While acknowledging that losing Ben Herbert was a big hit for the Michigan football program this season, it's also safe to say that if things continue on the same track when it comes to strength and conditioning, the program is still in good hands.

That was the hope when Herbert named his mentee, Justin Tress, his successor upon departing for the Los Angeles Chargers.

For Tress, who appeared on the latest episode of the In the Trenches podcast, he isn't trying to reinvent the wheel in Ann Arbor.

He's simply trying to continue building what's been established and to keep being himself in the process.

"At the end of the day, we built that thing together," Tress said. "He would say that as well. Been with him every step of the way through here. It's had its days. Its ups, its downs. The 2-4 season to winning a national championship, I've seen the whole gamut. The key is, not a whole bunch has to change in terms of what we do or how we do it. To put my own stamp on it is simply I am myself. Be myself the whole time, who I've been since I've gotten here, it's gotten me to this point. Just continuing to build relationships with the players, that's the biggest thing."

Tress was quickly thrown into the deep end of the pool once Herbert left as the program is preparing for spring practices later this month. It didn't take long for the players to realize that not much was going to change when it came to their process of strength and nutrition.

For Tress and the rest of the U-M program, it's business as usual.

"The first day, how I chose to address (Herbert's departure) is we trained, I didn't give them a speech at the beginning, we just trained," Tress said. "Then I brought them up at the end and I said, 'That was so different, wasn't it?' They were kind of looking around, like, is this a trick? I was like, yeah, no, no. My message to them was, the reason why it wasn't different is because of the standard they have set. They choose to come in and attack each day how they choose to. We help them facilitate their standard but, at the end of the day, they make the choice each and every day. They kind of looked at me like, I think you're right.

"As each day progressed from that point on, it was, we're doing pretty much the same things the same way with the same detail. How can we make it better? How can we tighten down the details? They've fully bought in, they've been rocking and rolling just like they have been in the past and it's been good."

---

Discuss this article with our community on our premium message boards

Not a subscriber to Maize & Blue Review? Sign up today to gain access to all the latest Michigan intel M&BR has to offer

Follow our staff on Twitter: @JoshHenschke, @Berry_Seth14, @TrevorMcCue, @DennisFithian, @BrockHeilig, @JimScarcelli, @lucasreimink

Subscribe to our podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify

Check out Maize & Blue Review's video content on YouTube

Follow Maize & Blue Review on social media: Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram