Michigan Tight End Jake Butt A Fan Of Wolverines' Spring Break Practices
By Ashley Scoby
@AshleyScoby
Plenty of coaches and college football administrators have shared their feelings about Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh taking his team to Florida for spring break (and a week of practice). But according to Wolverines tight end Jake Butt - one who is actually affected by the spring plans - the trip to Florida is a way of alleviating stress, not adding to it.
Critics (especially SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, and even NCAA president Mark Emmert) have argued that forcing a college team to spend its university-sanctioned break practicing is adding too many time demands onto athletes who already have packed schedules.
That's not the case, Butt says: Being able to practice without the cloud of classes and tests hanging overhead is a positive.
"I really would encourage it for a lot of other people," Butt told reporters in Bradenton, Fla., according to the Detroit Free Press. "This first week of spring ball, it's tough. You're learning new plays, you're building that callous where you're really sore. You're doing these four-hour practices. We don't have to worry about these with classes now, all we have to worry about is football and (then) we're out on the beach relaxing."
He also mentioned what Harbaugh has harped on all along - not all members of the team would have been able to afford a spring break getaway, had this trip not happened.
Those who disagree with the trip have argued that student-athletes deserve a break from their athletic demands, during a week where class isn't in session. The SEC wanted to get the rules loophole closed, but couldn't get it done before Harbaugh and company jetted off to Florida. The NCAA will likely do something to change the rules before a school could do something similar again next year.