ANN ARBOR -- The University of Michigan has hired the national public relations firm Edelman to assist with the way it handles athletic department messages and issues, the university confirmed Wednesday.

Michigan has been using assistance from Edelman -- the firm that helped Penn State navigate through public relations issues during the Jerry Sandusky scandal fallout -- for "the past several months," according to university spokesman Rick Fitzgerald.

All of Edelman's work is being handled on an hourly basis through Michigan's office of global communications, and fees are set to not exceed $75,000 over the next year.

The Detroit Free Press first reported this story.

"We believe there are times when getting an outside perspective is the smart thing to do," Fitzgerald said Wednesday. "We engaged Edelman to provide just that type of external perspective following the football concussion incident. There is no ongoing work at this time."

The football concussion incident Fitzgerald is referring to the Shane Morris situation that took place in late September, and created a national media firestorm surrounding the way the injury was handled on the field and the way Michigan handled it from a public relations standpoint afterward.

Morris, a sophomore quarterback from Detroit, suffered a concussion after a hit to the head during the second half of a home loss against Minnesota. He then stayed on the field for one more play before leaving for the sidelines. Minutes later, he re-entered the game to take one more snap after Devin Gardner was forced to the sidelines after losing his helmet.

Michigan then issued a statement roughly 24 hours later claiming that Morris had suffered a leg injury, but made no mention of any concussion. Now former coach Brady Hoke was then forced to answers questions from the media without being fully informed as to what was going on with Morris, referring to a statement that was never released.

Now former athletic director Dave Brandon then released a medical statement -- written by him -- at nearly 1 a.m. on the Tuesday following the Minnesota game.

Brandon and his department were heavily criticized for weeks with regard to the way they handled the situation. He resigned from his post on Oct. 31. Hoke, whose team finished 5-7, was fired last week.

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