Jim Harbaugh has quite a few challenges in front of him as he transitions back to the NFL. But this is certainly not the first time he’s taken up such a challenge. When he took over Michigan back in 2015, the program went through a complete U-turn. A few broken records later, the now-former head coach decided to take the team on a trip to Rome, Italy, according to a 2017 report by the Detroit Free Press.
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As part of their spring practice trip, the college football team was there for an educational experience along with some drills, as ESPN reported back in 2017. Weeks before Michigan’s trip, however, around 1000 miles away from Rome in Hannover, Germany, Immo Osterkamp sat on his laptop, browsing through his Reddit feed as he usually did. But he had no idea that a single post would change the entire trajectory of his career goals.
In an exclusive interview with TheSportsrush, the international American football scout revealed his fan-struck moment. Today, he’s traveling the world and taking young athletes from all over the world to the US to play football, but back in 2017, he was a young football fan, living in Germany. And that’s exactly when he stumbled upon an opportunity. He narrates,
“So pretty much what happened is I saw a rumor on Reddit and I knew somebody who knew somebody at Michigan. So, I made sure that we write an email to the University of Michigan. They were kind of like, oh, ok, but please hush up about it. Don’t tell anyone. Then you can come and be an on-field intern, kind of just stand by the sidelines and learn.”
A Michigan fan himself, and a cornerback for a local German American football team, Osterkamp immediately started reaching out to everyone on his contacts and trying to confirm a rumor he had seen on Reddit. And confirm he did, the Michigan team was coming for a spring practice. It was his chance to see an American college football team in action. Live. There was no way he was missing this.
And so by telling the organizers that he knows about this very secretive trip, Osterkamp convinced them to let him come. The future international American football scout would jump on the opportunity to meet Head Coach Jim Harbaugh and learn integral drills from that outing that he’d later teach his team in Germany.
Immo Osterkamp Remembers Meeting Jim Harbaugh and His Son
Osterkamp was a 5’9″ cornerback who dreamed of becoming a running back. But he came from a humble background and understood that playing American football for a living was pretty much out of the question. So he looked at other avenues. Coaching was one of them. At that time, the Harbaugh brothers were at the peak of their powers, going head-to-head in the Super Bowl.
This caught Osterkamp’s eye, and he started studying the two brother-duo’s style and coaching philosophy. Although he ended up becoming a scout and not a coach, to this day, he resonates with the now-former Michigan head coach.
And that’s really all that the young learner needed — a chance to watch the top college athletes in action. And his wish was granted in the City of Seven Hills. He adds, “It was a chance to film a lot of drills and use that for my local club to help them grow.”
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Osterkamp reveals that his relationship with Harbaugh was built up to a point where, “when we had football camps in the state and they came in to recruit players at those camps, they already knew who I was. So, that helped opening doors for players.”
He ended up meeting Harbaugh, his son, and his father. Overjoyed by the warmth he experienced with the Harbaugh family, Osterkamp told TheSportsrush, “The whole family is into football. When we were in Italy, for example, his dad was there. His dad used to coach ball as well. So I had long conversations with his dad. Probably the first I met him,” further adding, “He talked for over an hour (and I was just) learning ball just talking with him about football. And so those kinds of things really help. And it’s like the whole family — the whole Harbaugh family is — super supportive; like they all are into football. And so it’s just really — you feel that once you talk to them. It’s amazing.”
And so that is how a Reddit rumor led to one of the most amazing experiences of Immo Osterkamp’s professional journey.
