ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

In addition to the statements from Michigan athletic director Bill Martin, football coach Rich Rodriguez and compliance director Judy Van Horn, the school released its list of athletically related activities that are both counted and not counted toward the NCAA-mandated time limits for in-season and out-of-season sessions.

One item on the non-countable list could benefit Michigan's strength staff in the forthcoming investigation:

Non-countable Athletically Related Activities. The following are considered non-countable athletically related activities and are not counted in the weekly or daily time limitations: 

m. Voluntary individual workouts, provided these workouts are not required or supervised by coaching staff members, except that such activities may be monitored for safety purposes or conducted by the institution's strength and conditioning personnel who have department wide duties. 

Michigan strength and conditioning director Mike Barwis and his assistants can cite this item in explaining their presence during voluntary offseason workouts that went beyond the eight-hour-per-week limit mandated by the NCAA.