The OFFICIAL MICHIGAN TEAM 136 THREAD: THE CONQUERING HEROES
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HNIC973
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Players: Harbaugh's demanding ways pay off in end
Angelique S. Chengelis, The Detroit News 8 p.m. EST January 1, 2016
(Photo: David Guralnick / Detroit News)
Orlando, Fla. — From the beginning, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh approached the job coaching his alma mater with consistency and high demands and expectations.
That is how he had been coached, after all, by legendary Michigan coach Bo Schembechler.
Harbaugh did not change things as the Wolverines prepared for their bowl game. It was the same precise, demanding schedule and process he had established upon his arrival just more than a year ago. The Wolverines, playing perhaps their most complete game of the season, upended Florida 41-7 on Friday in the Citrus Bowl to finish 10-3 in Harbaugh's first year.
"You saw the epitome of what he's been trying to do since Day 1 when he got here and what was on the field today," linebacker and co-captain Joe Bolden said. "Defense getting three-and-outs, we were only on the field twice in the third quarter because the offense was running the ball straight down the field and took the ball down and punched it in.
"It's what he wants, it's what you'll see, it's what we wanted to get done."
Harbaugh said after the game there was no difference in the way he guided the team before the bowl, with more than a month off since the last regular-season game, and during spring practice, preseason camp and the season.
"Not any change at all," Harbaugh said. "It's been the same. It's been the same demanding, intense, punishing pace from Day 1. And it's gone with no change. Every single guy … they really wanted to be good, and they were serious about being good and worked with that intent.
"But no change. It was the same demanding, intense, punishing pace all the way through. Jackhammers."
Initially, Harbaugh was a shock to the system for the players. Spring practices were four hours, an unheard of pace but something he felt they needed.
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, right, gets a hug from university president Mark Schlissel after the Wolverines defeated the Florida Gators, 41-7, in the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida, Jan. 1, 2016. David Guralnick / Detroit News
"At first you're like, 'Is this really going to work?'" tailback Drake Johnson, who had 58 rushing yards and a touchdown and also an eight-yard touchdown reception, said. "Coach Harbaugh's method, at first you hear it, and you're like, it seems kind of nuts, doesn't seem like it would work. And then the product happens, and you're like, 'Yeah, I probably should have known the entire time this was going to happen.
"He's always been preaching to us, he preached to us this past month, you handle your business the way you're supposed to, you do this the right way and you're going to win the game. Every day, he'd be like, 'OK, we're a day closer, we're continuing to work.' We were very much an all-work kind of team. It wasn't all work and no play, but we were more work-focused. The product today shows it. Coach Harbaugh's methods, they work, they work. You can't say 41 points against Florida is not working, I'd say."
Bolden said Harbaugh and his staff ran a tight ship during the bowl.
DETROIT NEWS
On a dime: UM hits 10-win mark with Citrus Bowl blowout
"We had meetings every night," Bolden said. "A lot of teams let you go out. Right now is the time where everyone's getting arrested, getting in trouble and all that stuff. That's not the case. Coach Harbaugh runs it almost like camp. You're waking up at 8, you have breakfast until 8:30, meetings, practice, you come back, you get time to relax, and you're headed to whatever, Disney, and the last bus (returns at) 9. He's very meticulous when it comes to scheduling and when it comes to getting everything you can out of scheduling."
Harbaugh's method, Bolden said, is vastly different than what he had experienced before at Michigan. Bolden, who played his final college game, said he still isn't quite sure what Harbaugh's method is, but he knows it works.
"I'm trying to figure it out a little bit still," he said, smiling. "(It's) just how the guys are acting. The attitude they carry throughout the season, win, lose. Every day we came into the building, and it's almost like he (transmitted) his attitude of coming into the building to each individual on the team. I saw it each practice, each meeting, each day."
After the 2014 season in which the Wolverines finished 5-7, they stayed home with no bowl reward. Their coach, Brady Hoke, was fired, and they waited to find out who would take over the program.
With Harbaugh, they feel things are turning.
"Last year when we didn't make a bowl, I don't know if it was a wakeup call for some of these guys, but I feel like with a new coaching staff that emphasized hard work and grinding it out, I think everyone had bought in," senior center Graham Glasgow said. "And the guys who bought in are making plays and the guys that didn't, aren't, and they're not going to end up being here."
Harbaugh was asked if this season is the foundation for something bigger.
"We're not saying this is the greatest year in the history of Michigan football," Harbaugh said. "Michigan football has been around for a long, long time. But this team, this team acquitted themselves very well."
Green
Angelique S. Chengelis, The Detroit News 8 p.m. EST January 1, 2016
(Photo: David Guralnick / Detroit News)
Orlando, Fla. — From the beginning, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh approached the job coaching his alma mater with consistency and high demands and expectations.
That is how he had been coached, after all, by legendary Michigan coach Bo Schembechler.
Harbaugh did not change things as the Wolverines prepared for their bowl game. It was the same precise, demanding schedule and process he had established upon his arrival just more than a year ago. The Wolverines, playing perhaps their most complete game of the season, upended Florida 41-7 on Friday in the Citrus Bowl to finish 10-3 in Harbaugh's first year.
"You saw the epitome of what he's been trying to do since Day 1 when he got here and what was on the field today," linebacker and co-captain Joe Bolden said. "Defense getting three-and-outs, we were only on the field twice in the third quarter because the offense was running the ball straight down the field and took the ball down and punched it in.
"It's what he wants, it's what you'll see, it's what we wanted to get done."
Harbaugh said after the game there was no difference in the way he guided the team before the bowl, with more than a month off since the last regular-season game, and during spring practice, preseason camp and the season.
"Not any change at all," Harbaugh said. "It's been the same. It's been the same demanding, intense, punishing pace from Day 1. And it's gone with no change. Every single guy … they really wanted to be good, and they were serious about being good and worked with that intent.
"But no change. It was the same demanding, intense, punishing pace all the way through. Jackhammers."
Initially, Harbaugh was a shock to the system for the players. Spring practices were four hours, an unheard of pace but something he felt they needed.
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, right, gets a hug from university president Mark Schlissel after the Wolverines defeated the Florida Gators, 41-7, in the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida, Jan. 1, 2016. David Guralnick / Detroit News
"At first you're like, 'Is this really going to work?'" tailback Drake Johnson, who had 58 rushing yards and a touchdown and also an eight-yard touchdown reception, said. "Coach Harbaugh's method, at first you hear it, and you're like, it seems kind of nuts, doesn't seem like it would work. And then the product happens, and you're like, 'Yeah, I probably should have known the entire time this was going to happen.
"He's always been preaching to us, he preached to us this past month, you handle your business the way you're supposed to, you do this the right way and you're going to win the game. Every day, he'd be like, 'OK, we're a day closer, we're continuing to work.' We were very much an all-work kind of team. It wasn't all work and no play, but we were more work-focused. The product today shows it. Coach Harbaugh's methods, they work, they work. You can't say 41 points against Florida is not working, I'd say."
Bolden said Harbaugh and his staff ran a tight ship during the bowl.
DETROIT NEWS
On a dime: UM hits 10-win mark with Citrus Bowl blowout
"We had meetings every night," Bolden said. "A lot of teams let you go out. Right now is the time where everyone's getting arrested, getting in trouble and all that stuff. That's not the case. Coach Harbaugh runs it almost like camp. You're waking up at 8, you have breakfast until 8:30, meetings, practice, you come back, you get time to relax, and you're headed to whatever, Disney, and the last bus (returns at) 9. He's very meticulous when it comes to scheduling and when it comes to getting everything you can out of scheduling."
Harbaugh's method, Bolden said, is vastly different than what he had experienced before at Michigan. Bolden, who played his final college game, said he still isn't quite sure what Harbaugh's method is, but he knows it works.
"I'm trying to figure it out a little bit still," he said, smiling. "(It's) just how the guys are acting. The attitude they carry throughout the season, win, lose. Every day we came into the building, and it's almost like he (transmitted) his attitude of coming into the building to each individual on the team. I saw it each practice, each meeting, each day."
After the 2014 season in which the Wolverines finished 5-7, they stayed home with no bowl reward. Their coach, Brady Hoke, was fired, and they waited to find out who would take over the program.
With Harbaugh, they feel things are turning.
"Last year when we didn't make a bowl, I don't know if it was a wakeup call for some of these guys, but I feel like with a new coaching staff that emphasized hard work and grinding it out, I think everyone had bought in," senior center Graham Glasgow said. "And the guys who bought in are making plays and the guys that didn't, aren't, and they're not going to end up being here."
Harbaugh was asked if this season is the foundation for something bigger.
"We're not saying this is the greatest year in the history of Michigan football," Harbaugh said. "Michigan football has been around for a long, long time. But this team, this team acquitted themselves very well."
Green
HNIC973
R.I.P Bandana P
9:48 PM ET
Harbaugh shook hands and posed for dozens of pictures. At one point, one of the school's most important donors, J. Ira Harris, found Harbaugh in the crowd.
"Ten!" he yelled in jubilation. "That was the promise!"
Harbaugh just smiled and hugged the man who in 2014 gave $10 million to name the Wolverines' coaching position after himself and his wife, Nicki Harris. It seems like a bargain after Harbaugh delivered the 10 wins Harris wanted most.
Michigan ended its first campaign under Harbaugh in emphatic fashion -- by hammering Florida 41-7 to cap a 10-3 season. Even the most optimistic Maize and Blue supporter would have had a hard time believing in the preseason that the program would double its win total after last season's 5-7 debacle.
Jarrod Wilson said. "But the preparation that we put in each week, and with a great coach in Coach Harbaugh, it became more and more real to me each week."
A 10-win season might not seem like much for the winningest team in college football history. But consider that before Friday, the Wolverines had reached that plateau only twice since 2003.
They grabbed win No. 10 with what Harbaugh called their most complete game of the season. The offense rang up 503 total yards and 28 first downs on a Florida defense that had ranked as one of the best in the FBS all season. Michigan's defense held the Gators to 273 yards -- only 143 of which came after the first quarter. Florida head coach Jim McElwain said the one-sided game had nothing to do with his team's lack of motivation.
"They just out-physicaled us," McElwain said.
That had to sound like music to Harbaugh's ears. He took a team that had lacked toughness under Brady Hoke and molded it in his own tough-guy image. And he did that practically overnight. No wonder Harbaugh couldn't stop smiling after the game and called this his "best year in football." That's saying a lot for a guy who played in the NFL, coached in a Super Bowl and won an Orange Bowl at Stanford.
But this year was different. This year, Harbaugh revived his alma mater.
"I'm sure that all people who like Michigan are really proud of the fellas and the way they played all year," Harbaugh said. "They're on the Michigan Man list. And we're not saying this is the greatest year in the history of Michigan football. But this team acquitted themselves very well."
Of course, winning Citrus Bowls and finishing third in the Big Ten East Division are never goals in Ann Arbor. This 10-win season and the impressive closing number will raise expectations for the 2016 season, when Michigan is likely to start in or very near the top 10.
The Wolverines will have to replace some valuable players. Quarterback will be a major question mark after Jake Rudock departs. Rudock, remarkably, transformed from a guy Iowa didn't need last January to an indispensable leader for the Wolverines, and he won Citrus Bowl MVP honors with his highly efficient performance (20-for-31 for 278 yards and three touchdowns) against Florida's talented secondary.
"Jake was on the money today," Harbaugh said. "Fabulous. Darn near flawless."
But Harbaugh and his coaching staff had a lot to do with the development of guys such as Jehu Chesson and Rudock. Expect the staff to work the same magic with the returning core, which will include stars such as tight end Jake Butt, cornerback Jourdan Lewis and safety Jabrill Peppers, who missed the Florida game with a hand injury. Also, the Wolverines will reap the fruits of Harbaugh's first full recruiting class at Michigan.
"This is just the appetizer, I like to say," junior defensive lineman Chris Wormley said. "We're only going to get better next year, and it's exciting. We're ready to show the world and the rest of the NCAA that we're a team that can take it all."
Don't expect Harbaugh to endorse such lofty talk, at least not publicly. But he couldn't help but feel great about what he and his team accomplished in Year 1 and what that might mean going forward.
As he took one of his last photos on the field, with Harris and a few other fans, he kept smiling well after the iPhone shutter closed. Before he headed off into the Michigan locker room, he had a message for the group.
"Next year," he said, "we go for the big one."
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Brian BennettESPN Staff Writer
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Harbaugh shook hands and posed for dozens of pictures. At one point, one of the school's most important donors, J. Ira Harris, found Harbaugh in the crowd.
"Ten!" he yelled in jubilation. "That was the promise!"
Harbaugh just smiled and hugged the man who in 2014 gave $10 million to name the Wolverines' coaching position after himself and his wife, Nicki Harris. It seems like a bargain after Harbaugh delivered the 10 wins Harris wanted most.
Michigan ended its first campaign under Harbaugh in emphatic fashion -- by hammering Florida 41-7 to cap a 10-3 season. Even the most optimistic Maize and Blue supporter would have had a hard time believing in the preseason that the program would double its win total after last season's 5-7 debacle.
Jarrod Wilson said. "But the preparation that we put in each week, and with a great coach in Coach Harbaugh, it became more and more real to me each week."
A 10-win season might not seem like much for the winningest team in college football history. But consider that before Friday, the Wolverines had reached that plateau only twice since 2003.
They grabbed win No. 10 with what Harbaugh called their most complete game of the season. The offense rang up 503 total yards and 28 first downs on a Florida defense that had ranked as one of the best in the FBS all season. Michigan's defense held the Gators to 273 yards -- only 143 of which came after the first quarter. Florida head coach Jim McElwain said the one-sided game had nothing to do with his team's lack of motivation.
"They just out-physicaled us," McElwain said.
That had to sound like music to Harbaugh's ears. He took a team that had lacked toughness under Brady Hoke and molded it in his own tough-guy image. And he did that practically overnight. No wonder Harbaugh couldn't stop smiling after the game and called this his "best year in football." That's saying a lot for a guy who played in the NFL, coached in a Super Bowl and won an Orange Bowl at Stanford.
But this year was different. This year, Harbaugh revived his alma mater.
"I'm sure that all people who like Michigan are really proud of the fellas and the way they played all year," Harbaugh said. "They're on the Michigan Man list. And we're not saying this is the greatest year in the history of Michigan football. But this team acquitted themselves very well."
Of course, winning Citrus Bowls and finishing third in the Big Ten East Division are never goals in Ann Arbor. This 10-win season and the impressive closing number will raise expectations for the 2016 season, when Michigan is likely to start in or very near the top 10.
The Wolverines will have to replace some valuable players. Quarterback will be a major question mark after Jake Rudock departs. Rudock, remarkably, transformed from a guy Iowa didn't need last January to an indispensable leader for the Wolverines, and he won Citrus Bowl MVP honors with his highly efficient performance (20-for-31 for 278 yards and three touchdowns) against Florida's talented secondary.
"Jake was on the money today," Harbaugh said. "Fabulous. Darn near flawless."
But Harbaugh and his coaching staff had a lot to do with the development of guys such as Jehu Chesson and Rudock. Expect the staff to work the same magic with the returning core, which will include stars such as tight end Jake Butt, cornerback Jourdan Lewis and safety Jabrill Peppers, who missed the Florida game with a hand injury. Also, the Wolverines will reap the fruits of Harbaugh's first full recruiting class at Michigan.
"This is just the appetizer, I like to say," junior defensive lineman Chris Wormley said. "We're only going to get better next year, and it's exciting. We're ready to show the world and the rest of the NCAA that we're a team that can take it all."
Don't expect Harbaugh to endorse such lofty talk, at least not publicly. But he couldn't help but feel great about what he and his team accomplished in Year 1 and what that might mean going forward.
As he took one of his last photos on the field, with Harris and a few other fans, he kept smiling well after the iPhone shutter closed. Before he headed off into the Michigan locker room, he had a message for the group.
"Next year," he said, "we go for the big one."
I can't wait to come back in this thread when Jordan Elliot eventually flips back to Texas.
HNIC973
R.I.P Bandana P
Gary just went right around Delance for a sack
That kid nasty man.Gary just went right around Delance for a sack
Gary just went right around Delance for a sack
Which returning starter is Gary putting on the bench? It's inevitable
HNIC973
R.I.P Bandana P
no clue might be Henry if he returns since his effort has been put in question at times got better this year tho
What is it about UM being the 4th school that Elliot (an impressionable OOS recruit from a diffrent region of the country) has been committed to in a 1-year span that you don't understand?He said the same shyt to his previous 3 schools. You shouldn't believe anything he says until he signs his NLi on NSD.
You can tell Harbaugh is worried about keeping Elliot's commitment because the other Houston area recuits (McCullough, DJax, & Chris Brown) that could influence him to flip back to Texas all have Michigan offers. Those recruits have all visted Michigan & didn't commit on their visit like Elliot and aren't expected to end up at Michigan. That kind of speaks volumes on how impressionable Jordan Elliot is.
HNIC973
R.I.P Bandana P
he committed to those schools without his mother's consent
He said the same shyt to his previous 3 schools. You shouldn't believe anything he says until he signs his NLi on NSD.
You can tell Harbaugh is worried about keeping Elliot's commitment because the other Houston area recuits (McCullough, DJax, & Chris Brown) that could influence him to flip back to Texas all have Michigan offers. Those recruits have all visted Michigan & didn't commit on their visit like Elliot and aren't expected to end up at Michigan. That kind of speaks volumes on how impressionable Jordan Elliot is.
HNIC973
R.I.P Bandana P
Gary has like 4 sacks
He said the same shyt to his previous 3 schools. You shouldn't believe anything he says until he signs his NLi on NSD.
You can tell Harbaugh is worried about keeping Elliot's commitment because the other Houston area recuits (McCullough, DJax, & Chris Brown) that could influence him to flip back to Texas all have Michigan offers. Those recruits have all visted Michigan & didn't commit on their visit like Elliot and aren't expected to end up at Michigan. That kind of speaks volumes on how impressionable Jordan Elliot is.
& 
Use some logic here. The 3 previous schools he committed to are Baylor, UH, & Texas. So his mama was 
with him commiting to 3 in-state schools, but gave the co-sign to a cold weather school in the midwest?Even if that's true, it doesn't matter. Some how I doubt his family is gonna lose any sleep if he decides to stay in-state.
Dawg, get over it. We're providing all of the information and you're like "who cares?" What part of his mom not agreeing with him committing so early before, which is known, causes you so much skepticism? Better yet, who in the world said location was a primary factor in his decision to the point where you think it is far-fetched that she would not co-sign local schools? The only reason Delance stayed in Texas was because his mother forced him. In other words, these kids don't care as much about staying home as you think they do.
He said the same shyt to his previous 3 schools. You shouldn't believe anything he says until he signs his NLi on NSD.
You can tell Harbaugh is worried about keeping Elliot's commitment because the other Houston area recuits (McCullough, DJax, & Chris Brown) that could influence him to flip back to Texas all have Michigan offers. Those recruits have all visted Michigan & didn't commit on their visit like Elliot and aren't expected to end up at Michigan. That kind of speaks volumes on how impressionable Jordan Elliot is.
So what makes it implausible that a kid without any of that pressure would not go to Michigan? It's not like Michigan does not currently have recruits from all across the country. Elliot was on Twitter poppin off about how MIchigan sonned from Florida yesterday and is walking around calling he and Mone the twin towers of Ann Arbor and you're over here saying he's about to flip to a program on the decline?
Side note: rumors have it that Little might be thinking Blue
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