What are the stickers on Michigan's football helmets? Taking a closer look at rich athletic culture of Wolverines in CFB arena

The Michigan Wolverines have one of the most unique traditions in the FBS with their unique football helmet stickers.

When coach Jim Harbaugh took over as the Michigan Wolverines coach in 2015, he introduced the stickers on the helmet tradition. With every victory, a new sticker is earned by the players on their helmets.

What are the stickers on Michigan's football helmets?

The stickers on Michigan's football helmets usually signify the type of game they are playing. Different types of games have different stickers. Trophy games have the trophy stickers while bowl games have the same. The annual rivalry game against Ohio State also has 'the game' as a sticker on the helmets.

The players also have different personalized stickers on their helmets. Freshmen get their own jersey number and team wins on their helmets. Captains get 'C's' on theirs and some players even have their hometown codes as stickers.

The associate athletic director of football, Dave Ablauf explained the significance of the stickers on the helmets to the players.

“We modified the helmet decal and how they’re awarded to basically now tell the story of a player’s entire career,” said Dave Ablauf. “It’s a great way to reward the guys. We’ve always given ours players their helmet at the end of their career, and this provides them with a keepsake that tells the complete story of their career rather than just that final season.”

Ablauf added:

“The new decals recognize not only their achievement on the field as a team or in areas of team success, but it still has the individual successes that a player has if you were voted player of the game offense, defense, or special teams, we’ll still do that. It also includes your accomplishments in the classroom, it includes your accomplishments if you were an All-Big Ten performer or an MVP or an All-American."

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2023 Michigan Wolverines football helmets

At the beginning of the 2023 season, coach Jim Harbaugh introduced a new custom to the Michigan Wolverines helmets.

He added the acronym EUTM which comes from a popular saying that his dad, Jack Harbaugh used to drill into the Wolverines coach when he was young. It means, “attack each day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.”

The coach turned the last half of the saying into this season's dominant helmet sticker for the Wolverines. There is a floor-to-ceiling poster at Schembechler Hall of the player the coach believes best symbolizes the saying.

“I looked at every player, every coach -- even considered myself,” Harbaugh said. “By the power vested in me as the head coach, the poster person for enthusiasm unknown to mankind for the 2023 year is Kris Jenkins.”

Alongside Kris Jenkins, Harbaugh mentioned players like quarterback J.J. McCarthy and running back Blake Corum as some of the players who had earned theirs.

A long-running tradition that tells the story of each player's career shows why the Michigan football helmet culture is so cherished in the CFB arena.