GENNARO FILICE:
Edwards is the No.1
option to be this year's
hype-man.
EPAGE 3B
THE SPORTsrTUEsDAY COLUMN
WHAT YOU TALKIN' 'BOUT, WILLIS'
Michigan runner Nick Willis speaks of narrowly missing the finals of
the 1,500-meter race at the Olympics.
PAGE 8B
8 5
SPORTS rU \ \o
V >
September 7,2004
13A
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MICHIGAN 43, Miami (Ohio) 10
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Freshman
Solidstart&
i
nd regular college students think their schedules
are hectic the week
fore classes start.
Can you imagine being
Chad Henne?
-, Register for classes. Fin-'
ish moving into the dorm.
Quarterback No.8 Michiganf
in its first game of a national-
title run in front of more than CHRIS
110,000 people.
Yikes. Talk about freshmen
orientation. Gon' to work
Early last week, expected
starting quarterback Matt Gutierrez began suffering fromb
a sore shoulder, and, by Thursday, one of the nation's
most-storied football programs was in the hands of a 19-
year old who had never taken a college snap.
But the kid can play.
"You can see that he has a tremendous arm," Michigan i
coach Lloyd Carr said. "I don't think you could ask any-
thing more of a true freshman than what he did today."x
What Henne did was, first and foremost, lead Michigan
to a 43-10 victory over a better-than-the-score-indicates
Miami (Ohio) team. He finished 14-for-24 on the day,
for 142 yards and tossed two touchdown strikes to seniora
receiver Braylon Edwards.
Oh yeah, and he became just the second ever true fresh-'
man to start at quarterback for the Wolverines, joining
Rick Leach, who was given the nod in 1975.S
All in all, a pretty impressive performance given the
circumstances surrounding Henne's quick ascension into
the starting role.
"For your first start, there will always be those nerves
going on," Henne said. "I think I handled it well."
Still, maybe this is a good spot to take a step back.
As well as he played against Miami, and as poised as
he appears to be both on and off the field, Henne has now
played in one college football game.
One."
So perhaps it's too early to completely deem former
Michigan quarterback John Navarre replaced.
And while we're on the subject of Navarre ...t
Around these parts, the habit is to point to Michigan's
quarterback and let the Wolverines' fortunes rest squarely
on him. Ask Navarre - he'll tell you all about that issue.
When Michigan would win, Navarre was a hero. When
Michigan would lose, people wouldn't want to walk with-
in 10 feet of him for fear of having his misfortune rub off.
There again is a spot where, maybe, we ought to slow
down a bit.
Look, Michigan lost Navarre, a record-breaking quar-
terback. The Wolverines lost Chris Perry, a Heisman
Trophy finalist. They lost defensive lineman, offensive
lineman, linebackers.
It's unfair to put Michigan's season completely on the
freshman's shoulders.
At the same time, though, that seems to be what people
want to do with Michigan quarterbacks.
What's a positive for Henne is that he's aware of that.
"It's always going to be a big challenge," Henne said.
"You just have to go out and you've got to win for Michi-
gan. The quarterback position (comes with) great pressure,
but you've just got to go out, handle it and just play the
game."
There's the belief around here that the Michigan quar-
terback doesn't need to be great enough to win games by
himself, but he needs to be good enough not to lose them.
That's probably a good credo for Henne to live by these
days..
The reason is that Michigan - the team, not just"
Henne himself - has a huge road game at Notre Dame
next week. Michigan still has to improve from what it
did against Miami. Michigan, whether the quarterback is - V~
Gutierrez or Henne or Clayton Richard, is a national title
contender.
1 19-year-old
leads Blue
ast iami
By Gennaro Filce
Daily Sports Editor
When Lloyd Carr informed Chad Henne that he was
going to be the first true freshman to start for Michigan
since Rick Leach did so in 1975, the 19-year-old's reac-
tion was understandable.
"When I told him on Thursday, he tried to smile, but
he could only get it halfway," Coach Lloyd Carr said.
"He was nervous, there's no question about that."
Henne received his opportunity to start because red-
shirt sophomore Matt Gutierrez - whom Carr had
named as Michigan's starter on Monday - was suffer-
ing from a sore shoulder midway through last week. But
Lloyd Carr says he never doubted the West Lawn, Penn.,
native.
"You know, honestly I didn't," Carr said. "I felt
very confident because I felt like, first of all, he had
very good people around him on both sides of the
football. And from what I had seen in practice, I felt
very comfortable."
As he ran out of the tunnel to hit the "Go Blue" ban-
ner for the first time, Henne was in awe of the 110,815
on hand.
"There's no words to describe it," Henne said. "It's
just awesome, going out and seeing all those people out
there. Nervousness was a big key there and you've just
got to handle that well on the field and play like you
practiced all week."
After a slow start, Henne seemed to find his comfort
zone - passing for 142 yards with two touchdowns and
one pick on 14-24 - and led No. 8 Michigan past Miami
(Ohio) 43-10.
"The first quarter was rocky, but the last three quar-
ters, we bounced back," Braylon Edwards said. "We
played exceptionally well in the second and third."
Michigan's offense was set up by a stifling defense
that caused seven Miami turnovers.
"Miami's a good football team," Carr said. "What our
defense did is absolutely unbelievable. For an opening
game, facing a one-back set, there was nothing out there
that I saw that I didn't like. I think obviously you've got
to look at the punt coverage."
Miami punt returner Ryne Robinson burned the Wol-
verines on multiple occasions and almost gave Miami
a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter. After the Michigan
offense went three-and-out for its second consecutive
drive to start the game, Robinson took an Adam Finley
punt at his own 48, juked and scampered 58 yards down
the RedHawk sideline into the endzone. But Miami's
Adam Ciborowski had clipped Pierre Woods, and the
play came back. In total, Robinson returned four punts
for 139 yards.
"It wasn't by accident he was second in the nation a
year ago (in punt returns)," Carr said.
Five minutes into the second quarter, Henne threw
into double coverage toward Edwards, and the ball was
intercepted by Matt Pusateri. But just two plays later,
free safety Ryan Mundy gave the Michigan offense the
ball by grabbing a tipped pass for Wolverines' first turn-
over. After a 38-yard return by Mundy, Michigan had
the ball at the Miami 27.
"Ryan Mundy is probably one of the greatest guys
on the football team," strong safety Ernest Shazor said.
"He picked up the package real well in the spring last
year and he became a starter."
The Wolverines gained one first down before Garrett
Rivas put Michigan on the board with a 31-yard field
goal.
On the first play of Miami's ensuing drive, Markus
Curry snagged his first of two interceptions and returned
the ball 21 yards to the Miami nine-yard line. David
Underwood carried the ball four straight times, diving
over the pile and into the endzone from the one-yard
line on fourth down to give Michigan a 10-0 lead.
When Michigan came back on the field for the second
half, both Marlin Jackson and LaMarr Woodley
See REDHAWKS, Page 19A
RYAN WEINER/Daily
See BURKE, Page I8A Quarterback Chad Henne (7) celebrates his first career touchdown pass with receiver Braylon Edwards and center Mark Bih.
Olympian Phelps tovolunteer for 'M'
By Seth Gordon
Daily Sports Writer
Following an eight-medal performance
at the Olympic Games in Athens, every-
body knows who Michael Phelps is. Fol-
lowing a promotional tour that will ensure
that fact, Phelps will ioin his coach, Bob
"Michael is going to be volunteer assis-
tant for the program, which means that
he will be helping and traveling with the
team," Bowman said. "He will be able to
train with the team and that's where he
will be able to help the most. He will raise
the expectations of everybody around him,
so that will be his biggest contribution."
"Klete and I had a great relationship
because we were friends in and out of the
pool," Vanderkaay said. "We had a good,
healthy competitive relationship and I
think it was positive for both of us. We
pushed each other at practice everyday.
Now that Klete is going to be out on the
West Coast, and Michael is coming in, I
1 .. .. ,-