Former Michigan offensive lineman Jon Jansen joined Jack and Jim Harbaugh's "Attack Each day" podcast this week to discuss several topics, including what it was like playing on the 1997 national championship team.
The trio also talked about the challenges of playing multiple sports in high school, but why it's beneficial to do so.
Jim Harbaugh, on how Saturday's spring scrimmage went:
“I was coaching practice, and couldn’t help but notice all the families watching intently. The Woods family [sophomore safety J'Marick Woods] came up, including both of his grandparents. About every player was represented with at least a few family members.
"The parents of our players treat the other kids on the team like their own sons. Not one time since I’ve been here has a parent complained about someone else at their son’s position — I've never been asked, 'why isn’t my son playing more?’"
Jim Harbaugh, on multi-sport athletes:
“We recruited a few youngsters this year who were excellent basketball players — one was even an offensive lineman. It appeared his basketball coach and football coach couldn’t come to an agreement — they wanted him to choose one sport and settle on it.
"The basketball coach even said they didn’t want him on the team if he couldn’t make every single summer workout. Youngsters are having challenges playing multiple sports in high school nowadays.”
Jon Jansen, on his impressions of Michigan's spring practice on Saturday:
“I love the way they work. I really like what Coach [Ed] Warinner is doing with the offensive line — he’s working on the fundamentals. It’s so hard during the season to go back to fundamentals — it should be engrained in those guys at that point.
"I love watching Don Brown’s defenses too. There’s always new blitzes, and when I see him dial up a new blitz, I automatically start thinking about which protection should be run and how the blitzer should be picked up.”
Jon Jansen, on how special the '97 team was:
“We had a lot of talent, but what made that team special was that we truly loved each other. We wanted to succeed for everyone who had gone through winter workouts and summer conditioning — we were fighting for the coaches too. All our coaches were a part of us — they were our brothers.
"When you win championships, you stay in touch with those guys a little more than you do with some other teammates. It’s been an amazing experience to see all those guys go on to play in the pros, and become doctors, lawyers and businessmen.”
Jon Jansen, on how special Michigan is:
“We’ve all been around different colleges and pro teams, but there’s just something special about Michigan. I’d often be in locker room with the Redskins, and guys would ask me how special it was to wear the winged helmet. They'd want to know what it was like playing in front of 100,000 people every weekend.
"Michigan is different than everywhere else — there’s a lot of great schools around the country, but there’s something special about being a part of the Michigan family.”
Jon Jansen, on advice he would give to incoming freshmen at Michigan:
“Work as hard as you possibly can. The amount of fun you’ll have by being on the field and contributing in practice is second to none. What you do in practice will show on game day. Whatever your role is at that point in your career, do it to the best of your ability — because it’s all about winning for Michigan.”
Jim Harbaugh, with more on multi-sport athletes:
“Guys playing multiple sports actually affected our recruiting this year — [freshmen receiver] Ronnie Bell was the main guy. [Michigan head basketball coach] John Beilein can decide if he wants Ronnie to help the basketball team. We obviously wanted him for his football ability, but also because of what we saw from him on the basketball court.
"We also watched [freshman tight end] Luke Schoonmaker run around the basketball court at 6-6, 240.
"[Freshman running back] Hassan Haskins was on his high school basketball team too, and I know [freshmen offensive tackle] Jalen Mayfield’s team made it to the state tournament his junior year.
"[Freshmen offensive tackle/tight end] Ryan Hayes played as well. Kids should do as much as they can and compete as much as they can — more is more.”
Jon Jansen, on his radio duties:
“I love working with Doug [Karsch], Jim [Brandstatter] and Dan [Dierdorf]. Jim has seen as much Michigan football as anybody alive.
"Doug actually has some shady areas in his background though — he went to that school down the road — but we’ve accepted him. I’ll keep working on him and make sure he stays on the straight and narrow.”
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