Jim Harbaugh: ‘We don’t run off players’
Jim Harbaugh disputed Michigan defensive tackle Ondre Pipkins’ assertion that Michigan’s staff pressured Pipkins to quit playing football.
Pipkins told ESPN that he had been approached by Michigan’s staff to sign retirement paperwork approximately 10 times over a three month period. Pipkins suffered a knee injury in the 2013 season and returned to play in 2014. Michigan has said it doesn’t feel its in Pipkins’ best interest to continue to play football.
“We don’t run off players,” Harbaugh said at Comerica Park shortly after throwing out the first pitch before Tuesday’s Tigers-Pirates game.
“I’ll speak for myself personally,” Harbaugh continued. “When it comes to the health and safety of the players, that argument trumps all other arguments.”
Pipkins said he has arthritis in the knee but that doctors originally said it shouldn’t disqualify him from playing football. Since he hasn’t signed any medical scholarship paperwork, Pipkins is still on Michigan’s roster and counting towards the team’s 85-person scholarship limit. If he signs the forms, he can’t play football again and is no longer against the limit.
He also claimed that Harbaugh and staff have set a July 1 deadline for other players to get healthy to stay on the team. Harbaugh denied that assertion as well.
“(We haven’t done that), it varies with different circumstances, there’s no set date for the team, no,” Harbaugh said. “There never has been.”
Pipkins said Friday that he’s looking to transfer from Michigan. If Pipkins leaves the program he will have to sit out the 2015 season to play in 2016.
For more Michigan news, visit TheWolverine.com.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
