3
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