Michigan Football Creates Awesome New Tradition

There's a new tradition at Michigan and it's pretty freakin cool.

Teams have been implementing sideline celebrations after a turnover for quite a few years now. Miami probably gets credit for one of the the earliest and most well-known traditions with its diamond-encrusted, gaudy, yet valuable, Turnover Chain that made its debut in 2017.

A season later Oregon rolled out a much less flashy Turnover Chain of its own while Pac 12 rival Oregon State came through with a Turnover Chainsaw. Florida State had a designer Turnover Backpack in the traditional garnet and gold colorway. Tulane paid homage to New Orleans by sporting giant Turnover Beads. SMU had a Turnover Chalice, Louisville had a Turnover Belt and Boise State had a Turnover Throne. 

This year, Michigan has implemented its own turnover tradition, and in my opinion, it's the least gimmicky, most memorable approach to date. After each takeaway, the defense gathers as one big, unified group, and poses for a picture on the sidelines, during the game. Michigan only has seven takeaways on the season but it has already made for some incredible shots.

The Michigan defense poses for a picture after Daxton Hill's interception against Nebraska. 

As if that wasn't cool enough by itself, the photos are being used as decorations in the team meeting room inside Schembechler Hall. Director of Football Creative Aaron Bills gave a quick tour of the new decor and it's already an awesome addition. You can just imagine what it will look like over the course of a season or multiple seasons as the takeaways pile up.

Aaron Bills posted these short clips to his Instagram story.

Michigan is 6-0, Mike Macdonald's new defense is working quite well and seems to have a knack for making timely plays, which in turn has resulted in some incredible sideline images and a brand new tradition. These kinds of things are proof that the team is more cohesive and closer than in year's past and speaks to why so many players have talked about a new and improved culture. 

With the success of the defense and the impact of these images, I can't imagine the tradition ever stopping. It's cool, unique and actually practical, unlike so many of the other cliche gimmicks. Quarterback coach Matt Weiss came up with the idea, relayed it to Macdonald, who then asked Bills to implement it. Props to the whole gang for turning into a reality.