Day Two in Detroit: Central Michigan Football Team Takes Part in a Variety of Activities

Football, Family, Faith: Michael Heldman Becomes a Star, and a Man

Wednesday, December 24

Football Sets School-Record With 3.33 Semester Grade Point Average

Tuesday, December 23

Central Michigan Football Team Arrives in Detroit!

Monday, December 22

Joe Labas: 'I'm just thankful to be playing out there. I'm thankful that they've given me the opportunity to do so."

Monday, December 22

Photo by: Josie Ransley '25,M'27 - @josieransmedia

Day Two in Detroit: Central Michigan Football Team Takes Part in a Variety of Activities

12/23/2025 7:53:00 PM | Football

Day Two Photo Gallery Buy Tickets Bowl Central Central Michigan Bowl Guide Bowl Announcement

Chippewas practice at Ford Field, visit the Gleaners Food Bank Charity, and finish off day with a team event at TopGolf.

By: Greg Hotchkiss

DETROIT, Mich.—In preparation for the GameAbove Sports Bowl, day two for the Central Michigan Football team in Detroit included a morning practice at Ford Field, a community service visit to the Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan for a charity event, then a visit to TopGolf.

First look at Ford Field #FireUpChips pic.twitter.com/tajgfP6cRH
— Central Michigan Football (@CMU_Football) December 23, 2025

Central Michigan head coach Matt Drinkall spoke about what an incredible experience it has already been for his team.

"Everyone is really excited," Drinkall said. "It's a long season, but when you get a chance to do this and see our players go through this experience, everything has been so first class. The news floods you so much with the players and teams opting out of a bowl game and they make it seem like a bowl game is not a special event, but it absolutely is a special experience. You watch our players go through this experience and they come out here, we've got these giant guys talking giddy as you could ever be in the locker room saying, 'I've been in Michigan in my whole life and this is the first time I'm ever going to get to play on this field.' The entire experience has been unbelievable so far. We got to meet Calvin Johnson and Cory Schlesinger last night. It's a pretty cool deal and to be able to do this in Michigan makes it all that more personal to us."

The work begins in Detroit #FireUpChips pic.twitter.com/3h0EwfAe8o
— Central Michigan Football (@CMU_Football) December 23, 2025

Central Michigan opened its day with an hour-and-a-half practice at Ford Field. The Chippewas arrived at Ford Field and went straight to their locker room. Once ready for practice, the Chippewas streamed onto Ford Field, a venue where many have attended games but few have played on. The Chippewas worked through a variety of offensive, defensive and special teams drills and ended it up with an 11-on-11 scrimmage.

Central Michigan spent the afternoon at @Gleaners packing food to support the southeastern Michigan community. pic.twitter.com/ma1cyWF4cr
— GameAbove Sports Bowl (@GameAboveBowl) December 23, 2025

After practice, Central Michigan football players were given live-sized photos of themselves and a lunch to go.

Chippewas in the community

Spent the day at Gleaner's Community food bank to put in work off the field #FireUpChips pic.twitter.com/vwINkEiFeS
— Central Michigan Football (@CMU_Football) December 23, 2025

The team boarded busses and traveled to Taylor, Mich., where the Chippewas visited the Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan. Gleaners exists to provide households with access to sufficient, nutritious food, and related resources. Gleaners serves five counties in southeastern Michigan: Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston and Monroe. The organization provides food to more than 300 pantry partners including soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, schools and other agencies across the region, and supplement the efforts of those partners by offering direct service drive-up grocery distributions. Gleaners further empowers households with food programs and education to help overcome food insecurity. Every dollar donated provides three meals, and 93 percent of our expenses directly support our neighbors facing hunger. More information on what Gleaners does for the community is available at this link.

Jaion on the mic for our Gleaner's potato race! #FireUpChips pic.twitter.com/BvXEitQSPI
— Central Michigan Football (@CMU_Football) December 24, 2025

Central Michigan football's mission was to pack as many bags of potatoes as it could in one hour of time. The Chippewas gathered around several gigantic packages of potatoes. In each red bag, 10 potatoes were to be placed inside and tied. The bags were placed into large boxes containing a maximum of 150 bags. Earlier in the morning, Northwestern packed over 28 boxes containing over 5,300 potatoes, but the Chippewas finished their hour by packaging over 7,000 potatoes. CMU coaches and staff chipped in to help the Chippewa players. The scene was chaotic at first but the Chippewas came together and figured out the fastest way to organize the bags.

Day two was all about giving back to our community. pic.twitter.com/oZHtSzUE27
— GameAbove Sports Bowl (@GameAboveBowl) December 24, 2025

Later in the afternoon, a group of players went to TopGolf in downtown Detroit.

Later that evening, the Chippewas were treated to a late night snack provided by Jimmy Johns.

FOLLOW CENTRAL MICHIGAN IN DETROIT
Central Michigan Bowl Preview Show (watch on twitter)
Day Two Photo Gallery
Central Michigan Football Sets School-Record With 3.33 semester grade point average
Day One: Central Michigan Arrives in Detroit!
Day One Photo Gallery
Football Sets School-Record With 3.3 Semester Grade Point Average
Joe Labas Feature Story
Bowl Game at Ford Field Will Have a Home-Game Feel
Home Away From Home: Central Michigan Football is Back in Detroit
Watch GameAbove Sports Bowl Introductory News Conference (featuring Matt Drinkall)
Central Michigan Accepts GameAbove Sports Bowl Invitation

Central Michigan will play in its sixth bowl game at Ford Field in Detroit. The last time the Chippewas participated in a bowl game in Detroit was in 2015 when they faced Minnesota in the Quick Lane Bowl.

It is Central Michigan's 11^th all-time football game in the city of Detroit. All previous matchups took place at Ford Field, including five bowl games, four MAC Championship games, and one regular season contest. In 11 matchups in Detroit, Central Michigan's average attendance in those games is 33,472. The last time Central Michigan played at Ford Field was on Dec. 7, 2019 against Miami (Ohio) in the MAC Championship Game.

Owned, hosted and operated by the Detroit Lions, the GameAbove Sports Bowl is in its 11^th year of existence and second year with title sponsor GameAbove Sports. More information on the GameAbove Sports Bowl is available at www.detroitlions.com/game-above-sports-bowl/.

Follow Central Michigan Football: TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM

—CMU—