Jesse Minter on performing through Harbaugh suspension and noise: 'It's bigger than one person'

The Michigan Wolverines played without head coach Jim Harbaugh last Saturday afternoon in a 24-15 win against Penn State while serving the first game of a three-game suspension. A court preventing that before game time did not come through, meaning Michigan had to find a way with the guys it had available.

That opened the door for offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Sherrone Moore to act in Harbaugh’s place on the day. Defensive coordinator Jesse Minter essentially served as the head coach on defense. Together, the mean helped helm a major Michigan victory.

“You try to make their stuff your own as coach likes to say,” Minter said Tuesday night on the Insie Michigan Football radio show. “And I think our guys just had a great mindset to stay focused on us while at the same time knowing it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play in a game like that and take advantage of it and certainly had a lot of fun doing it.

“We talked a lot about it being like a training camp game and they were similarly built like our own offense in a sense that they got a pretty good offensive line. They have these good running backs. They have two good tight ends that can create matchup problems. The receiving core, I thought had some speed and length, certainly. And then a quarterback that’s got a big-time arm and was coming off of his best game. We knew that this is the best group that we’ve played by far. And it’s going to take our best game to stop them. It’s going to take our best game to keep the game the way we want it to go.

“I just felt we were able to kind of control the tempo of the game. Would have loved to have gotten off the field a couple of times on that drive right before the half and a couple of missed opportunities there, but overall just really proud of the guys and the grit and the fight and the toughness and the resiliency and the mindset that they played with the entire game.”

Harbaugh, who was first informed of his suspension via someone else’s social media feed, spoke to the Michigan team on Friday night to prepare them for both possible outcomes. It made the adjustment and frenzy of Saturday easier to handle.

“Coach was able to talk to the team Friday night and kind of said this is the way this is going to go,” Minter said. “Or it could go the other way, just depending on how it plays out. I think we were really well prepared.

“I think I’ve said this before about coach, but he breeds confidence in everybody. He trusts everybody. He trusts our staff. So for Sharonne to be able to step up and take that primary leadership role… Hey, when we were on defense, do your thing. If you need to call a timeout, call a timeout, you handle it when we’re on defense. Major, major props to coach for just building that confidence in the players and into the team, not to flinch. Major props to Sheronne on how he handled that situation and that environment and just really cool to see and be a part of such a great staff.”

Nobody ever wants to deal with a coaching suspension, especially twice in the same season. But that’s the place Michigan finds itself in currently. If nothing else, the fact that players and coaches have had to operate that way previously is seen as a positive.

“There was a benefit of having gone through that experience,” Minter said. “Guys have gone out there before and you realize that you’re playing for Michigan. It’s bigger than one person. Our team is a direct reflection of Coach Harbaugh and what he’s built here.

So we go out there to do what we need to do to get the win. I just felt like the players, everything that’s happened is just the chip on the shoulder is there. It’s getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Their ability to maintain focus and detail and discipline amongst sort of the chaos has been really special to see.”

U-M attempted to file a temporary restraining order to keep Harbaugh on the sidelines, but a hearing was pushed to Nov. 17, causing him to miss the PSU game, a 24-15 Michigan victory. Friday’s hearing, should it get to that point, could determine if Harbaugh returns to action as early as this weekend.

For now, Moore and Minter could again be in line for expanded roles on Saturday afternoon with a trip to Maryland set for this weekend. Kickoff from College Park is set for 12 p.m. ET on FOX.