Michigan vs. Everybody

For David, with love

Contents

Foreword by Jake Butt

Introduction: Michigan vs. Everybody

1. The Roots of the Title Team

2. Not Just about a Cheeseburger

3. The Season Opens

4. Guardians of Victory

5. The Big Ten Season Kicks Off

6. In-State Rival, Off-Field Drama

7. Improvement Week

8. Opportunities for Distraction

9. Michigan’s First Major Test

10. No. 1,000

11. The Game

12. The Big Ten Trophy

13. Semifinal: The Rose Bowl

14. Playing for the National Championship

15. Harbuary

Acknowledgments

Photo Gallery

Foreword by Jake Butt

Every year in college football, a champion is crowned. Certainly, each team and its fan base feels it’s special and memorable. Of course, all champions are special in their own right, but every now and then, we witness something truly special. Something we haven’t seen before and may never see again, especially considering the broader landscape of college football.

Rarely do we remember the times everything went according to plan. In fact, there is no great story without great challenge and adversity. The great warriors and teams aren’t idolized because they had it easy. The greatest among us are remembered for what we had to endure, overcome, and persevere.

True adversity creates a split in time, a fork in the road. Suddenly, when facing great challenge, two paths appear in front of us. Will we be divided? Will we crumble and seek comfort? Will we do what’s easy and reassuring? Or will we choose the other path? The path that takes the very pressure that crumbles others and uses that pressure to bring us closer together. The path that requires absolute unity and alignment, where at every corner, players, coaches, and staff choose to stand by one another. The path where challenging questions have to be answered and addressed seemingly with no end in sight.

In the ever-changing world of college football, will we ever see a team like the 2023 Wolverines again?

The roster was full of leaders and men the Michigan community got to follow and watch grow up in the Big House: Mikey Sainristil, the definition of a Michigan Man, a talented wide receiver who was asked to switch to nickelback to help shore up the team’s secondary. When asked by coach Jim Harbaugh if he was willing to move to defense, he said, Whatever you need, Coach. Blake Corum, the heartbeat of the Michigan offense. I will never forget the 2022 Michigan–Ohio State game, being down on the field for warm-ups in Columbus and watching tears roll down Corum’s face as he searched deeply for the ability to help the team win. A week prior, in the midst of a Heisman campaign, Corum endured a significant knee injury in the second quarter against Illinois, ending his season and a chance at the prestigious award. J.J. McCarthy, a future NFL first-round pick at quarterback, who somehow saw into the future when tweeting to the Michigan fan base after a challenging stretch of tough losses in 2020, reminding them to breathe, have faith, and remember that every coach, player, and employee was doing everything they could to ensure the success of the program.

Of course, the list of impactful players and men could go on, but they were all led by their head coach, Jim Harbaugh. As a player, Harbaugh made a promise that he would lead his team to victory over Ohio State. In his introductory presser as Michigan head coach in 2015, he made no such promises. He only pledged excellence and effort. As one of the men who played for him, I can tell you wholeheartedly, he delivered on that promise. There is only one speed for Jim Harbaugh, full speed, but after years of trying, coming close, and ultimately falling short, it was time for Coach to renew his promises.

In a sense, 2023 felt like destiny. How could it not be destiny? When you consider the organic challenges that all teams face on the field in season and combine that with the outside challenges the team faced, there were countless opportunities to slip up and fail, but they didn’t. Opening the season in their first three games with Harbaugh suspended only showed their character and resolve as a team. Quickly, it became clear this team was on a path to compete for another playoff berth and national title. The final three games of the season, starting with Penn State, would be the ultimate test. Of course, no one could’ve predicted they once again would be without their head coach, as Harbaugh was suspended for Michigan’s responsibility in the alleged sign-stealing activity by Connor Stalions.

This book will cover everything that unfolded with Connor Stalions, but what won’t be forgotten is the way the players carried themselves in those final three games—going on the road against an elite Penn State defense without their head coach and running the ball 32 straight times to secure a gritty victory. Surviving a trap game versus a dangerous Maryland team that gave OSU all they could handle earlier in the season. And of course, The Game.

There was a moment in the Ohio State game that I think is a microcosm of this team’s identity. Every year The Game proves itself as one of the great rivalries in all of sport. But, in a matchup with over a century of deep and wide-reaching history, the 2023 matchup will be one that stands all by itself for many reasons: the great matchup of Ohio State receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. versus Michigan cornerback Will Johnson; Michigan’s offensive line versus an improved Buckeye front seven; Blake Corum back and fully healthy. But there was one moment that will always stand out to me—a moment that, once again, highlights the unity of the program, the fan base, and the mission this team was on.

In the second half of the game, star offensive lineman, team captain, and veteran leader Zak Zinter went down, and things did not look good. We quickly heard from the broadcast that this was a serious injury, and he would need to be carted off. Anyone watching could feel the energy in the stadium—110,000 fans on both sides, dead quiet. The TV broadcast panned from player to player, showing battle-tested warriors with tears in their eyes. Sadness and concern set in and radiated throughout the stadium.

We don’t know where it started, but somewhere in the stadium, a chant started to emerge. It was picked up and echoed continually until the entire stadium was chanting as one, Let’s go, Zak! Let’s go, Zak!

Alchemy was a medieval science and philosophy, in which the aim was the transmutation of base metals into gold. I’ve heard alchemy used to describe emotions as well. What we witnessed was the charged emotion of sadness and pain transmuted into unifying love and support. Clearly it energized the players, because on the very next play—the icing on the cake, which again, highlighted the unique character of this team—Blake Corum took a handoff 22 yards into the end zone. The crowd went absolutely nuts as Blake chose to celebrate by holding up six and then five fingers as a nod to his injured teammate’s jersey No. 65.

Michigan would go on to beat Ohio State, finishing the regular season undefeated. The Wolverines would defeat Iowa to secure their third straight Big Ten championship. All eyes would now be on the College Football Playoff, where Michigan learned they would be back in the Rose Bowl against the powerhouse Alabama Crimson Tide.

We would get to see a match-up between Jim Harbaugh and Nick Saban, and would later find out it was Saban’s last game as a head coach. Of course, Harbaugh left after the season for the NFL. Two great coaches meeting in a historic venue in the twilight of their tenures as heads of their respective programs. Destiny.

After the win over Alabama, it would be a match-up of the last Pac-12 champion, the Washington Huskies, and Michigan. Both rosters were littered with NFL talent, but even then, Michigan proved to be too much.

Michigan ran counter to conventional wisdom on how to build a successful team. Conventional wisdom said high-powered passing attack, bring in a ton of five-star recruits, that you needed to be the biggest spender to win at the highest level. While all those traits hold some truth and will always be important to a team’s success, it was evident to anyone who watched that Michigan Wolverines team that they were playing for something much bigger. As the college football landscape continues to evolve, as we embrace the pay-for-play model and work toward the end of amateurism, I believe it’s fair to ask, will the ’23 Wolverines be the last classic national champions?

In time, the finer details will fade. New champions will be crowned. Michigan will experience many more successes and challenges, but what makes the 2023 season so special is no one that was a part of that journey will ever forget how that team made them feel.

Jake Butt

Big Ten Network color analyst

2016 Michigan captain

Introduction: Michigan vs. Everybody

There have been bold guarantees made before by players the week of a game, but this was gutsy.

A national championship. The Michigan football team would win a national championship. That’s what returning running back Blake Corum declared during halftime of a basketball game on campus months before the start of the 2023 season. This wasn’t his head coach, Jim Harbaugh, who as quarterback for the Wolverines in 1986, declared they would beat archrival Ohio State in Columbus.

We’re going to play in the Rose Bowl this year, I guarantee it, Harbaugh famously told reporters without prompting. We’ll beat Ohio State; we’ll be in Pasadena on January 1.

That was big, no doubt, and became a part of Michigan–Ohio State lore as the Wolverines went on to back up their quarterback’s words. But what Corum told the crowd that night on February 8, 2023, when the football team was being honored at midcourt for winning a second straight Big Ten championship, was enormous. This was a team that six weeks earlier had suffered its second consecutive loss in the College Football Playoff (CFP) semifinals. But Corum, a couple months removed from knee surgery, was brimming with confidence.

Maybe no one else knew exactly what Michigan could be in 2023, but he knew. With so many veterans choosing to skip the NFL to return to play another season for the Wolverines, starting with him, and including defensive back Mike Sainristil, linebacker Michael Barrett, receiver Cornelius Johnson, and offensive linemen Trevor Keegan and Zak Zinter, Corum knew.

Man, it feels good to be back! Corum, standing with the microphone at midcourt, told the appreciative Crisler Center crowd while some of his teammates tossed T-shirts to fans. And I don’t have much to say. All I’ve gotta say is, we’re gonna run it back. We’re gonna win the national championship and go down in history. That’s all I got. Go Blue!

The Michigan players there didn’t seem remotely shocked. Corum returned the microphone, offensive lineman Trevor Keegan clapped at the conclusion of his comments, and they all walked back toward the tunnel, fist-bumping a few kids and arena workers on their way out. It was as though Corum had not said something unexpected or out of the ordinary. He said what they all believed.

That Corum’s guarantee didn’t gain more traction nationally was a bit stunning. There were some around the country who shrugged it off as merely big talk from a team that couldn’t get past the CFP semifinals the last two years, first losing to eventual national champion Georgia in 2021 and then to TCU in 2022. The perception seemed to be that as long as the Bulldogs were around, Michigan could make all the bold predictions it wanted, but Georgia, which had won the national title in 2022 as well, was king.

We have a team that is very special right now, Corum said at Big Ten media days in late July, not long before the start of preseason camp. "A lot of guys coming back, [quarterback] J.J. [McCarthy] has another year under his belt, we have transfers—Drake Nugent, LD [LaDarius Henderson], big [Myles] Hinton. Up front, we’re great. Team-wise, we’re great. We’ve been working our butts off this summer, and I believe in my guys. I believe in the camaraderie, the brotherly love that we have within each other right now, it’s crazy.

What I’m telling the guys now is that it’s just day to day now. We’ve had enough dreaming, we’ve had enough talk about the national championship, now it’s just day to day. We have to beat ECU first, we can’t think too far ahead. Be where our feet are. We have to take care of the regular-season schedule, beat our rivals, and then, if we get there, we’ve just got to get over the hump. For me, I have high standards, so yeah, it’s win or bust. I think the guys know that, but we don’t have to say anything, we know what it is.

There was no way Corum could possibly have known the twists and turns that awaited the Wolverines as they ventured on their journey to attempt to fulfill his guarantee. But he never wavered. They never worried. Even when not one, but two NCAA investigations ultimately sidelined their head coach for six regular-season games and put Michigan in the national headlines for everything other than their winning, they remained unfazed. The Wolverines would be called cheaters and their coach a liar, but the players shut out the noise and rallied behind a new motto, Michigan vs. Everybody. It was once a cute slogan sold on sweatshirts and T-shirts to increase players’ name, image, likeness (NIL) income, but it became the Wolverines’ identity and bolstered Corum’s faith in his guarantee.

Michigan’s Rose Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal against Alabama on New Year’s Day was the hurdle the Wolverines finally had to clear to play for a national title. The Wolverines were 0–2 in semifinal games, and the Crimson Tide had been among the four semifinalists eight times since the inception of the CFP in 2014. They had more appearances than any team and had won three national titles in that span.

Again, Corum felt secure in his promise made so many months earlier. And with Michigan as the No. 1 seed, he believed it even more.

I don’t really care what people say at the end of the day, he said before the Rose Bowl. For me, I try to stand on what I say, and I’m pretty good at it. I did say before the season, it’s a championship- or-bust-type of season, so I’m going to stand on that and do everything in my power to make sure this team is ready to take the field and play Alabama. Everyone is able to have their own opinions, but for me what I said before the season, I still stand on it. It is championship or bust.

Eleven months after Corum made his guarantee on the Crisler Center floor, he was back again with his teammates and coaches on January 13, 2024, to celebrate what he promised they would achieve—a national championship. He wore a shirt with one of his new catchphrases—BUSINESS IS FINISHED—as he stepped to the arena microphone with teammates and coaches before and around him. It felt a bit like déjà vu as his February comments were replayed on the videoboard above. Corum smiled.

I promised y’all, he said after the video ended. And what did we do?

He didn’t think the team could get any closer because it had always been so tight-knit. But through the adversity of the season, the players found a way to insulate themselves from outside noise and remain undeterred, as Corum explained:

We didn’t let the outside sources, outside people bother us. We didn’t let anyone change our thoughts or what we thought about ourselves or about this team. We just kept pushing, man.

When adversity hits, you can do two things: you can crumble, or you can keep going. We just kept going. We knew there was going to be a light at the end of the tunnel, and we didn’t let anyone bother us. We knew our mission, and we knew we had to complete the mission. That’s how we kind of attacked the season with everything that’s happened.

A team together, everyone accomplishes more. That’s what made us great. It’s not one coach. It’s not one captain. It’s not one player. It’s all of us coming together, and we all bought into. All right, this is our mindset, this is how we’re going to attack each and every day, this is how we’re going to stick together and just fight for other brothers.

Ultimately, a slogan became reality. For the players, it really did become Michigan vs. Everybody.

1. The Roots of the Title Team

Everyone remembers the ending, especially when celebratory maize and blue confetti spills from above as the most cherished trophy in college football is raised high. An overwhelming sense of euphoria is shared between players, coaches, and fans. Everyone remembers the welcome home and the cheers and the one more year chants directed at star players weighing their futures. And everyone remembers the parade and the thousands who braved cold, windy weather to witness a fun-loving, bare-chested offensive lineman with a crystal football in one hand and a beer in another. And everyone remembers the sold-out celebration and the speeches and the realization that this magical team would be together for this one last night.

Reaching the pinnacle of any pursuit and the joy that follows can be captured in photographs, videos, and in print with big, bold headlines. That’s the championship moment embraced by all. It is a feeling easily shared by those who accomplished the feat and also by the family, friends, and fans who cheered for them along the way. Parents shed tears of pure joy for their child and his teammates upon accomplishing their most significant goal, and right next to them a fan who might have no personal connection to the players also sheds tears of pure joy because of the university love they share.

Michigan went undefeated through 15 games in 2023, including a victory over Washington in the title game to claim the national championship. All of that is tangible and real and a source of pride for so many. What is more challenging to understand and grasp is how exactly the Wolverines got there. Sure, they never lost a game, but that only explains a small part of the journey that undoubtedly had roots in the previous three seasons.

An achievement like this requires grit and focus, and that’s in a normal year.

There was nothing, however, typical about this season for the Wolverines. The players had to dig deep and hold the team together amid controversy and allegations, but the thing is, the leaders on the team, the elder statesmen, had experienced rock bottom with the program. They had also lost in two previous CFP semifinal games. So when it came to dealing with the unpredictability off the field that affected the program and would ultimately keep their coach, Jim Harbaugh, from being on the sideline for six regular-season games, they knew how to respond and what buttons to push. Allegations, investigations, and controversy were as much a part of the season as touchdowns, stingy defense, and wins. But, in the end, the team was defined by its leaders, who never wavered in the face of these many challenges. The players never second-guessed, and they never allowed their goals to be derailed.

When they doubted, when they disrespected, when they called us names—they said we were cheaters and said we didn’t deserve what we had—none of that mattered to us, two-time captain Mike Sainristil said at that final celebration. We stayed focused, kept our heads on straight, and week to week, we gave spankings out.

Michigan entered the season with an NCAA investigation that dated back to 2021 hanging over the program. Harbaugh faced a Level I violation, the most serious, for allegedly lying to and misleading investigators regarding impermissible recruiting during the COVID-19 recruiting dead period and would serve a three-game, school-imposed suspension at the start of the season. Another NCAA investigation involving allegations of an illegal scouting and sign-stealing scheme emerged just beyond the midway point of the season and would take drama to a new level around the program. Harbaugh was suspended the final three regular-season games by the Big Ten.

The Michigan vs. Everybody slogan, which had been sold on sweatshirts and T-shirts the last few years to generate name, image, likeness income, became an identity for the players and a rallying cry.

This gumption, this confidence, and general sense of ease among the players was the gift of the older players, the leaders on this team. There were other layers to the team’s ability to operate with blinders, as well. Without question, quarterback J.J. McCarthy ruminating about the loss to TCU in the Fiesta Bowl CFP semifinal that ended the Wolverines’ 2022 season was a big part of his drive entering his junior season. He had thrown two pick-sixes in a game in which Michigan was favored. The Wolverines fell short in their comeback, and he was determined to lead Michigan to glory in 2023. There also was Corum’s very public promise of a national championship and, during the season, his frequent references to late NBA star Kobe Bryant, who during the 2009 NBA Finals famously said, Job’s not finished, even though the Lakers had gone ahead 2–0. This was his way of keeping his teammates from looking too far ahead.

To understand the success of the 2023 season is to understand the lessons learned from the dreadful 2–4 COVID-shortened season. The veterans, the core group