The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/835590
THE WOLVERINE 2017 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 83 "We were three plays away. We're work- ing really hard to not have that feeling again." Three plays. Two of them — one against Iowa, one at Ohio State — would have com- pleted an undefeated regular season, putting the Wolverines into the Big Ten champion- ship game and almost certainly the College Football Playoff. Of course, Bredeson hasn't lacked for positives to ponder, in the time between his freshman and sophomore seasons. After all, he's been to Rome, studied in Spain and texted Badger buddies about another big trip, to his home state of Wisconsin next November. Still, thoughts of what might have been, and what must be, are never far away. The 6-5, 310-pound left guard out of Hart- land, Wis., learned a lot last season. He'll not be wide-eyed in 2017, like he was early in the opener against Hawai'i in front of 110,222 inside Michigan Stadium. He had to get over it quickly that day, but he acknowledged some early nerves. "When I first took the field against Hawai'i, I looked up and saw all those peo- ple in there," he marveled. "You realize it's not high school anymore. You're on the big- time level. "When we scored a touchdown and I was in, that place went nuts — it was incredible." Bredeson isn't a stranger to getting chal- lenged to step up in a new situation. His older brother Jack, a sophomore on the Michigan baseball squad, tried to turn him into a diamond gem in their formative years. Training for such involved getting him past the fear of the ball itself, one of which plunked the younger Bredeson near his neck at the age of 8. A few years later, the brothers sequestered themselves in the basement of the family home, Jack armed with a bucket of baseballs. For close to 30 minutes, Ben stood and got peppered by throws from big brother, until the fear (if not the bruises) melted away. While Jack stayed with baseball all the way to Ann Arbor, his increasingly burly younger brother went his own way. While Jack made his younger brother un- comfortable to get him past his fears, Michi- gan offensive linemen of the past are ready to see Ben make opponents both unsettled and fearful. Former Wolverine Doug Skene, owner of five Big Ten championship rings (1988-92), once performed on a Michigan line so nasty it literally reduced an opponent to tears in the Rose Bowl. That's what he'd like to see again on the Wolverines' way to building up a championship edge on the offensive line. "Who is it going to be?" Skene said. "Who's going to be the guy in there that changes the atmosphere and the culture in that huddle to say, 'We're not just going to execute. Who are we going to pick out and make them cry? Who are we going to get some tears out of today?' "That sounds cruel, but this is still the vio- lent game known as football. I want to see who's that guy going to be … I want to see somebody playing on the edge of a 15-yard personal foul. "Bredeson might be the one." Skene carefully watched Bredeson's de- velopment over the course of last season. He saw Bredeson get a taste of the action early, then take over the starting job at left guard for the final eight games, beginning with the blowout victory at Rutgers Oct. 8. Skene saw Bredeson deal in the Orange The Football Writers Association of America tabbed Bredeson as a Freshman All-Ameri- can last fall. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN BY JOHN BORTON B en Bredeson enjoyed a true freshman season almost any rookie offensive lineman can only dream about. Consider this offer going in: You play in 13 games, start eight, become a Freshman All-American in the eyes of the Football Writers Association of America, snag honorable men- tion All-Big Ten recognition, and your team wins 10 games and plays in the Orange Bowl. That's tough to turn down, sight unseen. But Bredeson sees some- thing else — or more accurately does not see something. "The thought pops into your head, just about every day," Bredeson said. "Whenever we're at workouts, you're working hard and getting tired. But you look up, and there's no Big Ten championship banner.