Michigan Wolverines news: Jim Harbaugh pushes back on NCAA allegations, a key decision date, and more

Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh pushed back on talk of NCAA violations at Big Ten Media Days plus more Michigan Wolverines news. 

Jim Harbaugh met with reporters at the Big Ten Media Days on Thursday and the Michigan football head coach didn’t address the NCAA allegations, although he said he would love to lay it all out there.

I’m sure he would because what the NCAA is doing is ridiculous. The Michigan Wolverines headman said once again that he has “done nothing to be ashamed of.”

That’s about as clear as it gets that Harbaugh denies he lied to the NCAA. He has continued to deny that allegation and Pete Thamel had some reporting on it Wednesday.

Michigan football fans surely would have enjoyed hearing Harbaugh go off on the NCAA, but probably wouldn’t have helped matters.

The bottom line is the Michigan Wolverines will likely be without their head coach for the first four games of the season. Maybe the penalty is still being negotiated, but regardless, Michigan football players in Indy made it clear that they will have Harbaugh’s back.

Outside of Harbaugh’s suspension remarks, there wasn’t a ton of ground-breaking stuff. Harbaugh mentioned that the Michigan Wolverines have a number of position battles and talked about the offensive line, kicker, and cornerback.

Harbaugh said the offensive line, “has 10 starters to five spots.” He also mentioned that some battles could go into the fall and said things are really tight at center between Drake Nugent and Greg Crippen.

We’ve talked about how deep the Michigan football offensive line is, but Big Ten Media Days leave me convinced that Michigan’s backups would still be one of the best offensive lines in the entire Big Ten.

Four-star offensive lineman sets decision date

Speaking of offensive lineman, four-star tackle recruit Bennett Warren announced that he will commit on Monday out of four finalists that include Michigan football, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.

The Michigan Wolverines were in a really good spot following their official visit with Warren on the June 9th weekend. However, the final visit went to Tennessee.

I’ve said this weekend will be interesting to watch. Michigan football is hosting the BBQ. Texas A&M and Tennessee are having their own events and I’ll be watching to see if Warren visits anywhere prior to his commitment on Monday.

Aaron Scott is also announcing his commitment on Sunday, which means it will be a busy weekend or so of recruiting with the BBQ also taking place.

More Michigan Wolverines news

• Former Michigan basketball standout Zavier Simpson is signing a one-year deal with the Detroit Pistons. He was acquired by their G-League team in a trade with Orlando. But it sounds like Simpson will finally get his shot in the NBA after playing in 112 G-League games. He averaged 17.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 8.9 assists last season. Simpson also played four games with the Thunder and averaged 11 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 7.5 assists.
• Michigan football star Donovan Edwards continues to grow his brand. He did a NIL deal with Nascar earlier this summer and threw out the first pitch for the Detroit Tigers on Thursday. The Michigan Wolverines NIL prospects are certainly improving. This was part of another NIL deal and it should be noted that On3 gives the Michigan Wolverines seven of the top 20 NIL valuations right now in the Big Ten, which tells you something about where NIL is headed. It’s going to be about paying the best players and if you’re a good player at Michigan, you’ll get paid really well.