BSportsTuesday

QUICK RECOVERY

n Michigan remedied 
a Sunday loss with a big 
Friday win. Page 3B

The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | September 6, 2016

n Inside Warde Manuel’s first game 
day as athletic director.
SportsTuesday Column, Page 2B

SATURDAY WITH WARDE

E

veryone saw it. A 
six-second video 
on Vine of Michi-

gan football coach Jim 
Harbaugh 
punching 
his new 
starting 
quarter-
back’s pads 
prior to 
him taking 
the field — 
shoulders, 
chest, hips, 
helmet — 
emulating the environment 
he’d likely see this coming 
season.

Harbaugh seems certain 

of a lot of things, like maybe 
how hitting his quarter-
back up and down helps 

him play. He did it prior to 
this quarterback’s game-
winning touchdown drive 
against Minnesota in 2015, 
when he was just a reliever 
for starting quarterback 
Jake Rudock.

Harbaugh knew that it 

had worked before, so he 
was doing it again, pump-
ing up his quarterback for 
his first start of the 2016 
season, in Michigan Sta-
dium against Hawaii.

Since Monday at least, 

Harbaugh knew who would 
start. He knew who had 
won the competition, even 
if no one other than him 
and his quarterback knew.

But he didn’t know that 

redshirt sophomore Wilton 
Speight would throw an 

interception on his first 
play of the season. The 
mental anguish that comes 
with that can’t be emulated 
by a few slaps and punches.

An audible gasp from the 

crowd filled the stadium. 
The stout Michigan defense 
had just forced a three-and-
out in a little over a minute, 
and it was a shock to the 
system to see the offense 
start in such an alarming 
fashion.

Besides, this is the same 

quarterback that claims 
that his perspective started 
to shift after that game in 
Minnesota. He rode that 
confidence boost through 
spring, giving it a great deal 
of credit for his success 
throughout spring camp.

Back on April 1, when it 

was just the Maize play-
ing the Blue in Michigan’s 
annual Spring Game, he 
noted how much it helped 
him.

“(Playing against Minne-

sota last season) was huge,” 
Speight said following the 
Spring Game. “Not that 
you live in the past, you 
never want to do that, but 
to go out there and say that, 
‘Well, I’ve done this on the 
road in a hostile environ-
ment, why can’t I do it in 
Glick (Field House), or 
why can’t I do it in a Spring 
Game, or why can’t I do it 
next year versus Hawaii?’ 
It’s big, and it’s kept me 
calm.”

How would Speight 

bounce back from this, a 
season-opening intercep-
tion? Would it zap his con-
fidence, ultimately zapping 
his season?

He answered in resound-

ing fashion: On the next 
series, he started on the 
two-yard line. His first pass 
was to fifth-year senior 
wide receiver Jehu Ches-
son for 16 yards. One pass 
did what no pass he had 
thrown before had done: It 
instilled confidence in him 
as a starting quarterback, 
and after that, he didn’t 
look back.

“Once I saw my first 

completion to (Chesson) on 
that slant, I felt completely 
settled in and kind of like 

Michigan 63, Hawaii 3

TWIST of 
SPEIGHT

KELLY
HALL

See SPEIGHT, Page 6B

