U-M Wideout On Off-Season Motivation: 'Either Way, It's State'

The culture shift of speaking about rivalries, particularly as it relates to Ohio State, is clearly still alive and well inside of Schembechler Hall as the Wolverines compete through Spring.

There was a bit of a culture shift that the Michigan Football program went through prior to the 2021 season. Whether it was bringing in a new staff, playing music during practice, or plastering things about Ohio State within the Michigan weight room, it's clear that head coach Jim Harbaugh made a concerted effort to realign the focus of his program - and it worked. 

Michigan went on to reach 12 wins during the 2021, culminating in an incredible win over Ohio State and a Big Ten Championship. It was Michigan's first win over Ohio State in a decade, first Big Ten Championship in nearly two decades and just the third time in program history that the Wolverines have achieved 12 wins in a season. 

So, how are the Wolverines staying motivated this spring? It's pretty simple according to U-M wideout, CJ Johnson: State.

"Really just focusing on State, that's what motivates me - whether it's Penn State, Michigan State Ohio State. Either way, it's State. Those three, like they say it at Michigan...it's a requirement."

The Wolverines will wrap up the remainder of Spring ball over the next two weeks before competing in the annual U-M Spring game on April 2. 

“Yessir! Spring game is going to be April 2, unless it’s a complete — unless we have lightning, which we had one year,” Harbaugh said. “And we had to move that inside. But it’s going to go off that day unless we’re in a pause, but I think the chances of that are not very likely. Even if we have to pause before that, we’ll do the spring game April 2.

“Do it how we like to do it — split up the staffs, Steve Clinkscale is going to be the head coach of one of the teams, Sherrone Moore’s going to be be the head coach of the other, and we split the staffs and we have a draft, so we have two different teams. It’ll be one of those color out things — one team will be in the all-blues, the other will be in the all-maize, and it’ll be a football game. Make it as much like a football game as can be made. Guys get their, in some cases, their first chance to be in a game in The Big House. It’s always very exciting. Some of the starters — think of it like a preseason game — they may play a quarter, they may play a half. And the second half, guys play who haven’t played in a game before and they get their first experience of doing it. Opportunity all the way. And it’s fun and competitive.”