Women's Soccer
vs. Central Michigan
Today, 4 p.m.
Mitchell Field
SPORTS
Football
at Michigan State
Saturday, 3:30 p.m.
Spartan Stadium
The Michigan Daily
Wednesday, October 11,1989
Page 7
Big shoes to fill
Hutchinson faces void left by Mark Messner
a
by Adam Benson
Daily Football Writer
Remember Mark Messner? There may soon come a
time when Michigan football fans refer to him as the
guy who played defensive tackle before Chris
Hutchinson.
Hutchinson has convinced at least one person that he
is a capable replacement for Michigan's departed All-
American.
"I've been impressed with Hutchinson since he got
there," Messner said from Los Angeles where he is
practicing with the Rams. "I hadn't seen him as a
defensive tackle, but when the coaches say 'He reminds
us of you' then I know he is going to be a hell of a ball
player."
While fear could consume some players, Hutchinson
knows that he won't be an instant All-American re-
placement.
"I haven't tried to replace him, because that is too
hard for someone to come in, who's never played
before, and try to replace Mark," Hutchinson said. "I
just try to come in and play the team concept. I just
want to do my responsibilities, as he did. Mark did what
he was supposed to do and so many more things, that I
couldn't even think about doing right now."
THE SIMILARITIES between Messner and
Hutchinson can best be described by the coach who
brought them together.
"He's a bright kid, about Messner's size, and has
that kind of potential," said Michigan coach Bo Schem-
bechler. "I think he is going to be an excellent,
excellent football player. He is a red-shirt freshman, and
there isn't any question he has developed as a starter and
we like him a lot.
"He's never going to be a big guy, but he can play
the game, he can play football," he said.
Hutchinson's potential made Bo a believer, but his
play convinced Schembechler and the other Wolverine
coaches to give Hutchinson Messner's starting spot. He
started fulfilling the expectations of those coaches,
receiving Defensive Champion of the Week honors for
his strong effort against Wisconsin.
"He played very, very well," said Wisconsin coach
Don Morton about Hutchinson's efforts. "He's
aggressive, he plays with bedlam down low. He's player
we had a lot of respect going into the game."
Opponents' recognition of the Houston, Texas
native grows as Hutchinson steadily makes strides iii
his game.
"I remember two plays towards the end of the Notre
Dame game, I had to go back that night and watch the
game on video tape," Hutchinson said. "I played pretty
well, but I'd come off the field and the coaches would
ask me 'What happened on that play?' I had no idea."
NO ONE complained about Hutchinson's perform-
ance against the Irish, but Notre Dame did try to attack
the newest member of the defensive line more than
once, all by design.
"I don't know if being without Messner hurt them or
not," said Notre Dame fullback Anthony Johnson.
"They were easier to run than last year, but Michigan
will improve on that."
Hutchinson entered that game trying to keep a proper
perspective on the contest. "Coach (Tom) Reed put on
my tip sheet 'Don't try and be too fancy' because he
didn't know how I would adapt to the game situation.
They just wanted me to take things slow, not try and do
more than I was capable of doing."
It only took one week for Hutchinson to feel more
relaxed on the field.
"I remember almost the whole UCLA game,"
Hutchinson said. "I could tell the coaches what
happened."
Hutchinson credits his teammates, the same people
who convinced him to become a Wolverine, with
making him feel comfortable with the task of replacing
a Michigan great.
"On my visit to Michigan, what really stood out is
that players didn't say bad things about each other.
(That's) a big reason why I came," he said.
JUUIE I-OLLMAN/Dais
Take that!!
Sophomore defensive tackle Chris Hutchinson buries Maryland quarterback Neil O'Donnell in Michigan's 41-21
win over the Terrapins. Hutchinson, a Texas native, is the sixth-leader tackler on the Wolverines with 20 stops.
At 6-foot-2, 260 pounds, Hutchinson reminds a lot of people of former Michigan All-American Mark Messner.
Women volleyballers lose to
Western Michigan in four sets
FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK
by Ryan Schreiber
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan women's volley-
ball team suffered its seventh con-
secutive loss at the hands of a strong
Western Michigan team last night at
Varsity Arena, 16-14, 12-15, 6-15,
14-16.
With the loss, Michigan falls to
5-8 on the season, while Western
Michigan improves it record to 10-5.
The opening game was marred by
Wolverine unforced errors, as West-
ern Michigan cruised to a 10-0 lead.
The first seven points of the match
were given away by Michigan on
mishits and violations.
Yet, despite the numerous mental
errors, Michigan forged a well-bal-
anced comeback, taking the game,
16-14. Strong performances by first-
year hitter Hayley Lorenzen, senior
Carla Hunter, and junior Julia Strum
paced the Wolverines, who garnered
eight points in a row to combat
Western's start.
"Michigan played tough tonight,"
Western Michigan head coach Robert
Buck said. "We went ahead 10-0 and
they came back strong. The diff-
erence was their service errors and
service return errors. When they
stopped making them, they got right
back in it."
"Service errors, service errors,
service errors," moaned Michigan
coach Joyce Davis. "We outblocked
IN CHARACTERISTIC fash-
ion, Michigan suffered a mental
collapse in the third game as they
fell, 15-6. In addition to the
Wolverines' paltry .029 attack
percentage, Western's Kim Lee dom-
inated, thwarting almost every
Michigan threat. Lee's .579 attack
percentage was tops for the match.
Behind Hunter, Michigan opened
up a 10-5 lead in the fourth and
deciding game. But a resurgence led
by Bingham prevented Michigan
from adding to the lead. After an
exchange of points, a 13-7 Wol-
verine lead evaporated behind a cloud
of Zhang blocks as Western Mich-
igan cut the lead to one.
Michigan could only muster one
more point in the contest as another
surge by Bingham shut the door on
the Wolverines, 16-14.
Overall, however, the intensity
level of the match was very high,
something the Wolverines have
lacked in their Big 10 matches.
"If Michigan could play with this
much spirit," Buck said, "they would
be in the middle of the Big 10."
By Adam Benson
and Richard Eisen
Daily Football Writers
Tight end Derrick Walker has
eight receptions this year, three of
which are touchdown receptions for
an average of one touchdown every
2.6 receptions.
-Throwing passes: Red-shirt
frosh quarterback Elvis Grbac, who
has completed 57 of 87 passes this
season for 618 yards and 6 touch-
downs, is already chasing a few
Michigan single season records.
Grbac . If he continues at ths rate, he
will be near several of Jim Har-
baugh's passing records. Harbaugh
tossed 180 completions out of 227
attempts for 2729 yards and 18
touchdowns in his four years at
Michigan.
-Catching passes: Wide receiver
Greg McMurtry now has 1705 re-
ceiving yards, placing him third on
the Wolverines' all-time receivers
list.
-Closing in on Woody:
Michigan coach Bo Schembechler is
now 11 wins behind his mentor,
former Ohio State coach Woody
Hayes, good for fourth on the all-
time winningest college football
coaches list. Hayes won 238 games,
Schembechler now has 227.
-Say cheese: ABC will broadcast
at least four of Michigan's last seven
games. Michigan's games with
Michigan State, Iowa, Indiana, and
Ohio State will all be televised by
ABC, but there is no word yet on
the television status of the Mich-
igan-Illinois game. If ABC doesn't
carry that contest, ESPN most likely
will.
-It's good: After missing his
first collegiate extra point atterrpt
against Notre Dame, Michigan ple
kicker J.D. Carlson has consistently
split the uprights. His 33-yard field
goal against Wisconsin kept his
consecutive field goal streak alive at
7. Despite his short career as a Wol-
verine, Carlson is already tied for
Walker
tenth place on Michigan's all-tirime
fiek goal conversion list.
,Telltale game: The victor of the
last three M;chigan-Michigan State
gridiron contests has gone on to the
Rose Bowl. Ir. 1987 and 1989,:
Michigan went to the Rose Bowl*
after beating the Spartans the pre-
vious year. 'n 1988, Michigan State:
defeated USC in the Rose Bowl after
beating the Wolverines in the Big
Ten season.
Davis
them, the hitting was even, we had a
comparable number of kills. But the
biggest stat was service errors."
In the second game, Western
Michigan's Mei Zhang and Joanne
Bingham overcame some late mis-
takes with kills and blocks to hold
on to the 15-12 win.
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