Junior cornerback
passes Marlin
Jackson, Leon Hall
for all-time mark
By MAX COHEN
Managing Sports Editor
When
Michigan
defensive
coordinator D.J. Durkin arrived
alongside Jim Harbaugh last
winter, he noticed a flaw in
the
defense
he
inherited.
The Wolverines’ defense had
struggled to create turnovers
in
2014,
something
Durkin
felt
was
unacceptable.
So
Durkin
implemented
a
reward
system,
one
that
started
in
spring
practice,
to
incentivize
his defensive players to get their
hands on the ball. Whenever
they make a big play on defense,
usually
a
turnover,
Durkin
rewards them with a new piece
of clothing that says “Ball
Hawk” on it.
Though
the
Wolverines
constantly
say
they
aren’t
satisfied with their turnover
statistics
—
they
entered
Saturday’s game ranked 111th in
the NCAA in forced turnovers
— Durkin’s methodology has
become embedded in the minds
of his players.
Senior safety Jarrod Wilson
said the first thought in his mind
after his diving interception in
the second quarter was that he
would be receiving some new
“Ball Hawk” gear.
Perhaps
nobody
embodies
Durkin’s philosophy better than
Jourdan Lewis. No Wolverine
has gotten his hands on the
ball as frequently as the junior
cornerback. Ever.
Though
he
doesn’t
have
a
jaw-drapping
number
of
interceptions this season (two),
Lewis has now broken up more
passes in a single season than
any other player in Michigan
football history.
When Lewis broke up Rutgers
quarterback
Chris
Laviano’s
heave on 4th-and-7 from the
Michigan 18-yard line late in
the third quarter, it was his
19th pass breakup of the season.
He passed former Michigan
defensive backs Marlin Jackson
and Leon Hall when he set the
milestone.
“It feels good,” Lewis said.
“Being
named
with
some
of those legends, it’s a good
feeling.”
Saturday
wasn’t
Lewis’
flashiest
defensive
game
of
the season. He returned an
interception for a touchdown
against
Northwestern
and
recorded six pass breakups
against Michigan State. But
when the ball came his way,
it rarely turned out well for
Rutgers. Lewis broke up two
passes
and
recorded
three
tackles.
In addition to his defensive
performance, Lewis returned
kicks for Michigan for the first
time this season. He filled the
spot next to redshirt junior wide
receiver Jehu Chesson that is
normally occupied by redshirt
freshman safety Jabrill Peppers.
Peppers has broken multiple
long returns throughout the
season,
presenting
a
threat
nearly every time he opts to
return the ball. Lewis ensured
that Peppers’ absence on the
kick
return
unit was not
an issue.
He
returned
his
two
kickoffs
for 59 yards.
On his longer
return
of
35 yards, he
allowed
the
Wolverines
to
take
over
possession
on
their
own 42-yard line. Michigan
marched down the field and
scored. Lewis joked after the
game that Peppers, who had a
thigh contusion, might not get
his job back.
“Jabrill’s a great player, but
it would be hard to get that job
back,” Lewis said, laughing.
Lewis liked the feeling of
having the ball in his hands,
something that hasn’t happened
consistently since he played
offense and special teams in
high school.
Lewis got his hands on the
ball on the other end of special
teams, too. He was serving as a
gunner on the kickoff team when
he made contact with Rutgers
returner Janarion Grant late in
the first quarter. Lewis got his
hand on the ball and stripped
Grant, causing a scrum for the
loose football.
The
Scarlet
Knights
recovered, but by stifling Grant,
Lewis
had
done
what
the
Wolverines struggled to do for
most of Saturday’s game.
When
the
blowout
was
complete,
Lewis
maintained
the same disposition he has
held for most of the season.
He expects nothing less than
excellence out of Michigan’s
defensive unit, the secondary
in particular. He said the unit
could be the nation’s best in the
country early in the season, and
his expectations for his position
group are consistently based on
that notion.
He is not surprised that
opposing offenses still test him,
despite how infrequently their
attempts are fruitful. He will
have at least four more games to
tack on to his record.
“It’s a game, they have to
score points, they’ve got to put
points on the board, so trying
me is trying to put points on
the board,” Lewis said. “I’ve got
to do my job, because I know
they’re going to do theirs.”
2B — November 9, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN
In the Big House, Woodson’s
father like everyone else
O
n home football
Saturdays, Yvonne
Alaniva sits in Section 10
at Michigan Stadium, toward the
end of her row. She greets those
who enter
with a smile,
saying hello
as they walk
to their seats.
For many
years, she
had done
the same
with the
man who sits
three seats
to her left,
never knowing who he was. But
then, one Saturday, an image of
Charles Woodson flashed over
the Big House video boards.
“That’s my boy!” the man
yelled.
So Alaniva, in an attempt
to support one of the three
Heisman Trophy winners in
Michigan football history,
hollered, “That’s our boy!”
The man turned to Alaniva and
said, “No, that’s really my boy!”
The man, it turned out, was
actually Solomon Woodson,
father of Charles.
Few Michigan players have
accomplished as much as his
son, both in college and the
NFL. Yet on Saturdays in Ann
Arbor, Solomon is just like
everyone
else,
tailgating
with his
friends from
the early
morning until
game time.
He was in
his usual seat
for Saturday’s
rout of
Rutgers.
No sign of his bloodline was
evident as he took his place in
the stadium. A baseball cap with
a block ‘M’ revealed his rooting
preference.
Solomon Woodson attends
every Michigan home game, and
says he has ever since Charles’
college career began. He makes
the trek from Fremont, Ohio,
where he raised Charles. His
friends from home, 20 years later,
still poke fun that his son chose
the Wolverines over Ohio State.
But Solomon Woodson’s love
of Michigan predates his son’s
playing career, which started
in 1995. It goes all the way
back to 1968, when the elder
Woodson was not a fan of how
the Buckeyes ran up the score
against the Wolverines in a
50-14 victory.
“I was a Michigan fan before
Charles and after Charles,” he
said.
And Woodson still roots for
the Wolverines as vigorously
as he did when Charles played
in Ann Arbor. Sure, his favorite
Michigan football memories
come from his
son’s career,
specifically
his Heisman
Trophy season
in 1997. He’ll
never forget
the sideline
interception
against
Michigan
State or the
interception
in the end zone against Ohio
State that helped the Wolverines
win their most recent national
title.
It doesn’t hurt that Charles
is still doing his thing, either.
He’s on the other side of
the country, having another
stellar season for the Oakland
Raiders. He’s 39 years old now,
18 seasons removed from his
Heisman Trophy season, but
he still displays the ability that
he showed at Michigan. The
younger Woodson entered
Sunday’s NFL games as the
league leader in interceptions
with five. He is considered one
of the elder statesmen in the
league, one of three players —
along with Peyton Manning and
Matt Hasselbeck — remaining
from his draft class. He has
made eight Pro Bowls and has
been named First-Team All-Pro
by the Associated Press on three
occasions.
But when Solomon Woodson
watches his son play, Charles
is still the high schooler who
he says once scored seven
touchdowns in seven different
ways. He gets the same joy
watching his son play as he did
back then. He doesn’t get to see
him play in person very often
(he hasn’t gone to Oakland yet
this season), but he is in awe of
his son’s accomplishments.
He knows few players last
until age 39 in the NFL, and his
son’s significant contributions
at that age surprise even him,
just like Charles’ superstardom
surprised Solomon Woodson
when he was in high school.
“Oh yeah, no doubt about it,”
Woodson said. “I can still see
the high school in him because
there’s a lot of things he did in
high school I couldn’t imagine
how he’d do that.”
There is another person in
whom Solomon Woodson sees a
lot of Charles. That, of course, is
Jabrill Peppers. The comparison
has become trite at this point.
Like Charles Woodson did,
Peppers plays both ways and
makes defenders look silly,
just like he did on his 18-yard
touchdown run in Saturday’s
game.
He particularly sees some of
his son in Peppers on defense,
when he chases down offensive
players who already passed
him, making tackles nobody
thought he had any business
making.
“I see a lot of potential,”
Woodson said of Peppers. “I see
a lot of agility. He’s got speed,
and his head is always in the
game.”
He is not alone in that feeling.
Even Charles himself has
congratulated Peppers on social
media for his performances this
season. The two have developed
a friendship of sorts.
Peppers has served as a
symbol of hope for Michigan
fans, a sign that the times
of being outmanned and
outclassed are gone. Solomon
Woodson remembers those
times, too. He was there, in his
seats at the Big House.
But Saturday afternoon,
as the band played and the
Wolverines readied to take the
field, it was as though the down
years never happened. Solomon
Woodson is thoroughly enjoying
this season.
His favorite part? Jim
Harbaugh.
The father of one of
Michigan’s greatest players
really is just like everyone else.
Cohen can be reached at
maxac@umich.edu and on
Twitter @MaxACohen.
MAX
COHEN
Lewis sets pass
breakup record
“Being named
with some of
those legends, it’s
a good feeling.”
FOOTBALL
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Charles Woodson won the Heisman Trophy at Michigan, and to this day, his father, Solomon, attends every home game.
Even in blowout,
Harbaugh fired up
E
veryone knows how
blowouts work. Through
efficient offense and a
stout defense, a team builds a big
lead. Then
the team pulls
its starters,
closes the
playbook and
safely high-
steps into
victory for-
mation.
Rarely do
they involve
temper
tantrums,
livid halftime speeches or two-
point conversions. But then again,
Jim Harbaugh is a rare breed.
Less than a quarter into
Saturday’s game, the Michigan
coach and his staff had done
their jobs. Rutgers has been an
embarrassment on and off the
field this season, and looked the
part Saturday.
Jake Rudock had a career day
despite still recovering from a
rib injury, Michigan’s defense
didn’t allow a touchdown and 17
Wolverines had a catch or carry
en route to the team’s largest
offensive output of the season.
Whatever Michigan’s game plan
was, it worked.
No matter what angle you look
at the game from, the Wolverines
cruised from start to finish,
moving one step closer to their
postseason aspirations.
Michigan thoroughly drove the
Scarlet Knights into the ground,
but Harbaugh refused to coast.
“Maybe from where you were
sitting it seemed like a lopsided
(game), but from where I was
standing with
the kickoff
returns and
punt returns ...
I play out those
bad scenarios
in my head,”
Harbaugh said.
“(We were
just) playing.
Playing as fast
as you can as
hard as you can
as long as you can. That’s what
our guys did today and I’m very
proud of them for doing that.”
Instead of coasting, Harbaugh
accelerated. The coach protested
the unsportsmanlike conduct
penalty that “offended” him,
elected to attempt a two-point
conversion when up by 25, and
waited as long as he possibly
could to start running out the
clock.
He also chewed out his
team for only being up by 19 at
halftime.
“He was livid in the locker
room,” said redshirt freshman
safety Jabrill Peppers. “He was
angry because we weren’t really
covering kicks at our best, and
the defense wasn’t really playing
how we should have been playing.
He got after us a bit in the locker
room, and we always try to find a
way to respond the best way we
can.”
Naturally,
the Wolverines
shut out
Rutgers in the
second half.
By now, fans
and players
alike have
come to expect
this from
Harbaugh.
He gets paid
$5 million a year to win football
games and, outside of close losses
to No. 7 Michigan State and No.
12 Utah, has done that. Michigan
has outscored opponents by a
238-56 margin in its seven wins.
More importantly, his
players have taken after the
coach’s unrelenting ways. The
Wolverines, led by Harbaugh,
did not take kindly to Rutgers
celebrating a field goal that
brought the Scarlet Knights
within 19 to end the first half.
“(The Rutgers players) were
just saying things like, ‘It’s our
time, this second half. We the
comeback kids. These guys can’t
really finish games,’ ” Peppers
said. “That just added the extra
fuel to the fire.”
Added senior safety Jarrod
Wilson: “I love it. Give the
opponents no chance. Give them
no hope.”
After Saturday’s win, Michigan
enters the toughest three-game
stretch of its season. Traveling
to Indiana and Penn State before
hosting No. 4 Ohio State, the
Wolverines aren’t getting a late
break as they continue to contend
for a Big Ten title.
But thanks to a coach who
doesn’t seem to know what a
break is, they don’t want one
anyway.
“He’s the ultimate competitor,”
said junior tight end Jake Butt.
“I think that’s pretty clear at this
point; everybody knows that. I
think down to the last tick on the
clock, he’s going to be competing
for everything. If it’s a call or if
it’s a bad block, he’s going to be
out there getting fired up and
getting everyone around him
fired up.”
It’s not your typical blowout,
but it’s more fun this way.
Shaw can be reached at
zachshaw@umich.edu and
on Twitter @_ZachShaw.
FOOTBALL
ZACH
SHAW
“Give the
opponents no
chance. Give
them no hope.”
“I was a Michigan
fan before
Charles and
after Charles.”