Michigan Wolverines football is hoping for a quick return to play. On Sept. 5, parents, team members, head coach Jim Harbaugh and others gathered with fans to protest the cancellation of the fall Big Ten football season, instead of being on the field, as was originally scheduled.

U-M fifth-year senior defensive tackle Carlo Kemp, whose mother, Peach Pagano, was one of the primary organizers of the rally, feels appreciative of those who showed up and showed they're willing to fight for the Wolverines' desire to play safely.

"It definitely helped to deal with some of those emotions that I thought I was going to be experiencing on the first Saturday without football," Kemp said on an interview with Big Ten Network.

"I was very thankful that a lot of these parents took it upon themselves to be a voice for us and fight for us. Being a part of that really helped take away my mind and maybe some of the things I would’ve been doing on a Saturday. It felt good to be with my teammates and Coach out there and fight for something we all believe in. We all want to be able to play. We wish we could’ve been playing on that Saturday, but it was just good to be out there taking part in something where you can make some noise and get your voice heard."

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Kemp said the team has been in a "state of limbo" ever since the announcement, but they've maintained a positive, hopeful mindset throughout the 12 hours per week of voluntary meetings and workouts they're currently allowed.

"That’s really the only thing we can do right now," Kemp said. "One of the biggest things, and one of the greatest opportunities that we have right now, is the ability to just get better every single day, in all aspects in football. Like Coach said, we’ve just been sticking to our routine.

"Going back to August when he had to deliver the team meeting that the season was canceled, a lot of us, a majority of the team, we had to deal with that in that moment, but in 30 minutes we still had practice. It was sticking to that routine. And something we’ve really honed in on since that is we come here every day, we get to work out, we get meetings and we get to practice.

"We’re just thankful that we still have those opportunities to do so. It could’ve been a completely full shutdown of the season’s canceled, plus no practices, no meetings, no lifting. So everyday, we get to come into the building and get better, work on our fundamentals — we’re taking it in stride. We’re super positive about how this is what we get in light of the season being taken away."

Out of more than 1,000 COVID-19 tests conducted on U-M staffers and athletes in the month of August and the first week of September, there were zero positive cases.

Harbaugh sent a message to the U-M community and Big Ten community by attending the protest and supporting his and his players' wishes to play, also pointing out that he's been told the Wolverines are a model on how to participate in athletics safely during the pandemic.

"It just shows the relationship that the head coach has with his football team, and that he realizes that his team, the guys on the team, want to play," Kemp said of what Harbaugh's presence at the rally meant. "So then that become Coach’s voice, and we get to use our voice through him. And it shows you the relationship and understanding that he has with us.

"It’s not him that’s wanting to play this season, it’s his players. So because we want to play, it’s now Coach that wants to play. Being there on Saturday and seeing him there and him marching with us because this is what we believe in and his players want to play, it speaks volumes for a lot of us."

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