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Michigan's Harbaugh: 'I can't wait' for Rome trip

Gregory Shamus / Getty Images Sport / Getty

As spring practice winds down, the date of departure for Michigan's trip to Rome is fast approaching, and the man behind the journey couldn't be more excited.

"I can't wait," head coach Jim Harbaugh said on The Rich Eisen Show. "As the day gets closer and closer, I'm just getting so excited about it."

Harbaugh came under fire for his barnstorming tour of satellite camps last offseason, including stops in Australia and American Samoa. An unidentified donor has agreed to foot the bill for the trip to Italy, an excursion the head coach insists is about way more than football.

"The opportunity to go to a city where buildings are 400-450 years old, be able to go to the Vatican, see the Sistine Chapel, go to the Colosseum, see the Spanish Steps," Harbaugh said, outlining some of the activities planned. "We have coaching clinics over there for American football, we're going to have youth clinics for American football, we're going to visit with refugees, we're going to take a cooking class, we're going to an opera, of course watch the move "Gladiator" while we're there."

The trip is also heralded as a bonding experience for the Wolverines in an attempt to help build team chemistry. That will be tested immediately to open the 2017 season, as Michigan faces Florida to open the campaign on Sept. 2.

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