Sherrone Moore discloses sentiment of Michigan players facing Nick Saban's Alabama last season: "To get to the top, you had to face a team like that"

It has been a whirlwind year for Michigan Wolverines coach Sherrone Moore. Moore was named the program's new coach after national championship-winning coach Jim Harbaugh departed for the NFL to coach the Los Angeles Chargers.

During a "Big Noon Conversations" appearance with analyst Joel Klatt, Moore mentioned how the players reacted to the news of being drawn against Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide in the semifinal of the College Football Playoff.

“It’s funny, people talk about the reaction to the Alabama [draw during the selection show]. When those cameras turned off, the boys were like, ‘That’s who we wanted. That’s what we wanted to do.’ To be the best, they always say you gotta beat the best, and they’ve been the king of the hill for a long time.

"I know Georgia has won two national championships, but Nick had six of them. You knew if you had to get to the top, you had to face a team like that to get there," Sherrone Moore said.

Sherrone Moore had Jim Harbaugh's complete trust

Sherrone Moore joined the Michigan Wolverines as the tight ends coach in 2018 before rapidly progressing up the totem pole in coach Jim Harbaugh's staff as the offensive line coach, co-offensive coordinator and finally the offensive coordinator.

Last year, Moore took charge as acting coach of the Wolverines as Harbaugh served a ban of four games for the sign-stealing scandal involving staffer Connor Stalions.

During the "Big Noon Conversations" interview, the Wolverines coach mentioned that Coach Harbaugh had envisioned him being the coach of Michigan and had even taken an extraordinary measure to ensure that it came to pass.

“It entered my mind when Coach Harbaugh told me, ‘You’re gonna be the next head coach at Michigan.’ This year, he told me that. He said, ‘I don’t know when. I don’t know what’s gonna happen. No man can say the future, tell the future.’

"But that’s how he is — he’s like that all the time. He just said, ‘You’re gonna be the next head coach at Michigan.’ I was like, ‘What?’ He was like, ‘I’m gonna put it in my contract that if I ever leave or go somewhere, that you’re gonna be the next head coach at Michigan,’" Sherrone Moore said.

Sherrone Moore has the tough task of following in the footsteps of a legend as a first-year coach in charge of a program that is the reigning national champion. Nonetheless, he got the highest seal of approval from his mentor, Jim Harbaugh.