The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1396591
AUGUST 2021 THE WOLVERINE 29 MICHIGAN FOOTBALL will say is, listening to the outside noise is the absolute worst thing I can do — even if it's positive, even if it's negative — because at the end of the day, you put that work in, you do it and you're the only one that's going to make the situation better." Harbaugh isn't immune to criti- cism, of course, but last year was an anomaly on an otherwise solid record. He's been within a game of making the Big Ten title contest twice and has had success everywhere he's been. The players believe in him, Ross continued. "Coach Harbaugh is a great coach. He knows the formula; he knows how to win," he said. "He knows how to do that. "One thing that I feel rolls under the rug a little bit coming off last year is, not only did we need to revamp — I know there was a lot in the coaches' eyes — but us as players, we've got to do this. We've got to change our environment. We've got to be better leaders. We've got to be more account- able … we've got to do that ourselves. The coaches can't do it for us." The culture starts with the players, he noted, and is built on their leader- ship, passed down to the younger guys. He plans to do his part this season to make sure there's no repeat of last year. "It's built within that. Coaches in- fluence it, coaches help it, but we're out there playing; we're out there going to get it," Ross said. "We're out there performing. The culture is mostly us, and I feel like we've been taking it to a whole different level." — Chris Balas MICHIGAN ADDS JACKSON STATE WIDE RECEIVER TRANSFER DAYLEN BALDWIN Southfield to Ann Arbor is a quick, 38-mile trip, but it wasn't a straight shot for Daylen Baldwin, who joined the Michigan football team in July. His path to playing for the Wolver- ines was a long, winding journey, but he wouldn't trade his experience. A Waterford (Mich.) Mott gradu- ate, Baldwin had just one Division I offer out of high school and took advantage of it. He signed with Mor- gan State, a member of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). He racked up 30 catches for 333 yards and two touchdowns in two seasons with the Bears (2017-18), but decided to hit the transfer portal, land- ing at fellow FCS school Jackson State. After sitting out the 2019 campaign due to transfer rules, Baldwin played for first-year head coach Deion Sand- ers during the 2020 season, which was postponed until the spring of 2021. He became a breakout star, leading the Southwestern Athletic Confer- ence in receiving yards (540), notch- ing 27 catches and scoring seven for touchdowns. In the process, he earned the league's Newcomer of the Year award and was named first- team all-conference. Then after graduating, he entered the transfer portal once again, hop- ing to play closer to home. Baldwin expected to make the jump to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), but didn't anticipate notching big-time offers from the likes of Ohio State and Michigan. "I thought I was going to be in the MAC at Kent State, Central Michigan, something like that," Baldwin told The Wolverine. "I wasn't thinking I was going to get any Big Ten, SEC, ACC, any of those offers. After Ohio State and Michigan offered me, everybody was calling me and asking me to come work out — teams calling me, asking me to come work out. I wasn't work- ing out anymore. I told them I wasn't working out any more, I don't care. "My dad, some of my close home- boys that were on my team in Jack- son, back home, they were like, 'You're going to blow up, just watch. It's going to be crazy when you get in the portal. It's going to blow up, blah, blah, blah.' I was like, 'I don't think so. I just want to make my move and be on my way, make my mark.' I didn't expect a lot of this. "But once those teams asked me to come work out, I expected to get the offer right after, just based on the fact that I understand my ability and am confident in my ability. The only Harbaugh has compiled a 49-22 record (.690 winning percentage) during his first six seasons in Ann Arbor. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL 2021 MICHIGAN SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Time (ET) Sep. 4 Western Michigan (ESPN) 12 p.m. Sep. 11 Washington (ABC) 8 p.m. Sep. 18 Northern Illinois (BTN) 12 p.m. Sep. 25 Rutgers (TBA) 3:30 p.m. Oct. 2 at Wisconsin (TBA) TBA Oct. 9 at Nebraska (TBA) TBA Oct. 23 Northwestern (TBA) TBA Oct. 30 at Michigan State (TBA) TBA Nov. 6 Indiana (TBA) TBA Nov. 13 at Penn State (TBA) TBA Nov. 20 at Maryland (TBA) TBA Nov. 27 Ohio State (FOX) 12 p.m.