Sunday Thoughts: On Big Ten East defections and shake-ups, Michigan spring trip residual effects

Michigan is on the second leg of its latest spring trip, now in Washington D.C. after an incredible two days in New York City. Some (even U-M fans) scoffed at its importance for the program when head coach Jim Harbaugh announced his plans with the first trip to Rome. There was a segment, even, that criticized how it was taking away from practice time, etc.

But Harbaugh never wavered. And what we’ve seen first-hand while accompanying them on several of these trips … well, it’s exactly what Harbaugh expected. There’s hands-on learning — Italy, Normandy, South Africa, Palace of Versailles. When he says, “not all learning is done in the classroom,” we can attest that what we gleaned on these trips is probably more valuable than anything we learned in some of the same classes the Michigan football players take.

Standing next to some of them on Utah Beach, for example, contemplating how kids their age must have felt while storming the beach to hails of Nazi bullets? That’s more powerful than anything they’d get out of a book.

We know we’ll never forget it.

Harbaugh is sincere when he speaks of the importance of academics and wanting the best for his kids. Rivals will scoff at it, but anyone who has ever played for him or listened to him preach it will attest. Other critics will say he was “just using it as a recruiting tool.”

Again, having seen him in action on these trips and how invested he is … that’s just not it.

But it can have a residual effect on the recruiting trail, and we believe it has. As we wrote yesterday, thousands of people witnessed the display on Times Square’s big screens, a huge advertisement for Michigan football and its “worldwide brand.” Some football parents we’ve spoken to say these opportunities were hugely important to them when their sons were being recruited.

And yes, the team bonding and culture building is obvious. These guys are having the time of their lives with their brothers.

Jim Harbaugh’s stay-the-course, program building strategy is working at Michigan

All of it is helping bring the program to new heights under Harbaugh and his staff (which we’d call his best yet). When NIL kicked in, Harbaugh resisted the temptation to jump in headfirst with the pay-for-play model employed by so many programs. Texas A&M, Michigan State, Miami — all were hailed as “ahead of the game” by at least one lawyer/agent on the West Coast for their willingness to leap into it.

One source in the Michigan administration predicted it wouldn’t last — at least not to the scale it was being used. It was clear Michigan was playing from behind with a late start in NIL, so it was a risky, short-term approach, and we even wrote this column stating just that.

But Harbaugh stuck to his guns with his “transformational, not transactional” message, and it’s starting to pay off. It helps that collectives like Valiant’s Champions Circle have gained steam and gotten Michigan closer to its NIL goals. The “one more year” campaign that kept Blake Corum, etc. around for another season, for example, might lead to a third straight outright Big Ten title, which would be a first in program history.

Unlike other schools that reneged on their NIL promises, Michigan is keeping theirs.

And those schools that were gloating as the “early leaders” in NIL?

Well, Texas A&M had a tire fire of a season. Our same source in the administration said he believed MSU’s well might dry up some when huge donor Matt Ishbia bought the Phoenix Suns. We don’t know if that’s the primary reason the Spartans are struggling on the recruiting trail, but it’s quite the coincidence if not.

Today, MSU lost starting quarterback Payton Thorne and top receiver Keon Coleman to the transfer portal, the latest blow to a program that was supposedly one of the NIL leaders just a few months back. The Spartans probably weren’t going to finish better than fourth in the Big Ten East this year anyway, but with the NIL buzz, they were at least able to literally sell … well, hope.

Now, their own fan base is hoping for fifth.

It’s not as much a shot as a cautionary tale, though, for everybody, including Michigan — just how quickly things can change. You can’t be so arrogant as to complete dismiss NIL’s importance, as some at U-M have seemed to. But there’s still a large segment of high school players and their families looking for what Michigan has to offer in the way of academics, culture, etc.

Those are the kids Harbaugh and his staff are looking for. And yes, they are going to “get theirs,” in addition to incredible opportunities after graduation, as well. The Michigan network is a powerful thing. U-M alums take care of their guys, which we saw (again, firsthand) when we talked to former Wolverines center Dave Pearson in New York at the team dinner. The Executive Vice President at Related Affordable is killing it there, as are former safety Jamar Adams and receiver Antonio Bass.

At other places, Bass might have been left to fend for himself after suffering a gruesome knee injury that likely cost him million in NFL dollars. Now, he’s doing incredibly well in business. He and Adams were able to share their experiences, too.

As we’ve said many times over the last year, this team has a “late ’90s” feel to it, from the top down. Former head coach Lloyd Carr was invested in academics, and his players were in him. Folks might call Harbaugh “quirky,” but it’s clear his players appreciate him the way Carr’s did.

We don’t know what future years (heck, months) will bring. But today, we can say the “Michigan Difference,” as they like to call it, certainly seems real … and stronger than ever in the classroom, on the field, and on the recruiting trail.

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