ROME – Everything about Michigan’s first football practice in Italy felt a little strange
The acting long snapper, Coach Jim Harbaugh, was wearing cleats and khakis with a baseball cap that was splattered with paint from a paintball competition earlier in the week.
He lined up with the offensive line. Crouched over. Snapped the ball. And stepped out to block.
What was his self-assessment?
“I thought he did a very good job,” said Harbaugh, smiling like a man who had met the Pope one day earlier. “At first, I was trying not to screw it up.