8A Wednesday, October 10, 2012

the Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

8A - Wednesday, October 10, 2012 the Michigan Daily - michigandailycom

Jake Ryan defies definition

By ZACH HELFAND
Daily Sports Editor
If you listen to his teammates
and coaches, Jake Ryan is many
things. He's been a skinny defen-
sive back in high school and
a sturdy outside linebacker at
Michigan. He's been called goofy
and a free spirit, simultaneously
a football savant and an airhead.
He's also a chocolate-filled lol-
lipop.
Try to follow: On the field, the
redshirt sophomore transcends
positions. He chases down pass
catchers in the flat and hounds
quarterbacks. He can run with
receivers and stuff running backs
at the line. Ryan's technique is
flawed, Michigan coach Brady
Hoke says, yet he makes fearless
plays on the ball. He errs often
and recovers nearly as often.
Off the field, Ryan is equally
elusive.
"Jake Ryan, I don't know how
to explain him," said senior quar-
terback Denard Robinson with a
chuckle. "You just got to talk to
him."
Sophomore linebacker Des-
mond Morgan agreed. "Jake is
Jake," Morgan said, laughing. "I
always make fun of him for being
an airhead."
Senior defensive end Craig
Roh tried a metaphor. "He's likea
Tootsie Pop," Roh said. "No mat-
ter how many times you talk to
him, you really never know what
you're going to get until you get to
the chocolatey center."
Meaning what exactly?
"I don't know," Roh said. "You
can't describe him, really. He's
like, I don't know, he's like smart
but dumb at the same time, but
he's also just random, just like,
'Yo,' randomly."
Of course. Maybe Chuck Kyle,
Ryan's high school coach at St.
Ignatius High School in suburban
Cleveland, put it best. Kyle can't
put a finger on it, he says. Ryan's
just a free spirit.
During his high school years,
Ryan had to be flexible. Ryan,
like the other members of his
football-playing family, didn't
develop until he was older. As a
freshman, Ryan was too small for
linebacker, so he played defensive
back, where he honed his skills

MEN'S GOLF
Hyun steps up for
'M' in South Bend,
earns eighth place
By NATE SELL The Wolverines have played
For the Daily in three tournaments so far, and
in each one a different golfer has
The Michigan men's golf lead the team - freshmen Brett
team took a trip out to South McIntosh and Chris O'Neil, and
Bend for the three-day Fightin' Hyun. Each of them finished in
Irish Gridiron Classic hosted by the overall top-10 of each tour-
Notre Dame. The Wolverines nament.
struggled and finished 11th out "(This) means we have got
of 12, a whole 23 strokes behind a lot of good talent, but we just
first-place Michigan State. need to put it all together at the
The tournament didn't give same time," Whitten said.
the team the kick-start to the With its three strongest play-
rest of the season that it was ers thus far playing their best
hoping for, but the silver lining tournaments on three separate
was a strong performance by occasions, Michigan hopes to
sophomore Noori Hyun. Hyun find a way to get everyone on
shot a career-best round on the the same page. It is essential to
second day to finish the tour- the team's success that all three
nament three over par, good shoot effective rounds together
enough for a personal-best to help lower the overall team
eighth-place finish. score.
"This weekend, I didn't The main struggle was that
change a lot the team

Redshirt sophomore linebacker Jake Ryan fights into the Notre Dame backfield in Michigan's 13-6 defeat on Sept. 22.
covering receivers in open space. year, Ryan shot up past his father "He's a football player."
Kyle also played Ryan as a full- and brothers - he grew one and a Yet Hoke insisted that "you
back, filling the team's need for half inches total that spring. want him to do it the right way....
a physical blocker, while also sat- Adding size to his creativity, There is a right way."
isfying Ryan's own desire to hit Ryan thrived, despite sometimes Morgan, who as an inside line-
someone. deviating from Kyle's defensive backer practices separately from
On Tuesday, Robinson said he scheme. Kyle described plays Ryan, saidhe often hears coaches
thinks Ryan can play any position where Ryan read run, yet still yelling at Ryan. Roh said defen-
on the Michigan defense. He cov- intercepted a pass in the flat with sive coordinator Greg Mattison
ers backs andtight ends or receiv- a leap and a lunge. teases the easy-going Ryan con-
ers in his zone just as well as he Only after the play, after prais- stantly. The coaches tolerate his
defends the run or pressures the ing the result, would Kyle correct: unorthodox approach because,
quarterback. " 'Actually, Jake, you were late Mattisonsaidheis eagertolearn.
Kyle coached Ryan's father and doing that.' He is so eager to please that
two brothers, all of who played "He was fearless about mak- after graduating high school, he
Division-I football - Ryan's two ing(reads). Ithink yousee that on helped Kyle's daughter move into
brothers at Ball State and his the field at Michigan. This young her house after she had to move
father at Wake Forest (his mater- man would go and attack. And for her job.
nal grandfather also played at sometimes that aggressiveness During the games, redshirt
Xavier). Ryan's father and his makes the play." junior safety Thomas Gordon
older brother, Connor, played At Michigan, teammates still said Ryan is a different person,
with a refined precision - a marvel at Ryan's ability to recover "an animal." Film study, though,
necessity since both lacked size. from breakdowns in technique. can be comical, Ryan's football
Yet with football in his blood, Morgan described plays where knowledge notwithstanding.
Ryan, the free spirit, plays on Ryan took a wrong route or an "We'll be watching tape and
instincts. awkward angle on a blitz, but still he'll look like he's in Africa and
"There were times when Jake chased down the quarterback. not in the room with you," Roh
would, maybe he had an inkling Against Purdue, Ryan forced said. "He knows the defenses
of something and he took off mak- a throwaway when he rushed really well. He runs them well.
ing some (wrong) play," Kyle said. quarterback Caleb TerBush, lept He knows how to do that, but he
"He would recover and somehow awkwardly at a pump fake, yet has this thousand-yard stare, he
get back, make the play, and you'd still regained his balance to make looks like he's literally on Jupi-
go, 'How did he do that?"' a hit. ter."
Ryan, though, didn't get looks The results are gratifying for So add that to the list. Jake
from major college programs his coaches, but the methods are Ryan: unorthodox defensive
because he was undersized. To exasperating. play-maker, Tootsie Pop, extra-
compensate, Ryan toiled in the "He was pretty doggone good," terrestrial.
weight room and trained with Hoke said of Ryan's performance "He's got his own niche in the
the track team several times per against Purdue. Then he added world," Kyle said.
week. At the end of his junior one of his ultimate compliments: And at Michigan, too.

of my game,"
Hyun said. "I
just tried to be
more aggres-
sive and that
helped me be
more confi-
dent. Heading
into the third
day I was just
trying to play
the same way
I did on the secon
thinking about th
just going shot by
Michigan coact
ten said he was
Hyun's performa
happy to see it all
for him.
"(Hyun's) gam
good for a longi
scores didn't qu
with how his gam
the eye test," Whi
finish could hav
with a stronger la:
but he was really I
Moving forwar
he hopes to elimi
rounds and play m
golf to further hel

wasn't finish-
ing out rounds.
"We just need The Wolver-
ines would
to put it all shoot well
until the end J
together at the of the day, and
then make mis-
same time." takes on the
last few holes
that caused
their scores to
d day, I wasn't climb - resulting in the team
e score. I was falling back in the tournament.
shot." "The guys are doing a good
h Chris Whit- job with their decision making,"
impressed by Whitten said. "(Heading into
nce and was the last day we felt) pretty good.
come together Every guy felt like his game was
there and maybe the mistakes
e has looked we made were very correctable
time, just the by the next day, and for the most
ite match up part the round went well for us
ae looked with - we just didn't finish well on
tten said. "His ourlast three or four holes."
e been better O'Neil and McIntosh had
st couple holes solid showings, finishing in 38th
playing well." and 46th place respectively.
-d, Hyun said "I was happy to see Brett get
nate his shaky better each round, his ball strik-
ore consistent ing got better each day," Whit- 4
p the team. ten said.

t FOOTBALL
Herbstreit: Blue has 'shot to get to Indy'


By STEPHEN J. NESBITT
Daily Sports Editor
Kirk Herbstreit can't figure
out the Big Ten, either.
K Last weekend, before the
Michigan football team kicked
off its Big Ten schedule on Sat-
4 urday with a matchup against
Purdue, Herbstreit, an ESPN col-
lege football analyst, made waves
by picking the Boilermakers to
upset Michigan. Then he took
another leap forward.
"I like Purdue to win the Big
Ten outright - Big Ten champi-
ons, holding up the trophy and
going to the Rose Bowl," Herb-
streit said, speaking on ESPN's
"Mike and Mike in the Morning"
radio show. "I think Purdue is
now the team to beat."
Today, Herbstreit's pick looks


pretty stupid. Michigan routed
Purdue, 44-13, and the Boiler-
makers never even made it com-
petitive.
In a conference call on Tues-
day, Herbstreit once again admit-
ted his mistake and went on to
say that Michigan looked "out-
standing" in the game.
"(The win) gives them a ton of
confidence as they get ready for
the rest of the year," Herbstreit
said.
Michigan (1-0 Big Ten, 3-2
overall) began the season ranked
No. 8 before losses to two ranked
opponents in No. 2 Alabama and
No. 11 Notre Dame caused the
Wolverines to fall from the top-
25.
The win over Purdue lifted
Michigan back to No. 25 in the
AP poll this week.

"If you watched them play
against Alabama, Air Force,
Notre Dame, objectively speak-
ing, I don't know how anybody
could be really excited about
what Michigan was doing in the
first month of the season," Herb-
streit said.
In terms of the Big Ten race,
which Ohio State (2-0, 6-0)
would have a stranglehold on
were the Buckeyes postseason-
eligible, Herbstreit called it
"wide open."
Herbstreit said he still sees
Michigan, Michigan State (1-1,
4-2) and Nebraska (1-1, 4-2) as
the frontrunners in the Legends
Division.;
"You would think those three
teams have a good shot to get to
a Big Ten championship game in
Indianapolis," Herbstreit said.

"Looking at that, you have to go
through who plays who where.
"But Michigan, based on
the way they played last week,
they've got a shot to get to Indy."
Herbstreit, an Ohio State grad-
uate, credited the coaching staff
for "letting Denard be Denard."
Senior quarterback Denard Rob-
inson had 24 carries for 235yards
against Purdue, passing just 16
times for 105 yards and a touch-
down.
"If you were to look at Michi-
gan last Saturday and compare
it to the first four games that
we watched them, it was a dif-
ferent team," Herbstreit said.
"For Michigan's sake, hopefully,
they're able to bottle that up and
play that way the rest of the year.
And if they do, they'll be tough
for anybody to beat."

54
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