What Jim Harbaugh said about Michigan football in fall camp
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan football is a mere two and a half weeks away from kicking off the 2022 season, and there’s still a lot the public doesn’t know for sure about the Wolverines. From the quarterback competition to the state of the defense, to how the freshmen are looking, there are a lot of narratives and storylines to cover.
On Wednesday, for the first time since fall camp kicked off two weeks ago, head coach Jim Harbaugh met with the media to discuss the state of the team. He addressed many of the aforementioned storylines and more in his media availability. Here is everything he had to say.
On the state of the quarterback competition
They both just continue to elevate their game, really, on a daily basis, in every little way. So yeah — pretty tight, pretty tight to me.
They’re both playing at the high starter caliber.
On the overall health of the team
Yeah, so another good day today. We’ve done some good hitting, every possible phase and situation — offensively, defensively, special teams. And there are no long-term injuries on the team so far. That’s something that they work at, that they take care of themselves, they take care of the team.
I just had a phenomenal presentation, talk to the team by Michael Phelps, who came in via Zoom, but talked to the team. And I mean, things just continue to ring in my ear and head from that talk, was crystal clear. He told us how he couldn’t wait to get into 105-pounds of ice, waiting for him in a bath. That was going to be the thing he did right after he got done with talking to our team. He talked about sleep, he talked about hydration, water, and somebody that could go anywhere in the world, do any kind of treatment known to mankind — ice, sleep, and hydration with water. Our team has an ice bath waiting for him right now. They’ve got water and then and then getting that sleep. Those are the kinds of things that they take care of themselves. They take care of the team in doing that, but really appreciate Michael Phelps for really embedding that in my mind and in our players’ mind. Talking about the world’s greatest Olympian arguably — no question about swimming and the most gold the most medals of anybody.
So that was huge. And it was a good message right at the right time to keep our team focused and on track and healthy as can be.
Keeping the team from getting a sense of entitlement
Effort is usually the biggest one. Just talked about one and how they take care of themselves how they take care of the team. Avoiding the big head, that that’s a deep, dark, lonely trap. And yeah, continuing to attack everything put in front of them and not afraid of any challenge, not afraid of any new challenge. All those ways. And now that we’re in the camp, big thing I’m looking for is who the tone setters are. I mean, there’s leadership that comes in a lot of different ways. I mean, there’s guys that lead by example. There’s guys that bring guys along. I mean, there’s multiple ways that — quiet leader, take a guy put his arm around them.
But the ones that set the tone defensively, we lost four real tone setters in Hutchinson, Ojabo, Ross, and Dax Hill — big time. And offensively we got some of those homesteaders back like Blake Corum, and the two quarterbacks, and Donovan, and Erick All, and Cornelius Johnson. There’s a few. And special teams: Caden Kolesar, he’s that kind of guy. He does that. Mazi Smith is somebody that people look up to and want to know what he’s doing and what he’s saying. Mike Morris, Taylor Upshaw have the chance to be that. Junior Colson, that kind of player, has the ability to be a tone-setter. The Green brothers. There’s Ronnie, RJ Moten, and there’s a lot — Mikey Sainristil. A lot of guys that have the license and the respect and the ability to do that. And, as we go through camp I just look at that as something that needs to take place and I see it happening, but I want it to continue.
Who have the MVPs of camp been thus far?
Ronnie Bell has been tremendous. I mean, there’s been a bunch. I won’t start naming names and then I’ll leave somebody out. So by just there’s been quite a few.
Ronnie does jump out as somebody that — he’s faster, catching the ball extremely well and he’s stronger. He’s been there every day and doing a tremendous job.
Quite a few. A guy that really popped yesterday, day before yesterday, big scrimmage, was a guy by the name of Isaiah Gash who just did a tremendous job.
You know why boxers make good football players? They don’t blink. They don’t ever blink. If they blink they’re gonna get hit. So Isaiah boxed all spring and winter he was an amateur boxer. And now we’re watching him run through those holes and is as a kick returner. It’s been super fun, impressive. I could see him as somebody that’s really, really emerging.
Which linebackers not named Junior Colson have stood out?
Yeah, Nikhai Hill-Green, extremely good. Mike Barrett, extremely good. The two freshmen have been really good, Jimmy Rolder and Deuce Spurlock. You’ve got Joey Velazquez, there’s quite a few numbers there. I just knew about Nikhai and Junior and they’ve been what we thought they would be they’ve been really good, and so has Mike Barrett. But I’ve been really happy with the two young linebackers, the two inside guys. We recruited the right guys, we got the right guys for that position. Good chance they’ll be playing quite a bit of football this fall.
Making the QB starter decision
Yeah, we’re all out there, we’re all seeing the same thing and when it’s when it’ll be obvious to coaches, it’d be obvious to players, as well. Or it wouldn’t be or would be what it is right now. I mean, they’re both good. Talk to somebody, Dave Revsine in the Big Ten, Howard Griffith is here, coach is here. Just get their opinion, they watched it. See if I’m not telling you the truth. Check me! They’re both playing good. At a high level. Starter caliber.
How have Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant progressed?
Yeah, really good. Really love both those players. They’re both gonna play a lot of football at a position of real need.
What can Grant do with his size?
He’s a tremendous athlete for any size, really. If he was 100 pounds lighter than what he is, you’d say, ‘Man, he’s a really good athlete. He’s really light on his feet.’ And it’s really important to him. He really studies the game.
Yeah, I’m glad you brought that up. Defensively, we have made some real strides in the interior defensive line. Mike Elston’s doing a tremendous job coaching them. Mazi Smith’s doing a tremendous job coaching guys out there. And it wasn’t but a couple of days ago where it was super noticeable, and our defensive line got the better of offensive line that was pretty well thought of in terms of an offensive line. So, we’ve made some real, real improvement in the defensive line interior.
What's his vision for the offense this year? Is it evolving from last year?
Always, always evolving and always evolving.
Would he compare Andrel Anthony to Braylon Edwards as Ron Bellamy did?
Oh yeah, that’s probably a pretty darn good comparison right there. I think Andrel is somebody that — just keep doing what you’re doing, Andrel. It is working. And then when I see there’s things he wants to get a little bit better at, he works a little bit harder at them. And he has always avoided getting the big head, so he’s right on track to be a heckuva good player — already is.
Who is emerging as the third running back?
That’s a good question. It’s a really good question. Tavierre Dunlap, C.J. Stokes is going to be right there. He could be that kind of guy. Isaiah Gash, Leon Franklin, pretty darn good, too. So those are the guys that would be contending for that third back spot.
What has he seen from C.J. Stokes in particular?
Yeah, he can make the shallow cut, like water rolling off the table. And then accelerate through the hole and then go hit the soft shoulder of the tackler. He gets there extremely quick and he’s got a real burst through the line of scrimmage, knows how to get his pad down. That’s really — it’s been good.
Is Rod Moore coming on strong after his spring injury?
He sure has. Yeah, he has. We’ve got some sophomore players that are really really darn good football players. And we’re talking about Junior Colson and Donovan Edwards, J.J., Andrel, and Rob Moore. And not in order, but that’s definitely top tier of this of the sophomore class. All really, really good players.
What has Fred Jackson added to the staff?
He always picks up one or two things every day. H a very experienced coach that’ll come tell me what he sees. And not afraid to do that. And that’s invaluable to our staff to me as a head coach.
What role does the offense have in uplifting the defense this year?
Just playing offense is what they always should do in terms of complementary football.
Is there any downside to having two starting-caliber quarterbacks?
No, I think that’s one of the real, is when it’s a real option. I mean, there’s three as I see itOne of them is going to separate and be the starter. And then we’ll roll that way, with the starter and the backup. The other guy could be the starter and the other be the backup. That would be option two. And option three is we’d have to see them play games to make that decision.
Could it be a Brady-Henson scenario this year?
I mean, hypothetically — hypothetically, I don’t know. I mean, it’d be like trying to throw that in the hypothetical box. Like some people like to say, ‘If you don’t have a starting quarterback, then you don’t have a quarterback.’ I put that into the category of people that — they’re born originals and they die copies. They just hear something and they and they parrot it. So, this is a very good, unique situation. We have two quarterbacks that are playing at a high-starter level, and we’re going to keep competing and it’s possible that there’s a starter by the first game. And then possible that it plays into the season until one is — then we pick the one that’s gonna help the team win, who’s gonna going to be the best person to play quarterback to win the game.
