2B - December 12, 2011
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
SPORTFSMONDw COLUMN
Following B GI
Moments before the 2011
Heisman Trophy win-
ner was announced
Saturday night; the dual threat
Robert Griffin III was seated
next to Andrew Luck, who's
widely considered the perfect
NFL prospect.
History
said it would
be either Luck
or Griffin r .
who heard his
name called, j
as 10 of the"
last12 win-
ners hadbeen TIM
quarterbacks. ROHAN
Some-
where,
Denard Robinson was watching.
Griffin looked cool and calm.
He was the odds-on favorite,
though Luck's team won more
games and made a BCS bowl.
Earlier, the Baylor quarter-
back's stats flashed across the
screen. Half of his 36 touchdown
passes were 36 yards or longer.
His 11 yards per pass attempt
were third-best in Division-I
history. And his 192.31 passer
efficiency rating - if maintained
in his bowl game - would be the
best of all time.
"A quarterback first, (but) fast
and agile enough to also be a
world-class hurdler," said ESPN
announcer Chris Fowler, asa
montage of Griffin's highlights
rolled. "Attacking obstacles full-
speed is innate.
"Magnetic, always positive,
Griffin lifted the Bears through
their low points. With toughness,
he took more hits and provided
heroics. Dynamic - and con-
fusing for defenders who had
no answer for Griffin's arsenal.
Mistake-free precision to slice
with screen passes, then deliver
daggers deep with stunning
unmatched marksmanship."
Across the board, Griffin's
numbers were more impressive
than Luck's. His story was bet-
ter too. Taking a mediocre Big12
team to the brink of a BCS game
while beating Oklahoma, Texas
and Texas Tech in November
built Heisman momentum.
Signature momentsbuilt Grif-
fin's legend. He downed Okla-
homa on a beautiful touchdown
pass with eight seconds left, and
for the first month of the season
everyone loved to talk about how
he had more touchdowns than
incompletions. The All-American
hurdler became known as a lethal
quarterback who could run,
instead of a lethal runner who
could throw.
His nickname "RGIII" became
part of the college football lexi-
con.
Then he declared, "I think
Baylor just won it's first Heis-
man," after he accounted for four
touchdowns in the Bears' season-
ending win over Texas. Stories
emerged about the 6-foot-2, 220-
pound signal caller. Everyone
formed an opinion. And everyone
liked RGIII, the congenial and
electrifying Baylor Bear.
Griffin's 3,998 passing yards,
72-percent completion rate and 36
total touchdowns may have been
enough to win the Heisman, but
he added more than 600 rush-
ing yards and nine more rushing
touchdowns for good measure.
Luck's stats couldn't compare.
Luck was the first to start
applauding beforethe Heis-
man trustee could even finish
announcing Griffin's name as the
winner. When she did finish, she
shouted, "RGIII!"
She, too, had fallen for his
allure.
A SUPERSTAR OFF THE FIELD
Michigan quarterback Denard
"Shoelace" Robinson said Friday
he planned on watching the Heis-
man Trophy ceremony. He may
have witnessed Griffin, a speed-
ster who's two inches taller and
a more prolific passer, hoist the
Heisman.
Michigan coach Brady Hoke
said he thought Shoelace deserved
to be considered for the award.
"I can't sit here and rattle off
statistics, but in the Big Ten con-
ference he took ateam to 10-2,"
Hoke said. "I'm not a bigstats guy
- but what he did (for this team)."
To be clear, Robinson's sta-
tistics didn't sing. He threw 14
interceptions - just a handful
of quarterbacks threw more. He
topped 200 yards passingtwice.
Griffin passed that mark in all but
one of his games.
But Hoke saw Heisman-like
intangibles and talent in Robin-
son.
"I knew he would say that,"
Robinson responded. "He knows
what kind of player Iam. And I
think I should be there, one day.
Hopefully. We'll see."
He already has a Heisman-
worthy smile and a personality
that the nation is begging to fall
in love with. Plus, his nickname,
stiff-arm pose was captured by
Daily photographer Sam Wolson?
Robinsonplayed out of his mind
for those four weeks. For four
weeks he was the Heisman favor-
ite. To win the Heisman, he has to
play that way all season.
He doesn't have to be perfect.
Griffin wasn't. But he was close.
Somewhere alongthe way,
Griffin learned that his athleti-
cism was best suited as a comple-
ment to his arm. He followed the
lead of Auburn's Cam Newton,
Ohio State's Troy Smith and Flor-
ida's Tim Tebow as dual-threat
quarterbacks who ran and threw
their wayto the Heisman.
Robinson could do the same,
only if he continues to flourish -
as he did down the stretch against
Nebraska and Ohio State - in Al
Borges's offense.
The coaches say Robinson's
starting to get "it." He's starting
to go through his progressions.
He's starting to read defenses bet-
ter. He's startingto make better
decisions.
At first, Robinson admitted
he was confused about the right
time to take off and run. Now, it's
becoming second nature, once he
first stays true to his progression.
"Don't force the ball - that's
the biggest thing," Robinson said.
"I've been forcing it. I got good
legs and I've got to use them when
I need to.... Sometimes, I forced
it and I'd run it when I didn't
have to run it. So I learned how to
progress, go through everything,
and do what I have to do."
After the bye week, fifth-year
senior wide receiver Junior
Hemingway saw a different
quarterback emerge the last five
weeks of the season. Borges said
there would be growing pains and
Robinson had endured the worst
of them.
"I wasn't really worried about
it," Hemingway said. "Like every-
body else, I knew: Denard's still
learning. Coming from the spread
to actually dropping back and
reading - one read, two read -
and then coming back.
"And I knew he was still learn-
ing. It just came down to a point
where he was going to go where
he needed to go with the ball -
what he thought was best."
Next year, it'll be time to make
plays, not strides.
TIME IS PRECIOUS
Robinson has only his senior
year left to realize his dream.
Of the last (now) 11 quarter-
backs to win the Heisman, only
Eric Crouch had less-than-stellar
passingnumbers. Minus Crouch,
the dual-threat winners have
averaged 3,200 passing yards,
a 68-percent completion rate,
803 rushingyards and 45 total
touchdowns. All four - Griffin,
Newton, Smith and Tebow - were
talented rushers,yet averaged just
six interceptions in their Heisman
seasons.
The statistical expectation is
daunting, and it may have cost
Luck the trophy.
Robinson's 2010 season, his first
under Borges: 2,056 passing yards,
a 56-percent completion rate, 1,163
rushing yards, 34 total touch-
downs and 14 interceptions.
Robinson's trek to improve will
be all uphill, opening the season
against Alabama at Cowboys Sta-
dium before playing on the road at
Notre Dame, Nebraska and Ohio
State - all of which have an axe to
grind with Michigan. The sched-
ule could swallow him whole or
provide the spotlighthis Heisman
campaign needs.
He'll have to put it all together
like Griffin did. The Baylor quar-
terback posted similar numbers
the year prior to his Heisman
year, but in2010 he threw fewer
touchdowns (22 compared to 36),
more interceptions (8to6) and
the Bears had a worse record (7-5
compared to 9-3), losing their final
three regular season games.
His coaches raved how he then
took his proficiency and accuracy
to heights previously reserved
only for Luck.
Griffin seems to have been fur-
ther along than Robinson at that
point, but it's possible Robinson
follows Griffin's path.
Then their stories will sound
the same: a dual-threat quarter-
back with one-of-a-kind speed
that decided to throw first, run
second.
Both withstood their program's
doldrums to carry their teams to
national prominence.
If we get ahead of ourselves for
a second, imagine Fowler reading
off a similar description during
Robinson's montage in 2012.
Griffin's personality and legs
bought him attention. His arm
won him the Heisman.
Robinson will have to do the
same.
-Rohan can be reached
at trohan@umich.edu or on
Twitter @TimRohan.
KELLY KLEIN/AP and ALDEN REISS/DAILY
Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin 11l (top) won Baylor's first-ever Heisman Tro-
phy on Saturday. Michigan's Denard Robinson is a 2012 Heisman hopeful.
"Shoelace," is ready-made for the
spotlights.
"I bring an energy every time
you see me," Robinson said Fri-
day, when asked to describe what
kind of player he is. "I bring a
smile and I want to bright up
everybody Isee."
WHAT ROBINSON MUST DO
TO BECOME A 2012 HEISMAN
CANDIDATE
How much more improving
does Robinson need to do?
He needs to become a lethal
quarterback who can run, instead
of a lerhal runner who can throw.
For Robinson to win, he better
have watched Griffin closely this
season. '
Robinson's team is going to
have to win at least nine games,
beating a few rivals along the way.
Robinson must be the star.
Griffin was Superman for the
Bears, and so losing three games
became acceptable because every-
one assumed Griffin had no help.
Robinson must continue to cre-
ate those signature moments he
has already authored - like the
comeback wins over Notre Dame
and Northwestern this season. He
must limit the disastrous shake-
your-head moments, like when
he couldn't figure out Michigan
State's cornerback blitzes or when
he couldn't produce one last
touchdown in Iowa City. If Michi-
gan slips, it can't be his fault.
Remember the first four games
of his breakout 2010 season?
Remember when his Heisman
4
VOLL E YBAL
In Gainesville, Gators
boot 'M' from Sweet 16
Michigan rallies to top Badgers
By LIZ NAGLE
Daily Sports Writer
By MATT SPELICH
Daily Sports Writer
On Friday, the Michigan wom-
en's volleyball team's fan boat
ran out of juice on the Florida
bayou. Sinking ever deeper into
the murky
swamp MICHIGAN 0
brush of FLORIDA 3
the Ste-
phen C. O'Connell Center, the
Wolverines were down two sets to
nothing, against a pack of hungry
Gators, chomping atthe bit as they
came into the third set.
As premonitions of the season's
end crept over Michigan, the team
came out swinging for its life.
The Wolverines played with the
unwavering conviction that their
season was not about totend in
Gainesville, Fla.
Senior outside hitter Alex Hunt
fought back the hardest, racking
10 kills in the final set, including
the tying game point, 25-25. But
the Gators took a one-two chomp
outofthe drowning Wolverines to
dash their hopes of reaching the
NCAA Championship.
No. 17 Florida swept No. 22
Michigan in three sets in the
Sweet 16 round of the NCAA
Tournament.
"Florida played phenomenal,"
said Michigan coach Mark Rosen.
"In talking with some of their fans
and coaches after the game, they
said that's the best game Florida
played all year. After watching
them fall to Illinois, it became
clear thatthey had saved their best
game for us.
"I don't think we played poorly,
I just think that we didn't do a very
good job of stopping them. I know
we're not happy to have finished
our season, but I think we over-
came a lot of adversity this year
and found a way to get deep into
the tournament. I'm proud of our
team."
In many ways, Rosen should be
proud of his team's performance.
Walkingaway fromNo. 6 Stanford
with the win - let alone getting
all the way to the Sweet 16 - was
far more than anyone could have
expected from Michigan, a team
that could barely manage to pull
out three wins in the first half of
Big Ten play back in October.
"Winning only three games
in the first half of the season was
something I've never experienced
before with Michigan volleyball
before," Hunt said. "The whole
thing was an identity crisis. We
had a lot of doubt in ourselves. It
was the first time our team ever
looked at itself and said, 'Wow, we
are really bad.'
"I think we reallyturned every-
thing around in the second half
of the season. I'm really proud
of how it all came together, and
I'm thankful for the people that
stuck by us through our rough
and darktimes. They are the one's
who helped us flip it and get us to
the Sweet 16, something no one
thought we'd be able to accom-
plish."
Senior middle blocker Courtney
Fletcher, who, like many of her
teammates, has devoted her entire
life to this sport, feels the engulf-
ing void of a world without volley-
ball. It's a reality she knew would
one day come for her, like it comes
for every athlete, but its definitive
yet freeing nature is indescribable
to someone who hasn't experi-
enced it first hand.
"This whole process has been
really disorienting," Fletcher said.
"I don't have anything left now. I
don't have practice, there's noth-
ing I can change about my perfor-
mance. It's over. But at the same
time, I feel like I've had a great
career, and I have no regrets. It's
been a bittersweet ride. It wasn't
always easy, it wasn't always fun,
but it's made me a better person
overall. I've made some great
friends, played some great volley-
ball, but now it's time for the next
chapter."
As the team traded in its fan
boat for a more suitable form of
transportation back to Ann Arbor,
the image of that final Florida kill
hung heavy in the air. But that
wasn't all the seniors were think-
ing about.
Thoughts stretched as far back
as the first kills of their careers and
spanned as far forward as the next
three years - imagining what lies
in store for teammates like fresh-
man setter Lexi Dannemiller and
all the new hitters she'll be setting
for in the coming seasons.
Rosen, a little more focused on
the here-and-now, kept his intro-
spections confined to this season.
"We had major doubts about
that season during that slump in
mid-October when we were really
struggling," Rosen said. "It's hard
to evaluate your team when you're
right in the middle of it all, but
looking back at some of the choic-
es our players made to continue to
fight and push through it, I really
am proud of them all."
Michigan wrestlers of past,
present and future visited Cliff
Keen Arenaon Sunday, before the
home
opener WISCONSIN 12
against MICHIGAN 21
Wiscon-
sin. And before squaring off with
the Badgers, the eighth-ranked
Wolverines hosted a free wres-
tling clinic.
Olympic hopeful and Michigan
alum Josh Churella, along with
Illinois' Jimmy Kennedy, led the
clinic. Michigan wrestlers not in
the lineup against Wisconsin also
participated.
As the clinic concluded, the
children flocked to the bleachers
to watch the main event. Michi-
gan was expecting an easy win
handed to them on a silver plat-
ter. But after a few early lower-
weight wrestlers struggling to
score early on, it was up to the
Wolverines' last four wrestlers to
claim the 21-12 win.
Redshirt sophomore Grant
Pizzo earned the first points
on the board in the 125-pound
match with a 9-1 major deci-
sion. He stole an early advantage
on Wisconsin freshman Austin
Hieptas with a takedown, near
fall and almost two minutes of
riding time in the first period
alone.
"Individually, I feel I did really
well," Pizzoasaid. "I was on my leg
attacks and got the major for the
team."
But after Pizzo's victory, Mich-
igan lost four of the next five
matches -'matches they should
have won. The lone win came
from 141-pound fifth-year senior
Kellen Russell.
Russell fell to No. 4 in the ered by redshirt junior Hunter
nation after his 46-match win Collins. In the 184-pound bout,
streak came to an end last week- Collins found a late takedown
end. But his champion nature after being awarded a technical
was notquestioned as he attacked violation on Wisconsin redshirt
Wisconsin redshirt freshman freshman Timmy McCall.
Thomas Glen. "He was very strong physi-
Wisconsin isn't a ranked team, cally," Collins said. "I knew I had
whereas Michigan was No. 8. So, to wear him down and eventually
why were the Wolverines trailing through the match that's what
by four points after six matches? happened."
At intermission, Michigan was Collins pushed Michigan into
down 12-8. But when the team the lead with his 4-3 finish, but
emerged from the locker room, redshirt freshman Max Huntley
after the coaches reassured them and redshirt junior Ben Apland
that they were capable of more, secured the victory.
they wrestled with a different Huntley, at 197 pounds, faced
spirit. Fifth-year senior Justin sophomore Badger Jackson Hein.
Zeerip rallied for a10-2 win in the After a scoreless first period,
174-pound contest against Badger Hein scored an escape in the sec-
Frank Cousins. He catalyzed the ond and Huntley found a reversal
team's comeback with his final in the third to tie the match 2-2.
takedown to earn a major deci- They went into sudden victory
sion. overtime. His thought through-
out the match: "Winning."
It was his first match at the
Cliff Keen Arena and the spec-
"I wanted to tators were eager to witness his
firsthome win.
score. I w'anted "I could hear, 'Let's go Max,'
and I wanted to score," Huntley
to win for the said. "I wanted to win for the
crowd." crowd."
Following Huntley was heavy-
weight Ben Apland, who sealed
the deal. But it was another
comeback story. Tobin stole the
"He's a fifth-year senior; he lead in the second period, and
should be doing that," Pritzlaff Apland had to wrestle his way
said. back to an 8-4 win.
As a former Wisconsin associ- The coaches walked into the
ate head coach, Pritzlaff had a arena with high expectations but
different perspective than any- walked out with a bittersweet
one else in the arena. He knew taste in their mouths. The team
how both teams operated on the won, but it seemed as if it was
mat. Pritzlaff left Wisconsin's resting on its laurels.
coaching staff to join Michigan "I didn't think we competed
this season. as hard as we should have." Prit-
Michigan was in desperate zlaff said. "We have a lot of work
need of a win, which was deliv- to do."