U-M's Harbaugh goes shirtless: 'I was like a pig in slop'

When Jim Harbaugh introduced his Peru ball to the 400 campers today at Prattville High School, it seemed routine.

The Michigan football coach had explained the same chaotic game with its few rules Thursday at the Indianapolis camp and watched the skill players go at it.

This time, though, the game he called Peru ball that he said he invented on his mission trips and the players said was called 'Bama ball, there was no watching.

Wearing his trademark long-sleeve Michigan blue shirt and khaki pants, Harbaugh stripped off the shirt and jumped in the game.

At first, the players seemed a little stunned. But then they had no time for that because he was in it to win it.

Diving into scrums, bumping off kids and directing traffic, he was pushing his team, showing the competitive spirit that drove him through his NFL career and now through coaching.

There was another game on the other side of the field, but all eyes shifted to the shirtless 51-year-old running around in the 80-degree heat.

While it's hard to imagine another coach doing that — none of the other U-M coaches tried to play, but looked on, barely surprised by their boss' antics — Harbaugh loved every minute.

"I was like a pig in slop," he told the campers as the event concluded, with a gray short-sleeve Michigan football shirt on for the finale. "Man, you guys are in shape. You've got a heart for football, a face for football and I love being around you guys. That was a fun, fun day."

The move was classic Harbaugh, inspired in a moment.

"I'm not going to take my shirt off," Prattville football coach Chad Anderson said, grinning. "He loves it. That's just him, his personality, and it fits. You can tell it's genuine. It's not something he just came out here and put on an act. It's him. He's comfortable in his skin."

Harbaugh participating shirtless quickly stormed the Internet, with video clips and photos.

For those who know him well, it was not a surprise. His coaches just nodded and the players embraced the experience.

"I loved it," said Keith Washington, an incoming freshman defensive back at U-M who played at Prattville. "It just showed his competitive nature. He's a player's coach. Anything he asked you to do, he would do himself."

While Harbaugh playing shirtless went viral, the camp itself had a massive impact.

A day after the satellite camp tour began in Indianapolis, the Prattville camp was a lot different.

More on Harbaugh's visit to Prattville

Campers were given white shirts with the camp (and Harbaugh's) name on them, the U-M and assisting coaches from four to five smaller colleges wore maize "Prattville Elite" shirts, complete with a Nike swoosh. And the venue was far more expansive than at Indianapolis Bishop Chatard — with six fields instead of one, more than 400 campers instead of 165 and a DJ playing music over the loudspeakers.

The four-hour camp is one of the longest on the nine-day, 11-camp tour (U-M plans three today, a morning and afternoon session in Tampa and a night event in the Ft. Lauderdale), yet the Michigan coaches were highly interactive.

At one point, there was a fight between two players near the offensive line drills that lasted 15-20 seconds. U-M offensive line coach Tim Drevno brought them together, talked it out for a minute and made them run around the field, arms locked.

"Definitely you could see, walking around, it was a working camp," Anderson said. "They didn't come here to just get height and weight (for recruiting). They came here to get the kids better for football, coach them in football, and that's what we appreciate."

Contact Mark Snyder: msnyder@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mark__snyder.