As the offseason window narrows and preparations for the upcoming football season near, there is a buoyancy in Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh’s outlook.
That’s what happens coming off back-to-back successful seasons that have produced a combined 25-3 record, two Big Ten titles and College Football Playoff appearances. The program has enjoyed a resurgence since the dismal 2-4 COVID-shortened 2020 season, and while it’s impossible to single out one thing that positively shifted the culture, it certainly seems like the momentum has snowballed in multiple ways, as evidenced by the return of several starters who could instead be preparing for their first NFL season and also with recruiting.
Aidan Hutchinson, who became the No. 2 overall pick of the 2022 NFL draft, is credited with having a significant role in the Michigan turnaround during his final season in 2021. Before the first game that year, Hutchinson told reporters that while nothing was wrong with the Michigan culture there were, “just things that needed to be improved.”
