At most Power 5 football programs, the team roster is updated during spring practice and at the start of fall camp. Michigan, however, is different.

The Wolverines have yet to update their roster, still showing the 2016 squad as the official roster. UM coach Jim Harbaugh appears to be worried about how teams will game plan for Michigan if the roster is made publicly available during the offseason.

NJ Advanced Media’s NJ.com wanted to publish a feature ranking the 15 best New Jersey players in the Big Ten. To do that, the reported needed a Michigan roster, to confirm which players are on the 2017 roster.

“We have not posted a 2017 season roster and won’t until the first game week at the end of this month,” is how a Michigan official replied to NJ.com.

So NJ Advanced Media upped the ante, filing a public records request for the latest roster, as Michigan is a public university and subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

Michigan, predictably, will fill the request as close to the beginning of game week (Aug. 28) as possible:

“Due to the large number of requests currently being processed by this office, it will not be possible to respond to your request within the five-day period accorded by the Michigan Freedom of Information Act. However, under Section 5 (2) (d) of the Act, the University is permitted to extend the deadline for not more than 10 business days beyond the initial due date. The University will respond to your request on or before August 25, 2017.”

It looks like Jim McElwain and the Florida coaches will have to go with their best guess as to which players on game film are still playing for the Wolverines.