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Michigan football: Spring energy was similar to 2021 – & different

Chris Balasby:Chris Balas•06/24/22•

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Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh is looking for back to back Big Ten titles. David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The 2021 Michigan team knew there was something different after its first spring practice a year and change ago. The 2020 campaign was a disaster, with opt outs due to COVID-19, no crowds … it was simply “off,” fifth-year senior receiver Ronnie Bell said. 

RELATED: Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh’s recruiting approach noble, but risky

But something clicked last year. And when they got together the first time, Jim Harbaugh told his team he felt it, asked if they felt it, too … and it was clear they had. 

It was reminiscent of the spring of 1985, when Bo Schembechler, coming of a 6-6 season, got his team together. He wouldn’t say much, but after promising Jim Brandstatter on the final Michigan Replay show of the ’84 season the fans wouldn’t have to endure another season like it … well, he couldn’t stop smiling in the spring of ’85. 

Harbaugh seemed to have the same sensation last year. 

“It was just something where you know how there’s like a fixed energy, where everybody tries to hype everybody up, then you get hyped by someone talking?” senior defensive end Mike Morris said. “Then you want to run through a wall after someone speaks? There was like none of that [in 2020]. 

But it was right when we started our first practice last year, a feeling the whole entire team had. “I don’t know about y’all, but I feel great. I feel like we can do anything right now as a team.’”

It was energizing, he said, like they weren’t playing team football, but in the backyard with friend. 

“Just having some fun,” he continued. “Just football like the little kid days. It just felt so natural, so good. It felt like we weren’t a team. We were a family.”

It was similar in 2022, Morris said, and others felt it, too. Michigan players DJ Turner, Junior Colson, Zak Zinter, Trevor Keegan … all of them said it was noticeable, even if there were new faces. 

There were some guys missing, though, and that made it different, Morris added.

“It’s the same energy, but not the same, as well, because we have a new team,” Morris said. “We lost a lot of players that had a lot of production. We lost our defensive coordinator, lost a couple analysts I really liked, as well. Losing those guys, it definitely felt a little off. 

“But the upperclassmen knew … everyone last year knew how it was supposed to be run, how it was supposed to be conducted, how we were supposed to go about our business.”

It was up to the new Michigan leaders to take the reins this year, and they did, Morris said. That’s why he feels they won’t miss a beat this year. 

“We took it upon our own selves because we were the new leaders, and we had to find a way. And we did,” he said. “This spring was very productive in that sense.”

And in many others, as well. 

Time will tell if they can match the chemistry of the 2021 Big Ten champions. It appears, though, that they’re on their way.  

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