Harbaugh won't put number on satellite camps

Ann Arbor – It seems that each day, a high school in Alabama or Tennessee or California, anywhere across the country, announces Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh and his staff will be working a summer football satellite camp.

Harbaugh called traveling to seven states last summer the “Swarm Tour,” but this summer’s version is even bigger, nearing 20 camps.

Before he participated in the Softball Academy Home Run Derby against former Michigan quarterback Rick Leach at Alumni Field on Thursday, he was asked how many camps he and his staff will work.

“I don’t know,” Harbaugh said. “Haven’t decided yet.”

Satellite camps were banned earlier in April by an NCAA Council vote after a proposal by the ACC, although the SEC was also vehemently opposed to the camps. Nearly three weeks later, the NCAA Board of Governors reversed the ban.

Ole Miss coach Huge Freeze had said he was pleased after the initial vote, and before that, Georgia coach Kirby Smart said publicly he had issues with Harbaugh taking the team to Florida for spring practice over spring break.

But Freeze will work the Pearl, Miss. camp along with Michigan, and Smart will be at the Atlanta camp with Harbaugh and his staff.

“They’ve come around,” Harbaugh said. “I don’t hold that against them and look forward to it. It’s collegial, and I really like that about it.”

Harbaugh said there is no real strategy in terms of selecting which camps they will work. Some of his staff know people at some of the high schools, and often it’s because a school has reached out to them.

He is excited about the next wave of camps.

“It’s good for the prospective student-athletes, it’s good for their families, good for coaches, it’s good for competition,” Harbaugh said.

Michigan cornerback Jourdan Lewis, who dropped by the softball academy, was among the most vocal players on social media after the original vote banned satellite camps. Lewis, from Detroit, attended the Sound Mind Sound Body camp in Detroit for four years.

Lewis and many other players took to social media to express their unhappiness with the decision and used the hashtag #ChangeNCAA.

Harbaugh adds UM camp stop in Tennessee

“That’s where we began as freshman and eighth graders, that’s where we got our start, the satellite camp Sound Mind Sound Body,” Lewis said. “We got our first chance to compete against some of the guys around the Midwest. That’s where we got our first exposure to the big schools like Michigan. For that to be possibly not happening, it’s really personal for guys like me and Desmond King and everybody who attended Sound Mind Sound Body from ninth grade to 12th grade.

“It was good to see we had a voice. I guess we progressed that change. It was a good feeling to see they reversed the rule. It was outlandish to ban high school camps.”

Canteen update

Harbaugh said receiver Freddy Canteen has had two shoulder surgeries, but when asked whether Canteen will play for the team, Harbaugh said, “I don’t know yet.”