The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/603303
MICHIGAN FOOTBALL 500 yards and two touchdowns, and he needed 15 catches and 162 yards over Michigan's final stretch to tie the single-season school records in both categories. Butt was recently named a semi- finalist for the John Mackey Award, which honors the nation's top tight end. A group of eight will be pared down to three Nov. 24 with a win- ner announced Dec. 9. Michigan has never had a Mackey Award winner. TOM BRADY, OTHERS ADD A RING FOR ORANGE BOWL TRIUMPH Tom Brady is adding another ring, and he's not even near the end of the NFL season. More importantly, all of his 1999 Michigan teammates are joining him. The Wolverine has confirmed de- tails of what U-M Interim Director of Athletics Jim Hackett hinted about in an exclusive interview with him — members of Michigan's 1999 team that finished 10-2 and No. 5 in the final Associated Press rankings are going to receive rings for their 2000 Orange Bowl victory over Alabama. A source close to that team noted team captains from the squad — Brady, Steve Hutchinson and Rob Renes — supported the idea of Or- ange Bowl rings from its inception. Others joined the effort, and Hackett eventually approved the request. In speaking exclusively to The Wol- verine in September, Hackett fielded a question about ways in which fence- mending is being pursued with for- mer football players who might have grievances. He answered, in part: "We've found that one of the teams, for some reason, didn't get their champion- ship rings from a few years ago. It was a sore point. So we just bought them all championship rings. One of the players was Tom Brady. "I don't know what got in the way of all these things getting done, but we're picking them off. The equilib- rium is starting to come back. It didn't cost us that much money, and we got it fixed." Brady's final year in the Michigan program didn't result in a Big Ten championship, due to crushing, nar- row losses in back-to-back games against Michigan State (34-31) and Illi- nois (35-29). But that team finished in exceptionally strong fashion, winning at No. 6 Penn State (31-27), against Ohio State (24-17) and in an overtime CAREER TIGHT END RECEPTIONS RECORD Years Tight End Rec. Yards 1967-69 Jim Mandich 119 1,508 1995-98 Jerame Tuman 98 1,279 1999-2002 Bennie Joppru 85 800 1982-84 Sim Nelson 84 976 2013-15 Jake Butt 79 946 SINGLE-SEASON TIGHT END RECEPTIONS RECORD Year Tight End Rec. Yards 2002 Bennie Joppru 53 579 1969 Jim Mandich 50 662 1968 Jim Mandich 43 576 1983 Sim Nelson 41 494 1995 Jay Riemersma 41 370 1984 Sim Nelson 40 459 2015 Jake Butt 38 500