The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/998618
than they occupied a year ago, in terms of that job. "I thought Cheeseman had a really good effort last year," Partridge said. "He really progressed for us. Andrew Robinson had the best spring of his career, and he's going to be a fifth-year [senior]. Coming out of last year, I don't know if these guys were going to be able to snap. "Coming out of this spring, you feel great about these two guys. And [redshirt fresh- man] Matt Baldeck had a pretty good spring. He had a rough start in the beginning and then really took off at the end and had a good spring. He'll be really good for us, too." Michigan's crew goes beyond making sure to fire on target to the punter or place- kick holder as well. "With the snapping, it's snapping and blocking," Partridge said. "We're asking those guys to do a higher level of things. For another team that might use a shield punt, they just have to snap. These guys, they have to work all day, every day, because they have to snap, block, protect the punter and go." The competition to kick off goes on into fall camp. Nordin wants that job, but Par- tridge is waiting to see who delivers the consistently best results. "Anyone who has a strong leg is going to be in that competition," he said. "Our phi- losophy is the same — we're going to put that ball high and see if we can't get a piece of somebody." ❏ SPECIAL TEAMS SPECIAL TEAMS SPECIAL TEAMS Sophomore Brad Robbins punted 64 times for an average of 40.4 yards per attempt last year. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN PLAYER BIOS POSITION COACH Jay Harbaugh and Chris Partridge will share spe- cial teams coaching duties. RETURNING PLAYERS CAMARON CHEESEMAN • LS R-So. • New Albany, Ohio Ht.: 6-4 • Wt.: 239 Career Highlights: Played in all 13 contests and served as the team's primary long snapper in 2017 … Made his college debut against Florida Sept. 2, snapping for both punts and field goals … Did not see game action in 2016. Prep: ESPN two-star player … Ranked as the coun- try's No. 7 long snapper by Kohl's Kicking … Played in the 2016 Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl. Personal: Born April 26, 1998 … Enrolled in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts. QUINN NORDIN • K R-So. • Rockford, Mich. Ht.: 6-1 • Wt.: 195 Career Highlights: Appeared in all 13 games in 2017, totaling 92 points for the team … Became the first kicker in school history to make two 50-yard field goals in the same game (50 and 55) in his collegiate debut against Florida … Named Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week after wins over Air Force and Florida … Matched an Outback Bowl record with four field goals against South Carolina … All-Big Ten honorable mention … Did not play as a true freshman in 2016. Prep: Made 19 of 29 field goals (65.5 percent) during his career at Rockford High School, with 14 of those makes occurring in his sophomore season … Had a career-long kick of 51 yards his senior year … Helped lead his team to the state playoffs three consecutive years … Ranked as a three-star recruit, the No. 22 player in Michigan and the No. 1 kicker nationally by Rivals.com. Personal: Born Aug. 16, 1998. BRAD ROBBINS • P So. • Westerville, Ohio Ht.: 6-2 • Wt.: 181 Career Highlights: Saw action in 10 games in 2017 … Averaged 40.4 yards on his 64 punts and had a long of 58 yards … Placed 19 kicks inside the 20 and had 23 fair caught … Booted four kicks that went 50 yards or more … Was named honorable mention All-Big Ten by the league coaches. Prep: Averaged more than 40 yards per punt from his sophomore year on … Ranked as the No. 1 punter in the nation by Kornblue Kicking. Personal: Born Oct. 6, 1998 … In addition to foot- ball, also played soccer, basketball and baseball until his junior year of high school, earning all-con- ference selections in soccer and baseball … Enrolled in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts. ROSTER No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Year Elig. Hometown (High School) 44 Matt Baldeck* LS 6-0 210 So. Fr. Lewiston, Idaho (Lewiston) 33 Camaron Cheeseman* LS 6-4 239 Jr. So. New Albany, Ohio (Gahanna Lincoln) 17 Will Hart* P 6-3 196 Jr. So. Hunting Valley, Ohio (University School) 3 Quinn Nordin K 6-1 195 Jr. So. Rockford, Mich. (Rockford) 3 Brad Robbins P 6-2 181 So. So. Westerville, Ohio (South) 49 Andrew Robinson* LS 6-0 221 5th Sr. Troy, Mich. (Troy Athens) * Walk-on THE WOLVERINE 2018 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 121