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Jim Harbaugh and Michigan will head to Florida for the first week of spring practice.
(Melanie Maxwell | MLive.com)
ANN ARBOR -- Jim Harbaugh and Michigan are headed back to Florida.
Officially.
Harbaugh confirmed Wednesday that the program will spend its first week of spring practice at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida during Michigan's spring break week -- which begins later this month (Feb. 27).
"Our plans for spring football are to go to Florida our first week while the university here is on spring break," Harbaugh said. "We'll go to Florida and have four practices down there. We're going to work hard but we'll have fun doing it.
"I've already got some good plans. We'll have swim meets, putt-putt golf. We're going to have football meetings, practice. I think it gives a chance to win on a lot of different levels."
Different levels to be sure.
By bringing his entire team to Florida during the week of spring break, Harbaugh eliminates all risk of players spending idle time at home without any type of daily structure to distract them or get anyone into trouble.
Also, it's Florida. IMG Academy is one of the top high school football programs in the country. College programs will be in a quiet recruiting period during spring football, which means prospects can only have face-to-face contact with coaches on that school's campus.
But spending a week at IMG will certainly allow Harbaugh and his staff a chance to make inroads with that program moving forward.
There's more, too, he says.
"Everybody's going to get a spring break," he said. "There won't be a youngster who can't afford to fly somewhere and not enjoy a spring break.
"What better way to be doing that than playing football?"
Harbaugh also said that by practicing during Michigan's spring break, both winter finals weeks this semester will feature zero football -- allowing players to focus solely on their exams.
"Those will be discretionary weeks so our guys can focus and concentrate on finals," he said. "Then, we'll be outside, we'll be in Florida, we'll go to the beach. It'll be a good time for the team to connect and be together.
"That's a lot of levels right there ... very much looking forward to it."
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