8A — Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Peppers leaves ‘M’ to
declare for NFL Draft
A
decision
that
seemed
inevitable for months is now
official. After a season in which
his versatility and explosive play
landed him in New York as a
Heisman Trophy finalist, redshirt
sophomore
linebacker
Jabrill
Peppers announced Tuesday that
he will forgo his remaining two
years of eligibility at Michigan
and enter the NFL Draft.
Peppers
informed
Sports
Illustrated of his decision Tuesday,
later sending out a tweet thanking
the Wolverines and Michigan
coach Jim Harbaugh “for the
memories and preparation.”
Immediately
following
the
Wolverines’ Orange Bowl loss to
Florida State on Dec. 30 — which
Peppers was forced to sit out
after suffering a hamstring injury
the day before — a visibly upset
Peppers had told reporters he
would take as long as he could to
make a decision about his future.
“It’s one of the hardest things
I’ve ever had to do,” Peppers
reiterated to SI on Tuesday. “I’m
choosing
between
cementing
my legacy as a college player
and starting my pro legacy. It’s
something you dream of when you
were a kid. I was torn between the
two.”
He finally came to a decision
over the weekend while at home
in New Jersey and informed
Harbaugh on Monday.
Some
questions
linger
about where Peppers will fit
in at the professional level. He
primarily played safety in 2015
and linebacker in 2016, and he
also took snaps as a slot corner,
running back and punt returner,
among other positions, but he
figures to be a surefire first-round
pick in April’s draft. ESPN’s Todd
McShay projects him among the
top 10 players available.
“All the questions will be
answered,” Peppers told SI. “And
they’re good questions. I think I’ll
be able to show that I can play one
position well when I focus all my
time and attention to it. I’m really
excited to focus on my back pedal,
flipping the hips and my coverage.
I’m going to really hone in on that
and iron out my weaknesses. I
know my weaknesses and I know
what I’m good at and need to
improve on.”
Peppers finishes his Michigan
career with 125 tackles (21.5 for
loss), four sacks, a forced fumble
and an interception on defense.
He also posted 239 rushing
yards, 82 receiving yards and five
offensive touchdowns, as well as
993 kick/punt return yards with
one punt return touchdown.
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Redshirt sophomore linebacker Jabrill Peppers declared for the NFL draft.
JACOB GASE
Daily Sports Writer
Dakich earns second-semester scholarship
They say good things come to
those who wait. Andrew Dakich
certainly knows that now.
Tuesday night, the Michigan
basketball team posted a video
on its Twitter account in which
two
officers
from
the
Division
of
Public
Safety
and
Security
interrupted
a
team
film
session
in
Crisler Center.
They
requested that
Dakich
leave
the room and
follow them to a compliance
office, before revealing it was
a prank devised by coach John
Beilein to inform him that he
would be receiving a scholarship
for the winter semester.
The
mood
in
the
room
took
a
distinct
turn
from
uncomfortable anxiety to pure
jubilation, as the senior guard’s
teammates surrounded him in
celebration. Freshman guard
Xavier Simpson, however, was
frozen in his seat.
“They were in shock,” said
Michigan coach John Beilein.
“Xavier was trying to figure
(it) out. I think once he thought
(Dakich) was going to jail, he
didn’t hear anything else. He still
— at the end — said, ‘Yeah he got a
scholarship, but he’s going to jail.’ ”
Added Dakich: “To be honest,
there was one time I almost
said, ‘Can we talk about this
privately?’ I almost said, ‘Am I
being punked?’
“But I was like I gotta let these
guys talk because they’re just
doing their job. And they came
out with a document, some kind
of warrant to get me out of there,
so it was really scary for me.”
According to Beilein, the
stunt was inspired by Eastern
Michigan
football
coach
Chris Creighton. Last August,
Creighton surprised a walk-
on
player
with
a
full-ride
scholarship in a prank that was
nearly identical to Tuesday’s.
Beilein granted the same
scholarship to senior forward
Sean Lonergan last season but
said it was a tough decision for
the staff to choose between
Dakich and Lonergan in 2015.
Dakich
began
his
Michigan
career
as
a
preferred
walk-
on in 2013. As a
sophomore
and
junior,
Dakich
requested
a
redshirt in hopes
of
preserving
a
year of eligibility
to
be
used
as
a
fifth-year
graduate transfer.
But when the Wolverines
suffered season-ending injuries
at the guard position in both of
those seasons, Dakich decided
to burn his redshirt for the good
of the team.
Now, he has finally been
rewarded for that selflessness
with
a
second-semester
scholarship
worth
roughly
$30,000.
Dakich’s
future
is
still
uncertain, but he would like to
use his final year of eligibility to
take on a more significant role for
another Division
I
program
before pursuing
his
dream
of
coaching.
While
Dakich
won’t
necessarily
explore
his
options until the
season is over,
he said Tuesday
that he ideally
would
like
the
opportunity
to play for a team that runs a
similar offense to Beilein’s with
some opportunities to learn new
concepts as well.
His motivation to become a
coach is simple.
“When I’m out there on the
court, or when I’m watching
Coach Beilein or something
like that, I find a passion that I
don’t think about anything else,”
Dakich said. “And I just think
about these guys, and it’s just
easy, to be honest.”
For now, though, the future
can
wait
—
Dakich has one
final
semester
in Ann Arbor to
enjoy.
“It’s
fun,”
Dakich said. “I
came
in
with
Zak,
Derrick,
Sean
(and)
Mark. I’m with
(Xavier) all the
time
because
I know this is going to be his
team once Derrick leaves. But
just enjoying it, and kind of just
leaving some kind of legacy with
wins. I don’t care if I score or
play, being on a special team is
what I really want to do.”
KEVIN SANTO
Managing Sports Editor
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Senior guard Andrew Dakich began his career as a preferred walk-on but was awarded a scholarship Tuesday.
I almost said,
‘Can we talk
about this
privately?’
Being on a
special team is
what I really
want to do
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Behind Enemy Lines:
Illinois’s Tracy Abrams
After suffering two losses
in three games to open its Big
Ten season, the Michigan men’s
basketball team will have a
chance to turn its fortunes around
on the road against Illinois on
Wednesday. The Fighting Illini
are powered by seasoned veteran
guards Malcolm Hill and Tracy
Abrams, who lead the team in
scoring with 18.8 and 10.9 points
per game, respectively. Despite
missing the 2014-15 and 2015-16
seasons after tearing his ACL and
then his Achilles in back-to-back
years,
Abrams
has come back
strong
and
helped
carry
the
load
for
Illinois.
The
Michigan Daily
sat down with
Abrams at Big
Ten Media Day
in October to
talk about his road back from
injury and his excitement about
returning to the court.
The Michigan Daily: How
has your recovery from injury
been, and how has the extended
period of time off affected you as
a player and as a person too?
Tracy Abrams: My rehab
and stuff has been great. I’m
pretty healthy right now. I can
honestly say I’ve gotten stronger,
I can run a little faster — I’ve
improved overall — so it’s been
a great experience for me so far.
I’m definitely looking forward to
the season, being out there and
competing with my teammates.
Right now we’re just building
(and) trying to keep putting in
hard work every day so it can
translate to the court.
TMD: How excited are you
to step back onto the floor to
join your teammates again and
compete at a high level on the
college stage?
TA: I’m definitely, definitely,
definitely excited to be back out
there. Just using my experience
and
my
leadership,
most
importantly, to help those guys
out as well as them help me (and)
just continue to grow. I think the
sky’s the limit for our team so we
just gotta have that mindset and
put in that effort.
TMD: This is your sixth year
of eligibility, so how do you
think your vast experience at the
collegiate level will help both you
and the team this season?
TA: Just being out these last
couple
years,
I was able to
gain a different
perspective.
Learning
my
teammates,
learning the game
a little bit better,
so I think just
using what I’ve
learned. And if I
can translate that
to the court, just knowing my
teammates and their strengths
and stuff like that, it would
definitely, definitely be helpful
for our team. So I’m just trying
to keep remembering all that
stuff and taking it and giving it
back.
TMD: How do you think you
will be able to handle the balance
between a master’s program and
the rigors of being a student-
athlete?
TA: One advantage with that
is all my classes are online, so I
wake up early and do that. That
way I can have good balance, and
when I go to practice, I don’t have
to worry about schoolwork and
stuff like that. It’s going pretty
well. I’m in my second master’s
program right now, so I would
say I have a pretty good feel to
how it works and what you have
to do to be successful.
BETELHEM ASHAME
Managing Sports Editor
I think the
sky’s the limit
for our team
Wolverines travel to Champaign to take
on Illinois and find some consistency
In the days since the Michigan
men’s basketball team loss to
Maryland on Saturday, the word
“frustration”
has been used
relatively often
around Crisler
Center — and
rightly so.
After
all,
the Wolverines
(1-2 Big Ten,
11-5
overall)
have dropped
two of their
last
three
games
by
a
combined
margin of just
10 points.
Michigan
isn’t getting blown out by any
means, which arguably makes
it even more frustrating. And it
forces one to wonder what the
team could be if a new defensive
approach and new offensive
weapons molded together into a
polished product.
The games are there for the
taking. The Wolverines just have
been incapable of taking them
recently.
“Now, we gotta get it, there’s
no excuse,” said senior guard
Andrew Dakich. “There’s no,
‘OK you guys are young, you
shouldn’t understand this.’ But
we’re a veteran group.
“We’ve got seniors, juniors
and a team that went to the
NCAA Tournament last year.
It’s time to step up. There’s no
excuses anymore.”
On
Wednesday
night,
Michigan
will
have
an
opportunity to back up Dakich’s
words in a matchup with Illinois
(1-2, 11-5).
The
Fighting
Illini
are
essentially in the same boat as
the Wolverines.
Like Michigan, they are a
veteran team that returned eight
upperclassmen. But — also like
Michigan — Illinois has yet to
produce the results that could be
expected from a roster hardened
by Big Ten play for multiple
seasons.
The Fighting Illini’s biggest
threat is senior guard Malcolm
Hill, who leads the team in points
and rebounds with 18.8 and 6.2
per game, respectively. Yet even
that kind of production hasn’t
been nearly enough to carry
Illinois through the beginning of
conference play.
Through
their
first
three
games,
the
Fighting
Illini
notched a win against Ohio State
but also lost to Maryland and No.
25 Indiana by 25 and 16 points,
respectively.
The Wolverines haven’t fared
much better themselves, as even
some of their most promising
players also contribute to their
growing problems.
Individually,
sophomore
forward Moritz Wagner has
enjoyed an uptick in production,
as he is averaging 11.9 points
while shooting 61.3 percent from
the floor. Redshirt sophomore
forward DJ Wilson’s newfound
scoring ability has been an
encouraging sign as well.
But with their emergence has
also come a bit of confusion. In
the past, there was no doubt that
the offense would run through
senior guard Derrick Walton Jr.
or senior wing Zak Irvin. Now,
though, that choice might not be
so simple.
The matchup with Illinois
could prove to be the first step
toward some clarity in that
phase.
“It’s good news and bad
news,” said Michigan coach
John Beilein. “We have several
guys that can score the ball now,
especially with the emergence
of DJ and Moe. We’re looking at
that very much.
“That was a big part of our
discussion today — what are we
doing at shot clock time? We’re
going to make sure the ball is in
the right guy’s hands at shot clock
time, and maybe it’s in nobody’s
hands and we’re just playing ball
and trusting what we do.”
The
more
pressing
issue,
though, is the ongoing struggle
the Wolverines are having in
attempting to adopt assistant
coach
Billy
Donlon’s
new
defensive schemes.
After Saturday’s loss, Wagner
was visibly frustrated, explaining
that there are moments when
Michigan seems to “fall asleep
collectively.” And that is even
more
concerning
given
the
simplicity of the system.
“(The defense) couldn’t be
much simpler than it is right
now,” Beilein said. “We’re doing
a classic hedge. We’re tagging
guys. We’re probably doing less
than we’ve done before. We’re in
the right places a lot of times, but
we’re just not in there enough, in
that right place.”
Through their first three Big
Ten games, the Wolverines are
allowing an average of 75.7 points
per game. Yet back in November
at Madison Square Garden —
when Michigan arguably looked
its best — it allowed an average
of 57.5 against comparable teams
such as Southern Methodist and
Marquette.
The frustrations, then, as
the Wolverines have alluded to
plenty of times, boil down to the
issues of consistency.
Illinois is the second-to-last
team Michigan will face before
the beginning of a month in
which
the
Wolverines
will
play Michigan State, No. 18
Wisconsin and No. 25 Indiana
twice apiece.
Consistency
has
been
preached since the beginning of
the season. But the time to talk
about it is running out.
KEVIN SANTO
Managing Sports Editor
Michigan
at Illinois
Matchup:
Michigan 1-2
Big Ten, 11-5
overall; Illinois
1-2, 11-5
When:
Wednesday
8 P.M. CT
Where: State
Farm Center
TV/Radio:
BTN
EVAN AARON/Daily
Michigan coach John Beilein hopes his team can put together a complete game.