6A — Thursday, November 19, 2015
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Baxter adjusts to drama

Michigan’s special 
teams still strong 
after three miscues 

in four games

By JAKE LOURIM

Managing Sports Editor

While the Michigan special 

teams unit has been one of the 
team’s strengths this season, 
it has weathered some drama 
lately.

There 
was, 
of 
course, 

the dropped punt snap that 
Michigan State picked up and 
returned for a touchdown and a 
27-23 win at Michigan Stadium 
— “the fluke of all flukes,” as 
special teams coordinator John 
Baxter described it Wednesday. 
But besides that, there have been 
numerous disruptions to the unit 
throughout the year.

Baxter’s job is to respond to 

them, and though he has had an 
answer to almost every one, they 
pose challenges nonetheless.

“This is my 30th college 

football season, and when you 
think you’ve seen it all, don’t 
worry, something else is coming,” 
Baxter said. “It’s a game with 
really neat young people and a 
ball that’s not round, and that’s 
what creates the drama.”

The 
special 
teams’ 

improvement 
under 
Baxter 

has been exceptional. The unit 
has made several big plays to 
change the dynamic of games, 
and the coaching staff has 
rewarded them. Tuesday night, 
redshirt 
junior 
cornerback 

Jeremy Clark walked into a 
media session wearing a special 
teams shirt with the phrases “Be 
The Hammer” and “Leverage. 
Acceleration. Intimidation.”

“Whenever a player does a 

great job on special teams, we 
find one of these in our locker,” 
said Clark, who is on the kick 
return and punt return teams.

The Wolverines were ranked 

No. 1 in the country in special 
teams 
efficiency 
during 
the 

middle of the season, but they 
have dropped to 16th after 10 
weeks. While the unit has tied 
up most loose ends, the fall in 
the rankings comes as a result of 
three big plays, each surrendered 
in the past four games.

On Nov. 7, Michigan allowed 

a 98-yard kickoff return for a 
touchdown by Rutgers’ Janarion 
Grant. Senior kicker Kenny Allen 
has booted almost half (29 of 61) 
of his kicks for touchbacks, but 
a low line drive in that instance 
created the opportunity for an 
explosive play.

Two 
other 
factors 
also 

contributed, though: the natural 
skill of Grant, who already has 
four return touchdowns this 
season, and the wind that kept 
Allen’s kick low. Baxter has to 
adjust to both — Grant is among 
the Big Ten’s best return men, 
and the Midwestern weather 
often makes wind an influence, 
too.

The 
following 
week, 
the 

Wolverines traveled to Indiana 
and suffered another setback 
when the Hoosiers’ Mitchell 
Paige returned a punt 51 yards 
for a touchdown on the first 
possession of the second half. 
Baxter attributed that mistake 
to fatigue — Michigan appeared 
to have Paige wrapped up but let 
him escape.

“In 
the 

game, 
you’ve 

got to tackle, 
and 
when 

you 
get 
the 

opportunity to 
tackle, you’ve 
got to tackle,” 
Baxter 
said. 

“It’s 
really 

difficult 
to 

ever 
embrace 

an attitude of tired, beat up 
or 
whatever 
else, 
because 

in November, in this game, 
everybody is.”

In addition to week-to-week 

preparations, Baxter’s personnel 
has been adjusted, as with any 
unit. Before the Rutgers game, 
redshirt freshman safety Jabrill 
Peppers moved away from the 
kick-return unit to focus more 

on 
offense, 

and 
junior 

cornerback 
Jourdan Lewis 
replaced him.

Last 
week, 

redshirt 
sophomore 
long 
snapper 

Scott 
Sypniewski 
traveled 
separately 

from the team to avoid spreading 
an illness. He made one bad 
snap that cost Michigan a field 
goal but played the entire game 

as usual.

“It’s a general policy not to 

talk about players’ (health), but 
I can say this: That kid gutted 
it out for this football team as 
much as I’ve ever seen a guy 
do it,” Baxter said. “He had 
a 
103-(degree) 
temperature, 

couldn’t keep anything down all 
the way through pregame and 
literally kept reducing that game 
down to five-minute segments.”

Those 
kinds 
of 
surprises 

invariably crop up throughout 
the season, but on special teams, 
even small ones can create 
breakdowns.

“We’ve had three negative 

plays go against us, which is 
unfortunate because it only takes 
one negative play to really put a 
damper on a really nice body of 
work,” Baxter said. “But that’s 
the nature of sports, I guess.”

GRANT HARDY/Daily

Jourdan Lewis has taken on some kick return duties to relieve Jabrill Peppers.

“It’s a game with 
really neat young 
people and a ball 
that’s not round.”

PENN STATE
MICHIGAN 

1
3

VOLLEYBALL
Michigan upsets 
No. 4 Penn State

By PAIGE VOEFFRAY

For the Daily

Last weekend, the Michigan 

volleyball team got a taste of 
what it felt like to beat a ranked 
opponent. 
This 
week, 
the 

Wolverines wanted more, and 
they got it while also making 
history.

Wednesday night, Michigan 

took on No. 4 Penn State (13-4 
Big Ten, 24-4 overall). After 
struggling in the first set, the 
Wolverines (8-9, 18-10) came 
back stronger and managed to 
pull off the upset with a 3-1 win, 
marking their first-ever win in 
State College.

“In my four years, we haven’t 

beaten them at all, so it was 
definitely a great win,” said 
senior 
setter 
Carly 
Warner. 

“It’s hard to believe it actually 
happened, especially at their 
gym, which is really hard to do.”

Warner 
led 
the 
defense 

with 19 digs and helped lead a 
Michigan offense to victory in an 
old-fashioned shootout with the 
Nittany Lions. Penn State scored 
22 points or more in all four sets, 
but junior middle blocker Abby 
Cole’s team-high 17 kills helped 
the Wolverines hold on for their 
first victory over the Nittany 
Lions since 2002.

Michigan 
started 
slowly 

while Penn State opened the 
match with momentum. The 
Wolverines found themselves 
down 7-3, forcing coach Mark 
Rosen to take the team’s first 
timeout. Michigan couldn’t find 
a rhythm to take the lead, so the 
Wolverines took a second timeout 
as the Nittany Lions led 15-6. In 
the end, though, they couldn’t 
regroup against a relentless 
offensive and defensive effort by 
Penn State, which took the first 
set 25-14.

In 
the 
second 
set, 
the 

Wolverines finally took their first 
lead, 23-22, and kept firing to win 
the next two points and take the 
set, 25-22.

“We were all of a sudden kind 

of down, and that put us on our 
heels a little bit,” Rosen said. “We 
did a great job in the second set 
of just being steady and really 
raising our level as the set went 
on. I give a lot of credit to our 
players for being strong enough 
to do that.”

The Wolverines tried to carry 

their momentum from the second 
set into the third as they began 
the frame with a 5-1 lead. They 
maintained that lead, but the 
Nittany Lions stayed close and 
eventually tied the game at 20.

Penn State appeared to take 

the lead on the next play, but 
Michigan protested that a fan 
interfered, forcing the officials 
to meet before ultimately calling 
back the point. Luckily for 
the Wolverines, it gave them a 
second chance to dominate the 
rest of the set and win by three.

The Nittany Lions were the 

first team to find a rhythm in the 
fourth set, gaining an early lead 
of 11-7. Michigan began to fall 
further behind but eventually 
came out of a timeout fired up 
and tied the game at 15 before 
winning five straight points.

Trying to battle back, Penn 

State coach Russ Rose took 
another timeout while trailing 
21-18 in an attempt to try and 
derail the Wolverine offense. But 
Michigan refused to be stopped 
and took the fourth set, 25-21, for 
the victory.

The Wolverines’ win streak 

over ranked teams comes at 
a crucial point of the season, 
after four straight losses. With 
its latest spurt of momentum, 
Michigan has set itself up nicely 
for a match against Nebraska on 
Saturday at Crisler Center.

From Boston to Michigan, 
Powers reflects on career

By JUSTIN MEYER 

Daily Sports Writer

Billy 
Powers 
wasn’t 
ever 

supposed to put on a Michigan 
hockey uniform.

The 
Wolverines’ 
assistant 

coach grew up in Somerville, 
Mass., a brick-lined, working class 
suburb of Boston. During the early 
’80s, as plants were shuttered 
and 
Somerville’s 
economy 

collapsed, Powers played for one 
of the nation’s premier teams at 
Matignon High School.

Half 
of 
his 
high 
school 

teammates joined elite college 
programs after graduation, but 
the top recruiters never came 
calling for Powers. Disappointed 
by the slight and with a chip on his 
shoulder, he headed to St. Anselm 
to play Division II hockey.

There, Powers turned heads 

with a spectacular season. As 
schools dangled offers following 
his freshman campaign, Powers 
faced 
an 
unusual 
decision. 

Michigan had called, offering him 
the opportunity to head west to 
play hockey.

Powers had never particularly 

wanted to leave Boston. None of 
his high school teammates had left 
the Northeast — Powers thinks the 
furthest any player traveled was 
to Colgate, in upstate New York 
— and practically no one he knew 
lived outside the Boston area.

Boston has a particular loyalty 

about it. The idea of being a 
Bostonian is glorified through pop 
culture, tough-guy stares and the 
city’s sports franchises. For many, it 
is hard to imagine living anywhere 
else. Fewer than 14 percent of 
people move from Powers’ county, 
Middlesex, in any given five-year 
period — among the nation’s lowest 
rates for large populations.

Kids from Boston just don’t 

want to leave Boston.

But in 1985, Powers got on 

a plane to the Midwest for 
a 
recruiting 
visit 
with 
Red 

Berenson. He hasn’t left since.

Thirty years later, you could 

almost say he is a Midwesterner.

“Was it planned? Absolutely 

not,” Powers said. “Just coming 
out here as a student-athlete was a 
pretty shocking experience for my 
family.

“My 
recruiting 
trip 
to 

Michigan, if it wasn’t my parents’ 
first time on a plane, it was like 
their second. East Coast people 
are pretty territorial. Most people 
don’t leave.”

The 
forward 
made 
an 

immediate 
impact 
for 
the 

Wolverines, netting 43 points in 
his first season. In the fall of 1985, 
shortly after his arrival in Ann 
Arbor, Powers told The Michigan 
Daily that his decision to play for 
Berenson was easy.

“Back East, I figured they 

had their shot (right out of high 
school), and they messed up if they 
wanted me.”

Today, Powers can laugh at the 

prideful 20-year-old kid. Because 
of that decision, though, he is still 
competing against the storied 
programs from back home. This 
week, Michigan will play the 
highest-profile series of its young 
season at No. 10 Boston University. 
Powers will have 20-odd friends 
and family in attendance.

The battle he relishes most, 

though, is the fight in the 
recruiting trenches each season — 
one in which he’s a veteran.

When 
Powers 
joined 
the 

Wolverines in the ’80s, big-name 
recruits on the East Coast never 
thought about heading west to 
play hockey. Helping to bridge the 
recruiting gap is one of Powers’ 
most cherished accomplishments.

His story of moving away from 

home and taking a chance at 
Michigan lends him credibility 
with players and their families.

“You have to pick your battles,” 

Powers said. “I wouldn’t want to get 
in too many fights with (Eastern) 
schools over Eastern kids. But the 
prep-school kid, the Connecticut 
kid, the New York kid, somebody 
that hasn’t grown up in the greater 
Boston area — I think Michigan 
will always have a great chance no 
matter who we go against.”

The Wolverines have their 

first opportunity for a statement 
win this weekend. For Powers, it 
is only another page in his long 
relationship 
with 
East 
Coast 

hockey. Boston is still home and 
always will be. But Powers did 
make a final promise.

“(My family is) converted — 

there’s no doubt there,” he said. 
“My entire section will be maize 
and blue.”

From Boston kid to Michigan 

recruiter, Powers certainly found 
his calling.

ICE HOCKEY

JAMES COLLER/Daily

Billy Powers is in his 23rd year as an assistant coach at Michigan.

