By JACOB GASE

Daily Sports Editor

Most Michigan fans already knew that 

redshirt sophomore linebacker Jabrill 
Peppers was the football equivalent of 
a Swiss Army knife, but Saturday’s win 
over Colorado might have been the finest 
example of just how much he can do.

Playing all three phases for the first 

time this season, Peppers picked up 
a career-high 204 all-purpose yards, 
nine tackles (a career-high 3.5 for loss), 
a sack and a fourth-quarter 54-yard 
punt return touchdown that almost 
felt like an inevitability after all he had 
accomplished to that point in the game.

“Above it all, Jabrill Peppers proved 

he was the best player today, in today’s 
game,” 
said 
Michigan 
coach 
Jim 

Harbaugh. “We don’t win that game 

without Jabrill Peppers.”

After the Buffaloes jumped out to a 21-7 

lead in the first quarter, it was Peppers 
who almost single-handedly kept the 
Wolverines in the game. Returning both 
kickoffs and punts, Peppers racked up 
170 return yards and gave Michigan great 
field position on nearly all of its drives.

He was even more of a force on 

defense as one of the highlighted players 
in defensive coordinator Don Brown’s 
blitz-heavy scheme. Harbaugh has often 
said that Peppers is capable of getting to 
a quarterback in less than a second, and 
he did just that when he ran unblocked 
through the line of scrimmage and 
dropped Colorado backup quarterback 
Steven Montez to the turf for an 11-yard 
sack late in the third quarter.

“He really showed you his toughness, 

his athleticism,” Harbaugh said. “Some 

hits that were momentum-changing hits 
in this game.”

Redshirt 
sophomore 
quarterback 

Wilton Speight has seen plenty of 
Peppers on defense in practice, and he 

said Saturday that he was just thankful 
that quarterbacks aren’t “live” during 
fall camp so Peppers couldn’t actually hit 
him.

Speight later added that he has never 

played with or against anyone that can be 
as much of a force on all sides of the ball 
as Peppers can.

“I think every single thought he has 

is just about destroying the opponent,” 
Speight said. “He’s got that mindset that 
few people do. I think every single play he 
wants to chop someone in half and make 
sure that they can’t walk for a couple 
minutes.”

While Peppers didn’t do much playing 

offense for the first time this season 
(two carries, 24 yards), Speight thinks 
Peppers’ vision and cutting ability make 
it reasonable to compare him to Stanford 
running back Christian McCaffrey.

The play Peppers looked most like 

McCaffrey, however, was on his first-
ever special-teams touchdown in the 
fourth quarter. With a wide open hole in 
the middle of the field, Peppers broke one 

tackle and made another defender miss 
before scampering into the left side of the 
end zone, bringing Michigan’s lead up to 
the final score of 45-28. It was the final 
big blow to the Buffaloes, and it lifted a 
monkey off Peppers’ back after he came 
up just short of the end zone on many 
returns both this season and last.

“It was definitely a sense of relief,” 

Peppers said. “I felt like a couple of those 
punts I could have had — I could’ve 
taken one back. But (Colorado is) a great 
tackling team, they were shooting the 
hip, wrapping up. But when you get a 
line drive and great blocking, if you don’t 
score then, they gotta put somebody 
else back there. That’s just how I felt. 
The hole was wide open. … I started 
cramping about the five (yard line), but I 
was like, ‘There’s no way I’m not getting 
in this time.’ ”

SECONDARY ISSUE

BSportsMonday

STILL STANDING

n Down 21-7 in the first quarter, 

Michigan refused to fold.

SportsMonday Column, Page 2B

The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | September 19, 2016

n Struggles for Michigan’s 
secondary and offensive line, 
plus more takeaways. Page 4B

Michigan 45, Colorado 28

Peppers returns first punt return for touchdown as Wolverines rally from 14 down to beat Buffaloes

All the wayBACK

“Jabrill Peppers 
proved he was the 
best player today, in 

today’s game.”

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

