Photos and video: Michigan arrives in Los Angeles for Rose Bowl
Michigan Wolverines football announced its arrival to Los Angeles for Rose Bowl preparations at 4:27 p.m. PT Tuesday afternoon. In less than a week, on Jan. 1, the Maize and Blue will take on Alabama for a national title game berth in the CFP semifinal.
Watch video of Michigan’s arrival in the player at the top of the screen or on our YouTube channel. View photos of the arrival below, courtesy of the College Football Playoff and Rose Bowl.
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Michigan has made the CFP each of the last three seasons, but fell in its first two appearances, to Georgia in 2021 and TCU in 2022. With that, head coach Jim Harbaugh has adjusted the way he prepped his team before it left for the West Coast.
“I think that the last couple years, I felt like we fell victim to paralysis by overanalysis and just getting over-detailed with too many things and over-thinking things,” junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy said. “These first couple of weeks, we really just took things kinda light, easing into things and it’s been kind of fresh every single day. I think that’s going to be the biggest difference of keeping a balance.”
McCarthy added that he felt U-M was “a little bit” fatigued heading into CFP losses to Georgia and TCU the last two seasons and that the Wolverines are looking to avoid “mental” exhaustion this time around.
Michigan senior defensive tackle Kris Jenkins has also felt the Wolverines’ approach this season has been a positive so far.
“We’ve definitely taken into account how beneficial it is preserving the legs as much as possible,” Jenkins, who’s racked up 32 tackles this season, said. “But at the same time, we’re not taking too much of a step off and really just trying to emphasize that mental game and get as much work as possible without diminishing our speed, our stamina, our legs.
“Just trying to limit as much full-blown contact as possible and just toning that down. Trying to eliminate as much tackling as possible, keeping that body fresh, keeping anybody from getting hurt before the game.”
