Thursday, August 10, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
NEWS & SPORTS
10

Ward 1
Total Votes

Voter turnout: 9.94%

Percent
Anne Bannister
944
829
3

53.15%
46.68%
0.17%
Jason Frenzel
Write-In

Ward 3
Total Votes

Voter turnout: 12.17%

Percent
Zachary Ackerman
1283
1098
7

53.73%
45.98%
0.29%
Jamie Magiera
Write-In

Ward 4
Total Votes

Voter turnout: 11.94%

Percent
John E. Eaton
1256
963
4

56.50%
43.32%
0.18%
Jamie Magiera
Write-In

Ward 5
Total Votes

Voter turnout: 17.00%

Percent
David A. Silkworth
1749
1948
12

47.16%
52.52%
0.32%
Chip Smith
Write-In







DESIGN BY MICHELLE PHILLIPS

Michigan announces hiring
of Fetter as new pitching

Democratic primary yields
new balance on City Council

Before last season, Mike

McCray had recorded just two
tackles in his college career
and had never started a game
for the Michigan football
team.

McCray, a former four-star

recruit out of high school,
had always shown promise
— a blocked punt in a victory
over Appalachian State in
2014 had displayed as much.
But McCray couldn’t stay on
the field — health problems,
including a shoulder injury
that sidelined him for the
entire 2015 season, derailed
his first three years in a
Wolverine uniform.

With the graduation of

three
senior
linebackers

— Joe Bolden, Desmond
Morgan and James Ross —
a healthy McCray finally
got his chance last year
and ran with it. He made
an immediate impact in his
first start, a season-opening
victory over Hawaii where he
made nine tackles, 3.5 for loss
and two sacks, to kick-start
an All-Big Ten Honorable
Mention campaign in which
he totalled 76 stops, including
12.5 for a loss as well as 4.5
sacks and two interceptions.

One year later, the fifth-

year senior linebacker is
the only returning starter
from the previous season’s
dominant defense. But that’s
not the only thing different
about
McCray,
according

to linebackers coach Chris
Partridge.

“There’s an aura about him

that’s different than it was
last year and that’s important
because guys will look up to
him,” Partridge said. “He’s a
hard worker and he’s tough,
he’s a Big Ten linebacker. Now
with that aura about him and
that sense of leadership he’s
stepped his game up.”

To Partridge, McCray has

carried himself in a different
manner so far in fall camp
— a manner that is essential.
The
omnipresent
theme

for Michigan — young and
talented, but inexperienced

— applies to its linebacking
corps as much as anywhere,
and McCray has asserted
himself
as
a
necessary

veteran voice for that group.

“Last year he was kind of

feeling it out early, started
gaining
confidence
and

became a tremendous football
player for us,” Partridge said.
“This year he’s coming in
having that background and
he’s able to impose himself
on the other guys and on the
young guys.”

The impact of McCray’s

new role as an elder statesmen
was visible even in the spring.
Sophomore Devin Bush Jr.
was immediately slotted in
as McCray’s backup at the
WILL linebacker position
last season, and made a big
impact in the Wolverines’
spring game, tallying two
sacks.

So far during camp, Bush

has mostly played at the
MIKE position vacated by
Ben Gedeon from last season,
and after a year learning the
ropes from veterans such as
McCray, he appears primed
for a breakout in the middle
of Michigan’s defense with
his increased maturity and
physical development.

“Athletically, he’s a guy

who works just as hard
off the field as on the field,
really enjoys the game and
all aspects of it,” Partridge
said. “His ceiling’s high and
he keeps getting better and
better.
Obviously
a
very

savvy football player from his
background from his father
playing and everything like
that, so we’re excited about
what he’s going to be able to
do.”

Perhaps the biggest hole

in the Wolverines’ linebacker
unit, however, comes at
the VIPER position once
home to the do-everything
Jabrill Peppers. While the
competition
to
win
the

starting job is far from over,
sophomore Khaleke Hudson
appeared to have the upper
hand after an impressive
spring.

“(He’s a) guy that just

loves
contact,”
Partridge

said. “People feed off of that

too. He’s becoming very
well-rounded as a player, so
he’s going to be enjoyable to
watch.”

Hudson might be the

most natural replacement
for Peppers on Michigan’s
roster — in fact, both were
recruited as defensive backs
before
switching
to
the

hybrid
linebacker-safety

position. Described as a
“hammerhead” by Partridge,
Hudson’s
athleticism

and explosiveness should
provide a key dimension for
the Wolverines and emulate
to some extent what Peppers
was able to bring last season,
as he works to become a
more skilled player instead of
relying solely on aggression.

“You’re never going to tell

Coach Brown that you don’t
want someone to run full
speed into things,” Partridge
said. “That’s a small part of
it, but he’s gonna round out
his game just like anyone
always would. Coach Brown
will never say take away
that physicality, but you
learn how to play with that
physicality.”

With the leadership of

upperclassmen
such
as

McCray and senior Michael
Wroblewski, as well as the
talent of younger players like
Bush, Hudson and freshmen
Drew Singleton and Jordan
Anthony,
Michigan’s

linebacking corps has been
touted by some as its best
defensive unit. But Partridge
stated that the pressure on
the group to live up to those
expectations will be key for
them to fulfill that promise.

“There’s
pressure
at

all
moments
and
that’s

something you have to learn
how to deal with. You gotta
just put your head down and
keep working,” Partridge
said. “I tell these guys all the
time, ‘You want to be tough,
do tough things.’ Pressure
is a part of being tough and
camp is a part of being tough
and fighting through things
and working together. We’ll
take on all comers, anything
that will make us tougher
and make us a better unit is
something we embrace.”

Ann Arbor residents voted

Tuesday in the Democratic
primary election for City
Council.

In Ward 1, challenger

Anne
Bannister
defeated

incumbent
Jason
Frenzel

with 944 votes to Frenzel’s
829. Bannister was the only
challenger to win on Tuesday
— in Ward 3, Councilmember
Zachary
Ackerman
won

with 1,283 votes to opponent
Stephen Kunselman’s 1,098.
In Ward 4, Councilmember
Jack Eaton won with 1,256
votes to opponent Jaime
Magiera’s 963, and in Ward
5,
Councilmember
Chip

Smith won with 1,948 votes to
opponent David Silkworth’s
1,749.

Though
the
city
is

divided into five electoral
wards — each of which has
two representatives on the
council who alternate election
years — there were only four
contests in this primary, as
Jared Hoffert (D–Ward 2)
ran unopposed, but will face
incumbent
Councilmember

Jane Lumm (I–Ward 2) in the
general election in November.

This will be the last City

Council election held in an
odd year. Residents voted last
November to extend council
member’s terms from two
to four years, but the council
members elected in this cycle
will serve three year terms,
making their next election
year even.

The
election
was
in

many ways a referendum

on the city’s position on
development. Many residents
were upset in April when the
council voted 8-3 to sell the
publicly-owned Library Lot
to Chicago-based developer
Core Spaces, unhappy with
what a new skyscraper would
mean for Ann Arbor.

The three council members

that voted against the sale
of the Library Lot — Lumm,
Eaton and Kailasapathy —
have also opposed the other
eight members of the council,
including
Mayor
Chris

Taylor, on a number of issues
regarding development and
taxes. Those three will gain
a fourth in Bannister, who
ran her campaign against
Frenzel’s Library Lot vote.

“I think that with my

personal finance and my
financial
planning
background

and fiscal responsibility and
conservation of resources,
I think that resonates with
people because we pay a lot
of property taxes here in
town,” Bannister said. “It was
also important that now we
have the 7-4 ratio. Knocking
on doors, that was really
important to voters, even if
they were ambivalent about
development issues, the idea
of more debate on council was
important to them.”

The shift from the de facto

8-3 to 7-4 balance is significant
— though passage of any law
or resolution requires a six-
vote majority and mayoral
approval, eight is the number
of votes required to override a
mayoral veto, create a new city
office, take private property
for a public use or transfer any

unencumbered budget funds
from one operating fund to
another.

Though she said she had

not
heard
from
Frenzel

or the mayor’s office as of
Wednesday night, Bannister
said she hoped to do away
with any ill will the campaign
had dredged up and focus
on working together and
governing effectively with her
colleagues.

Ackerman, who spoke with

his opponent Kunselman once
the election results were out,
said they exchanged their
mutual respect and shared
Bannister’s opinion on moving
forward.

“Two years ago I ran on an

approach for representation
that first takes guidance and
solicits guidance from the
community, but also strives to
work together with colleagues
and staff to find solutions
to that community input,”
Ackerman said. “I think, over
the course of the last two
years, we’ve worked very
hard and very well together
to get a lot of things done, and
a lot of things done that have
been approved unanimously.
I think if we continue that
and if we continue to work
in an environment of mutual
respect and dignity, I think
we’re gonna be in good shape.”

He
stood
by
his

endorsement of Bannister’s
opponent, however, saying the
community lost an incredible
resource in Jason Frenzel’s
electoral loss.

JACOB SHAMES

Summer Managing Sports

Editor

ANDREW HIYAMA

Summer Daily News Editor

Read more online at

michigandaily.