What turned the Michigan football program around after the 2020 season
When polled a few years ago, 50 percent of Michigan fans at TheWolverine.com were ready for significant change after a 2-4, COVID-19 shortened season. Ugly losses and lack of chemistry had seemingly broken the culture and left head coach Jim Harbaugh searching for answers.
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In hindsight, that year will go down with an asterisk. Opt-outs, limited practice time, etc., basically made the year an exhibition. Still, something needed to change, grad student tight end Luke Schoonmaker said Tuesday at Fiesta Bowl media day … and they were the ones that had to change it.
“I think the leaders of this team in the program itself, there was no going back to that low of where we were at, knowing we wanted change,” Schoonmaker said. “It was just kind of dropping all the egos, selfishness, whatever it may be. Being able to develop as one as a team. We worked hard in the offseason.
“You could just feel it … the competitiveness, but the relationship everybody built with each other. That selflessness just built and built and went into last season. There was such a feeling of just being able to want to go out on the field and show everything we’ve worked so hard for that last offseason.”
There was some addition by subtraction, too, something Michigan receiver Ronnie Bell alluded to after the Wolverines beat Purdue for a second straight Big Ten title. There were some guys playing for themselves — Schoonmaker hinted to it, too — and they needed to go, no matter how talented they were.
Other Michigan players sulked so much after losing playing time that they vowed to “come back and hang 50” on the Wolverines, some players observed — and that was on the sidelines with games in progress.
There’s no more of that and there won’t be even after he leaves, Bell said Tuesday. He and Schoonmaker played huge roles as leaders during the resurgence, and they both said they’d leave leaders behind to keep it going … just the way it was for 40-plus years from Schembechler to Rodriguez.
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“There was building, and to be able to display it … that’s the standard we live by, play by, everything,” Schoonmaker said. “The whole building. There’s been a change, and so many people … everyone that comes in here knows that standard, and it’s been working.”
Michigan center Olu Oluwatimi is a perfect example, Schoonmaker noted. He came from Virginia for one season, won his awards, and essentially shared them with his teammates. It was like he had been there for 5 years, offensive coordinator and line coach Sherrone Moore said, and Schoonmaker agreed.
“Guys like Olu have stepped up. There are just a lot of leaders on this offense,” Schoonmaker said. “Guys that have played a lot of ball will continue to grow the younger guys and will just continue to make plays in games like this.”
He’s confident it will continue to build, adding to their legacy as the leaders who changed the program back once and for all.
