Michigan football: For those who stayed, ‘it means the world’ to play for a Big Ten championship

Fifteen Michigan football players left the program after a tough 2020 season that saw the Wolverines post a 2-4 record.

Despite the struggles — which occurred in large part to opt-outs, injuries and a COVID-19 outbreak — head coach Jim Harbaugh stayed and brought in a top-15 recruiting class. While some media and fans were fixated on the negative surrounding Michigan, there was a group of players who stayed the course and got right to work in preparation for the 2021 campaign. And now, almost exactly year after the Wolverines’ disappointing home loss to Penn State that served as the final contest of the season, there’s a fired up team inside Schembechler Hall getting ready to play Iowa for the Big Ten championship.

RELATED

• Michigan checks in No. 2 in College Football Playoff rankings: Breaking down scenarios, potential opponents, more

• Michigan football news & views: What happened to ‘speed in space?, more

Harbaugh has spent the better part of his media sessions lauding Michigan’s elite-level talent, committed glue players and talented newcomers since the second-ranked Maize and Blue knocked off Ohio State Saturday, discussing each group at length. Redshirt sophomore tight end Luke Schoonmaker, a fourth-year player, is one of those dedicated contributors who stayed. An unsung hero, Schoonmaker has been critical in run blocking and has hauled in 13 catches for 103 yards and three touchdowns this season. Now, he can become a champion.

“It means everything,” Schoonmaker said when asked how significant it is for he and other veterans to have this kind of turnaround. “So many of us that have been here have been working so hard, it means the world to us. We’re off to a great start this week.”

The energy in the building, at practice and on the sidelines is bigger and better, Schoonmaker said, echoing Michigan teammates who have said the same with numbing repetition this season. That helped the Wolverines battle back in multiple games, and punch back instead of lay down.

“Just being able to overcome adversity at different points this year,” Schoonmaker said of highlights of the Michigan season. “That’s something that we’ve definitely emphasized and something that we’ve done such a better job at this year. That just has to do with the chemistry that we’ve all built together — it’s been great. In those games of adversity, like Nebraska or Penn State, just never batting an eyelash. Just coming out on top.

“Coach talked about the different groups that are on the team, like the new guys that have come in, and then the guys who have been committed for so long and things are finally working out for us. All of that put together, there’s just been this energy. And also, coming from last year, too, with how that went … coming from this winter to the spring to the summer to the season, there’s just been this build up of energy. We all couldn’t wait to play in September, and we’re finally at where we’re at now, it’s at an all-time high.”

Michigan is a double-digit favorite over an Iowa team that is tough defensively and is known for playing spoiler to higher ranked squads both this year and in the past. If the Wolverines aren’t careful, their dreams will be shattered Saturday night, but they insist they’ve turned the page after an emotional win over Ohio State.

“Obviously, it was just the best day of our lives this past weekend, but we came back on Monday and we all kind of said it, that the job’s not done,” Schoonmaker said. “And that was the message with everybody. And you can feel it, too, just that hungriness to keep going.”

It’s a fine line between having that hunger and staying in the moment, focusing on the task at hand. But Michigan has toed that line quite well this season, and will attempt to do so once again this week, while still knowing one more win puts the Wolverines in the College Football Playoff.

“Of course that’s one of our goals that we talked about before the season, but we haven’t looked that far ahead,” Schoonmaker said of a potential CFP berth. “We’re really focused on this weekend. Ohio State was the first one, and now it’s onto the second one — the Big Ten title — so that’s what we’re focused on.”

Michigan and Iowa will kick off at 8 p.m. ET Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium.