Michigan Team Trip Highlights
Michigan football on YouTube has been posting a bunch of videos this summer highlighting returning seniors and now the team’s trip to DC and elsewhere. I think the videos posted highlight the culture Harbaugh has created. After years of these trips, camps, and emphasis on “Michigan difference” and “transformation not transactional” attitude I think his teams are truly unified and fortified as a TEAM. Videos like this are awesome cause it’s football content, but also shows life behind the helmet and pads: these are kids and are forging lifelong memories, from a bench riding walk on to NFL stars.
Does any other Power 5 University do this? So much appreciation for the work Coach Harbaugh is doing both on and off the field.
Truly transformational.
I'm sure the SEC is complaining about this to the NCAA
Nick is sure there are camps being run in hotel rooms at night just to skirt NCAA SEC sponsored made up rules. Next a recruit will illegally eat a burger. The horror.
On the plus side SEC drag races in $100000 707 HP sport utilities between strip clubs with coeds is the norm in recruiting south of the Mason Dixon. With NIL they can even add nice rims.
I wonder what his secret is to being revered/ranked/recruiting?
Bless his heart.
Nah, it’s educational stuff . . They don’t play school. Just ask Stetson Bennett.
Same thing I was thinking as I watched it.
This is where "Who's got it better than us?" and "the Michigan Difference" aren't just slogans.
I'm really proud of my school for taking the players on these trips. This is one of my favorite things about the Harbaugh era.
Saban and the rest of the SEC corches used to take players on tri-weekly trips to local bank ATM's.
But now they just have them installed in their football facilties with a no limit withdraw.
They used to take players on trips to local car dealerships.
Now the players just pick which ones they want online and have them delivered.
The program should be proud of their fulfilling the promise to the families of recruits and players of what Michigan brings to the table for a lifetime.
Not trying to bait too much discussion on this, but just to note it as I was curious about how it would be handled:
The Holocaust Museum was not a full team activity, but was highlighted in the video as an optional activity during a "choose you own adventure" window on the Mall during the time in DC. Donovan Edwards was not shown during this portion.
I believe Edwards recently visited the Zekelman Holocaust Center in Southfield with members of the team.
[EDIT: They visited with Regent Jordan Acker in early June]
While the tone of your post is accusatory and condemning, I do hope the players that chose something other than visiting the Holocaust Museum had a good time. That museum - and I haven't been there in ~20 years - is still the best I've ever been through. It grabbed your attention at the start and didn't let go.
Nonetheless, I still negged you.
Not accusatory! Perhaps hard to get the right tone in writing.
I don’t think it is unwarranted for me to make the connection.
You are a jagoff, with your passive aggressive bullshit.
I mention this because it feels relevant for the players who didn’t elect to visit the museum in DC.
My reason for skipping the Holocaust museum on my 8th grade trip was not to have a good time doing anything else. It’s because I can’t handle Holocaust museums. The actual items in there are too much for me to handle. I could barely manage the 9/11 museum as an adult, least of all the hallway where they play the plane passengers final voicemails.
It’s not that I don’t want to know about it. I’ve read plenty of books, studied Judaism in college, and even was part of a small private audience with Eli Wiesel after a talk he gave.
When I visited the DC Holocaust museum, I wasn’t right for DAYS afterwards. It’s a tough place to visit, and you need to be emotionally prepared to handle it.
Same. I'm glad these museums exist - I certainly agree with the importance of recording what happened for future generations - but I personally don't have the stomach to look at artifacts from a genocide.
Jesus, they play the voicemails? I think I would be so overwhelmed that I would throw up or pass out, or both
Say what you mean. Stop pussyfooting around.
To be fair, it is impossible to see every monument, memorial, or museum in DC, especially if you’re staying for a few days.
You've got a little dash of smugness on your cheek. I am sure someone here will wipe it off.
I heard that Blake had a chance to step on a red ant on the sidewalk and neglected to. Blake clearly hates people who are alergic to red ants......
Damn man...... commenting on this blog is an optional activity as well, if the best you can do is make a comment trying to create drama, where there is none.... maybe you could opt not to.
It is refreshing to know that the coaching staff is willing to make an investment in the players as individuals and not just as athletes. I've been to most of the places they showed on the video but not all and it took me a long time to see them. A worthwhile experience.
My parents divorced when I was 8 and while my mother was able to keep the lights on selling real estate, we didn't have extra for vacations. I had a great friend in middle school who would take me on vacations with his family up to Glen Lake and the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Then my mother remarried and we started taking vacations.
I can only imagine the grind these players power through, between training and academics they've got a lot on their plates. What a blessing to be able to shut it all down and relax with their brothers for a week or 10 days or whatever. And some of the museums and sights that they saw were so moving and impactful. Lessons like, "Freedom isn't Free".
I just think it's tremendous for the Football program to do this for these young men.
Leaders and best.
That's a bit different from the Northwestern way of team bonding.
A great experience for these young men.
Maybe the funniest clip in that video is Kenneth Grant and Myles Hinton sharing a small percussion studio together at the Rock N Roll HOF. Might be the biggest band duo of all time.
Hard to not watch and think this is exactly what The Michigan Difference is all about
I love that they're giving some of the younger and lesser known players a spotlight in these videos.
Wonderful video. Congratulations to the players. To Harbaugh and the coaches. To the staff for making it happen. To those at sites who helped the team get the most of them. To the University.
To vary a phrase one the players used, it's a reminder of the privilege to have the University of Michigan.
Thanks for posting the video.
This was pretty great. Psyched for these players and the program and I think this is an amazing experience that Harbaugh provides the team. And as someone else said - does any other program do anything remotely like this?
I'm a native NYer who lived in DC for several years so I was really excited to see those teams visit my cities!
This is fantastic. I love our team, and this is one of the big reasons why.
Roman Wilson put up a recent video of a summer trip up to northern MI and other shenanigans, I thought that's what this post was going to be about.
Anyway Kris Jenkins, JJ, Tuttle, Barner, Bounds, etc lots of cameos, fun times
What an amazing journey! Kudos to the hard-working staff that put the trip together. In the second hype video, Abigail talked about the meticulous planning needed just for the meals. Seems as if they even planned for unexpected interruptions like bad weather. And to see alumni everywhere they went supporting the team and giving them a glimpse of future possibilities besides football. This should be shown to every recruit as further inducement to choose Michigan and become one of the leaders and the best.