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Thursday, July 20, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SPORTS
Dakich to transfer to Ohio State
The Michigan men’s basketball
team has seen a graduate transfer
to a rival Big Ten school in each
of the last two seasons. Forward
Max Bielfeldt transferred to
Indiana in 2015, and guard
Spike Albrecht played his final
season of college
basketball
at
Purdue
last
season.
That
streak
will
continue
this season with
perhaps the most
unlikely transfer
yet.
Monday, ESPN’s
Jeff
Goodman
reported
that
former Wolverine guard Andrew
Dakich will join Ohio State as a
graduate transfer this season.
The Buckeyes’ new head coach,
Chris Holtmann, was looking to
add backcourt help, and before
taking the job at Ohio State had
been recruiting Dakich to play
for him at Butler.
A former walk-on, Dakich
appeared
in
49
games
at
Michigan and scored 22 points.
He had planned to redshirt in
both the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016
seasons, but burned his redshirt
both years due to an onslaught of
injuries. As a junior in 2016, he
played in 24 games and averaged
4.6 minutes per game.
Dakich
redshirted
the
entirety
of
last
season. He was
awarded
a
full
scholarship
for
his final semester
at
Michigan,
video
of
which
went viral.
Dakich
had
announced
in
May
that
he
planned to finish his college
basketball career at Quinnipiac.
However, he was not admitted
to
the
graduate
journalism
program he planned on enrolling
in. Instead, he’ll be returning to
the Big Ten, where he’ll have one
season of eligibility remaining
for Ohio State.
As a graduate transfer, Dakich
will be eligible to take the court
for the Buckeyes immediately.
“This
was
just
the
best
opportunity for me, I know I’ll
get crushed by some Michigan
fans and I get that,” Dakich told
Nick Baumgardner of MLive.
com. “But if they put themselves
in my shoes, I think a lot of people
would have done the same thing.”
While Dakich’s defection to
the Wolverines’ fiercest rival
is sure to rub some fans in the
wrong way, that’s not the case
with his former coach, John
Beilein.
“He was great, he understood
my situation completely and I’ll
actually be up there this week
to work a camp for him,” Dakich
told MLive. “There’s no bad
blood at all. He’s happy for me
to have this opportunity to play
at Ohio State for a great coach he
respects. And coach Holtmann
had the same conversation with
him.
“This all happened about a
week ago and coach Beilein was
great. I have the utmost respect
for him and he knows that.”
AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
Former Michigan guard Andrew Dakich will play for Ohio State as a graduate transfer next season.
Former Michigan walk-on guard planned to finish his career
at Quinnipiac, but Buckeyes coach needed backcourt help
JACOB SHAMES
Summer Managing Sports Editor
“I know I’ll
get crushed by
some fans and I
get that”
Notebook: Wolverines enjoy
afternoon with AS Roma
As much as he would’ve
liked to play soccer Monday
afternoon, Jim Harbaugh simply
couldn’t.
Bothered by a hip flexor
injury suffered earlier this
month while playing softball
against
staff
and
camp
members at Camp Michigania,
Harbaugh stood by the side
and watched as members of
the Michigan football team
participated
in
soccer
and
football related activities with
players from AS Roma, an
Italian soccer club.
During their trip to Rome
in
April,
the
Wolverines
practiced at Roma’s facilities.
Monday,
the
team’s manager,
CEO and several
players
made
their way to Ann
Arbor to spend
more time with
Harbaugh
and
Michigan. Roma
is slated to play
against
Paris
Saint-Germain
at Comerica Park
Wednesday night — a matchup
that Harbaugh said he is slated
to attend.
It was readily apparent that he
has developed an appreciation
for
Roma
—
especially
when it comes to members
of the staff, who he spent
much of Monday’s activities
in
spirited
conversation
with,
and
midfielder
Kevin
Strootman. Harbaugh bonded
with Strootman over both his
competitiveness and his return
to top form after two ACL
injuries.
“You see how competitive
(Strootman) is and I’m sure
that bodes well for him in
what he does playing football,”
Harbaugh said. “It’s great to
see the guys interact and have a
little bit of fun.”
Monday’s activities, in which
Michigan and Roma players
competed in several challenges,
such as fielding punts, kicking
field
goals
and
scoring
on
penalty kicks, were some of
the few remaining moments of
levity before the season starts.
The Wolverines are set to break
for fall camp July 31, and have
been preparing with team and
player-led workouts for much of
the past couple months.
It has been an eventful
offseason, to say the least.
Many of Michigan’s players
left the country for the first
time with the trip overseas
before the entire team had
all of May off to study abroad
or pursue internships. Now,
the Wolverines are ready, as
Harbaugh
has
said
before,
to enter the submarine once
again.
“All deep breaths have been
taken,” Harbaugh said. “Now
it’s time to train and get ready
for the season.”
Johnson done
with football at
Michigan
In
April,
Harbaugh
left
open
the
possibility
for
running
back
Drake Johnson to
return for a sixth
year on the team.
Now, it appears
Johnson’s
decision is final, and he won’t be
returning to the gridiron for the
Wolverines.
“Drake Johnson is going
to continue at Michigan, he’s
going to take classes this
fall,” Harbaugh said Monday.
“The latest is he’s not going
to participate in football, he’s
going to concentrate on track.
He’ll be here for another year.”
Johnson’s career at Michigan
has been star-crossed, to say the
least. He has suffered multiple
ACL injuries that have taken
him many months to recover
from. Johnson was ready to
return to the field last spring
before yet another setback: He
was run over by a forklift and
suffered undisclosed injuries
that kept him on the sidelines
for months.
In his career at Michigan,
Johnson appeared in 25 games,
tallying
641
rushing
yards
and eight touchdowns while
catching seven passes for 107
yards and two touchdowns.
FOOTBALL
ORION SANG
Senior Sports Editor
“All deep
breaths have
been taken. It’s
time to train”
See FOOTBALL, Page 12