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Report: Michigan denies FOIA request for roster, claims ‘there is no roster’
By Clint Lamb
Published:
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh seems to be at it again.
According to Awful Announcing, NJ.com (which they describe as the NJ Advance Media collection of papers) has been unable obtain the Wolverines’ football roster. The media outlet filed a FOIA to obtain the roster earlier this year.
The question left to be answered is why?
Michigan’s response to the media outlet, according to NJ.com’s Ryan Dunleavy, said it doesn’t have a roster at this time, and it won’t until they have held the final walk-on tryouts, which doesn’t begin until August 28th. The issue with this method of roster construction is that it differs from not only the Big Ten schools, but every other school in the country as well.
This approach most certainly affects Jim McElwain and the rest of the Florida Gators, as they are set to open the season against the Wolverines at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Tex., on Sept. 2nd. Rosters are nice reference sheets for more than just fans, as they can provide information such as potential position changes, changes in height and weight and other minor details that may not seem important, but every little detail helps when preparing for a football game.
It’ll be interesting to see how this ends up playing out, but there is little doubt that Harbaugh prefers anything that can give his team an advantage.
Clint helps cover the SEC West for Saturday Down South. His work can also be found on USA TODAY Sports, The 'Bama Beat podcast and The Bullpen with TonyMac and The Lamb. Previous stops include SEC Country, 247Sports and Touchdown Alabama Magazine.
