2B — December 11, 2017
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN
A Saturday for Shea
T
he sign was on full
display, hoisted by
members of the Maize
Rage from the first row of
section 130.
Written
across poster
board in big
script letters
were the
words “Ole
Mich.”
Below
the script,
though, there
was a second
message
that required no interpretation:
#WeWantSHEA.
And so began the official
courting of Shea Patterson.
***
Patterson is the former
No. 1 quarterback recruit in
the 2016 recruiting class. He,
along with safety Deontay
Anderson and wide receiver
Van Jefferson, took a visit to
Ann Arbor this weekend — part
of a unconventionally integral
recruiting effort that came in
the wake of NCAA sanctions
handed down to Ole Miss.
All three were in attendance
for the Michigan men’s
basketball team’s matchup with
UCLA on Saturday.
The day, as it turns out, was
void of many tangible recruiting
efforts directed toward
Patterson. And though the
message was innocuous enough,
even the sign was quickly
confiscated.
LSA freshman Andy Rubin
took credit for the inception of
the sign but shared it with Dylan
Wittenberg and Josh Goldstein
— freshmen in the College of
Engineering and School of
Kinesiology, respectively.
Rubin said they were told
the sign must be removed due
to NCAA compliance rules that
stated they were prohibited
from actively recruiting
Patterson. Writing his name on
a sign fell under that category.
Chanting his name did not.
And so they chanted — the
same message they paired with
a hashtag. It didn’t gain much
traction, but according to Rubin,
Patterson noticed — raising his
hand in acknowledgment from
a row over. The players noticed
the sign, too, laughing at it and
taking pictures.
To the trio of students, the
rationale behind their antics
was simple.
“If the best player is
available,” Goldstein said, “then
you wanna go get him if you
can.”
Added Rubin: “Obviously if
you look at at least three or four
of the games this year, it came
down to quarterback play,”
Rubin said. “And he’s obviously
what we need. And next year,
we’re gonna have all of our
best players — they’re gonna be
juniors.
“It’s gonna be a time to push
for a national championship, and
obviously Peters and McCaffrey
are great, but just to have one
year with a stud quarterback
with Rashan Gary and Devin
Bush in their junior year, it’ll
be crazy. We’ll open the season
top three, we’ll be national title
contenders.”
And so begins the mania.
Neither Goldstein nor Rubin
is wrong. The Wolverines should
want to pursue Patterson, and
it looks like they are doing just
that. Michigan would likely have
finished above 8-4 with better
quarterback play.
But suddenly, Patterson is
already the Messiah in Ann
Arbor. He has yet to officially
commit to the Wolverines. Many
likely don’t know him beyond
his Ole Miss stat line. And yet
he is tied to hopes of a national
title.
For what it’s worth,
Patterson is undoubtedly a
special talent. Falling in love
with his stat line — 3,139 yards
with 23 touchdowns and 12
interceptions through 10 games
— is easy.
Still, the future — both
Patterson’s and Michigan’s —
isn’t certain. Ask Cesar Ruiz,
who hosted all three Ole Miss
players this weekend and played
with Patterson at IMG Academy,
if a new quarterback is coming
to Ann Arbor, and he’ll grin as
he delivers the answer.
“I know as much as y’all do.”
Ask Ruiz if his old teammate
would fit well with the
Wolverines.
“I think he’d be a good fit in
anybody’s program. He’s a good
quarterback.”
Ask Ruiz what Patterson’s
best attribute is.
“He a little funny, goofy
dude.”
But until that “little funny,
goofy dude” officially pens his
name to paper, Maurice Hurst
may have a more measured take
at what a transfer like Patterson
could bring to Ann Arbor.
“I think it’s always a good
thing to have competition,” the
fifth-year senior defensive tackle
said Thursday. “I know I’ve
always been one to believe that
competition brings out the best
in everyone. I think that’s kind
of where Coach Harbaugh is
probably going with this.
“He’s probably thinking that,
you know, ‘I can bring in some
great players from Ole Miss,
kind of guys that have already
proven themselves.’ They’ll
just be a great addition to the
team, just adding another great
dimension to a team that’s
already pretty good.”
Maybe that’s the perfect
evaluation then. Michigan is
pretty good. Bring Patterson,
and for one of two reasons, the
Wolverines have potential to be
great.
If the Ole Miss transfer is as
good as advertised, Michigan
has itself a hell of a quarterback
in 2018. If Brandon Peters
or Dylan McCaffrey beats
Patterson out, then Michigan
still has itself a hell of a
quarterback in 2018.
That, though, is all in the
future, and entirely dependent
on Patterson’s decision to come
to Ann Arbor in the first place.
So let’s stay in the present for
a moment.
This weekend, Shea got a taste
of the adoration people already
feel for him and — whether he
realizes it or not — a taste of
their expectations as well.
He got a taste of Michigan
Stadium, going onto the field
before the basketball game to
throw a few snowballs around.
And he got a taste of the
atmosphere, with the crowd
at Crisler Center chanting as
loud as it has all year while the
Wolverines recovered from a
15-point deficit, forced overtime
and ultimately topped UCLA.
All in all, Shea had himself a
Saturday. Maybe he’ll have a few
more of them here, too.
Santo can be reached at
kmsanto@umich.edu or on
Twitter @Kevin_M_Santo.
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Potential Ole Miss transfer quarterback Shea Patterson visited Ann Arbor this weekend and was in attendance at Saturday’s men’s basketball game against UCLA.
KEVIN
SANTO
ICE HOCKEY
Turnovers an issue for
‘M’ in weekend split
Something changed when the
Michigan hockey team walked
off the bus in East Lansing on
Friday.
The Wolverines (3-5-2 Big
Ten, 7-7-2 overall) seemingly
imploded in a 5-0 loss, which
followed a commanding 4-0 win
just the night before.
“I
think,
after
the
win
yesterday, we got a little too
comfortable,”
said
senior
defenseman
Sam
Piazza.
“We had a bad
start and it just
got worse from
there.”
Onlookers
were
left
wondering
what happened
against
the
Spartans
(2-7-
1, 8-9-1). A high-octane offense
that saw senior forward Tony
Calderone net a hat trick in the
game Thursday apparently lost
its spark, unable to get on the
board Friday.
This
time,
the
Michigan
defensive
front
wasn’t
the
problem – as it has been in
recent weeks – but rather, the
transitionary game was.
The Wolverines turned the
puck over in the neutral zone,
in the attacking third of the ice
and even behind their own net.
This wasn’t the case the night
before, as 29 shots and four goals
showcased the Michigan offense
as a seamless streamline from
the back line to the front.
However,
the
Wolverines’
woes
were
solidified
when
forward
Patrick
Khodorenko
scored the Spartans’ second goal
with just 4.9 seconds remaining
in the first period to give them a
two-goal lead.
Throughout
the
game,
Khodorenko
and
forward
Mitch Lewandowski – who
tallied Michigan State’s third
goal Friday – were giving the
Michigan defense a substantial
amount of grief.
Alongside
forward
Taro
Hirose – who added to the
Spartans’
behemoth
of
an
offensive
performance
with
three assists – the duo wreaked
havoc in all facets of the game.
What was shocking, though, was
their silence the night before.
When the Wolverines were
in East Lansing, they somehow
could not hold onto the puck
long enough to
generate scoring
opportunities.
The
aforementioned
turnovers in all
portions of the
ice significantly
stymied
the
Michigan
offense.
“They checked
us a little bit
tighter,”
said
Michigan coach Mel Pearson.
“We didn’t take care of the puck
as well as we needed to.”
And as a result, Michigan
State’s odd-man rush was able to
make the Michigan defense look
like Swiss cheese.
“We
had
more
odd-man
rushes tonight than we might
have had over the last month,”
Pearson said. “A lot of the cause
was turnovers. We just didn’t
take care of the puck.”
Back-passes from the slot to
the blue line sailed back into
the neutral zone, dumps were
not contested by the right and
left wings and the Spartans’
forwards
out-bodied
the
Wolverines’
defensemen
for
pucks near the net.
So, the question remains, how
can a team play the same team
with such ease one night, and
have a total shutdown the next?
Turning over the puck on
most possessions didn’t help,
and the Wolverines will have to
use yet another break period –
returning to play Jan. 1 – to iron
out the kinks.
ROBERT HEFTER
Daily Sports Writer
We didn’t take
care of the puck
as well as we
needed to.
MAX KUANG/Daily
Michigan wrestling coach Joe McFarland is pleased with how the Wolverines have bounced back after a sluggish start to their season.
Michigan flexes muscle in win over Oregon State
As he stepped onto the mat,
fifth-year senior Kevin Beazley
knew he had the most daunting
challenge of the day.
The
197-pounder
was
the only Wolverine facing a
nationally
ranked
wrestler
during
Michigan’s
matchup
against Oregon State. Tensions
rose throughout Cliff Keen
Arena as the wrestlers squared
off, but all doubt was quickly
erased as Beazley pinned the
11th-ranked Corey Griego in
the middle of the first period.
The match started off poorly
for Beazley, who was taken
down by Griego early in the
round. Beazley responded in
kind by quickly escaping and
then taking down Griego before
grinding out a hard-earned
fall. Beazley inevitably won
with a left-handed headlock.
“That was a great moment,”
said
Michigan
coach
Joe
McFarland. “He had to dig
his heels in and really drive
through that — but he stayed
tough and kept driving and
driving through it and was
able to get him on his back and
secure the pin.”
This
match
was
largely
indicative of the meet as a
whole, as every wrestler found
his hand raised by the referee at
the end of his match. Michigan
looked dominant from start
to finish as the Wolverines
shut
out
the
Beavers, 48-0.
In
total,
the
meet contained
two falls and
three technical
falls,
a
feat
which
helped
the Wolverines
(2-1)
earn
a
statement
win
for
the
program.
Michigan had suffered a
sluggish start to its season
after squeaking by 11th-ranked
Arizona State, 21-18, and losing
big to 10th-ranked Lehigh,
8-27. However, the Wolverines
are showing signs of a massive
momentum
shift
after
an
impressive showing at the Cliff
Keen Las Vegas Invitational
and a shutout win against
Oregon State (2-1).
“Against
Lehigh,
we
got punched in the face,”
McFarland
said.
“We
got
beat on basic fundamentals
out there, we got beat on mat
wrestling, and so we’ve been
working a lot on those areas —
and we saw a lot of that today.”
The numbers corroborate
McFarland’s
claim,
as
no
Wolverine
wrestler trailed
at the end of
any
period
throughout
the
meet.
Another
bright
spot
in
Michigan’s
performance
can
be
found
in
freshman
157-pounder
Reece
Hughes.
Hughes’
redshirt was pulled as he
subbed in for the injured
redshirt
sophomore,
165-pounder
Logan
Massa.
Not only did Hughes win his
collegiate debut, 5-0, but he did
it while wrestling up a weight
class.
“I’m real proud of him,”
McFarland said. “It’s tough —
you go out there for the first
time, in a Michigan singlet, in
front of the nice crowd, but he
stayed totally focused, was on
task and did a great job.”
From here, the Wolverines
have
a
break
until
they
begin Big Ten play on Jan. 5.
McFarland wishes to continue
along
this
positive
track
through the break and further
refine his wrestlers’ abilities.
“This break is going to
be awesome,” Beazley said.
“We get to break down some
technique and keep getting
better. Focusing on getting
better mentally, getting better
physically and just improving
every time we step on the mat.”
The
Wolverines’
shift
in momentum may also be
attributable to the friendly
rivalry that exists within the
Michigan squad. The wrestlers
frequently compete with each
other to see who will earn the
most points in a given meet or
even score the most falls in a
season.
“I think the biggest thing
is feeding off of each other,”
Beazley said. “We had a little
bit of trash talk going in the
group chat — and we just feed
off each other, so we’re just
pushing each other and having
fun when we’re out there.”
JACOB KOPNICK
Daily Sports Writer
I think the
biggest thing is
feeding off of
each other.