Jim Harbaugh: 'This is the best version' of Michigan in head coach's tenure, Wolverines plan to 'strike while the iron is hot'
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan Wolverines football head coach Jim Harbaugh hates to compare one player to another or one team to another, because somebody always gets diminished. That’s why it’s important to take note when he breaks his own rule.
Speaking at the Michigan Spring Game NIL Pep Rally put on by Valiant Management Saturday, Harbaugh made a bold statement on the Wolverines heading into the 2023 campaign.
“As we sit here April 1st, 2023, it’s gonna be the best team … it’s the best version of a Michigan football team on April 1st, 2023 than we’ve ever had,” Harbaugh said. “A great roster of players, tremendous coaches all pulling in the same direction. That doesn’t mean we’re not going to have a letdown as the months go on, but this is the best version of football that I’ve seen since I’ve been here the last eight years.”
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Michigan has been the class of the Big Ten over the last two seasons and has all the momentum as it looks to three-peat as conference champions. The Maize and Blue are 25-3 overall, including 19-1 against Big Ten opponents, during that stretch. Key players such as senior running back Blake Corum, graduate left guard Trevor Keegan, senior right guard Zak Zinter and others chose to come back for another season, in hopes to not just make the CFP but win the national championship.
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There’s no guarantee Michigan will accomplish any of its lofty goals in 2023. However, the Wolverines appear to have the coaching staff, roster and willpower to go as far as they ever have.
“[Former Michigan head coach] Bo Schembechler said, ‘You never stay the same. You’re either getting better or you’re getting worse — you don’t ever stay the same.’ No team that we play on our schedule is going to be the same that we were last year — some may be better, some may be worse,” Harbaugh pointed out. “This is not the time to regroup or to rest or to to take a step back. Now’s the time to attack.
“Again, as I said, I think this team is the best version that we’ve had of ourselves. The phrase ‘strike while the iron is hot’ is on the forefront of our minds. We want to keep the ground that we have, plus we want to take some more ground.”
That “more ground” is winning Michigan’s 12th national championship in history and first since 1997.
