By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
August 12, 2015

There were a lot of reasons that University of Michigan football fans wanted the team of David Brandon and Brady Hoke replaced with just about any other Athletic Director in the world and Jim Harbaugh.

A partial list includes: the horrible quality of play on the field; becoming the gimp to both Ohio State and Michigan State; and the commercialization of Michigan Stadium and the program in general — not to mention skywriting planes and fireworks.

But no single event galvanized both the alumni and Wolverine supporters like the fallout from quarterback Shane Morris’ brain injury during the September 27, 2014 loss at the hands of the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

And based on how the U of M fan base reacts to this article, you will know once and for all if Michigan fans REALLY cared about the health of Morris or if they were just using the issue as leverage to march on Brandon’s house and call for his immediate dismissal.

Do you people really worry about degenerative brain disease or did you just use that issue as a poker chip to get rid of someone you despised?

Because what I am about to write over the next few paragraphs is just as disturbing as the flippant response of Hoke and Brandon to Morris’ remaining in the game after suffering an obvious head injury.

The DetroitSportsRag has learned that some disturbing events took place during the U of M football-sponsored “Exposure U.” camp that took place in the middle of June — the first such program run by the messiah Harbaugh himself in Ann Arbor.

If you aren’t familiar with Exposure U., here is information about the camp from the MGoBlue website:

Exposure U – High School Camp is for players entering 9th through 12th grade in the fall of 2015 and graduating seniors who are looking to compete against other athletes, improve their technique and understanding on the game. The camp will be highly competitive, enjoyable and a tremendous football experience for all participants.

Now, this camp has been going on since the 70s when it was created by Bo Schembechler. For decades it has been run by U of M coaches like Hoke and Lloyd Carr. Local high school coaches participate in this camp as well.

A mixture of coaches and staffers in attendance at Exposure U. became extremely disillusioned with how Harbaugh ran his inaugural camp.

Our source informed us that one of the key components of the camp was drastically altered this summer — and not for the better.

In the past, at the end of the day’s program, the teenagers would partake in a free-form, NON-padded, throw-heavy form of “Air Force” football. This was supposed to be both a fun event for the KIDS and a way for the coaches in attendance to judge raw talent with minimal physical risk to the HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS.

Just imagine basic “recess ball” with one quarterback and one center who would then become an eligible receiver after snapping the ball. This laid-back, middle-school type of game included no downs or stoppages of play. There would be a throw-off instead of a kick-off. Kids would get a little dinged up at times, but there was no tackling or full-speed, head-on contact.  And no serious injuries.

Ya know, since these were 14-to 17 year-old kids who were involved in the camp this seemed to be a good plan for the last five decades.

This year, Harbaugh decided to replace the enjoyable routine and mostly risk-free game with something that probably should have taken place at some Greek coliseum instead of Michigan Stadium. Or maybe at an ACTUAL Big House (you know, a penitentiary) and not at the stadium that is affectionately referred to as such.

As you probably have read or heard about recently, Harbaugh on a Catholic missionary trip a few years back in South America invented a game called “PeruBall.”

What is PeruBall? Well, the goal is to run the ball between two cones in the end zone. NO pads WITH helmets.

11 on 11.

Harbaugh came up with this game out of necessity in a poor area of Peru where kids couldn’t afford any sort of expensive equipment.

Basically, the only way to win possession is to stop the other teams forward momentum. I am pretty sure this exercise is what killed Chris Rock’s character in the remake of “The Longest Yard.”

In case you were living under a rock and didn’t hear about Harbaugh playing a shirtless version of PeruBall in early June BEFORE Exposure U. commenced, here is some video ….

Anyway, you probably can figure out what occurred when you took high school kids with helmets and no pads and introduced them to a Hunger Games-style full contact-event.

Our sources said that after the first day there were several bloody lips, banged-up noses and turf burns. An ambulance had to be called for one dislocated shoulder and there were other shoulder injuries that didn’t require 911. We received one report of a kid suffering a C4 vertebrae injury which we are still trying to completely confirm.

And while we aren’t privy to any MRI results, the coaches and staffers on hand believe that there were brain injuries as well. (We don’t call them concussions on the DSR because we aren’t in cahoots with either the NFL or NCAA.)

Why did Harbaugh change the day-ending event from an Air Coryell drill to some rugby-style MMA bullshit? Our sources tell us that Harbaugh wants everything to come down to intense competition, which, I guess, could be justified with college students who signed up for this madness — but with high school kids at a CAMP?!??!?!?!?

Has Harbaugh neither watched “League of Denial” nor read about Junior Seau’s suicide? Does he not care about the health of children put in his charge?

The DSR was told that bad weather during the first two days of the camp led to the cancellation of “PeruBall” but that it occurred on the third day. Incredibly, it was supposed to also go down on the fourth day as well — when the children’s parents would be in attendance and watching!!!!!

The coaches and low-level U of M staffers were allegedly mortified that the parents would witness their kids act out some Darwinian fantasy of Harbaugh, so they told the coach that because the first two days were cancelled, a championship on the last day wouldn’t be fair because some groups didn’t have a chance to face-off against each other.

These concerned attendees didn’t think telling Harbaugh straight-up to his face that this was borderline child abuse would convince Harbaugh to cancel the exercise. They played to his competitive nature and convinced Harbaugh to just give a speech instead of Murderball II.

This is now the third time I have heard the “What is wrong with Harbaugh?” question raised by someone who has come in contact with him. Once early in his tenure, then after the bizarre Colin Cowherd interview and now this.

And incredibly, we have received the SAME unsolicited answer from three different parties ….. that Harbaugh must be somewhere on the Autism spectrum.

And while I am not a doctor and I definitely don’t want to play one on this website, there is definitely some disconnect with the dude.

While the media has yucked it up about Harbaugh’s soccer/rugby/football genetic mutation known as PeruBall, many of the adults at Exposure U. want to make sure it never occurs again.

Hence this article.

I have never had any doubt that Harbaugh will turn around the Wolverines. He has done it everywhere he has been and nobody can question his credentials or his football acumen.

But, one must now wonder, at what cost?

I’d like these people to answer that question ….

 

(If you are a parent of a child who was injured during the Exposure U. camp please contact me at DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com.)