The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/703389
try held and attended satellite camps, but from the buzz around the college football world you'd think Harbaugh and Michigan were the only ones in- volved in them. The plan must've looked beyond daunting as June approached but now that July is here, Harbaugh and his coaches can relax a bit and reflect on a job well done after attacking the mis- sion with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind. HARBAUGH IS A ONE-MAN PROMOTION There was a lot of publicity surround- ing Michigan's satellite camp tour before it ever started, and once it got underway the buzz grew. It became the most talked about topic surround- ing college football in the normally slow month of June. Whether it was Harbaugh's revolv- ing closet of jerseys he wore at each location, pregame-like speeches or comments from other coaches around the country, people were talking about Michigan and Harbaugh during the stretch of early summer. In Indianapolis, Harbaugh sported a No. 12 Andrew Luck t-shirt in homage to his former Stanford star. In Atlanta, it was a No. 44 Braves jersey made famous by legendary slugger Hank Aaron that graced Harbaugh's body. Not only did U-M's football coach wear the jersey, he got Hammerin' Hank to stop by and say a few words. In Jacksonville, Michigan fan favorite Denard Robinson's No. 16 Jaguars jer- sey was worn overtop of Harbaugh's Michigan sweatshirt, and in Los An- geles, Kobe Bryant's famous No. 24 adorned Harbaugh's back. What looked like a cool shoutout to Luck at stop No. 1 in Indy quickly be- came a well-documented, often-talked about and unique way for Harbaugh to connect with whatever city he was in that day. "I'm a big fan of a lot of people," Harbaugh said with a smile. "I like jerseys, I have a lot of them. It's a good way to put them to use." Every jersey Harbaugh wore seemed to make the rounds on social media. Allen Iverson, Derek Jeter, Ray Lewis, Cal Ripken Jr., and even a Colin Kae- pernick 49ers jersey all showed up on timelines across the nation, making Harbaugh and the Block M more vis- ible than ever. If the jerseys Harbaugh donned weren't making headlines, the words he spoke before, during or after the camps were. What he said wasn't iden- tical at each stop along the tour, but he always gave some type of speech, told some sort of story or got the campers riled up with a breakdown. "I'm so excited to be here, my heart is pounding right now," he said while pacing back and forth across the Para- mus (N.J.) Catholic gym. "I feel like the way when I played the game as a football player and the way you feel when you coach a game. It's like the thoroughbreds when they're racing the Kentucky Derby. The heart starts pounding, the eyes bulge — the jock- eys say they can even feel the muscles bulging on the horse. "It's probably been six months since I felt this way. Thank you for that. This is what it felt like for me when I was coaching in the Super Bowl."