The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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THEY SAID IT "I'm most proud of the defensive guy getting in there. This guy was one of the most versatile players in college football. And I believe adding Jabrill Pep- pers at the ceremony Saturday night is going to be huge for him. I'm so happy that the voters decided that we need defensive players in this. … When you look at all the numbers that these quarterbacks put up and the receivers, it's easy to say these guys are the ones that are deserving of the trophy. But de- fense wins championships. Jabrill, congratulations." — Former Michigan Wolverine and Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson on Jabrill Peppers being a Heisman Trophy finalist "After a very thorough search and talking with those I respect the most in this game, including Jack Harbaugh, John Harbaugh, Bill Belichick, Bob Sut- ton, Vic Fangio and others, it led me to Don Brown. Everything he has touched has turned to gold. Just look at his track record as a head coach, defen- sive coordinator and even as a baseball coach. We are beyond excited to welcome this high-character, high-achieving individual to our program and uni- versity. Teaching and player development are syn- onymous with coaching, and Don Brown epitomizes those qualities." — Harbaugh on the hiring of Don Brown as defensive coordinator "In that situation they were a little more disci- plined than we were. We made mistakes that cost us, and they capitalized. It just came down to who was more disciplined. … We missed blocks, we missed holes, we missed catches. All around the of- fense [deserves blame]." — Michigan running back Karan Higdon following the Wolverines' loss to Iowa, their first of the 2016 season "We saw going into the game a big opportunity in the run game, and the offensive linemen were so happy about that. They came out with the mindset they were going to beat their guy and win the war in the trenches. The running backs saw every hole and helped the passing game out a lot." — Michigan quarterback Wilton Speight following the team's 49‑10 defeat of Penn State; the Wolverines scored six rushing touchdowns in the game, their fourth outing in a row of scoring at least 45 points "We came in here expecting to get it back. It's not like it was a surprise." — Speight on reclaiming the Paul Bunyan Trophy by beating Michigan State 32‑23 in East Lansing Oct. 29 "Emotions were running high all through the game and in the locker room, those four or five minutes before we came in here [to talk to the media], saying goodbye to the guys, hugging them, the guys that are staying, telling them good luck and things like that. It's emotional. I'm not going to be playing with these guys, not going to be coached by Coach Har- baugh or Coach [Mattison] again — yeah, I'm senti- mental now, it's hitting me a little bit." — Michigan fifth‑year senior defensive lineman Chris Wormley on his emotions following the 33‑32 loss to Florida State in the Orange Bowl 1. Nail In The Coffin — In a battle of top-10 teams, then-No. 4 Michigan hosted then-No. 8 Wisconsin at The Big House. Neither team could get traction on the offensive side of the ball and, fittingly, a defensive play by senior cornerback Jourdan Lewis determined the outcome. With Michigan up 14-7 and Wisconsin facing fourth-and-10 with less than three minutes to go, Badgers quarterback Alex Hornibrook threw a pass over the middle. Lewis jumped for the pass but looked to have mistimed it. However, the senior hung in the air, stretched out and snared the ball one-handed to end any hope Wisconsin had of pulling out the victory. 2. End Zone At Last — In Michigan's third game of the season against Colorado, redshirt sophomore linebacker Jabrill Peppers lined up to return a punt in the fourth quarter. Peppers fielded the punt at the Michigan 46-yard line, bobbed and weaved his way through the center of the Buffalo coverage team and then broke a tackle 25 yards from pay dirt. Another Colorado player nearly took Peppers down, but the versatile defender shrugged him off and trot- ted the remaining distance of the 54-yard return for the first and only return touchdown of his Michigan career. 3. Not Over Yet — Michigan may have fallen 33-32 to Florida State in the 2016 Orange Bowl, but down 20-6 at the half the Wolverines crawled their way into the lead on the legs of freshman running back Chris Evans. With U-M trailing 27-22 with less than five minutes to go in the game, Evans took a handoff from redshirt sophomore quarterback Wilton Speight on second-and-one, followed his lead blocker to the right side of the line and burst through the hole in the defense. Evans then dashed down the right sideline, avoided two Seminoles and leaped into the end zone to briefly give Michigan the lead. 4. Fourth-Down Heroics — In the first overtime period against Ohio State, Michigan desperately needed someone to step up and make a play to match the Buckeyes score for score. Facing fourth-and-goal, it was do-or-die for the Wolver- ines, and fifth-year senior wideout Amara Darboh answered the call. Speight dropped back to pass and quickly felt pressure on his left. With no time to spare, Speight found Darboh running left to right through the back of the end zone. The ball came in low, but Dar- boh dropped to the turf and corralled it for the game-tying score to keep the Wolverines alive. 5. Michigan's Bag Of Tricks — Jim Harbaugh has never been afraid to be creative, and perhaps no play exemplifies that trait better than one in the first quarter of this season's game against Maryland. Up 7-0, Spei- ght took the snap and handed the ball to Peppers, who ran a sweep from left to right. Instead of car- rying the ball past the line of scrimmage, though, Peppers turned back and threw the ball across the field to Speight, who then launched it deep to fifth- year senior wide receiver Jehu Chesson for a 40-yard completion to the Mary- land 13-yard line. The drive resulted in a touchdown and kick-started the Wolverines' 59-3 demolish- ment of the Terps. Senior cornerback Jourdan Lewis was named a consensus first-team All-Ameri- can in 2016, thanks to plays like his incredible one-handed interception against Wisconsin that sealed a top-10 victory for the Wolverines. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN TOP FIVE INDIVIDUAL PLAYS 142 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2017 FOOTBALL PREVIEW