ways that we can improve."
The Illinois defense is tied for second in the country with 13 forced turnovers.
"They're unbelievable at taking the ball away," Harbaugh said. "We're going to have to protect the football and we're going to have be able to move the football and we're going to have to execute. We understand the challenge ahead of us. It's big game for us, a championship-type football game Saturday at Michigan Stadium."
