For the past three seasons, Michigan football has outperformed every other team in the nation, and there are several reasons for this. Jim Harbaugh has established himself as a top head coach and has assembled a fantastic staff, chief among them being the defensive coordinator. It was Mike McDonald for a year. Then, following McDonald’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Harbaugh made the brilliant hire of Jesse Minter.
Add JJ McCarthy’s growth, the return of several important offensive seniors like Blake Corum, Trevor Keegan, and Zak Zinter, and a host of important players on the defensive end of the ball, and you had a near-perfect Michigan storm, particularly in 2023, which naturally led to a national championship. Michigan has also been a dominant force in another area that is crucial to the success of the team as a whole. At U-M, it is not disregarded, unlike other periods. As a matter of fact, for the past three years, no other program has achieved what Michigan has with their special teams.
It’s amazing that over the course of three years, not giving up a kickoff return of more than thirty yards, can be accomplished, even if college football these days is full of touchbacks. In the tweet above, special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh states that it truly is an example of a hard-charging, diligent mindset. It will trickle down if you have 11–15 players that are prepared to put their everything on the line for the kickoff squad. It’s the opening play of every game and a crucial play that can occasionally change the momentum following a score. That statistic demonstrates how seriously Michigan’s kickoff players took their roles.
