Jim Harbaugh continues to find ways to innovate, this time it comes in the form of spring practice.
Harbaugh would like to take part of Michigan’s spring practice and hold it at IMG Academy in Florida. The school has dorm-style rooms and small apartments on its campus. Along with a football field and a dining hall, it’s the perfect place if your team is going to be away from home for an extended amount of time.
Michigan is one of the most profitable schools in the nation, so the trip should be no problem as far as finances are concerned. The NCAA keeps restrictions on spring practice rules, such as how many practices teams can have, as well as the span, and contact days in practices.
But there are no rules on location.
Of course, as one would assume, Michigan can’t just pull the trigger on the trip.
From the Detroit Free Press:
One potential complication, if the Big Ten or NCAA nix the idea. Despite no apparent roadblocks in the bylaws, the conference and national organization likely would have to clear it before the Wolverines followed through.
Yet in unusual or unconventional situations, schools usually have the idea vetted for through their own compliance department and cleared by the conference and/or NCAA before proceeding. That is the procedure Michigan State followed when its basketball team attended the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 31.
This move by Harbaugh would be just another way for him to get under the skin of his SEC counterparts. Last year, it was his satellite camps. The idea of spring practice being somewhat of a free spring break, and bringing appeal to kids from warmer-weather states would be huge. Not to mention, IMG Academy is a football powerhouse.
Typically, Texas, Florida, and Georgia are some of the top states for high school prospects, and any advantage you can get, you take. To be able to appeal to those athletes makes the idea of a move to Ann Arbor a lot more attractive, and an easier decision to make.
