6th-10th
2B — November 6, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
Hudson highlights ‘M’ defense
Khaleke Hudson has always
looked up to Jabrill Peppers.
Before Peppers — a first-team All-
American and first-round NFL
Draftee — went to the pros, Hudson
would study him from the sideline.
“You want to play like players
that play like (Peppers),” said
Michigan’s sophomore VIPER. “I
feel that he had a big impact on the
way I’m playing this year.”
Hudson headlined Michigan’s
defense with one big play after
another. There was the nearly
blocked punt, the forced intentional
grounding and the forced fumble
— just to mention three of them.
With plays like that, Hudson led the
Wolverines (4-2 Big Ten, 7-2 overall)
in a 33-10 win over Minnesota.
He finished with 13 tackles, two
sacks, six and a half tackles-for-loss
and one forced fumble. Wherever
the Golden Gophers (1-5, 4-5) tried
to move the ball, Hudson was there.
He was there to sack quarterback
Demry Croft, and he was there
to contain running back Rodney
Smith. Saturday night, he had the
best game of his career.
While he called Peppers a
“fearless player” after the game, not
even the illustrious Peppers ever
had a defensive performance like
Hudson did Saturday night.
“On
each
play
(defensive
coordinator Don Brown) gave us,
we were just executing it, and it just
happened that I was in the backfield
every time,” Hudson said. “They
were throwing a zone read type
of scheme, and I was just in the
backfield disrupting it.”
His best play, according to junior
safety Tyree Kinnel, came in the
third quarter. Croft stepped up in
the pocket for the Golden Gophers,
then scrambled to the right. Hudson
pursued, and slashed at his arm to
knock the ball loose.
“I was coming behind him,”
Hudson said. “I’d just seen it the
whole time, so I went for it, and (the
ball) came out.”
Added Kinnel: “He got the
game ball for the defense. … The
opportunity came, and he ate with
it. He was definitely a ‘dude’ tonight,
as coach Brown would say.”
The fumble, which Hudson
forced and redshirt junior defensive
end Chase Winovich recovered,
was a turning point for the defense.
Brown
always
preaches
that
when Michigan gets up on the
scoreboard, it’s the defense’s job to
keep opponents down.
Hudson’s forced fumble did just
that. The Gophers totaled just 164
yards of offense, and didn’t reach
the end zone again after their
second drive of the first quarter.
Michigan’s new VIPER played a
big part in that.
One of the Hudson’s most
memorable plays, though, came on
one of the only times he didn’t make
the tackle.
Late in the second quarter,
Minnesota lined up to punt. Hudson
burst toward the punter but arrived
too soon. He jumped early, and
Minnesota punter Ryan Santoso
hadn’t even let go of the ball yet.
Hudson flew by, and the punt sailed
away successfully.
“I should’ve kept my eyes on the
ball,” Hudson said and laughed. “I
jumped straight up in the air instead
of jumping at his foot. (Special
teams coordinator Chris) Partridge
is probably going to get after me
about that.”
While Hudson didn’t get the
blocked punt, he continued to show
what he had all game.
“What
a
game,”
Harbaugh
said. “What a game. Spectacular
performance by Khaleke Hudson.
… Looked like he was everywhere.
His strong hands really showed up
in this game. He was everywhere
he was supposed to be and making
sure tackles. Works extremely hard
and great to see it pay off.”
Everyone saw last year what
Peppers was able to do in the VIPER
position, and now that Hudson has
had a half a season to settle in, he’s
looking more and more like his
predecessor.
“(Peppers) was making plays
every week,” Kinnel said. “Now
everyone got to see Khaleke do it.”
MATT VAILLIENCOURT/Daily
Sophomore VIPER Khaleke Hudson nearly set a Michigan record with six and a half tackles-for-loss against Minnesota.
TED JANES
Daily Sports Writer
Worth the wait
M
ost teams only
experience the
thrill of winning a
championship
once, if at all.
Placing hats
around their
ponytails,
pulling t-shirts
over their
uniforms,
and lifting a
trophy above
their heads
— these are
the moments
athletes wait for their whole
careers. For some, the wait never
ends.
The Michigan field hockey
team has six seniors and fifth-year
seniors who could have suffered
that fate. But the Wolverines made
sure their final year would be
worth the wait.
Michigan won the Big Ten and
the Big Ten Tournament for the
first time since 2010. Once the
Wolverines caught a glimpse that
their dream season could come
true, they made sure that it did.
“We were all like, ‘You guys,
this is a championship team. We
can do this,’” said fifth-year senior
Carly Bennett. “That just fueled us
tremendously, knowing not only
that this is our last year, but this
is our last year and we have all of
the tools to win. So it was a perfect
combination.”
Added senior Katie Trombetta:
“There definitely was something
magical about this (team) ... I’m
just so glad we took that feeling
and ran with it.”
***
From the very beginning, they
knew they had potential. In the
ACC/Big Ten Challenge, Michigan
started its season with one-goal
victories over then-No. 1 North
Carolina and then-No. 15 Wake
Forest. Between their senior
leadership and freshman talent,
the Wolverines knew they could
be special.
But the next week, Michigan
dropped two games to then-No. 4
Connecticut and then-unranked
William and Mary. Suddenly, the
Wolverines knew they hadn’t found
their rhythm yet. That could have
deterred them. They didn’t let it.
“What makes this team
different from all the rest that
we’ve been on is just the resilience
that this team has,” Trombetta
said. “Even during games that
we may be at a low point … we’re
constantly just giving it our all.”
That week taught Michigan an
important lesson. It may have had
the personnel to be successful, but
it needed to have the composure to
focus on one game at a time.
For the following 16 games,
that’s exactly what the Wolverines
did. They haven’t lost a single one
of those games.
Each game built upon the
foundation of the last, and
as Michigan kept rolling, its
confidence continued to grow.
The Wolverines began to grow
more comfortable in their roles at
every position and in the lineup
as a whole. They learned that they
had to stay in the moment in every
game, avoiding the temptation to
get too high or too low.
But then Michigan had to face
Penn State, which was the No. 2
team in the country at the time, in
State College. With two undefeated
Big Ten records on the line, the
game could have swung the
conference one way or the another.
It swung in favor of the
Wolverines, who came away with
a 3-0 victory.
“We came out firing on all
cylinders,” said Michigan coach
Marcia Pankratz. “We played
great top to bottom, left to right,
and I think that game went so well
(that) the players were like, ‘Wow
we can play with anyone in the
country.’”
Added Bennett: “It was just
the culmination of everything we
had been working for. … That was
the game where everyone was so
connected.”
With that game in hand,
Michigan marched through the
rest of conference play, knowing
full well what it was capable of. It
didn’t matter that this year the Big
Ten has been the most competitive
Pankratz has seen since she took
over the helm of the program
in 1996. That just made it extra
special.
Two weeks ago, the Wolverines
faced Northwestern with a chance
to win the conference outright for
the first time since 2011. With 10
minutes left to play, Trombetta
netted the game-winning goal on
a direct penalty-corner shot. After
ricocheting off a Wildcat defender,
the ball settled into the top of the
cage.
Call it a lucky bounce if you
must. But with the number of close
calls Trombetta and her classmates
have endured during their
Michigan careers, you would be
better off calling it poetic justice.
Their freshman year, the
Wolverines lost just two
conference games, but the second
knocked them out of the top spot.
Their sophomore year, they made
it to the Big Ten Tournament
championship, but they suffered a
four-goal defeat. And their junior
year, Penn State ended another
conference tournament run.
Perhaps it was only fitting
then, that Sunday morning, the
Nittany Lions were the only team
standing between Michigan and
an elusive Big Ten conference and
tournament title sweep.
Even more fitting, it took
another fortunate break for the
Wolverines to pull it off.
With just five minutes left in
the game, Bennett received a pass
in prime territory and heard fifth-
year senior Esther de Leijer calling
for it. With a couple of Penn State
defenders breathing down her
neck, she sent the ball toward her
classmate.
Bennett worried that she had
left it short. But de Leijer found
her way to it, and with her back to
the goal, she pulled it into the near
post. The Nittany Lion goalkeeper,
who was positioned on the other
side of the cage, couldn’t make it
over in time.
With another 1-0 win, Michigan
won its second title of the season.
“We used our experiences with
losing in the past years to fuel us
through,” Bennett said, “and I
think that translated to the team
through all the seniors.”
***
The seniors only had one more
shot at a championship run. After
falling just short so many times,
that was all the motivation they
needed.
Every step of the way, they
guided the Wolverines in the
direction they needed to go. And in
the end, they had the season they
have imagined since the start of
the year — and the very beginning
of their careers.
“There was never a single
moment where you didn’t feel the
want or the heart from any of our
seniors,” Trombetta said. “... We
brought it to every single practice
and every team meeting, and
everyone just fed off of it.”
Added Bennett: “It’s just an
overwhelming and humbling
experience, and it really does just
make you smile the entire time.
There really aren’t many words to
describe it all.”
One hat, one t-shirt and one
trophy would have been enough.
But Michigan experienced the
thrill of winning a championship
twice.
Ashame can be reached at
ashabete@umich.edu or on
Twitter @betelhem_ashame.
RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
Senior Katie Trombetta and the Wolverines won the Big Ten and the Big Ten Tournament title for the first time since 2010 in a season they have been waiting for.
BETELHEM
ASHAME
SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN