The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1514918
DECEMBER 2023 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 7 ❱ FOOTBALL TEAM CELEBRATES TITLE WITH PARADE THROUGH ANN ARBOR Tens of thousands of Michigan fans lined the streets of Ann Arbor on Jan. 13 to celebrate the team's College Football Playoff National Champion- ship win on a frigid afternoon with minus-6 degree temperatures, accounting for wind chill. It did very little to dampen a celebration of Michigan's first football national title since 1997 and first outright crown since 1948. The parade started at 4 p.m. at the U-M President's House and made its way to Schembechler Hall down State Street. Clusters of players and position coaches made their way through the route, tailed by a vintage red firetruck that featured head coach Jim Harbaugh, quarterback J.J. McCarthy, running back Blake Corum, defensive back Mike Sainristil, defensive tackle Kris Jenkins, and guards Zak Zinter and Trevor Keegan, who went shirtless despite the winter weather. Following the parade, fans piled into Crisler Center for a formal celebration indoors to commemorate Team 144's accomplishments. "We came back on a mission and just locked in for a whole year," Keegan said at the celebration at Crisler Center. "To you fans, our coaches, staff, and everybody that has any correlation with Michigan, thank you. You guys came up big when we needed you in the Ohio State game when Zak [Zinter] went down. You guys lifted us up. And especially in the Rose Bowl, when they started playing that Dixieland Delight [expletive]. "This season, we came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And we were all out of bubblegum." — Anthony Broome PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY