The Wolverine

June July 2018

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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JUNE/JULY 2018 THE WOLVERINE 63   WHERE ARE THEY NOW? and work himself into such a lather that the energy became contagious." Guynes recalled one chalk talk at Ann Arbor 's Campus Inn, prior to a showdown with Michigan State. Moeller got worked up to the point of taking it out on a nearby chalkboard. "Mo hauls off and hits it with a right cross — bam!" Guynes re- counted. "Splinters the chalk board. The room goes nuts. We're all fired up, and we're ready to go downstairs and get on the busses. It's about to be an ass-kicking today. "I was one of the last guys out of the room. Mo walks over to Schmitty — Paul Schmidt, our trainer at the time. He says, 'Hey, hey, hey, Schmitty, you think I broke it?' I cracked up. The bravado and the per- sona was sincere, but to see that right there humanized everything." Guynes also recalled the moment the new boss established himself as Michigan's coach in the minds of some players, including the choppy, over-emphasized cadence players summon when invoking Carr. "We were in two-a-days, and it was like eight million degrees outside, with four trillion percent humidity — no hyperbole," Guynes quipped. "We're getting after it, and Lloyd is in the mid- dle of four fields, and he's going off … 'Get over here! Son of a … hurry up!' "I'm like, bro, I'm not running any- more. I quit. So … we run over there. 'Everybody take a knee!' He starts going into a rant, and everybody's like, what the hell is going on? Sun- stroke? Schmitty … "So he starts yelling at Schmitty. Two or three minutes later, Schmitty comes back out, and he's got a gaggle of Pop- sicles. That became the Popsicle break. We had an eight-minute reprieve, and then it was back to work. That's when Lloyd started to take over." Guynes figured to truly take over a position in 1995, but a spinal com- pression set him back, and when he recovered, he found himself splitting time with Jon Runyan. His personal low point occurred during Michi- gan's high point, the 31-23 win over No. 2 Ohio State, in which Tshimanga Biakabutuka ran wild for 313 yards. It proved an offensive lineman's dream … and one's nightmare. "I wasn't that guy: 'Hey, Coach, can I go in now? Can I go in now?' That never was me," Guynes said. "The last play of the game, where we knelt on the ball, that's when they told me to go in. "It took everything in my Christian nature not to have that mutinous mo- ment on the field." He considered leaving, but returned for the 1996 season and became Mich- igan's starting left tackle for the en- tire year. That season also ended with a win over Ohio State, but this one took place in Columbus, Guynes in the heart of the action — and the hate. "We had already lost three games by then," Guynes recalled. "We bus down to Columbus, and 'Braveheart' was the movie we watched on the bus. It was a galvanizing movie. The greatest speech, besides Mo breaking the chalk- board, Lloyd gave before that game. "It went a little something like this: 'Hey! They've got this gigantic All- American left tackle! I don't know if our defensive ends are going to be able to get around him! Glen Steele — are you scared, son? Are you scared? Hell! We've got our own All-Amer- ican linebacker — Jarrett [Irons]. I don't know if he's going to hit any- body! Guynes, son, are you scared? Are you going to block anybody this game? What are you going to do?' "He just started calling guys out. By the time he got done, it was palatable, the energy. It was tense energy, chomp- ing-at-the-bit energy. You're literally teared up, because you have no other physical form of catharsis to express what you're feeling at that moment." The Wolverines unleashed all the emotion on the field, running through Ohio State's senior day introductions and then running out the clock on the counter-trey, over and over and over. Guynes even got flipped off by an angelic-looking, white-haired Buck- eye fan on the way out. "Dude, that made my whole trip, right there," he said, grinning. He played a year for the Arizona Cardinals in the NFL, won a World Bowl with the Berlin Thunder of NFL Europe and eventually got football "out of my system" in the Arena League back home. Now, he is at peace and keeping the peace for the past dozen years. It's a good fit, for someone who has always been on guard. ❏ Michigan Accomplishments: Played offensive guard and tackle for the Wol‑ verines from 1992‑96 … Started 23 games during his career at Michigan … Part of teams that beat Ohio State in three of his four seasons on the field. Professional Accomplishments: Spent one season with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals … Played briefly in the Canadian Football League and spent two years with the Berlin Thunder in NFL Europe, winning the World Bowl in 2001 … Played some Arena League Football in Peoria, Ill., before giving up the game … Has served as a deputy for Washtenaw County (Mich.) Sheriff 's Office the past 12 years. Education: Earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in kinesiology at the University of Michigan in 1996 … Graduated from the Washtenaw Community College Police Academy in 2005. Michigan Memory: "It's graduation. We did it in The Big House, and to have all the boys who played football, and our non‑athlete friends there, was perfect. "I completed the journey — played, started, went to a lot of different places, did a lot of great things. But at the end of the day, I got my degree, and I did it in three and a half years." The Thomas Guynes File Guynes has been a deputy for the Washtenaw County (Mich.) Sheriff 's Office the past 12 years and currently serves as the resource officer for several schools in the area. PHOTO COURTESY THOMAS GUYNES

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