Michigan Players Talk 'Uncomfortable' 'Chaos' Game With Harbaugh
By Terry Foster
The Family Deal
Ann Arbor – For weeks I've been trying to figure out this wacky rags to riches victory march under the blue umbrella that is otherwise known as the Michigan football team under Coach Jim Harbaugh.
Harbaugh is a great coach. We all know that. But that answer is too simple.
He brings attention to the program and attracts recruits like a moth to light. That might also be true but that was way too simplistic. I finally found the answer just outside the walls of Michigan Stadium at a round table during Michigan media day.
That's where Michigan linebackers Cheyenn Robertson, of New Jersey, and Jared Wangler, from Royal Oak sat. We shared a few moments and I asked them where this newfound direction and focus came from.
They just did not scream "Jim Harbaugh" like everybody else does. Instead they used three strange words that do not always fit together. They were "uncomfortable," "chaotic" and "competition." And like magic, this puzzle seemed to fit. It might also describe Harbaugh, a man who is competitive, chaotic and makes things uncomfortable.
ESPN recently asked Harbaugh if he would describe himself as a nut?
"I would not describe myself like that," he said.
No. Chaotic? Yes.
Competitive? Yes.
Does he make people uncomfortable? Yes.
And he wants his football team to do the same.
"I would say it starts with the head man and it begins with the constant chaos he brings to practice every day," Wangler said. "It's the standard they expect out of you and the standard they hold you too. You can tell just by the way they hold you to your performance. You are going to get called out on your performance if it is not to the level that you are supposed to perform at. So it's more of a grown man aspect to it. You really do not want to let the guy down standing next to you."
Senior Taco Charlton has been in a lot of uncomfortable spots. He's played under Brady Hoke and has endured more losses than he'd like to think about. He's been uncomfortable on the football field during uncomfortable losses to Michigan State and Ohio State. Now he is in uncomfortable spots under Harbaugh that will help him.
"You've got to step outside our comfort zone to push each other,' Charlton said. "Maybe it's hot outside. Maybe you are tired to the point you might not be comfortable in this position and you've got to push past that and go forward and push it."
How far do coaches push it?
Some players admitted they push to the brink to where they question of where some question if they love football any more. So it seems as if they are pushing and tugging as hard as they can at Michigan. It is something they must do because they are pushing it in East Lansing and Columbus.
(Foster can be reach at Terry.Foster@cbsradio.com. Twitter: TerryFoster971.)