21 days until Michigan football: Jim Harbaugh's evidence of 'cultural momentum'
There’s much anticipation heading into the Michigan Wolverines football season, and TheWolverine.com is counting down the days until the Sept. 2 opener against East Carolina. We’ll discuss current Michigan events, the upcoming season and/or take a look at a significant number that correlates with how many days remain until kickoff, whether it be a player’s jersey number, a year, a date, a score, etc.
It’s all about 2023 for Michigan football, and only 21 days separate us from now and the start of one of the most anticipated seasons in the program’s storied history. The Wolverines have won the Big Ten, beaten Ohio State and appeared in the College Football Playoff the last two seasons, by their not resting on their laurels, by all accounts. Head coach Jim Harbaugh used to tell his players to live in the moment, look ahead … that ‘the time is now.’ But now, this time, the Wolverine players are saying the same thing back to him.
“I would just say in the conversations that I have with the players, where I used to tell them a message, they will tell that message to me now,” Harbaugh explained at Big Ten Media Days. “‘Coach, it doesn’t matter what we did last year, it doesn’t matter what we did the last two years. Now we’re doing it again. And the only time that matters is now.’”
Harbaugh called that his “evidence” of Michigan’s ‘cultural momentum,’ a phrase he’s often used this offseason. He said a year ago, he thought things were as good as they could get, with the Maize and Blue coming off their first Big Ten championship in 17 years. But then he saw them go 13-1, winning the most games in program history, plenty of players come back for the 2023 campaign and a strong culture remain intact. He was proven wrong — that wasn’t as good as it gets, because it got even better.
“It’s truly amazing; we don’t have any bad guys,” the Michigan coach said this summer. “There are good guys, there are elite, great guys — there are good guys learning from the other guys. You got the Heisman habit guys.”
“There’s momentum here. There’s a real cultural momentum taking place.”
Harbaugh said there’s no complacency with his crew, and there’s no reason not to believe him. But the Wolverines still need to create their identity, with every team being different, and they’re working on that now with the first scrimmage in the books and a week and a half of fall camp behind them.
The season can’t get here soon enough.
Michigan football countdown to kickoff
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