him that, too, until Harbaugh showed up.

Had Poggi refused Harbaugh's suggestion, who knows what might've happened. But Poggi knows there's a strong chance he'd have found himself riding the bench behind NFL draft picks (Charlton and Wormley) and All-Big Ten pass rushers (Gary and Winovich).

He might have made it to this year's U-M banquet. Maybe he would have left.

But he's happy he swallowed his pride.

"I got to see the field," Poggi said. "So thank you for that."

One of those players Poggi mentioned in his speech had a similar story.

Winovich was brought to Michigan as a linebacker in 2014 but was moved to the other side of the ball after Harbaugh arrived. He never had played tight end and nothing seemed to click.

Desperate to find his way onto thefirst team meeting after taking the job in December 2014, Harbaugh told the group he planned on building a keel, which is the bottom of a ship. The hull, or the foundation, is built around the keel.

Players like Poggi and Winovich became Harbaugh's keel.

So did Khalid Hill.

A fifth-year senior from Detroit, Hill entered 2015 without much of a home and not a lot of certainty. At 6-foot-2, he didn't have prototypical tight end size. And he was stuck on the depth chart behind Jake Butt (6-6, 250 pounds), another NFL draft pick.

Hill spent the year contributing low on the depth chart as an H-back, seeing little playing time. Then he embraced change prior to the 2016 season. Harbaugh told him he should play fullback and would be more