2021 was a special year for the Michigan football program as they defeated Ohio State, won the Big Ten, and advanced to the College Football Playoff.
As the season went on, plenty commented on how the vibe around the Wolverines was “different” from the 2020 season.
During an exit interview with The Athletic, now-former Michigan QB Dan Villari talked about how things changed from 2020 to 2021.
From The Athletic:
We heard all season about what was different with this team. What was your perspective on the change in the atmosphere around the program from last year to this year?
It’s night and day. I remember a lot of people, including myself, being unhappy in 2020 just because of what we had to go through and not winning games. It was a terrible vibe. The vibe we got from spring ball going into 2021, we all knew, “Yeah, we’re going to change this thing around.” It was night and day. It was such a fun year.
How do you think you guys were able to flip that switch?
(It happened) in spring ball. We used to never play music in warmups. There was music on in warmups and everyone was going crazy, screaming. The energy at practice was so different from the past. I think that’s when we all knew.
The Wolverines are losing quite a few players from their 2021 team and it will be interesting to see which players step up and lead the way in 2022 and beyond.