Big Ten Media Day kicks off at Lucas Oil Stadium
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind – Day one of Big Ten football media day kicked off on Tuesday, as teams gathered to discuss recent conference changes and the upcoming 2022 season.
During the 2021 season, the Michigan Wolverines were crowned the as the Big Ten champions and even made it into the college football playoffs.
“It's been a tremendous off-season for the Michigan Wolverine football program," said Michigan Head Coach Jim Harbaugh. "Our guys from literally days after our final game last year have been at work, attacking everything they do,”
The wolverines managed to go 12-2 last season, before losing to the national champion Georgia bulldogs in the playoffs.
This year, after the loss of defensive star Aiden Hutchinson, the Wolverines believe they’re in a position to repeat similar success.
“It's been a really good continuation from last year's team. I think some of it, players that were on the team, they put in that work, they know what it was like, that good feeling of taking care of your business and having that success and being rewarded for it,” Harbaugh added.
“Getting that perspective of, look this is the talent we are going to see. This is what it’s going to take if we want to win a national championship. I think that perspective was huge for this team. It was humbling and now we know what it looks like,” said quarterback Cade McNamara.
“They also saw other players on the team, guys like Aiden Hutchinson, Hassan Haskins, David Ojabo, who put in that work, got that work in, and how much it paid off for them,” Harbaugh mentioned.
While Michigan hopes to imitate their 2021 season, their conference-mates in Bloomington look to forget the past, after going 2-10 last season.
“The bottom line is things didn't go the way we wanted them to go in 2021, and when that's the case, you do one of two things. You either feel sorry for yourself, or you sit there and do a thorough evaluation of everything that you do, which is what we began in January, said Indiana Head Coach Tom Allen. "We've got a great opportunity to be able to build upon the traditions we have in our program and to be able to have a chance to take the field in 2022 after a tough 2021 and be able to have a group of young men come together and do something special.”
Indiana and Michigan will face each other on October 8th this season at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington.