Michigan Football Finds Joy, Focus Amid Tumultuous Month Ahead of Citrus Bowl Clash with Texas
ORLANDO, Fla. - For Michigan football, December has been anything but ordinary. The Wolverines have spent the past month navigating a whirlwind of off-field chaos - a rivalry loss to Ohio State, the firing and subsequent arrest of their head coach, a university investigation into the athletic department, and a national coaching search that’s still ongoing. In any normal year, that would be enough to derail a bowl game prep entirely.
But here they are in Orlando, just days away from a showdown with a top-15 Texas team in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, and you wouldn’t know it by the mood on the practice field. On Monday afternoon, under the Florida sun at West Orange High School, Michigan players were smiling, laughing, and cracking jokes as they walked off after a brisk, one-hour session - their final practice before the game.
This wasn’t just a light day to cap off bowl prep. It’s been the tone all month, thanks to interim head coach Biff Poggi’s deliberate shift in philosophy.
Practices have been shorter, meetings more efficient, and the overall tempo? Upbeat, intense, and focused.
It’s not just about managing bodies - it’s about restoring joy to a program that’s had to carry a heavy emotional load.
“I think it’s a big reason why everyone’s still here,” said center Greg Crippen. “No one really transferred, and that was a really big reason.
I know I was going to be here either way, but [Poggi’s] done an unbelievable job with the practice schedules. Everything’s been shorter and quicker - but we’re still going ones versus ones.
It’s been great.”
That last part matters. Poggi hasn’t just trimmed the fat - he’s kept the edge.
Michigan’s bowl prep has been built around high-quality reps, starters sharpening each other in competitive, fast-paced sessions. The goal?
Reignite the love for the game while keeping the team locked in.
Earlier this month, Poggi said the mission was simple: “get the team to start having fun playing football again.” And so far, the results speak for themselves - not in wins or losses yet, but in retention and morale.
Since Sherrone Moore’s firing on Dec. 10, only two players - backup quarterbacks Jadyn Davis and Davis Warren - have entered the transfer portal. Both were still at practice Monday.
Defensive tackle Rayshaun Benny echoed the sentiment, pointing to the team’s energy as a key difference.
“We can finish practice the same way we started,” Benny said. “That’s crazy, knowing what we’re used to.
When we heard what the plan was, it was like, ‘that’s light!’ Everybody embraced it.
The plan was to get our bodies back and help us, and shoot - everybody just ran with it.”
His fellow D-tackle Tré Williams didn’t hold back either: “Liberation!” he said with a grin.
“We didn’t want to get it taken away. It can go just as quick as it came if we don’t raise the intensity.
So yeah, our intensity stayed up this entire bowl prep. I’m proud of everybody.”
Poggi’s approach has been about more than just lightening the load - it’s been about efficiency. He’s trimmed meetings down to what’s necessary, cutting out the excess and trusting his players to stay locked in without being bogged down by long hours in the building.
“When you ask kids to be in the building for multiple hours, and you’ve only got 30 minutes of new stuff to teach, they know what’s going on,” Poggi explained. “They’re not dumb.
They get it. So we’ve changed that.
And it’s been a blast - for the coaches, for the players. The work has been outstanding.
The level of practice has been outstanding. The concentration in meetings has been outstanding.”
Whether that translates into a win against Texas - a team Poggi believes should be in the College Football Playoff - remains to be seen. But the fact that Michigan has held together, with only three known healthy opt-outs due to NFL decisions or transfer plans, is a win in itself.
“The real win for us has been the way these kids have handled adversity,” Poggi said. “The way they’ve come to practice every day, the way they’ve isolated themselves from the onslaught of outside noise.
We’re coming to win, and we’re going to try our best - I can guarantee you that. We’re going to play hard.
But I don’t think what these kids have done in the last three weeks should be overlooked.”
In a month where headlines have been dominated by turmoil, Michigan has quietly put together a bowl prep rooted in resilience, unity, and a return to the basics - playing football with joy and purpose. That may not erase the chaos of December, but it’s given the Wolverines something to rally around as they close out a rollercoaster season.