SPORTS
The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, May 2, 2006 -15
0 FOOTBALL
NFL welcomes
three Wolverines,
Brown to follow?
Women's golf, rowing, claim fourth at Big Ten's;
NOTES Men's golf season also comes to a close.
The Michigan women's golf team
moved up a spot from fifth to fourth
to close out the 2006 Big Ten Cham-
pionships.
The Wolverines posted their sec-
ond-best Big Ten Tournament total in
program history with a four-round total
of 1,202. Senior Amy Schmucker shot
a team-low 75 on the final day to spur
the effort.
Michigan's low round came in
Thursday's opener when it posted a
296. Though its 307 in Sunday's final
round may have been its highest score,
the round still moved the Wolverines up
in the standings due to the tough, rainy
conditions the golfers faced.
The men's team was not as successful.
Though they, too, climbed up a spot on
the final day of play, it was from l1th to
10th. The duo of junior Matt McLaugh-
lin andi sophomore Brian Ottenweller
paced Michigan, shooting final-round
totals of 80 en route to their 35th-place
finish with four-round totals of 307.
The 8th-ranked Wolverine rowing
team finished fourth, succumbing to No.
5 Ohio State, among others, on Lake
Phalen in St. Paul, Minn. Michigan's
total of 112 was 18 behind the Buck-
eyes' 130, and just one point behind
cross-state rival Michigan State for
third niSne
By Nate Sandals
Daily Sports Writer
NEW YORK - You know some-
thing's wrong when two football play-
ers from Western Michiganare selected
before any Michigan player hears his
name called at the NFL Draft.
At the 2006 NFL Draft this week-
end, no Michigan player was selected
during the first three rounds for the
first time since 1989. The first Michi-
gan player selected in that draft was
flanker John Kolesar.
Ironically, the most intriguing Mich-
igan NFL story comes from a player
who didn't get drafted and didn't even
play football as a Wolverine.
Graham Brown, the starting power
forward on the Michigan men's bas-
ketball team, may see a return to the
gridiron in the coming months.
In a phone interview last week,
Brown said that NFL teams started to
contact him soon after Michigan lost
to South Carolina in the NIT final.
Team's interest in Brown stems
from the success of NFL players like
Kansas City's Tony Gonzalez and
Antonio Gates in San Diego. Both
players played college basketball, but
their size, speed and hands made them
ideal NFL tight ends.
Brown, who hasn't played football
since his junior year in high school,
said he has enjoyed getting back on the
football field.
Though he wasn't drafted this
weekend, Brown and his agent Glenn
Schwartzman anticipate calls from
some NFL teams to schedule work-
outs.
"I don't know what's going to come
of this," Brown said. "But right now we
(Brown and Schwartzman) think it's a
good idea to keep my options open."
The Brown story took center stage
almost by default, since no Wolverine
heard his name called until Sunday
afternoon.
Michigan finally broke through
when, to sparse cheers and one boister-
ous "Go Blue," the Arizona Cardinals
selected defensive tackle Gabe Watson
in the fourth round as the 107th overall
pick.
To many, Watson was a preseason
i first-round nick. but his inconsis-
tent play and questionable work ethic
caused his stock to plummet into the
second day.
Watson's capricious play last season
forced Lloyd Carr to drop him from
the starting lineup for five games, fur-
thering his descent.
Watson impressed NFL scouts at
the Senior Bowl, where his complete
dominance forced the coaches to take
him off the practice field because he
completely disrupted the offense. That
performance, coupled with his impres-
sive size and athletic ability, led some
to predict a selection early in the sec-
ond round.
Apparently those efforts weren't
enough to debunk the doubts of player-
personnel experts across the league.
Still, by taking him in the fourth
round, ESPN's Mike Golic suggested
that Arizona might have gotten a steal
in Watson.
Watson and his agent Drew Rosen-
haus could not be reached for com-
ment.
After Watson's selection, it didn't
take long for Michigan to get back on
the board.
The Philadelphia Eagles selected
wide receiver Jason Avant just two
picks later. With good size and great
hands, Avant's 4.7 40-yard dash time
was all that kept him from being a
first-day pick according to prognosti-
cators.
The Philly faithful were reservedly
optimistic about the pick.
"(Avant) is a good pick," said Matt
Fisher a native of Marlton, N.J. "A lot
of people expected him to go a little
bit higher. I would hope he can make a
difference for the team right away."
Tight end Tim Massaquoi was the
final Michigan player chosen. He was
the 244th player selected, going to
Tampa Bay in the seventh and final
round.
Seven Big Ten schools saw their
players selected before Watson was
picked - all seven on the first day.
Five Ohio State players were selected
in the first round alone, with two of
them in the top 10.
With three players selected, Michi-
gan matched its output from the 2005
draft when Braylon Edwards, Marlin
Jackson and David Baas were drafted.
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