12

Thursday, July 14, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS

Wolverines earn preseason honors

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Senior defensive back Jourdan Lewis was a semi-finalist for the Jim Thorpe award last season. 

By ETHAN WOLFE

Summer Managing Sports Editor

In its first year under head 

coach 
Jim 
Harbaugh, 
the 

Michigan football team finished 
10-3 — capped with a 41-7 
blowout victory over Florida in 
the Citrus Bowl — to ride a wave 
of momentum and hype into the 
offseason.

That wave has only continued, 

as the National College Football 
Awards 
Association 
recently 

named 
seven 
Wolverines 
to 

preseason watch lists.

Senior defensive back Jourdan 

Lewis and redshirt sophomore 
linebacker Jabrill Peppers each 
found their name on three watch 
lists.

Lewis, 
who 
had 
20 
pass 

deflections and two interceptions 
last season, was put on the watch 
list for the Bronko Nagurski, 
Chuck Bednarik and Jim Thorpe 
awards, in which he was a semi-
finalist last season. The Nagurski 
and Bednarik awards are decided 
by different organizations but 
are both given to the nation’s 
best defensive player, while the 
Thorpe award is given to the 
nation’s best defensive back. 
Charles Woodson is the only 
Wolverine to have won all three 
honors.

A finalist for the Paul Hornung 

Award last season — presented to 
the nation’s most versatile player 
— Peppers found his name on 
this year’s watch list. Peppers 
was also placed on the watch list 
for the Nagurski and Bednarik 
awards. Peppers burst onto the 

scene last season as a play-maker 
on both sides of the ball after 
missing most of his freshman 
year due to injury. The redshirt 
sophomore returned kicks and 
punts for the Wolverines while 
also playing a prominent role in 
the defensive secondary, tallying 
5.5 tackles for loss and 10 pass 
deflections. Under new defensive 
coordinator Don Brown, Peppers 
will be a linebacker.

Senior 
defensive 
end 

Chris 
Wormley 
is 
the 
lone 

representative from Michigan’s 
D-line. 
The 
returning 
team 

leader in sacks and tackles 
for loss with 6.5 and 14.5, 
respectively, Wormley reached 
the watch lists of the Bednarik 
and 
Nagurski 
awards 
after 

starting all 13 games last season 
and earning All-Big Ten third 
team honors.

On the other side of the ball, 

junior center Mason Cole and 
senior tackle Erik Magnuson 
were both selected to the watch 
list for the Outland Trophy, 
which is given to the nation’s 
best interior offensive lineman. 
Cole — who switched positions 
from left tackle to center in the 
offseason — was also named in 
consideration for the Rimington 
Trophy, awarded to the top 
center in college football. Cole 
and 
Magnuson 
were 
both 

steady presences on the line for 
Michigan last year, each starting 
all 13 games and earning spots on 
All-Big Ten teams in 2015.

Another 
Wolverine 
who 

has 
received 
considerable 

attention 
in 
the 
preseason 

is senior wide receiver Jehu 
Chesson. Chesson was named 
as the No. 2 wide receiver to 
watch in 2016 according to 
Lance 
Zierlein 
of 
NFL.com. 

Chesson tallied 50 catches for 
764 yards and nine touchdowns 
and capped off his season with 
five catches for 118 yards and 
a 
touchdown 
in 
the 
Citrus 

Bowl. Chesson, who also scored 
two rushing touchdowns and 
another off a kick return against 
Northwestern, warranted a first 
team All-Big Ten selection in 
2015. Now entering his final 
season, Chesson has been placed 
on the watch list for both the 
Maxwell and Fred Biletnikoff 
awards. The awards are given 
to the nation’s best offensive 
player and wide receiver in 
college 
football, 
respectively. 

The only Wolverines to have 
won the Maxwell Award were 
Tom 
Harmon 
in 
1940 
and 

Desmond Howard in 1991, while 
Braylon Edwards took home the 
Biletnikoff award in 2004.

The final Wolverine to earn 

preseason accolades was senior 
tight end Jake Butt, who was 
placed on the preseason watch 
list for the Maxwell Award and 
the John Mackey Award, given 
to the best tight end in college 
football. Butt was a semi-finalist 
for the latter in 2015, in which 
he collected 51 catches for 654 
yards and three touchdowns. 
Though Arkansas’ Hunter Henry 
edged Butt for the award, Butt 
was still honored as a first team 
All-American and the Big Ten 
Tight End of the Year.

‘M’-Notre Dame set to 

renew rivalry in 2018

Michigan canceled its 
series with Arkansas 
to make room for the 

matchup

By ORION SANG

Summer Managing Sports Editor

One of college football’s most 

storied rivalries is due for a 
return after a three year hiatus.

Thursday, 
the 
Michigan 

Athletic Department announced 
that the Michigan football team 
will resume its series against 
Notre Dame in 2018 and 2019. 
The Wolverines will first travel 
to South Bend before hosting 
the Fighting Irish the following 
year.

Both 
games 
will 
replace 

Michigan’s 
two 
scheduled 

meetings with Arkansas, with 
Michigan reportedly paying a $2 
million buyout 
to replace the 
Razorbacks, 
according 
to 

Ryan Krasnoo 
at SINow.

Michigan 

will face Notre 
Dame on Sept. 
1, 
2018. 
The 

Wolverines 
will then host the Fighting Irish 
on Oct. 26, 2019 — moving that 
year’s matchup with Rutgers to 
Sept. 28 instead.

“This is a game that holds 

great 
significance 
for 
the 

student-athletes 
and 
coaches 

who compete on the field,” said 
Michigan 
Athletic 
Director 

Warde Manuel in a statement 
released Thursday. “A great deal 
of credit goes to Coach Harbaugh 
and Coach Kelly for initiating 
the discussion of scheduling 
this series. This rivalry is also 
important for the fans of both 
programs, and we look forward 
to renewing one of college 
football’s great rivalries.”

Added Michigan head coach 

Jim Harbaugh: “The competition 
between Michigan and Notre 
Dame has created a fair, healthy 
and 
productive 
rivalry 
over 

time, and it brings out the best in 
both programs. We look forward 
to facing Coach Brian Kelly and 

the Irish in the coming years.”

The Wolverines and Fighting 

Irish have met 41 times since 
the first meeting between the 
two schools took place in 1897 
in what was Notre Dame’s first 
football game.

Since then, both teams have 

jockeyed for a position atop 
college football. Michigan and 
Notre Dame rank No. 1 and No. 
3, respectively, in all-time wins, 
and No. 2 and No. 1, respectively, 
in all-time winning percentage.

Michigan leads the all-time 

series with a record of 24-17-1, 
while the last 10 games between 
the two have been almost evenly 
split — the Wolverines hold a 
slight 6-4 advantage.

In 2011, the two teams played 

in the first ever night game at 
the Big House and set the NCAA 
single-game attendance record. 
Michigan emerged with a 35-31 
victory after a late touchdown 

pass 
from 

Denard 
Robinson 
to 

Roy Roundtree.

The 
two 

met 
once 

more 
under 

the 
lights 
in 

2013, when the 
Wolverines 
took 
home 
a 

41-30 victory in a game that 
broke 
the 
2011 
attendance 

record with 115,109 people in the 
stands.

But despite the history and 

popularity of the rivalry, the 
series was ended for a brief 
period of time. In 2012, Notre 
Dame athletic director Jack 
Swarbrick announced that the 
school would be ending the 
rivalry after the 2014 season.

Shortly 
thereafter, 
former 

Michigan head coach Brady 
Hoke said that the Fighting Irish 
were “chickening out” of the 
rivalry.

Notre Dame, though, had the 

last laugh with a 31-0 drubbing 
of the Wolverines at South Bend 
in 2014, the last game before the 
short break.

Manuel also stated that there 

are ongoing negotiations with 
Notre Dame over extending the 
series past the two currently 
scheduled meetings.

FOOTBALL

“It brings out 
the best in both 

programs.”

