There are 11 millionaires on the most-up-to-date Michigan football roster.

While it's a severe NCAA violation to pay college athletes, it's only a violation of decency -- not to mention plain old silly -- to mess with diehard fans and media trying to do a job.

That's essentially what Michigan under coach Jim Harbaugh is doing yet again.

The roster listed on the school's official athletics website hasn't been updated since the end of the 2016 season. It includes 11 NFL Draft picks who signed deals reportedly worth more than $63 million combined, but not any members of the nation's No. 4-ranked recruiting class in 2017.

How absurd is this?

Michigan is the only one of the 14 Big Ten schools without an updated football roster.

Need more?

It's not the athletics communications department behind the delay.

The Wolverines basketball team -- which opens play on Nov. 11 -- updated its roster on July 22. The men's ice hockey team -- first game set for Sept. 30 -- introduced its 2017-18 roster on Friday with a Tweet including an exclamation point to convey excitement.

Even men's golf -- a spring sport with a few fall matches -- has updated the years of upperclassmen and added the faceless names and bios of freshmen.

Meanwhile, the football team is three weeks from its first game.

At Rutgers -- and at most Big Ten schools -- rosters are updated during spring practice and again in the summer.

In an effort to rank the 15 best New Jersey players in the Big Ten in 2017, NJ Advance Media contacted a Michigan official asking for an updated roster. Michigan is believed to have eight New Jerseyans on its roster, though nobody knows for sure.

Actually, that's a lie. The school's NCAA compliance department does. Or it at least it must.

That's how eligibility, APR and other statistics are tracked.

"We have not posted a 2017 season roster and won't until the first game week at the end of this month," the official replied.

Because Michigan is a public university, it is subject to the Freedom Of Information Act. NJ Advance Media submitted a request for a roster on Aug. 3.

FOIA is a tool used to weed out corruption in government, but here is a request for the hometown of a third-string linebacker.

A reply was received Friday:

How convenient that Aug. 25 essentially is the start of the first game week.

To anyone whose reply is, 'There is no a rule against not publishing a roster,' you are correct. There only is an unwritten code of decades of accepted practice and no legitimate reason not to provide one.

It was almost understandable when Harbaugh declined to publish a two-deep, even though most Power Five football teams do. It was funny when Colorado mocked the Michigan depth chart and other Michigan opponents left their depth chart blank during a game week.

Forget the concept of a competitive disadvantage when it comes to the roster. Any inconvenienced opponent -- or media member -- can take last season's roster plus the 2017 recruiting class and determine about 95 percent of the roster.

This is about making life just a little extra difficult for everyone around Harbaugh. Except for his fellow millionaires.

Ryan Dunleavy may be reached at rdunleavy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.