First, it was Italy. This year, it was France. And in 2019, the Michigan football program will be heading all the way to South Africa as Jim Harbaugh’s commitment to overseas trips for his program continues to play out.
“We’re going to (South) Africa,” Harbaugh said while speaking with WTKA-AM (1050) in Ann Arbor on Monday morning. “We’re going to Johannesburg and Cape Town and we’re going to do a safari. How about that? How about a safari? I’m looking forward to it.”
According to Nick Baumgardner of the Detroit Free Press, Michigan was planning on choosing between Cuba, Spain, Greece and others, along with South Africa.
The team’s previous two trips were covered financially by donations from donors Bobby Kotick and Don Graham, and the trip to Rome was quite pricey, by anyone’s standard. But since donors are taking care of the cost, and since these trips are no doubt a huge highlight for the players on the team, it’s all just part of doing business in today’s NCAA, I guess.
Michigan has definitely had no issues with recruiting since Harbaugh took over a few years back. The Wolverines hauled in the No. 21-ranked recruiting class in 2018, per 247Sports, and has the No. 9-ranked class for the 2019 football season at this point.