The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/873137
10 THE WOLVERINE OCTOBER 2017 INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS and Boston Bruins, and competed on Team Canada at the 2006 Olympics. Washington was on the men's tennis team for two sea- sons at Michigan, earning ITA All-America honors both years. In 1989, he was named the ITA National Player of the Year and Big Ten Athlete of the Year after he became the No. 1-ranked player in singles. He won Big Ten titles in both singles and doubles, and finished his college career 63-16. As a professional, he reached the finals of Wimbledon and climbed to No. 11 in singles rankings. Woodson led Michigan football to a national champion- ship in 1997, the same year he won the Heisman Trophy. He is still the only primary defensive player to win the award. He was a two-time first-team All-American, two- time Chevrolet Defensive Player of the Year, three-time All-Big Ten selection, 1997 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and 1995 Big Ten Rookie of the Year. He also earned the Walter Camp Award (given to the national player of the year), Bronko Nagurski Trophy (defensive player of the year), Chuck Bednarik Award (defensive player of the year) and Jim Thorpe Award in 1997 (nation's top defen- sive back). He finished with U-M career with 18 intercep- tions and went on to play 18 years in the NFL after being drafted No. 4 overall by the Oakland Raiders. He won a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers in 2010, and was a nine-time Pro Bowl selection, eight-time All-Pro, the 2009 NFL Defensive Player of the Year and the 1998 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. ❏ Sitting Down With Redshirt Freshman Kicker Quinn Nordin Redshirt freshman kicker Quinn Nordin made four of his six field goal attempts in the win over Florida, becoming the first kicker in school history to make two field goals from 50 yards or more in a game (55 and 50). He sat down to talk with The Wolverine after Michigan's 33-17 win in the opener: The Wolverine: You're the first kicker in Michigan history to make two field goals of 50 yards or more in a game. What's that mean to you? Quinn Nordin: "That's what they told me. That's pretty cool. "I'm just trying to do what is best for the team, and if they call me out to do that, I'm going to try to the best of my abil- ity to connect on the field goals." The Wolverine: The 55-yarder barely cleared the bar, but it looked like you didn't get all of it. What's your range? Nordin: "I never saw it. I know I got under it a ton. I missed the sweet spot by probably two inches, got super under it. Lucky enough, it went in. I'm just doing what I'm coached to and doing what the coaches want me to do when I'm on the field. "I have no idea [of my range]. I had one in the practice the other day from 63. Whatever the team needs me to do, I'm going to do … try to make Coach [Jim Harbaugh] happy, the team happy and put points on the board for Michigan." The Wolverine: What was last year like for you, having to redshirt when the team was in the championship hunt? Nordin: "It was very humbling to sit back and see your teammates play, grow and get stronger, but it was also so good for me to see my weaknesses, strengths, what I can make better. Get stronger, faster, get healthy … obviously, that was the biggest thing. "Battling injuries is something I've been struggling with. To finally be able to get healthy was just awesome for me." The Wolverine: When did you find out you had won the job in camp? Nordin: "I don't think it was ever [said]. I just kind of went to work every day and like Coach said, put the hard hat on, work as hard as you can. "At the end of the day, whoever they were going to put in, they're confident in. I was going to be confident, as well." The Wolverine: You've got the unique haircut we've seen in the movie "Major League," was that the inspiration? Nordin: "Ricky Vaughn, Wild Thing [Charlie Sheen's char- acter]. It's the mentality of a closer … the team needs you closing and making them when it was important. I did it dur- ing camp as kind of a joke and guys thought it was funny, so it caught on. "I did it before the game, and people seemed to like it." — Chris Balas Nordin debuted on the national stage against Florida with four made kicks in his six field goal attempts. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL