ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit talks “rumors” of one top coach leaving his school after just three years

This is a new one...

There is plenty of "hot seat" talk in mid-November and that comes with the territory in college football. Some jobs (like Florida and Tennessee) are already open, with others (like Nebraska and Arkansas) appearing quite likely to become available in the coming days. Beyond that, there is buzz about some prominent coaches (like Florida State's Jimbo Fisher and Auburn's Gus Malzahn) potentially looking around and, even if those rumblings don't come to fruition, they are enough to provide food for thought across the land.

On Saturday, though, ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit may have created a new "rumor" of his own and it revolves around Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh.

Folks have suggested that Harbaugh could flee for the NFL from the moment he arrived back in Ann Arbor so that is no surprise. Still, that momentum has seemingly died down and, unless Herbstreit is hearing things that have not made their way into the general consciousness, this is a new one.

Would Harbaugh be attractive to the NFL given his track record? Absolutely, but 2017 always projected to be a rebuilding year for Michigan and the future appears quite bright for the Wolverines. It would be newsworthy if Harbaugh navigated a 12-month period without being linked to an NFL job but Herbstreit's comments likely woke up some of the Michigan faithful that weren't thinking about him leaving at the moment.