Jake Butt: There's A Method To Harbaugh's Madness
By: Will Burchfield
@burchie_kid
It has been a tale of two halves for senior Jake Butt at the University of Michigan.
The Wolverines went 12-13 in his first two seasons. They've gone 19-4 in the two years since, and find themselves in the thick of the College Football Playoff race in the tight end's senior season.
Along the way, Butt always believed Michigan was destined for this kind of success.
"I really did. It's not like we didn't have talented teams back in the day. If you look back at my freshman year, just about our whole entire offense is playing in the NFL or will be playing in the NFL, and the same story goes for our defense," Butt told the Jamie and Stoney Show on 97.1 The Ticket on Thursday morning.
"We always had talented teams. It's just trying to find out how to put the pieces together to form a great team," Butt added. "Once Coach Harbaugh came in and brought in his staff, he kind of gave us this vision and showed us the way a little bit where we started to really believe, too, that this can be something really great."
Harbaugh arrived at Michigan prior to the 2015 season. In his two years at the helm, the coach has shown an ability to connect with his players on a personal level.
"I think that comes with how hard he fights for us and how badly he wants to see all of us succeed," Butt said. "He's going to push us really hard and work us really hard. I'm confident in saying we're one of the hardest-practicing teams in the country just because of the way he sets it up.
"You've heard about the four-hour practices and the two-a-days and the meetings and the long days at camp, but there's a method to that madness. He just wants to see us succeed. He wants to see his team reach its full potential and he doesn't want to leave that up to chance. He's going to do everything in his power to make sure that we can get there. We see that too, and we respect that. We love that we have a coach that cares for us and is going to fight for us."
In Butt's mind, Harbaugh's notoriously tough practices served a purpose from the outset - one that transcended weekly preparation.
"Only the guys that truly want to be here and truly love football and truly love to win are going to go into those practices - and not just the first or second practice, but every single practice - with a positive attitude and a positive mindset," Butt said.
"They didn't care what it took at that point. If it was a four-hour, five-hour or six-hour practice, it didn't matter to us. We just wanted to win. We were tired of losing, so we put our trust into Coach Harbaugh and whatever he threw out in front of us we were ready to attack it."
Michigan suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday, falling 14-13 to Iowa. But the Wolverines still have all of their goals in front of them, a fact that was emphasized in the wake of the team's defeat.
"It's definitely something that we're all aware of," said Butt. "I think it's important to still be aware of that and know what's still out there and that as long as we handle our business, we control our own destiny."