11

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

