NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- The senior class from Michigan's football team gathered in a hotel ballroom on the second day of their senior leadership trip to California.

Greg Harden, an associate athletics director and director of athletic counseling, asked each of the team's 22 seniors a simple question.

"Are you a better leader today than you were a year ago?" Harden asked.

About halfway through the players' answers, Wolverines quarterback Denard Robinson offered a surprising response.

"I feel like I haven't grown," Robinson said. "For me to be the quarterback at the University of Michigan, I feel like I have to grow up a lot and be a lot more accountable."

Robinson's honest self-evaluation was just the kind of answer Michigan coach Brady Hoke wanted to hear.

Before Hoke's final season as Ball State's coach in 2008, he named his team's senior captains. One of those players, center Dan Gerberry, walked into Hoke's office the next day.

"What's a leader?" Gerberry asked. "I don't know how to be a leader."

Hoke instituted a senior leadership program for his players, in which he wanted to not only help them become better football players, but also better students and men.

"You could just see the growth of our team and seniors," Hoke said.

As Hoke prepares for his second season at Michigan, the leadership program has expanded to include a three-day trip to California, where last week the Wolverines attended daily leadership classes, took a tour of the Rose Bowl and organized and conducted a youth camp in Pasadena, Calif. The week culminated with nearly four hours of grueling physical training with Navy SEALs at the Naval Special Warfare Center at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado in Coronado, Calif.

"To watch the kids grow and see how they treat their teammates and influence their teammates is fun to watch," Hoke said. "If they run the locker room, we're going to be OK. If I have to run the locker room, we're going to be in trouble."

Over three days last week, Hoke, Harden and Michigan strength and conditioning coach Aaron Wellman were looking for more than a few good men. They were searching for the senior leaders who would guide Team 133 -- the 133rd incarnation of Michigan football -- into the 2012 season.

Michigan's seniors had barely been on the ground for four hours before they were corralled into a ballroom at the Newport Beach Marriott for their first leadership meeting. The Wolverines left Ann Arbor, Mich., for Detroit's Metro Airport around 5:15 a.m. CT Wednesday, and then flew through Minneapolis before arriving at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, Calif., around 11:20 a.m. PT.

After lunch, Wellman was eager to lay out the week's plans.

"A lot of things are critical, but one thing to remember is that this weekend is Memorial Day," Wellman told the players. "We're not comparing what we do to what the Navy SEALs do. When they lose, someone dies. When we lose, we come in on Sunday and watch film. We're not saying to anyone that we're like the Navy SEALs. Showing respect to them is going out there and working your butts off and doing what they ask you to do."

Wellman, who also worked for Hoke at Ball State and San Diego State, also offered the players the week's thesis.

"Take time the next three days to reflect about where you are as a football player, but more importantly, where you are as a man," Wellman said. "How do you want to be remembered as the 133rd football team? If you haven't taken the steps necessary to become a leader, you're not out of time -- but time is running short."

After spending several minutes discussing the next day's youth camp, Harden offered the first leadership lesson of the trip, asking each player if he was a better leader now than he was as an underclassman. Michigan's senior class is a combination of returning starters, backups and walk-on players. Robinson, who threw for 2,173 yards, ran for 1,176 and accounted for 36 touchdowns while leading the Wolverines to an 11-2 record in 2011, is easily the team's most recognizable player.

But it didn't take long for other vocal leaders to emerge, like starting receiver Roy Roundtree, linebacker Kenny Demens, strong safety Jordan Kovacs and defensive tackle Will Campbell.

During the meeting, Roundtree was critical of a recent 7-on-7 voluntary workout. He criticized the defense for not putting forth much effort.

"We didn't get better as a team," Roundtree said. "We didn't get better on offense because you didn't get better on defense. It was like running routes against air."

Greg Harden set the tone for the trip, talking to Michigan's seniors about growing as leaders and people. U-M Athletics

Campbell was just as critical of the defensive linemen's poor showing in recent conditioning runs. Michigan's defense lost three starting defensive linemen, which is a big concern heading into its Sept. 1 opener against defending BCS national champion Alabama at Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Crimson Tide is expected to have one of the country's best offensive lines.

"That's the position where we lost three starters," Campbell said. "The biggest part of Alabama is its offensive line."

"We want the team to be amazing," defensive end Craig Roh said. "We just need to map out a few things."

During the meeting, the Wolverines adopted their motto for 2012: "We Want It All."

"If you ask 119 other teams, their senior classes would say the same thing," Wellman said. "What makes you different? If you want it all, you can't remain who you are right now and become the men you want to be."

Shortly before the Wolverines filed out of the ballroom, Harden offered them a few more words of advice.

"We're talking about transforming a culture," Harden said. "You can't try it once and if it fails not try it again. You're at a place that's starving for leadership. Some of you were here under the former regime, which seemed to be a little more self-oriented. You're striving to become a team."

Wednesday, 6 p.m. PT, Newport Beach

After dinner, the Wolverines were back in the hotel ballroom, where Captain Duncan A. Smith and Special Warfare Operator First Class Eli Crane of the Navy SEALs gave them an orientation of what they would face on the beach at Coronado on Friday.

"I'm someone who is familiar with the pressure of being a part of an organization where there is an awful lot expected," Smith said. "That's a mantle. That's a yoke you have around you right now, not just for your team but the teams that will play at Michigan in 20 and 30 years from now."

The SEALs message of building trust within the team hit home with Michigan's seniors. Deanne Fitzmaurice

Hoke and Wellman became involved with the SEALs while they coached at San Diego State. Hoke's last group of Aztecs seniors went through a day of SEALs training in 2010. The SEALs' traditional trident -- a three-pronged spear, which is associated with the sea gods Nepture and Poseidon -- has become a part of Michigan's football culture. Last season, before the Wolverines defeated Nebraska 45-17 on Nov. 19, three SEALs traveled to Ann Arbor and presented the Wolverines with their tridents.

"We have a notion or sentiment in our organization where you earn your trident everyday," said Smith, whose nephew, Nathan Brink, is a junior defensive tackle for the Wolverines.

Hoke wants his players to adopt the same kind of work ethic.

"They're the most elite warriors we have and everything is about team, accountability and trust," Hoke said.

Crane, who is from Arizona and served three deployments to Iraq, admitted to the Wolverines that he's a Notre Dame fan.

"Unfortunately, my team is Notre Dame," Crane said. "You guys have hammered them over the years. I'll try not to take it out on you on Friday morning."

Then Crane scanned the room.

"Who doesn't think they can handle three hours of training?" he asked.

No one raised his hand.

"It's going to be us against you," Crane said. "Please have thick skin. You guys are going to get yelled at and you're going to be taken out of your comfort zone."

The SEALs left the room, leaving the Wolverines to watch the Hollywood film "Act of Valor," which included active Navy SEALs in its cast.

Thursday, 9 a.m. PT, Newport Beach

Before departing for a tour of the Rose Bowl and conducting a youth camp at a nearby park, the Wolverines went through another hour of leadership training in the hotel ballroom. Harden divided the players into four groups and charged them with creating new ways to unify their team.