Jim Harbaugh was leading the crowd in song and apparel was flying off the shelves in the wee hours of Aug. 1 in Ann Arbor. Jordan Brand and, perhaps more importantly, Nike was back for the Michigan Wolverines.
Fans (and players) had been looking forward to the official changeover from Adidas to Jordan for some time, but as the calendar flipped to August, it wasn't just current players who were highly invested in the switch. Former Fab Five standout Jimmy King let his praise be known in a big way (via Lev Facher of the Detroit Free Press):
"This is what I'm used to. This is how it's supposed to be. We used to come back from the (NCAA) tournament, people used to be out in the streets like this, music playing, everybody having a good time. This is a good college atmosphere."
King wasn't alone, either, as 1991 Heisman Trophy winner and current ESPN analyst Desmond Howard was not shy about his excitement on Twitter.
Beyond that Howard also addressed the assembled masses and Nick Baumgardner of MLive.com brings word of his statement:
"This right here is the 'Michigan Difference'. It's been 25 years since I won the Heisman. And when I won the Heisman, we were a Nike school."
"And now Nike's back."