The winningest college football program of all-time is getting some help from the most decorated Olympian in history this weekend.
Michael Phelps is returning to the University of Michigan on Saturday to serve as honorary captain for the football team’s top-10 showdown against Penn State.
Phelps, a 23-time Olympic gold medalist, didn’t swim for the Wolverines while studying and training in Ann Arbor for a four-year period under then-Michigan head coach Bob Bowman — his Speedo endorsement violated NCAA rules at the time — but he did serve as a volunteer assistant coach.
Phelps has continued to support the school since, recently speaking to the football team earlier this summer about conditioning and recovery.
“He talked about sleep, he talked about hydration, water,” eighth-year Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh said in August. “Somebody that could go anywhere in the world, do any kind of treatment known to mankind. Ice, sleep, and hydration with water. Our team has an ice bath waiting for them right now. They’ve got water, and then getting that sleep, those are the kind of things that they take care of themselves. They take care of the team doing that.”
“It was really cool to see what kind of athlete he is, for him to come and talk to us and give us insight about how he recovered his body, all the training he does and how he didn’t take any days off,” offensive lineman Zak Zinter said. “Just kind of taking his mindset into this week and getting ready to go for a top 10 opponent.”
The battle of undefeated Big Ten East powerhouses kicks off on Saturday at 12 p.m. EST on Fox.
