Roster management is a term you often hear in SEC circles but the process of deciding who’s really on the team or not is certainly practiced far and wide across college football. The latest coach to make that very clear? None other than Jim Harbaugh.
Least you think the Michigan head coach is only about showing up on the sidelines of big games or taking players to Europe, he let it drop that some of the Wolverines’ 85 scholarship players could not be involved with fall camp later this year thanks in equal part to the play of some walk-ons with the team and because they aren’t making the cut.
“We posted it for the squad, so they know who was in the 110 as of June 1 and who is not in the 110 as of June 1. We do expect there will be movement, we hope it ignites competition in the summer,” Harbaugh said on his weekly podcast that was released on Tuesday. “Our guys know that 110 number is strictly based on merit. The team’s needs, talent, who is going to help at certain positions. Who the best players are.
“There already are scholarship players who aren’t in the 110 and there are walk-ons, preferred walk-ons and tryout guys who are in the 110.”
Talk about a big notice to the players to step things up for summer workouts.
Note that the 110 limit is just for UM’s fall camp and you can’t remove a player from scholarship if they didn’t to make the cut. You’re limited to just 85 scholarships in FBS football but Harbaugh noted there are a whopping 154 players in the program (including incoming freshman, preferred walk-ons and tryout players) right now. Eventually even that number will need to get pared down to around 135, which is generally the level the Wolverines have operated at the past few years and a figure that reportedly leads the Big Ten.
It will be a fascinating process to see play out given that Harbaugh has allowed this peak behind the curtain a bit. He mentioned nearly two dozen walk-ons by name on the podcast who had a chance to not only make the 110, but also crack the rotation. Given that, we could see a handful of transfers out of Ann Arbor come August without Harbaugh even having to reveal who didn’t make the fall camp roster and who did.