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TheMichiganDaily, www.michigandaily.com

Furbush different from most players

Noah 
Furbush 
understands 

this rivalry better than most. 
After all, he’s been on both sides. 

A native of Kenton, Ohio, 

the redshirt junior linebacker 
has three family members who 
attended Ohio State. Naturally, a 
young Furbush grew up cheering 
for the Buckeyes.

Then 
the 
dominoes 
began 

falling.

His older brother attended 

the 
University 
of 
Michigan-

Flint to study physical therapy. 
Then Michigan reached out to 
Furbush himself, who received 
its overtures with an open mind. 
Furbush liked the proximity of 
the school — he’s half an hour 
away from his brother, a doctor 
in Milford, and two hours away 
from his family. He liked the 
school itself, too. So he picked 
the Wolverines, and now the 
rivalry has become all the more 
interesting for him.

“It 
was 
kind 
of 
fun 
to 

transition,” Furbush said, “and be 
different than everyone else back 
home.”

But playing for Michigan isn’t 

the only thing that sets him apart 
from everyone else.

Furbush is finishing up a 

degree in aerospace engineering 
this fall. Next year, he’ll begin 
a master’s program in space 
engineering.

If that sounds far out there, 

that’s because it is.

“There’s 
a 

million different 
things 
that 

I 
could 
do,” 

Furbush 
said, 

“and 
to 
be 

honest, I’m kind 
of glad that I’m 
doing this extra 
year 
of 
space 

engineering. (It) 
gives me an extra 
year to figure it 
out.”

What are some of those things? 

To start, Furbush could become 
a pilot. He was introduced to 
flying and pilot training only one 
year ago, and said Tuesday that 
it “really had a huge impact” on 
him. He still carries a childhood 
fantasy of growing up to be a 
fighter pilot, flying in the military 

or even becoming an astronaut.

If flying doesn’t work out, 

Furbush has plenty of other 
options. SpaceX, the aerospace 
company started by Elon Musk 
that 
hopes 
to 
commercialize 

space 
travel 
and 
eventually 

colonize other planets, could be 
a landing spot. NASA, the more 
conventional leader in the field of 

space exploration, 
is another.

Furbush 
is 

open to non-space 
options, 
too. 
He 

spent 
the 
past 

summer in Costa 
Rica applying his 
engineering skills 
to 
sustainable 

farming. He visited 
a 
solar 
farm, 
a 

geothermal plant, 
hydroelectric 

dam and rocket company that 
specializes in building electric-
propulsion engines.

He also spent time with a 

soil scientist who used spectral 
analysis with unmanned aerial 
vehicles to assess agricultural 
resource use — what Furbush 
dubbed ‘remote sensing.’

That’s where his background 

in aerospace engineering came in 
handy.

“What this guy is doing is he’s 

using these UAVs and he uses 
this multi-spectral camera to 
look down at these plots of land,” 
Furbush explained. “And with 
that, he can look at chlorophyll 
content in leaves, he can look at 
water 
dispersion 

along a plot of land. 
… It’s really kind of 
a growing field.”

Furbush 

admitted 
that 

from 
a 
personal 

standpoint, 
he’s 

“very interested” in 
sustainability 
and 

combating climate 
change. Part of that 
stems from his time 
abroad.

“I was really introduced to 

a lot of new things,” he said. 
“I’d always believe that this 
is important, but I had never 
experienced anything like that 
firsthand. We got to go around 
and got to see so many different, 
interesting, cool things.”

Furbush returned from Costa 

Rica with more to shoulder this 
fall. His schedule is heavier than 
it has been during past seasons. 
He sought the assistance of an 
advisor to make sure he was still 
on track to graduate on time.

The classroom isn’t the only 

place Furbush has taken on 
more responsibility, either. He 
has earned more time on the 

field 
as 
the 

third linebacker 
employed 
in 

Michigan’s 3-3-5 
defense, tallying 
26 tackles and 
two tackles for 
loss through 11 
games played.

Furbush, 

though, doesn’t 
think 
any 
of 

this makes him 
special, 
saying 

that he just tries “really hard” at 
everything.

“I think it’s just all about 

mentality,” 
Furbush 
said. 

“I 
wouldn’t 
consider 
myself 

exponentially smarter than the 
next person.”

Of course, most people would 

disagree.

ORION SANG

Daily Sports Editor

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

Redshirt junior linebacker Noah Furbush grew up cheering for the Buckeyes as a native of Kenton, Ohio, but he chose to join Michigan partially because his older brother attended the University of Michigan-Flint.

It was kind 
of fun to ... be 
different than 
everyone else 

back home

The redshirt junior linebacker is finishing up a degree in aerospace engineering 

I wouldn’t 

consider myself 
expotentially 
smarter than 

the next person

