2B — February 2, 2015
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Jay Harbaugh’s eight-part recruiting pitch
L
ast week, Jay Harbaugh,
the Michigan football
team’s tight ends coach,
made
national
news when
a top recruit
posted a
handwritten
letter from
Harbaugh.
The letter
outlined
eight reasons
— bolded
below — that
four-star tight end Chris Clark
should commit to Michigan
on National Signing Day on
Wednesday.
Here at the Daily, we’re all
about factual accuracy. With
National Signing Day right
around the corner, we wanted
to make sure recruits really
know what Michigan is all
about. Below, the Daily breaks
down some of Harbaugh’s
listed reasons to come to
Michigan.
1) We have used, know how
to use and will use tight ends
… a lot!
For starters, it’s good Jay
knows how to use tight ends
— after all, that’s the position
he coaches. Frankly, it would
behoove the Wolverines if
they knew how to use all the
positions on the football team.
Last year, it seemed as if they
struggled to properly utilize a
number of players, including
an athletic quarterback and
an NFL-caliber wide receiver.
Ideally, Michigan would know
how to use all its best players,
a lot.
2) You can wear No. 8 here!
And 104,909-74,340 = 30,569
more people will see it every
week if you come to the Big
House.
First, a note to Russell
Bellomy, who wore No. 8 for
the Wolverines in 2014: You
were thrust into some of
the most difficult situations
imaginable. Replacing Denard
Robinson partway through a
night game against Nebraska
at Memorial Stadium in
2012? Tearing your ACL the
following year? Making only
one appearance as a junior
for two quick series against
Penn State? You never had a
consistent chance to succeed
here, and the letter from Jay
unceremoniously indicated you
were transferring. You deserve
a stroke of good luck, wherever
you go.
As for the attendance:
Don’t sell yourself short, Jay.
Michigan averaged 104,909
people in 2014 because
there was no marquee home
game and because there was
dwindling fan support for
the last administration. The
Big House will be full next
year — there are home games
against Michigan State, Notre
Dame and Ohio State, and
there is genuine excitement
surrounding the future of the
program. Plus, student tickets
cost a more reasonable amount
next year.
3) We are close to
Chicago/Indianapolis/
Cleveland/Detroit/Madison/
Milwaukee/Green Bay/
Buffalo
Seriously, Cleveland?
Ann Arbor is decidedly not
close to Piscataway or College
Park, which is unfortunate,
because those are locations of
conference opponents.
4) We will have a QB… a
good one!
See item No. 1. Michigan had
a good quarterback in Devin
Gardner, but there are only
so many hits and protection
breakdowns and coaching
changes you can take before all
that talent becomes what we
saw last year out of him.
Will it be Shane Morris,
Wilton Speight, Zach Gentry
or Alex Malzone? My guess is
Morris. And my other guess is
he’ll be much improved from
what we saw last year.
5) This is the best public
school in America.
Cal would like a word. So
would UCLA (the other school
Clark is rumored to be strongly
considering) and Virginia.
Look, Michigan is a great
school, and there are tools here
to succeed academically as well
as athletically. One hundred
percent of Brady Hoke’s seniors
graduated, and that’s a standard
that should continue.
As hockey coach Red
Berenson recently told the
Daily, “If you’re not interested
in school, don’t come to
Michigan.”
If you are prepared to play
school, you’re in the right place.
6) We have the most wins
… ever.
It helps that Michigan has
been playing football since
1879. It also helps that the
Wolverines went 165-29-1 under
Fielding Yost in the early 1900s.
His teams were so good that
he won the inaugural Rose
Bowl, 49-0. That game was so
lopsided that Stanford asked
the Wolverines to call it quits
with eight minutes left.
Wins don’t come that easily
anymore, not for anybody.
But 915 victories is a lot. It’s
why Michigan fans can sing
“The Victors” — about their
team — before the game has
even been played. Notre Dame
leads in winning percentage,
though, so there’s catching up
to do there.
7) We have the biggest
Adidas contract in the nation.
And you’ll get all that gear
washed for free in the best
laundry facilities in the world:
A brand-new, $6-million
laundry center near the field-
hockey facilities!
8) This is a very special
time at a very special place.
That’s how legacies are
cemented. We are both going
to be a part of that! I promise
you we will win and grow
together.
No argument there.
Zúñiga can be reached
at azs@umich.edu and on
Twitter @ByAZuniga.
JAMES COLLER/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh’s staff is making some aggressive final recruiting pitches ahead of Wednesday’s National Signing Day.
SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN
ALEJANDRO
ZÚÑIGA
momentum.”
FOOTBALL
SPARTANS:
During the second media timeout
of
the
game,
the
Spartans
trotted out football coach Mark
Dantonio, as well as several star
football players, to showcase
their Cotton Bowl trophy. Eager
to exploit the rivalry, MSU’s
students
immediately
began
chanting
“five
and
seven,”
reminding Michigan fans of
their school’s 5-7 football record
in 2014.
INJURY UPDATE: Walton
was sidelined for the second
consecutive game with a left
foot injury. His status has
seemingly
worsened
since
Beilein first referred to the
injury as a sprained right toe —
he wore a boot and used a set of
crutches as he watched warm-
ups from the sidelines at Breslin
Center.
Following the game, Beilein
said that Walton’s return “won’t
be in the foreseeable future.”
and kicked to freshman guard
Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman
for a 3-pointer. He pointed three
fingers toward the stands, and the
Michigan State fans went silent.
This time the crowd implored
the Spartans to buckle down.
They were going toe-to-toe with
players like Abdur-Rahkman
and Sean Lonergan and Andrew
Dakich. Abdur-Rahkman drove
past Dawson to the hoop. Dakich
pump-faked past Valentine.
Lonergan came in for energy on
defense.
Michigan was clearly
outmatched physically against a
team known for playing tough. But
the Wolverines out-toughed them,
beating them at their own game
for the better part of 40 minutes.
As the second half wore on,
Michigan State could have pulled
away at any minute.
With 5:06 left, Dawkins
grabbed an offensive rebound,
scored the basket and drew a foul.
That got another roar from Irvin.
The Spartans, meanwhile, huddled
up and regrouped in front of
14,000 people who thought it’d be
the other way around.
Valentine threw his second
alley-oop to Dawson with three
minutes to play, and seconds
later Beilein winced and called a
timeout. Maybe Michigan State
thought this was finally the
moment it would pull away.
Dawson grabbed the rebound
on the next possession and
handed it to Trice to walk it up
the court.
“Let’s go, baby,” Dawson said,
perhaps smelling blood. Why
shouldn’t he? The Wolverines had
already hung around longer than
they were supposed to. Eventually,
they had to fade, right?
Trice hit a jumper in the lane,
then grabbed a steal and drew a
foul. The students chanted “Stand
up!” to the rest of the building,
and the rest of the building
obliged. Now everyone was into it.
When play resumed, Michigan
State’s Bryn Forbes drained a
dagger 3 to make it a five-point
game with 1:20 to play.
Ballgame, right?
That’s what the Spartans
thought too.
Instead, Albrecht fought back
with a 3-pointer of his own with
40.9 seconds to go. Valentine
missed the front end of a 1-and-1,
and Bielfeldt got to the rim on
the next possession for a tip-in
with 19.8 seconds left. In just over
a minute, the Wolverines had
erased the deficit.
Trice had one more chance
to rip Michigan’s heart out, but
his last-gasp 3-pointer rimmed
out. The game was headed to
overtime.
Beilein smiled.
* * *
B
ack to Albrecht. The
junior — thrust into not
just a bigger leadership
role with co-captain LeVert out,
but also a star role as the team’s
second-leading active scorer —
had led his team into battle and
done everything he needed to. He
had banged bodies with bigger
players, hit tough jumpers into
the defense and distributed the
ball around to the offense.
“I saw the old Spike Albrecht
out there today,” Beilein said.
Now he was all alone on the
perimeter, getting the ball at the
end of a beautifully developed play.
His miss was his first clear
mistake, and the Spartans went
on an 8-0 run to close overtime
as the smile drifted away from
Beilein’s face. Albrecht winced
when asked about it later.
“That was a crucial play,”
Albrecht said. “I don’t know what
it was, but (in) overtime, we didn’t
seem to have the same juice we
had the whole second half.”
With 15 seconds left — 44
minutes and 45 seconds after his
team took the floor and made
it a dogfight, against all odds —
Beilein finally called off the dogs.
Michigan State dribbled out the
clock, and the Breslin Center let
out a collective sigh of relief.
The deck was stacked against
the Wolverines on Sunday, and
yet they still managed to do
everything short of winning. The
deck has been stacked against
them for weeks as the injuries
have piled up, yet they have still
managed to do everything they
can — everything but finish.
After Sunday, it’s clear they’ll
continue to do everything they
can.
Next time, they’ll just have to
finish.
Jake Lourim can be reached
at jlourim@umich.edu or on
Twitter @jakelourim.
MICHIGAN
From Page 1B
STATE
From Page 1B
RUBY WALLAU/Daily
Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman scored a career-high 18 points Sunday.