The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
3B — September 8, 2015

Harbaugh brings back helmet 
stickers to spark competition

By ZACH SHAW

Daily Sports Editor

Everything Michigan coach 

Jim Harbaugh has done since 
taking over the Michigan football 
team has been synonymous with 
competition.

He wants his injured players 

to cut their recovery time in half, 
keeps score of his quarterbacks’ 
every move on and off the field 
to decide the starter and even 
pushed the Wolverines to get the 
annual team photo taken in under 
10 minutes to set a “new record.”

But 
on 
Sunday, 
Michigan 

officially brought back one of its 
longstanding competitive efforts, 
handing out helmet stickers after 
the team’s 24-17 loss to Utah.

Once a staple during Bo 

Schembechler and Gary Moeller’s 
tenures as Michigan coaches, 
the stickers are used to not only 
reward good effort, but also to 
promote friendly competition 
among teammates.

“I think it’s awesome,” said 

junior tight end Jake Butt. 
“It’s another way to create an 
environment 
of 
competition. 

They’re pretty 
sweet. We got 
them put on 
our 
helmet 

the other day 
... I want my 
helmet to be 
decked out by 
the end of the 
season.

“Everyone’s competing. You 

don’t want to be the guy with an 
empty helmet at the end of the 
year.”

Butt, who had eight receptions 

for 93 yards and one score in 
the game, was second on the 
team with eight helmet stickers. 
Redshirt junior wide receiver 
Amara Darboh, who had eight 
catches for 101 yards and a 
touchdown, tallied nine.

The scoring system, according 

to the two, is a mix of playing in 

a fixed percentage of the game, 
reaching individual and unit 
goals and showing mistake-
free play when the game tape is 

reviewed.

“Coach 

Harbaugh 
preaches 
competition 
from day one,” 
Darboh 
said. 

“When you go 
out on the field 
and do your 

job, you’ll be rewarded.”

Though competition is the 

most obvious goal of the stickers’ 
use, Harbaugh noted on Monday 
that small mistakes proved to 
be the Wolverines’ downfall in 
the loss. Be it freshman receiver 
Grant 
Perry’s 
“not-precise” 

route running, Rudock’s fourth-
quarter pick-six or false starts on 
the offensive line, Harbaugh felt 
his team was often out of sync, 
undermining its potential.

By using video review to 

pinpoint the missed plays and 
assignments, Harbaugh hopes to 
put the emphasis not only on the 
big plays, but also on consistency 
throughout the game as well.

“The precision of the unit has 

to be all 11 (Michigan players 
on the field),” Harbaugh said. 
“The times when we did have 
breakdowns (it was) one guy, 
one breakdown, one missed 
assignment ... (It) ended up being 
costly.”

“But all of it is fixable, and 

that’s what we’re working hard 
to do.”

NOTES: Harbaugh said that 

sophomore wide receiver Freddy 
Canteen and senior running 
back Drake Johnson are both 
in practice, but haven’t yet been 
cleared to play in Saturday’s 
game … After both were listed as 
starting quarterback last week, 
graduate transfer Jake Rudock 
was officially listed ahead of 
junior Shane Morris in Monday’s 
depth chart.

‘M’ finishes trip 
with two wins

Wolverines earn 
first two victories 

of 2015 season

By ALEX KHALIFEH

Daily Sports Writer

For the past three years, the 

Michigan field hockey team 
has dropped its early-season 
matchups 
against 
North 
Carolina 
and Wake 
Forest 
in 

the 
ACC/

Big Ten Challenge. In those 
seasons, Michigan was able 
to bounce back and ring up 
consecutive victories after its 
unsucessful start.

Like previous seasons, the 

Wolverines dropped their first 
two games against the Tar 
Heels and the Demon Deacons a 
week ago. Once again, Michigan 
recovered for two straight wins 
at Providence and Fairfield.

The 
Wolverines 
defeated 

the Friars (0-4) on Friday, 1-0. 
Despite the win, it seemed 
Michigan (2-2) was in a bit of a 
dry spell offensively. Its offense 
had six shots on goal against 
Providence, and through three 
games, the Wolverines had 
found the back of the net just 
twice.

But the offensive stagnation 

disappeared 
Sunday, 
when 

Michigan shut out the Stags 
(1-2) in a 4-0 victory.

“As you go along on the 

season, 
you 
start 
figuring 

out combinations and people 
start getting into a rhythm,” 
said Michigan coach Marcia 
Pankratz. “It was really nice 
seeing some of the goal-scoring 
threats from a multitude of 

players.”

A variety of players made 

an impact in the Wolverines’ 
victory, as senior backfielder 
Lauren Thomas, senior forward 
Shannon 
Scavelli, 
junior 

forward Courtney Enge and 
freshman forward Emma Way 
all aided in the scoring punch.

Both wins were highlighted 

by two goalies — sophomore 
Sam Swenson and redshirt 
junior Chris Lueb.

Sunday, the goalkeeping duo 

combined for four saves, with 
Swenson tallying five saves on 
the weekend, including two off 
a Friars’ penalty corner in the 
first half.

“The 
team 
feels 
really 

confident with either (Swenson 
or Lueb) in the goal cage,” 
Pankratz said. “They’re smart, 
working hard and they organize 
their defense.”

On the offensive side, Enge 

proved to be a difference-
maker. She scored the lone 
goal Friday, and kicked off the 
scoring against Fairfield.

“(Enge) is one of the fastest 

players 
in 
the 
Big 
Ten,” 

Pankratz said. “She’s always 
been quite dangerous with her 
speed, and now she’s adding 
being dangerous as a goal 
scoring threat. Both of those 
goals were beautiful tip-ins off 
the right post. I was really glad 
to see her contribute.”

Following their slow start to 

the season, the Wolverines were 
able to click when it mattered 
most, mustering 10 and 12 
shots in each of their respective 
games.

“In every game, every part of 

the field — forward, midfield, 
defense — connection is the 
No. 1 thing,” Enge said. “The 
chemistry is there, it’s just 
going to increase as the season 
goes by.”

FOOTBALL
‘M’ fan turnout 
strong at Utah

By MAX COHEN

Managing Sports Editor

SALT LAKE CITY — In the 

eight months since Jim Har-
baugh was hired as the football 
coach at Michigan, the Wolver-
ine fan base has showered him 
with nearly unconditional love, 
the kind reserved for a former 
quarterback returned home. But 
this week, one fan took his devo-
tion to the next level.

Ross Mitton, a Michigan fan 

from Windsor, Ontario, Canada, 
drove 26 hours, starting Mon-
day, to see Harbaugh’s Wolverine 
coaching debut in Salt Lake City 
on Thursday night. His ride? A 
converted ambulance plastered 
with Michigan-related images 
that he purchased in February 
2014. Mitton calls it his Mbu-
lance.

Mitton, a 62-year-old finan-

cial adviser, worked with a 
graphic designer to deck out the 
vehicle. Both sides of the back 
of the ambulance are covered 
by images of Michigan Stadium. 
Bo Schembechler’s “The team, 
the team, the team,” quote is 
scrawled across the top of one 
side of the van; “Those who stay 
will be champions” is written on 
the back door. 

References to Mitton’s Cana-

dian heritage are all over the 
Mbulance. A maize and blue 
Canadian flag marked his tailgate 
spot, and he wears a shirt that 
says “The Blue Loonies,” a refer-
ence to the Canadian coin and the 
nickname that Mitton and many 
of his Canadian friends who are 
Michigan fans have given them-
selves. “Go blue, eh!” is written on 
one side opposite Schembechler’s 
“The team” quote.

“Some guys have sports cars, 

some guys have girlfriends, this 
is my hobby,” said Mitton, who is 
married.

Many of the holdovers from 

the vehicle’s time as an ambu-
lance remain, but now have the 
Michigan logo on them, such 
as the ambulance’s jump seat 

next to the side door which has 
maize and blue padding. Mitton 
replaced the ambulance’s oxygen 
tank with a keg. He jokes that he 
replaced one lifesaving device 
with another.

Mitton had long been con-

sidering the trip to Utah for the 
season opener, but Harbaugh’s 
hiring last December sealed the 
deal. He estimated that more 
than 300 people, many Michi-
gan fans, stopped by his tailgate 
Thursday.

“When Harbaugh was hired, it 

was like, ‘Yeah, OK, we’re going,” 
Mitton said.

Even Utah fans participated 

in the Harbaugh love. Student 
Emran Behashti roamed the 
parking lot before the game, 
dressed in an outfit that mim-
icked Harbaugh’s, albeit with a 
Utah hat. He wore what he called 
a Harbaugh sweater vest, a pen 
hanging from his neck, Nike 
shoes, a headset and, of course, 
khakis purchased at Walmart. 
Behashti carried a mock play-
book with him as well that 
contained numerous messages 
pertaining to the game, some of 
which are unprintable.

Behashti aimed to have fun 

with his outfit, adding that he 
wasn’t really sure how he felt 
about Harbaugh.

“I do and I don’t,” Behashti 

said when asked if he liked Har-
baugh.

He was disappointed that Har-

baugh once benched former Ute 
Alex Smith when he coached the 
San Francisco 49ers. He said that 
outweighed the fact that Smith 
reached the Super Bowl with 
Harbaugh as his coach.

But of course, Michigan fans 

were most excited to see Har-
baugh. Dan Fitzgerald, a Michi-
gan alum who graduated in 2005, 
tailgated with Mitton before 
the game. Most of his friends 
couldn’t make it to the game, so 
he decided to make the trip from 
Michigan alone.

“I was like, ‘I can’t miss this,’ ” 

Fitzgerald said.

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Redshirt junior wide receiver Amara Darboh led Michigan with 10 helmet stickers — given for playing time or mistake-free play — from Thursday’s game.

“I want my 
helmet to be 
decked out.”

FIELD HOCKEY

PROVIDENCE
MICHIGAN 

0
1

FAIRFIELD
MICHIGAN 

0
4

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