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

