Wolverine Watch: Michigan's Major Move Forward
Everything sounds like an excuse, when you’re 2-4. When you’re 6-0, ranked No. 6 in the nation, with everything still on the line, reasons sound … well, more reasonable.
Maybe that’s why redshirt junior offensive tackle Andrew Stueber felt a little more comfortable speaking his mind recently about the nightmare that was 2020. He lived it, but it didn’t feel real.
“Last year just didn’t really feel like college football, in a lot of ways,” Stueber opined. “No fans in any stadium, not starting on time, not getting the time to really bond with everyone in camp or in the hotel. It really kind of affected the nature of college football and the nature of a lot of teams.”
One of those programs takes on Northwestern Saturday, looking to move to 7-0.
Had anyone mentioned a 7-0 start for the Wolverines back in, say, July, they’d have been laughed out of the room.
Remember? Washington would be too much to handle. Heck, Western Michigan might be too much to handle (hello, Phil Steele).
And Wisconsin, at Camp Randall? That’s surely another steamroll job by a crew which flattened the Wolverines the previous two years by a combined score of 84-25.
This Michigan team was bound for 7-5, or maybe 5-7 … until it wasn’t.
It’s not like the uniqueness of 2020 for Michigan wasn’t talked about at the time. It’s just that when you’re losing, nobody wants to hear it.
No spring football, with untested quarterbacks vying for the starting job. Crucial opt-outs in a COVID year, including the best receiver (Nico Collins) and best cornerback (Ambry Thomas). Injuries that not only wiped out the NFL-level starting defensive ends (Kwity Paye and Aidan Hutchinson) but also the starting offensive tackles (Ryan Hayes and Jalen Mayfield).
A mid-October beginning, with empty stadiums. Games felt more like scrimmages.
Did other teams face difficulties as well? Of course, and many handled it much better.
But this didn’t mark the end of the line for Jim Harbaugh, as some predicted. It also didn’t signal the start of a complete malaise for Michigan football.
“It wasn’t college football, and it wasn’t us,” Stueber said.
Harbaugh, his back clearly to the wall, began throwing switches that clicked in the right direction.
He brought Mike Hart and Ron Bellamy home as assistant coaches. He made Michigan home for a host of others, including defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, quarterbacks coach Matt Weiss, linebackers coach George Helow and defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale. He put former tight ends coach Sherrone Moore in charge of the offensive line.
The shakeup arguably left Harbaugh with his best staff in his seven years at Michigan. But the job wasn’t finished. The Wolverines couldn’t continue the internal me focus and eyes-on-the-NFL attitudinal poison that affected recent teams, especially the 2020 squad.
And they didn’t.
James Ross became the latest to testify to that fact.
No, not Josh Ross, the redshirt junior linebacker who appears transformed this season into what Harbaugh describes as a ‘backer as good as any he’s had at U-M.
This is James, the older brother and former Wolverine. Well, what would he know, except second hand?
Plenty. He served as a graduate assistant coach the past three years, working inside Schembechler Hall. He knows the much-discussed increase in excitement and attitudinal makeover is for real.
“You can see the excitement from watching the games on TV, and the closeness of the players,” Ross said. “That really sticks out to me.
“I think the culture has definitely changed. The conversations I’ve had with Josh, him talking about the things they have going on, the changes they’ve made, the coaches that are involved in each of these kid’s lives, it’s clear that it’s a different type of feel up there.
“That’s why they’ve got these guys playing at the level they’re playing at. I think we’ve always had the talent. It’s always been there.
“Now, the players are not only playing for the coaches, but they’re playing for one another. That’s why you see these guys playing at a high level.”
To a man, those players agree on this: we haven’t done anything yet.
From the standpoint of winning the Big Ten, or even challenging for a spot in the title game, they’re right. As far as becoming a playoff squad, they’re dead on. The biggest landmines lay ahead.
But in terms of a dramatic reversal from the recent past, and an undeniable, results-based hope for the future? They’ve done a lot.
Now they get to build on it, with every prize remaining on the table.
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