Michigan players ‘will play like their hair’s on fire’ for Jim Harbaugh - 'they embody him'
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh will miss the opener against ECU and games against UNLV and Bowling Green to open the season. His players have all indicated they are playing for their coach, understanding how badly he wants to be there with him.
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Harbaugh said Monday that while some likened the three games to a slap on the wrist, it was more like a “baseball bat to the kneecaps” to him. He’s not sure what he’ll be doing Saturday — maybe go to his son’s game — but his players said they planned to make him proud. Linebackers coach Chris Partridge reiterated that Wednesday.
“There’s no worry. He doesn’t have any worry,” Partridge said of Harbaugh and his demeanor. “These guys are going to play like their hair’s on fire for him, for sure. That’s something they’re going to do … come out and come out on fire, play hard. They’re going to do exactly what they need to do, exactly what he expects them to do.”
That’s part of the culture Harbaugh has built in Ann Arbor and what Partridge noticed the most when he came back after several years at Ole Miss. Walking in the building, he first noticed the flag from the midfield plant following U-M’s win in Columbus last year, along with montages of the last two years’ wins.
It didn’t take him long to understand the program had taken the next step when it came to chemistry, too. There are no egos in the building, among the players or the coaches. No matter where they are on the depth chart, the players want their brothers to succeed.
“I would liken it to this — first of all, the culture here is A-plus,” Partridge said in praising Harbaugh. “Coaches, players … when you walk in this building, when I came back, it is an A-plus culture. When I was here the first time, it was kind of just still developing. We weren’t there yet. Jim’s culture was developing in who he is, and now it’s like it embodies who he is.
“If you take a kid a baby, 4, 5 years old, [you ask], ‘well — are you more like mom or more like dad?’ You don’t really know. Until now, all of a sudden, it’s like … ‘you’re dad.’ That’s what this team is … they’re Jim. They embody him. Hard working, blue collar, consistent — they play with no fear. They know he has their back, and they have his back. That’s what you feel when you come in here.”
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It started to happen before he left for Ole MIss, and then it blew up, Partridge said. And while he always had talent at Michigan, Harbaugh and Co. stacked the cupboard for his return. He replaces George Helow with three outstanding linebackers in Junior Colson, Michael Barrett, and Ernest Hausmann, considers all of them “starters,” and has depth behind them, as well.
When he left, Harbaugh had him coaching safeties. Now he’s back to linebackers, and he feels “at home” with the group. He’s done almost everything now, though, including coordinating defenses at Ole Miss, and each duty has made him better, Partridge said.
“I’ve grown a lot as a coach, seen different things, gotten different experiences,” he said. “It feels really good. I really enjoy what I’m doing here because I was kind of born a linebacker and linebackers coach. While I was here, I switched to safeties. I’ve coached safeties for five years, but now I’m back home when I coach linebackers.
“It has made me such a better linebackers coach to have been with the safeties. I’ve been in the SEC, coordinated defense. Seeing how offenses attack down there, the differences I’ve developed a lot as a type of coach I am and the position … for sure, I’ve grown a lot.”
Someday down the road, he might even be a D.C. again, this time for Harbaugh. For now, though, he’s happy where he is and ready to get the season started Saturday vs. ECU.
