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Jim Harbaugh raves about mental strength of Olu Oluwatimi after overcoming difficult week

ns_headshot_2024-clearby:Nick Schultz•11/22/22•

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Michigan football Olu Oluwatimi
New Michigan Wolverines football center Olusegun Oluwatimi began his career at Air Force, starred at Virginia and is now at U-M. (Photo by EJ Holland / TheWolverine.com)

Before he became the starting center at Michigan, Olu Oluwatimi played on the offensive line at Virginia. That’s why last week’s tragic shooting on the UVA campus hit close to home for him — and that wasn’t the only thing on his mind as the Wolverines took on Illinois.

Oluwatimi’s father had surgery to remove a brain tumor, Jim Harbaugh told reporters after the game. Between that and the shooting, which claimed the lives of two of Oluwatimi’s former teammates, Harbaugh made sure to point out just how impressed he was that Oluwatimi played as well as he did to help Michigan to the victory.

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“He has the strength of 10 men,” Harbaugh said. “I have so much admiration for him and I will forever be proud to be his friend. The week he had this week, not only the physical strength of 10 men, but the mental strength of 10 men. The victims at Virginia, that tragedy was personal for him. Those were some of his teammates. And his dad had successful surgery to remove a tumor in his brain. All that was going on for Olu this week. I think back to being that age and there’s no way I could’ve handled that.”

Jim Harbaugh wants JJ McCarthy to ‘have at it’ against Ohio State

Michigan survived a scare over the weekend with a 19-17 escape against Illinois, winning on a field goal with nine seconds remaining after quarterback JJ McCarthy helped lead the team into range.

Now, with a real gutsy win under his starting quarterback’s belt, coach Jim Harbaugh has one piece of advice heading into this weekend’s massive matchup against No. 2 Ohio State.

“Have at it,” Harbaugh said.

When Michigan made the decision to replace starting quarterback Cade McNamara with JJ McCarthy earlier this season, the hope was that McCarthy would provide the Wolverines with a little more long-term upside.