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Michigan will have a “real” spring football game, and Jim Harbaugh can’t wait

Chris Balasby:Chris Balas•02/22/22•

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Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh promised a real spring game, and he delivered. Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Back in the good old days, Michigan football spring games were events much like Saturday afternoons in the fall. Fans would get there early and tailgate, while teams would be spilt up as evenly as possible, the winners awarded steaks while the losers got hot dogs. 

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Jim Harbaugh was part of that tradition as a player, and he’s ready to bring it back. After a few years of no game (COVID related), cancelled games (weather) or glorified practices, he wants it to be the way it used to be — and he’s making it so. 

“Yessir!” he told former Michigan lineman Jon Jansen on his In the Trenches podcast. “The spring game is going to be April 2 unless we’ve got lightning, which we had one year. [So] we had to move that inside. But it’s going to go off that day even if we have a pause [in practice]. I think the chances of that are not very likely, but even if we have to pause before that, we’ll have the spring game April 2. 

“We’ll do it the way we like to do it, which is to split up the staff. [Secondary coach and co-DC] Steve Clinkscale is going to be the head coach of one of the teams, [offensive line coach and co-OC] Sherrone Moore will be the other. Then, we’ll have a draft. We’ll have two different teams. One team will be all blues, the other team all maize, and it will be a football game. We’ll make it as much like a football game as can be made.”

In some cases, it will be players’ first chance to play in front of a crowd at the Big House, he noted. He’s excited to see their reaction.

He’s also interested to see what the Michigan coaches think of the personnel as they do their “draft” to fill the squad. 

“You get a real feel for who they think is the best quarterback, who they think the best center is,” Harbaugh said. “There could be another position this year … there are going to be some secondary players. Who are the top safeties, really, in the staff’s opinion, and the corners? 

“That’s something I always pay close attention to. Then, you get the real feeling for who deep down … they want to make their teams (great). Then there’s some back and forth — ‘we had a better draft; no, ‘we had a better draft!’ You watch them game plan all week, get them motivated and prepared for that week. There’s a lot going into it. Those are the things I really get fired up to watch go down.”

Some of the Michigan starters will play a quarter or a half, just like a preseason NFL game. Others who haven’t played as much will play more, but everyone will get a shot. 

“It’s opportunity all the way, and it’s fun and competitive,” Harbaugh said, noting he’ll be the “commissioner” while the others do the coaching. “I’ll pair [quarterbacks coach and co-OC] Matt Weiss with Steve Clinkscale. I’m the commissioner. There have been a few reviews. I had to go last year to the big screen.

“I’ll be out there on the field doing the reviews. Just picture that … and on the other side, Sherrone will be calling all the offense, Jesse Minter calling all the defense.”

If all goes well, the Michigan coach will be watching and having fun while taking notes and the fans will be soaking it all in — just like the good old days. 

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