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2020 hasn’t exactly gone as planned.
First, on the virtual eve of spring ball, the COVID-19 pandemic saw the entire two-month practice period canceled, on the heels of college basketball meeting a similarly ill-timed demise. Summer conditioning in Ann Arbor was a little late going, as well, with some schools welcoming their players back on June 8, whereas Michigan returned its student-athletes on June 15. But the Wolverines didn’t see a break in the action as others — such as Ohio State — had, perhaps due to the increased protocols in Ann Arbor.
Appearing on Jon Jansen’s In the Trenches podcast on Friday, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh noted that the most recent COVID-19 test of the football team produced zero positives — a welcome sign as fall training camp is set to begin on Friday. Additionally, he notes, zero players — across any sport on campus — have transmitted COVID-19 to another in any athletic facilities, according to the athletic department’s vigilant contact tracing.
But what is the team doing to ensure it stays that way?
“Put a lot of thought into this. No. 1, the testing: when you can test to the best of your capability,” Harbaugh explained. “I’m not saying this is zero (positives), but to the best of your ability, reasonably, comparatively, when you can test and you can most ensure to the best of your ability that everybody that’s out there that’s in this bubble or on the practice field have negative tests and they can be out there, that gives you the best opportunity. Then, there’s other things. As we said, the best two defenses right now are social distancing and wearing a mask. So all of those are being put into place. All of those rules are being followed. Only 10 can be in a room. There’s 10 or less, depending on the size of that room. Then the question of actually on the field – to the best of your ability you’ve tested and to the best of your ability people out there are negative. And then other measures: the face shields. You’re familiar with the ones that go from the top of the helmet to the top of the face mask that in the past protected the eyes and the face. But also a face shield that goes over the mouth and over the face mask. Our guys have been wearing those on their helmets. And when they’re not wearing those, they’re wearing a mask.
“And taking it to another level, as we start practice here, the linemen that will come face to face will be wearing a mask and a face shield. Double protection: a mask and a face shield over their helmet. We’re going to limit the reps that somebody’s in continuously, because we want them to get used to it and not be out of breath or overheated – those kinds of scenarios. A lot of thought, a lot of planning. So far, so good. As our guys wear their helmets now, you can see that face shield over their face mask, it does collect a lot of spray coming out of someone’s mouth.”
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As noted, the bulk of the team arrived on campus on June 15, and it shifted from voluntary workouts beginning on June 22 to more formal walkthroughs on July 24.
One of the biggest concerns was a lack of parity, given that players would be left to their own devices conditioning-wise once sent home in March. Harbaugh was pleased with the work they were able to do remotely, which has become increasingly bolstered by what the student-athletes have been able to accomplish once coupling with the strength and conditioning staff.
He shared how the team established something of a conditioning baseline, while noting a handful of players who have shattered expectations from a physical standpoint once returning to campus.
“(Their) training has really been phenomenal,” Harbaugh said. “The way they come back in shape – especially strong. You can tell they were doing workouts on their own when they were not here. So when they came back here, they were very strong. About 50% of the team was in good shape, cardiovascularly. But that’s really grown. Ben Herbert and his staff have done a great job. The players have done a great job. They’ve got a conditioning test they’re putting our players through. About 100 have passed that test, some are very close to passing that test, but we’re using that as a cardiovascular threshold but also as a baseline as well.
“Many of our guys have taken it a new level, Jon. Not just to pass that test, but to compete and turn it into how fast they can go. And it’s a test that measures speed, measures athleticism and measures endurance. And those guys have taken that and blown it out of the water. There’s passing it and there’s crushing it. I could go through the names if you’d like. Zach Charbonnet was the fastest on the team. Different positions have different times they have to make. Aidan Hutchinson was five seconds under what his prescribed time was for an average. Brad Robbins also an unbelievable job under five seconds under his average time as a specialist.”
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That doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges the team still faces, of course. There must remain a hyper-vigilance in keeping the novel coronavirus from permeating the program, and the team also must make up for lost time as it prepares for the revamped 2020 season.
But, given the structure of this particular offseason, Harbaugh isn’t so sure that it hasn’t had something of a beneficial effect to the team.
“We’ve had a very good thing happen this year where we’ve been able to have two weeks of walkthrough going into training camp,” Harbaugh said. “We’ve never had that. We’ve always gone right from strength and conditioning right into the training camp. This year, we had the strength and conditioning and then we also had the ability to perform these walkthroughs. The last week has been with helmets. I feel like from a movement standpoint, from the standpoint of cardiovascular — you talk about the conditioning test and the baseline and the monitoring of that — that our guys are in a good place regarding that. There’s gonna be some catch up in the physical part of the game. Because you know we didn’t have the spring practice, we didn’t have the tackling. But starting (Friday), we’ll be able to start using the equipment – blocking sleds, tackling dummies, those kinds of tools, too.
“Feel on a lot of levels really good and know that we still have a lot of work to do in three and a half weeks.”
As noted, Michigan has begun fall camp in earnest as of Friday as it prepares to take on Purdue at The Big House on Sept. 5.
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