Michigan WR On Harbaugh: 'I Feel Like This Is What He's Been Striving For'
If you were to ask Michigan fans to name the biggest storyline of the off-season, you might hear words like "chemistry", "energy", "juice" and "morale". No matter how it's described, it all boils down to one thing: culture.
From players to coaches, seemingly every member of the Michigan Football program has spent time throughout the off-season raving about the renewed culture in Ann Arbor. While there are several contributing factors according to the players and coaches, it all begins and ends with the man at the top - head coach Jim Harbaugh.
Meeting with the media on Thursday, senior wide receiver Ronnie Bell credited Harbaugh for the major off-season culture shift.
"He's the head of the sword, he's the boss man," said Bell. "I feel like he's always been striving to get this energy. I feel like this has been the overall goal from the standpoint of how he wanted things to flow, team chemistry, team morale and how we love and care for one another."
In fact, Bell says this Michigan team has the highest morale of any team he's ever been a part of - including before his time at the University of Michigan.
"The team morale is the highest and best that I've ever seen on any team that I think I've ever been on - counting every basketball team, every baseball team, you name it," said Bell. "This team, and how much we love and care for one another, it's so - it just passes along so well throughout this team."
Bell's comments echo what many of the other players and coaches have been saying throughout the off-season, including senior captain Aidan Hutchinson. At Big Ten Media Days last month, Hutchinson credited Harbaugh for making the necessary changes.
“Clearly in 2018, 2019, something wasn’t right about the culture,” he said. “We shouldn’t be getting blown out by Ohio State if we’re competing at just as high a level as them, and it just didn’t make sense. Coach Harbaugh has been doing a great job of adapting and seeing what our team needs and changing what needs to be changed.”
“I mean, I could go on about it, but I probably won’t. There was a variety of things that were not wrong about our culture, but just things that needed to be improved. And I think we’ve made those changes in this offseason and have improved the culture of the team.”
Though it remains to be seen just how much of an impact the new culture and moral will have on the 2021 season, it sure sounds there were issues within the Michigan Football program that needed to be fixed - and that Harbaugh has fixed them.
