2B — September 25, 2017
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
O’Korn jumps on chance to rewrite story
W
EST LAFAYETTE —
This isn’t the pretti-
est offense.
There are dropped passes.
There are blown-up running
plays. There are botched pass
protections
that end
with
Michigan’s
starting
quarterback
lying
motionless
on the
turf, badly
injured,
before
he walks
slowly and gingerly off the field
towards an unknown fate and
further medical testing.
Consistency — that’s also
been missing.
Through the first three
weeks, issues arose in the red
zone, where the Wolverines
scored only one touchdown in
10 trips. Michigan was 3-of-3
inside Purdue’s 20-yard line on
Saturday.
Against Florida, the
Wolverines ran the ball 49
times for 215 yards. Michigan
could muster just 139 yards
on 44 carries against the
Boilermakers.
And the big plays — even
those don’t always come easy.
Perhaps the best example
came with 6:32 left in the third
quarter. It was 3rd-and-6, and
Michigan trailed by three. The
call was a pass. Purdue entered
the backfield quickly, and the
play appeared to be dead in the
water.
John O’Korn had a different
idea. He spun out of a near-
certain sack, rolled to his right,
waited patiently and delivered a
pass to Grant Perry for a crucial
12-yard gain.
Led by their fifth-year
senior backup quarterback, the
Wolverines would march down
the field that drive and take a
lead they never surrendered.
“He played great,” said
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh.
“He really did. John played a
heck of a ball game, and we’re
happy for him. Like I said
before, thought he came into the
game seeing things really well
right off the bat.”
Added sophomore tight end
Sean McKeon: “(O’Korn) was
definitely confident. He just
wanted to do a good job — do
his job. Make it seem like he
had confidence in us, and we
wanted to help him out in any
way we could. Really got the
offense going and he did a great
job today.
“Definitely very proud of him,
happy for him. He got his shot;
he made the most of it.”
After a bruising and uneven
28-10 win, we still don’t know
much about the identity of
Michigan’s offense. We do
know, however, what John
O’Korn has become — a
dependable backup whose
performance in relief of Speight
may have just reopened the
quarterback competition.
O’Korn has taken criticism
in the past for his struggles
to master the unknown — an
inability to deal with pressure
both on and off the field. In
the summer, he spoke frankly
about losing his confidence after
being replaced as the starter
at Houston. He felt like the
scapegoat for things that were
outside of his control; coming
under that much scrutiny as an
18-year-old, he admitted, shook
him. It took a transfer across the
country, two years and a new
coach in Pep Hamilton to get
back what he had lost.
That showed in his play,
especially in a start last year
against Indiana — the one
other time O’Korn has played
extensively in place of an
injured Speight. Against the
Hoosiers, amidst a blizzard,
O’Korn looked constantly
harassed — even when he
wasn’t. He never seemed
comfortable in the pocket, and
completed just 7-of-16 passes for
59 yards.
That game stuck out to him,
even nearly a year later, for
what it represented: a missed
opportunity.
“More than anything, I
would’ve liked to get a few
throws back from that game,”
O’Korn said in August. “… I
think maybe I pressed a little
too much, tried to make the big
play a little too much instead of
just letting things come to me.”
That was why Saturday’s
game, during which he
completed 18-of-26 passes for
270 yards and one touchdown,
meant so much to him. He didn’t
press. He didn’t always try to
make the big play. He let the
game come to him. Doing so
gave him a chance to rewrite the
book on John O’Korn. It gave
him a chance to revisit his past
history — both at Michigan and
at Houston.
“We all believed in John,”
said redshirt sophomore tight
end Zach Gentry, “and I think
that we were able to buck up
and rally the troops and get it
done.”
After his 12-yard touchdown
pass in the first quarter, O’Korn
turned and let loose at the
opposing sideline. He wasn’t
just yelling in excitement. Later,
he admitted he was yelling at
Purdue co-offensive coordinator
Tony Levine, his former coach
at Houston.
“I’m human,” O’Korn said.
“Anytime you get to go out and
beat your former coach — it was
his decision to bench me in the
first place — it’s gonna be an
emotional night.”
Once the game ended,
O’Korn lingered on the field
for the customary post-game
TV interviews. He answered
questions with a grin on his
face, hands on his hips, looking
happy. When it was over, he
jogged off to join his teammates.
It’s a path he’s taken plenty of
times before, at both Houston
and Michigan. But this time, he
ran off alone. He was under the
spotlight, and deservedly so.
The remaining Michigan fans
watched as he approached their
corner of the bleachers. They
cheered loudly, chanting his
name in unison.
It may have seemed unlikely
before the season that John
O’Korn would have found a
career’s worth of closure on a
sweltering Saturday afternoon
in West Lafayette. And yet,
that’s exactly what happened.
“It’s been a journey — there’s
no secret it’s been tough,”
O’Korn said. “I talked about
it in camp. The culmination
of all those things, it was an
emotional night for me. The
biggest thing, I’m just happy
that I can contribute to a great
win on the road. Beat the
elements, beat the team in their
own house and have a happy
flight home.”
Sang can be reached at
otsang@umich.edu or on
Twitter @orion_sang.
ORION
SANG
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Fifth-year senior quarterback John O’Korn had a moment of redemption in West Lafayette on Saturday, leading the Wolverines to a victory over Purdue.
Gentry shines against Boilermakers
WEST
LAFAYETTE
—
Zach Gentry trotted off the
field
at
Ross-Ade
Stadium,
alone, christened by cheers of
adoration.
He
reached
the
corner
of the end zone — the same
corner in which he scored
what was arguably Michigan’s
most important touchdown of
the game. Fans pleaded with
him, desperate for a piece of
game-worn Michigan football
memorabilia.
The
redshirt
sophomore
obliged, removing one of his
gloves and tossing into the first
row. It landed in a teenage girl’s
possession, and she instantly
fitted it to her left hand — a
perfect accessory to the maize
Michigan shirt that she was
already
wearing.
Then
she
pulled out her iPhone, held
the glove next to her face, and
flashed a smile for the camera.
One day ago, his glove and
her photo wouldn’t have meant
much. Frankly, the recipient of
Gentry’s glove might have had
no idea who he was at all, if not
for the name on the back of his
jersey.
On
Saturday,
that
all
changed.
Gentry put forth a breakout
performance in a game that the
Wolverines may have needed it
more than ever. He wasn’t the
only tight end to star in West
Lafayette, as sophomore Sean
McKeon led all receivers with
five catches for 82 yards. Gentry
himself tallied three catches for
48 yards with Michigan’s lone
receiving touchdown.
But when redshirt junior
quarterback
Wilton
Speight
went down midway through the
first quarter with an injury that
ended his day, fifth-year senior
John O’Korn needed someone
to lean on.
Lucky for him, Gentry didn’t
wait to oblige.
With just under 12 minutes
left in the second quarter, the
Wolverines found themselves
in the red zone on O’Korn’s
opening
drive.
After
two
straight carries by fifth-year
senior Ty Isaac, Michigan was
facing a 3rd-and-4 on Purdue’s
12-yard line.
For a different team, at a
different time, a field goal in
the second quarter may have
been easier to stomach. With a
backup quarterback, coming off
a game in which four red zone
trips ended with no touchdowns
to show for it, it meant a whole
lot more.
O’Korn
took
the
snap.
Gentry shed a lineman before
streaking, wide open, across the
10-yard line on a crossing route.
O’Korn made the simple play,
dumping it to his tight end.
The rest was up to Gentry. He
had one man to beat to the pylon,
and he did, diving into the end
zone for the first touchdown of
his collegiate career.
“We saw the specific defense
they were in, and Coach (Pep
Hamilton) and Coach (Tim
Drevno) made a good play call,”
Gentry said. “Luckily it popped
open, and I’m excited about it.
Felt good to get the first one out
of the way.”
There
was
no
grand
celebration — just a quick point
to the cameras before flipping
the ball to the ref. It looked like
it was all business, a surprising
fact for a man who converted to
the position just roughly two
years ago, around the time that
Michigan was preparing to face
Florida in the Citrus Bowl.
Gentry may have once been a
coveted quarterback prospect,
but on Saturday, he finally had
a performance that looked like
the culmination of years of
work — complete with the big
plays that helped Michigan
avoid what once looked like a
disastrous fate.
“It’s something that takes
time,” he said. “I’ve been able
to go out and execute and (the
coaches have) been helping me
out a lot with that.”
His second highlight came in
the fourth quarter. Freshman
wide
receiver
Donovan
Peoples-Jones was flagged for
an illegal block. What would
have been 2nd-and-11 on the
Purdue 16-yard line turned into
1st-and-25 on the Boilermakers’
31.
The Wolverines may have led
by four, but that wasn’t quite
comfortable enough.
Gentry made his mark again,
single-handedly
cancelling
out the penalty by contorting
his body on the next play to
register a 25-yard reception
down the seam and record
what may have been the most
impressive quarterback-receiver
connection of Michigan’s young
season.
O’Korn put the ball in a
place that only Gentry could
catch it. And Gentry rewarded
his quarterback for it. Even he
couldn’t quite put the play into
words.
“I don’t know,” Gentry said.
“I just looked straight up and
(O’Korn) threw a good back
shoulder ball, and I was able to
adjust to it successfully. And it
was actually a good ball cause
there was a guy inside me.”
Three catches may seem
pedestrian, but not for Gentry.
It has been a long path to
Saturday night, but he finally
had his moment.
As for the glove, well, some
teenager is going to have quite
the story to tell tomorrow
morning. And she definitely
won’t have to explain who Zach
Gentry is anymore.
KEVIN SANTO
Managing Sports Editor
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Redshirt sophomore tight end Zach Gentry scored Michigan’s lone passing touchdown against the Boilermakers.
The troubling state
of the offensive line
W
EST LAFAYETTE —
Two quarterbacks took
the field for Michigan
on Saturday. One got knocked out
of the game
in the first
quarter,
while the
other led the
Wolverines
to a 28-10
victory.
At first
glance it
might seem
like their
days were
polar opposites, but both redshirt
junior quarterback Wilton Speight
and fifth-year senior John O’Korn
shared a common thread against
Purdue. They were let down by
their offensive line.
Speight dropped back to pass,
and all he could see was black.
The Boilermaker defensive line
collapsed on him in seconds, and
Speight was on the ground. But
that wasn’t the worst hit he took on
the day.
Moments later, another defender
rammed into him from behind, and
it took Speight a long time to get up.
The trainers helped him to his
feet and Speight walked off under
his own power, but clearly hurt, he
never returned to the field.
The game was still tied at zero,
and there were still 50 minutes left
to be played.
Near the halfway point of the
third quarter — with Michigan
down 10-7 — a sequel was almost
greenlit.
But just as films would bomb at
the box office if they stuck to the
same script, the Wolverines would
have suffered a similar fate if they
didn’t add a new twist to either the
characters or the storyline.
O’Korn dropped back to pass,
and all he could see was black.
Purdue broke through the
offensive line and swarmed
O’Korn. He maneuvered in and out
of harm’s way, managing to stay
on his feet long enough to convert
a 3rd-and-6 pass. They went on to
score a touchdown on that drive to
retake the lead, and they never fell
behind again.
In this case, the storyline didn’t
change. Despite coming away with
a win, that could be a disconcerting
trend for Michigan.
For a unit whose central purpose
is to protect the quarterback, the
Wolverines’ offensive line put forth
an underwhelming performance.
Purdue came into Saturday’s
game with only one sack. The
Boilermakers left it with four
more, totaling 28 yards in losses.
They also tallied four other
tackles-for-loss, forced a fumble
and intercepted a pass on the day,
and that’s only in the metrics that
statisticians keep track of.
Based on the eye test, both
Speight and O’Korn were hassled,
hurried and harassed by Purdue,
and the Wolverines’ offensive line
couldn’t stand its ground.
This isn’t a new issue for
Michigan. After losing three of its
five starters from a season ago, it
was expected that they would need
time to develop a rhythm as a unit.
But as the Big Ten opener
showed, conference play won’t
afford them many opportunities
to work out the kinks. The
Boilermakers presented a serious
threat because they outmuscled the
Wolverines at the line of scrimmage
from the outset.
The offensive line’s one bright
moment Saturday came on the
same drive in which O’Korn
escaped to find Grant Perry. Set
up just shy of the end zone at the
10-yard line, Michigan had Purdue
on its heels. Running back Chris
Evans lined up behind O’Korn, and
it looked like a run play was coming.
It didn’t matter if the
Boilermaker defense picked up on
it. The line moved them out of the
way entirely, and Evans trotted into
the end zone untouched for his first
touchdown of the year.
That’s an encouraging sign that
the Wolverines will need to build
on as they progress through the Big
Ten season.
If they don’t, Michigan’s
quarterbacks could spend a lot of
time lying on their backs.
BETELHEM
ASHAME
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