FootballSaturday, November 19, 2016
4
A few weeks ago, Ben Braden
recalled sitting around watching the
Ohio State-Penn State football game
the previous Saturday night with his
roommates.
He listed them: Ben Pliska, a fifth-
year senior offensive lineman; Greg
Froelich, a redshirt junior offensive
lineman; Mike Jocz — “You guys
know, the really smart guy,” Braden
said with a laugh.
That label follows Jocz, a fifth-year
senior tight end, around Schembechler
Hall. It’s understandable. He is,
after all, well on his way to earning
a master’s degree in mechanical
engineering after graduating with
a team-high 3.964 GPA in the same
major.
So it’s no surprise that Jocz’s
academic prowess has captured media
attention. His teammates routinely
field reporters’ questions on the
subject, and coach Jim Harbaugh has
faced exactly one question about Jocz
this season, on the same topic.
“We always kind of joke about how
he’s the genius of the group,” said
redshirt sophomore Ian Bunting, a
tight end like Jocz.
Coaches seize it as a motivational
tool — tight ends coach Jay Harbaugh
even created the Michael Jocz Honor
Society to recognize the tight end with
the top score on the weekly playbook
test. It is usually Michael Jocz.
Jocz seems more than comfortable
with the notion that he will follow
a different path than many of his
teammates who land in the NFL
next year. He hopes instead to earn
headlines for designing concussion-
preventing helmets or improving self-
driving cars.
Either way, to many, Jocz’s path
has captured two labels: great student
and great football player. Braden’s joke
aside, those close to him know him as
much more.
“To them, I’m just their friend that
happens to do well in school,” Jocz
said. “I’m with them all the time,
hanging out with them, so they just
think of me as one of the guys.”
He doesn’t often think of himself as
an incredible student or an incredible
athlete. Those are just two things he
enjoys doing. His career at Michigan
has really been about realizing a
lifelong dream — but if you thought
everything has gone smoothly, you’d
be wrong about Jocz again.
***
When Jocz was little, his family
put an addition onto their Novi
home. After months observing the
head carpenter every day, 2-year-old
Michael walked up to the man and
said, matter-of-factly, “You have a new
saw, don’t you? I’ve been watching
you, and you’ve got a brand-new saw.”
Sure enough, the carpenter had
just purchased a compound miter saw.
Michael’s father, Warren, watched in
shock and wondered: “What 2-year-
old picks that kind of thing up?”
Michael took off from there. Soon,
he beat everyone at adding up the
dice during Yahtzee games, and
he’d calculate how much change his
mother, Ann-Marie, would receive at
the grocery store.
Before long, Warren — who also
earned a bachelor’s and master’s
in
mechanical
engineering
from
Michigan — began enlisting Michael’s
help in chores around the house.
Warren, a Ford Motor Company
engineer for the past 29 years, was a
worthy teacher, and Michael was his
eager student.
In that sense, Jocz’s path to
mechanical engineering wasn’t a
surprise. His place on the football
team, on the other hand, wasn’t easily
forecast.
Jocz didn’t even begin playing
football until his freshman year in
high school. His prep career netted
a handful of Division III offers, but
Jocz only ever wanted to go to one
school. He wore Michigan T-shirts,
sweatshirts
and
hats
nonstop.
He estimates that 17 of his family
members across five generations have
gone to the University. As a kid, he
even dressed up as a Michigan football
player for Halloween.
So committed to this dream, he
applied and committed to attend
before the football team was even
an option. That’s when his offensive
coordinator at Novi stepped in and
sent his highlight tape to former
Michigan assistant Al Borges, who
offered Jocz a spot as a walk-on.
“I got this opportunity to play for
the winningest program in football
history, and it was something that I’ve
always dreamed about doing,” Jocz
said. “I was like, ‘You know, why not?
I’m never going to get this opportunity
again, and why not make the best of
it?’ ”
With that, Jocz joined the team,
and he’s been there ever since. On
the surface, it sounds like a charmed
journey. Getting here required much
more work.
***
On the third day of his first fall camp
as a freshman, Jocz wanted to quit. In
fairness, so did Vincent Smith, then an
established senior running back.
JAKE LOURIM
Managing Sports Editor
“We always kind
of joke about how
he’s the genius of
the group.”
CLAIRE ABDO/Daily