6A — Thursday, January 7, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
It’s (not) about Jake Rudock
Fifth-year senior
ends college career
with strong season
at Michigan
By MAX BULTMAN
Managing Sports Editor
Wearing
a
Citrus
Bowl
Champions T-shirt and a wide
smile, Jake Rudock stepped onto
the stage and, for once, there was
nowhere to deflect the attention.
With an MVP performance
in the Citrus Bowl, Rudock
had just secured one of the
greatest
statistical
seasons
by a quarterback in Michigan
history,
finishing
with
the
second-most yards, completions
and completion percentage in a
single season.
The only Wolverine on the
stage at that time, Rudock
walked along the front of it,
high-fiving teammates who took
delight in the moment.
Then,
Rudock
noticed
someone standing on the field
near stage left. Redshirt junior
wide receiver Jehu Chesson, who
had left the Wolverines 41-7 win
over Florida with an apparent
leg injury, was
back
on
the
field.
Rudock,
who will likely
someday
be
either a doctor
or
an
NFL
quarterback,
paused to ask
Chesson if he
was OK.
Two days before the game,
Rudock’s father, Bob, could have
explained the moment before
it happened. Rudock’s personal
mantra, his father said, is “It’s
not about me.”
This was a game, mind you, that
Rudock had owned. He threw for
278 yards and three touchdowns,
wrapping up a season that put
him in contention to make an
NFL roster in the summer.
Rudock routinely makes sure
it’s not about himself, but this
moment, on the stage at the Citrus
Bowl, was entirely his own.
So how did it feel for him to be
there alone on the stage?
“Oh, it was fun,” Rudock said.
And
then
he
gave
his
teammates the glory anyway.
“The guys were loving it, they
know how I am. I’d rather have
the five big linemen up there —
they’re the reason we were able
to do everything we were able to
do. But yeah, it was awesome. I’m
just really happy for our guys.”
* * *
Before the Citrus Bowl or the
records, and before Jake Rudock
even thought about the University
of Michigan, he had a chance to
play professional baseball.
The son of a baseball coach,
Rudock had been around the
game from a young age — one
or two years old, by his father’s
estimation. The idea was that the
more Jake was around the game,
the more he would learn to love
baseball and sports in general.
He played throughout his
childhood, and when he arrived
at St. Thomas Aquinas High
School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
— where his dad was coaching
— he joined a roster filled with
talented athletes.
In Jake’s junior year, he hit
cleanup in a batting order that
featured
James
White,
now
a running back for the New
England Patriots, and Giovanni
Bernard, now of the Cincinnati
Bengals, who hit first and second,
respectively, in some games.
Bernard and White are now
veterans of the NFL, a level
Rudock may someday attain if
he can impress scouts in the
coming months.
But it won’t be the first time the
quarterback has faced the scouting
process for professional sports.
By the end of his senior year
of high school, even though Jake
had committed to play football
at Iowa, Bob Rudock was getting
phone calls about his son’s
baseball future.
“When the draft was coming
up, I had a number of calls from
some (Major League Baseball)
teams seeing if he was really
going to go to Iowa,” Bob Rudock
said. “Because they were going
to draft him — not early, but they
were going to draft him late (or
sign him as a free agent).”
If Rudock thought he would
have been a high-round pick, he
might have taken a shot at the
MLB Draft. But as things stood,
he had another love developing
with football.
He went to
Iowa and had
a
successful
career by most
standards.
Rudock started
for two seasons
as a Hawkeye,
compiling
an
impressive
touchdown-interception
ratio,
but he earned a reputation as a
game manager.
For a quarterback, the term
“game manager” can sometimes
have
an
underwhelming
connotation. Broadly speaking,
it means he wouldn’t hurt the
team, but he wouldn’t be the
difference in many games, either.
After two years of Rudock under
center, the Hawkeyes handed
the reigns of their offense to
C.J. Beathard. Rudock’s days at
Iowa were numbered, and he had
to do what was best for him, so
he sought a fresh start in Ann
Arbor. The “game manager”
label followed him.
Rudock, though, never seemed
bothered by it. He wanted to
help the team win games, and
whatever that meant for his role
was fine by him.
By the end of summer camp,
he was the Wolverines’ starting
quarterback. He won the job, and
then he started winning games.
Late in the season, he found
a rhythm on deep passes, and
that’s when he started breaking
records. Ironically, his season
seemed to pivot after he was
knocked out of a game against
Minnesota. In the aftermath
of Michigan’s goal-line stand
victory over the Golden Gophers,
Rudock’s arm and resilience
began to come into focus.
He absorbed hits at the end
of runs and still never seemed
scared to take off the next time.
For being a “safe” option, Rudock
was showing a curious amount of
toughness. And Michigan coach
Jim Harbaugh wasn’t shy about
weighing in.
“In terms of respect and
appreciation, he left a deep,
indelible warmth in our heart for
him,” Harbaugh said of Rudock
on Nov. 23, before the Ohio State
game. “He is so tough. This
past game (against Penn State),
I mean, the toughness was on
display. I know I’ve said it, and
maybe saying tough as a two-
dollar steak doesn’t even give it
real justice. This guy is tough as
nails, hard as hen’s teeth. He’s
been a godsend for our team.”
But where did it come from?
How did Jake Rudock become hard
as hen’s teeth or tough as nails?
That gave Harbaugh pause.
“Hmm.
That’s
a
great
question,” he said. “I don’t think
it’s — it’s a talent. I’ve always
looked at toughness as a talent,
that it’s trained. It’s not just
granted upon somebody.
“He’s been trained well.”
* * *
Asked
how
Jake
Rudock
became
Jake
Rudock,
Ken
Mastrole has little hesitation.
Mastrole, a former quarterback
at Maryland who had stints
in the AFL and NFL Europe,
started as Rudock’s quarterback
coach his sophomore year of
high school. And in their time
together, Mastrole has noticed
that his pupil has benefitted from
a strong support system.
“Bob’s always had him around
just good people,” Mastrole said
on the phone last Thursday,
the day before the Citrus Bowl.
“Everything that Harbaugh said
about him, the two-dollar steak
comments and stuff, are totally
dead-on accurate of his kind of
personality and demeanor.”
Jake
Rudock
learned
his
first three-step drop from Dave
Shula, the former head coach
of the Cincinnati Bengals and
the son of legendary coach Don
Shula. Shula and the Rudocks are
friends, which meant Rudock got
to learn the most basic skill of
quarterbacking from Shula in one
of the two families’ living rooms.
That was the beginning of
football for Rudock.
“He made (the local) All-
Star team (in middle school)
and won the MVP as the safety,
and the next year he switched
to quarterback and he won the
MVP as the quarterback in
the local All-Star (event),” Bob
Rudock said.
But by the time he got to high
school — when then-St. Thomas
Aquinas coach George Smith
saw him — quarterback was the
position that stuck.
That could have led to an
inflated ego for a kid who had
only been playing football for
a short time. But those close to
Rudock say it’s just not in his
nature to let the cart get ahead of
the horse.
Spend a few minutes on the
phone with Bob Rudock, and it’s
not hard to see why the refrains
on Jake Rudock are about his
selflessness and leadership. Just
like his son, Bob is thoughtful.
He thinks through questions
before jumping right to an
answer, and it seems to have
rubbed off on his son.
“(Jake is) a guy that actually
listens to his dad,” Mastrole said.
“His dad uses a great line all
the time, it’s about two lines in
life. … Basically, the one line has
your parents, your girlfriend,
your friends ... because they
tell you what you want to hear.
Jake’s got a couple guys in the
other line that are the guys that
are really going to hold him to a
higher standard.
“A lot of kids don’t want to —
they want to listen to the long
line of people who tell you, ‘Hey,
you’re great, you’re fantastic,’
and I get that. But I think people
that are looking out for your best
interest … you making the right
decisions, using your time wisely,
learning to control your emotions
and
being
a
good
student
and
being
a
good
leader,
Jake’s
really
focused on that
line.”
That
line
of
people
cultivated
a
leader
in
Rudock, which
turned out to
be crucial when playing at talent-
rich St. Thomas Aquinas.
Aquinas is the definition of a
football powerhouse. The school
has won six state titles since
2007, and its alumni — including
White, Bernard, Indianapolis
Colts’
wide
receiver
Phillip
Dorsett and others — litter NFL
rosters.
According to Smith, Rudock
has started more games than any
quarterback in school history.
And while he was there, Rudock
and a teammate, Austin Barron,
who now plays at Florida State,
started a saying the school still
uses: “You go, we go.”
“They would point around
the room and point fingers at
everybody and go, ‘You go,’ and
then ‘You go,’ ‘You go,’ ‘You go,’ ”
Smith said. “And when everybody
is going, then, ‘We go.’ ”
As a football player, it’s hard to
find a better place to play than St.
Thomas Aquinas, where Smith’s
program churned out top-flight
college talent regularly. But in “You
go, we go,” Rudock left something
lasting at the program even among
so many other star players.
After the school fell short of
the state title his junior year, all
Rudock did in his senior season
was lead it to a 15-0 record
as well as regional, state and
national titles.
His final game, fittingly, was
a state championship victory at
the Citrus Bowl.
* * *
There’s a side to Jake Rudock
that’s rarely seen by the media.
In public, he’s loose, but he rarely
lets on much about himself,
preferring to deflect praise onto
his teammates and coaches.
Even when it is about him, it
isn’t about him.
And that’s where the curiosity
with Rudock comes to a head.
Rudock is unanimously referred
to as a leader, mature and
business-like, but few people
seem able to articulate who
Rudock is at heart — the reason
he is the way he is in the huddle.
Asked this question over the
phone Wednesday, two days
before the Citrus Bowl, Bob
Rudock put it better than just
about anyone else could.
“Jake is very … how do I say
this? He’s very unassuming,”
Rudock said. “He does not
like the limelight. … He’s very
friendly. He’s funny — he will
give you movie lines left and
right if you let him get into it —
but he does have the mentality
where it’s his job to make sure
everything gels.
“It’s
about
him
getting
everybody else better.”
That makes sense given his
aspiration to go to medical
school and someday, you know,
make people better.
And in a football context,
that’s exactly what he has done at
Michigan. Twenty-one different
Michigan players caught a pass
this season, assuming you don’t
count
the
pass
Rudock
completed
to
himself
off
a
deflection
against
Michigan
State.
He
started
slow,
but
as
his chemistry
with Chesson,
Jake
Butt
and Amara Darboh developed,
he ultimately turned in one of
the best statistical seasons by a
quarterback in school history.
He threw for 3,017 yards and
20
touchdowns
while
also
solidifying
the
second-best
completion percentage in school
history at 64 percent.
Still, no matter how much
success he has, Rudock’s public
image only recently began to
shake the “boring” or “safe” label.
But redshirt junior running
back Drake Johnson says that’s
a product of the quarterback’s
humor and personality being
more subtle.
“He’s got a very sarcastic
sense of humor,” Johnson said
last Wednesday. “If you’re not
keen to it, you’ll be (obliviously)
like, ‘Oh, yeah, yeah.’ … He’s
so smart that he can play with
simple things.”
A
couple
nights
earlier,
Johnson,
Rudock,
Chesson
and junior quarterback John
O’Korn were at Buffalo Wild
Wings having dinner. They
were having a fairly normal
conversation
when
Johnson
picked up on one of Rudock’s
jokes below the surface.
Johnson didn’t recall the joke,
but he did remember his reaction.
“It hits you a minute late,”
Johnson said. “I was like, ‘Wait,
Jake…’ and he just gave me the
wink. Once I see the wink, I’m
just like, ‘Damn, he got me.’ ”
By most accounts, Rudock has
a good sense of humor, even if it
takes a bit of time to understand it.
If left entirely to his own
devices,
with
no
schedule,
Rudock’s dad said he would
think Jake would prefer to just
watch a movie with friends or
family. But it’s hard for him to
say for sure.
“Gosh, as long as I can
remember
there’s
been
a
schedule,” Bob Rudock said.
“And you’ve gotta keep the
schedule. You get your classwork
done, you get your football done,
you get your baseball done, you
get your lifting in. There has not
been a whole lot of free time.”
* * *
The coming months will put
all of Rudock’s gifts — on the field
and off it — to the ultimate test.
In the next year, he will either
be trying out for NFL rosters
or applying to medical school,
a slightly ironic dichotomy he
seems destined to fulfill both
sides of eventually.
He’s
considering
attending
scouting camps, plus Michigan’s
pro day and, if all goes well,
possibly the NFL combine.
For Rudock, being drafted
to the NFL is not out of reach.
Otherwise, there’s a damned
good chance he becomes a doctor
— not a bad fallback plan.
In any case, Rudock will be
doing what he’s always done
best: making other people better.
“You
hear
the
Bo
Schembechler, ‘The team, the
team, the team,’ ” Bob Rudock
said. “Well, Jake was living that
as long as I remember.”
In the waning moments of his
Michigan career, after Rudock
had answered his last postgame
interview question, a Michigan
spokesman approached him with
a visitor. Jack Harbaugh, Jim’s
toddler son, wanted a picture
with Jake.
“Mighty
Jack
the
Quarterback,”
as
Harbaugh
called his son at his introductory
press conference last December,
had stolen Rudock’s hat, as they
posed for a picture.
Rudock, after the last game
of his college career, told him to
keep it.
“It
looks
better
on
you
anyway,” he said.
Daily
staff
photographer
Allison
Farrand
contributed
reporting.
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Jake Rudock went out as a winner with Michigan’s 41-7 victory in the Citrus Bowl.
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Rudock was second in single-season passing yards in program history with the second-highest completion percentage.
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Rudock proved to be more than capable as the leader of a Michigan offense that improved dramatically during the season.
“He’s very
unassuming. He
does not like the
limelight.”
“I’d rather have
the five big
linemen up there.”