8A — Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Coon weighing Olympics, NFL in life after a storied Michigan career

Over the past five years, it 

has been impossible to discuss 
the 
Michigan 
wrestling 

program without mentioning 
Adam Coon. Since his first day 
in Ann Arbor, the fifth-year 
senior has won over the hearts 
of the Wolverine faithful with 
his dominance on the mat 
and his genuine and strong 
personality off it.

Now, as he prepares to leave 

Michigan, Coon sifts through 
a world of opportunities. One 
of those opportunities, and 
arguably the most prominent, 
consists of sticking to what he 
knows and further developing 
his 
already-legendary 

wrestling career.

If Coon were to continue to 

wrestle, it would no doubt be 
in preparation for the 2020 
Olympic Games.

That preparation isn’t an 

unfamiliar process for the 
heavyweight, as he attempted 
to represent his country in 
2016. Dogged by a shoulder 
injury, Coon fell one match 
short of making the team. Now, 
with another year of collegiate 
wrestling under his belt and 
his health returned, this could 
be the chance for Coon to 
realize his Olympic dreams.

However, 
this 
time 
the 

road 
doesn’t 
lead 
through 

Ohio State’s Kyle Snyder — an 
Olympic gold medalist and 
two-time 
NCAA 
Champion. 

The 
wrestlers 
compete 
in 

different weight classes in the 
Olympics, as they sit 60 pounds 
apart.

Over the years, the Coon 

v. 
Snyder 
matches 
have 

been 
collegiate 
wrestling’s 

biggest gladiator showdowns. 
Wrestling three times in their 
last year of eligibility, the top-
ranked college heavyweights 
became familiar with each 
other on the mat. In their 
series, Snyder bested Coon, 
2-1, with Coon stealing a match 
from the Olympian in front of 

a record-breaking Michigan 
crowd.

Despite wrestling with a 

60-pound deficit, Snyder then 
stepped up when it counted 
most and defeated Coon to 
win the Big Ten and NCAA 
Championships. 
Now, 
Coon 
 

hopes to take the adversarial 
edge off their relationship.

After all, Coon has another 

foe to worry about if he wants 
to make it on the Olympic team: 
two-time 
NCAA 
Champion 

and 2017 World Championship 
bronze 
medalist 
Nick 

Gwiazdowski.

“I’d 
like 
to 
think 
that 

(Snyder and I) can be each 
other’s teammates rather than 
opponents,” Coon said. “But 
he’s most likely gonna make 
the team, and I have a really 
tough opponent in front of 

me to make the team. So, I’m 
hoping we can train together 
and learn from each other and 
we both get better. So, I hope 
we can be civil about it and 
stuff and not be each other’s 
opponent, but see how we can 
make each other better.”

Another option for the 285-

pound wrestler is football. 
Yes, you read that right. Full 
contact, professional football.

Due 
to 
his 
size 
and 

remarkable athleticism, Coon 
has been drawing the attention 
of some NFL teams who are 
interested in recruiting him to 
play offensive line.

While he didn’t play in 

college, Coon is no stranger to 
the gridiron. In high school, 
he was named an all-state 
linebacker his senior year and 
a two-time all-state honorable 

mention offensive lineman.

If he were to select the 

football route, Coon wouldn’t 
be the only collegiate wrestler 
to make the jump to the pros. 
Many NFL greats wrestled in 
either high school or college. 
Hall of Fame linebacker Ray 
Lewis was a two-time Florida 
state wrestling champion and 
all-pro fullback Lorenzo Neal 
was an NCAA Champion.

“It’s more just about seeing 

if there’s any interest, and then 
we’re gonna move forward if 
that’s the route I want to take,” 
Coon said.

Whatever he ends up doing, 

Coon 
will 
most 
definitely 

always 
have 
a 
home 
at 

Michigan. Departing as a two-
time NCAA runner-up and 
three-time All-American, it’s 
hard to imagine a greater face 

for the wrestling program. 
He has given wrestling fans 
plenty to smile about while 
serving as a role model for the 
next generation of Wolverines. 
As he leaves, he offers sound 
advice to the students who will 
occupy the Bahna Wrestling 
Center after him.

“Wrestling (in college) is a 

lot more mental than in high 
school,” Coon said. “It’s being 
able to put up with the grinds 
in the middle of the season 
and then just realizing that 
your life is not just wrestling. 
There’s a lot more to life than 
just wrestling and if your whole 
life is based on wrestling, then 
frankly, you’ve lived a sad life, 
in my opinion.”

Also beyond wrestling, Coon 

is an aerospace engineering 
student 
who 
is 
constantly 

trying to keep his mind sharp.

“I’d like to get into some 

kind of research or something 
just to keep the wheels going 
as well as develop stuff,” Coon 
said, “so when I do end up going 
for a career after this, that I’m 
not one of those guys that just 
wrestles or plays football, that 
I have those skills in place so 
that if I need to use them that 
I’m ready to go, that type of 
thing.”

Whether Coon decides to 

spend his next few years on the 
mat, on the practice field or in 
a cubicle, it is apparent he will 
give it everything he’s got. But 
for now, he just needs to pick 
a path.

“I know that what I want to 

do is finish up schooling here,” 
Coon said, “and then we’ll see 
where God takes me.”

RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily

Fifth-year senior heavyweight Adam Coon can try to make the Olympics, try to make the NFL or go into engineering now that his wrestling career at Michigan is finished. 

JACOB KOPNICK
Daily Sports Writer

With his Wolverines career behind him, Adam Coon graduates into an uncertain future, with multiple opportunities

After breakout year, tight ends primed for more

Sherrone Moore has never had 

this kind of depth in his meeting 
rooms.

The Michigan football team’s 

first-year tight ends coach went 
through a full season at Central 
Michigan with just two tight ends.

Now, he’s inheriting a position 

group chock full of talent.

“I’m extremely excited at the 

fact Coach Harbaugh loves tight 
ends that much,” Moore said

On last season’s offense that 

failed to impress in multiple areas, 
the tight ends were one of the 
Wolverines’ lone bright spots.

Junior Sean McKeon led the 

team with 31 catches and three 
receiving touchdowns and finished 
third on the team in receiving 
yards, with 301.

His position-mate, senior Zach 

Gentry, finished with 303 receiving 

yards and two touchdowns, both 
good enough for second on the 
team.

Needless 
to 
say, 
the 
pair 

combined to provide a spark to 
a passing game that otherwise 
struggled.

That duo returns for Michigan, 

and with questions and health 
issues surrounding other parts of 
the offense, Gentry and McKeon’s 
proven productivity will act as a 
safety blanket.

“Outstanding threats in the 

passing 
game,” 
Moore 
said. 

“Obviously, with Zach being (6-foot-
7), he’s a mismatch nightmare with 
his size, with his strength. And he’s 
265 right now, so he’s just getting 
bigger and bigger and stronger and 
stronger. And then Sean, he’s just 
so cerebral and strong … He’s so 
athletic.

“Both can play multiple positions 

in the group.”

Gentry and McKeon aren’t 

alone, either.

Junior Nick Eubanks looked 

promising in the Wolverines’ first 
game last season, catching two balls 
for 61 yards against Florida. But an 
arm injury sidelined Eubanks after 
just four games. Now, he’s back too, 
sporting a new accessory and all.

“Nick looks good,” Gentry said 

on Mar. 27. “Nick’s flying around 
and doing a lot of good stuff. Nick’s 
ready to go. He’s got the Gronk 
elbow brace on now.”

Senior Tyrone Wheatley Jr. 

is a bigger, more run-blocking-
oriented player, the foil to the rest 
of the unit’s finesse. Though he 
suffered a foot injury that has kept 
him out of spring ball, Wheatley is 
scheduled to return by the summer 
and provide a much-needed run-
blocking presence for an offense 
that struggled to pound the rock 
against good defenses last season.

That facet of the game is 

something all the tight ends have 

worked to improve. Gentry and 
McKeon, especially, have already 
proven themselves to be assets in 
the passing game. Now, especially 
for Gentry, the former quarterback, 
run blocking is emphasized even 
more.

“Really it starts with the run 

game,” McKeon said on April 
5. “When he switched over my 
freshman year, he couldn’t block 
anyone. I mean, honestly. But now, 
he’s bulked up. He’s 260 now. He’s 
moving people off the ball. So that’s 
been the biggest improvement with 
him. And he still has his speed too, 
his route running. He looks great 
out there.”

All the factors combine to give 

hope for improvement on a unit that 
didn’t leave much room to improve.

Moore joked Tuesday that he 

just learned the names of all the 
players in his meeting room.

It’s hard to blame him. It’s 

something he’s never seen before.

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

Junior tight end Sean McKeon led all the Wolverines last season with 31 receptions and three receiving touchdowns and finished third with 301 receiving yards.

MIKE PERSAK

Managing Sports Editor
Turnovers, Rutgers ‘O’ 
kills Michigan’s hopes

Despite an inability to find 

the back of the net, the No. 18 
Michigan men’s lacrosse team 
looked like it could hold its own 
against a Big Ten powerhouse 
in No. 9 Rutgers. With three 
minutes to go in the first half, 
the Wolverines were down just 
3-0.

However, the game quickly 

unraveled. The Scarlet Knights 
scored five goals in the final 
three minutes, heading to the 
locker room with an 8-0 lead, 
which proved to be detrimental 
to Michigan as it fell, 16-8. Just 
as it did against 
No. 3 Maryland 
last 
weekend, 

Michigan 
dug 

itself a massive 
hole 
due 
to 

a lack of ball 
security 
and 

poor transition 
defense. 
The 

Wolverines 
turned the ball 
over 14 times, 
with seven of the giveaways 
coming before halftime. 

One 
particularly 
woeful 

sequence played out with 2:50 
remaining in the second quarter. 
Scarlet Knight Kieran Mullins, 
who scored eight goals in the 
contest, scored on a transition 
chance to put his team up, 4-0. 
Just eight seconds later, Mullins 
struck again, racing up the field 
after a faceoff win and rifling a 
shot to deflate a Michigan team 
that had looked full of life just 
moments earlier. 

“Rutgers, they go in spurts, 

and when you give a team, 
and such a talented team, 
opportunities like that, it can 
fuel their fire,” said Michigan 
coach Kevin Conry on Rutgers’ 
finish to the half. “They’re 
a very emotional team, and 

so they kinda felt their mojo 
going.”

The Wolverines didn’t fare 

much better after coming out of 
the locker room, with Rutgers 
scoring two more goals in the 
first 37 seconds of the third 
quarter to extend the lead to 
10-0. 

“Unfortunately we couldn’t 

come out of the locker room and 
hold off that blitz anymore,” 
Conry said.

While the game’s outcome 

was 
virtually 
decided 
at 

halftime, Michigan managed 
to find some bright spots in 
the game’s final frame, with 
freshman Kevin Mack and Alex 

Buckanavage 
spurring 
the 

offense late to 
lessen the deficit 
to eight.

“That’s 
who 

we are,” Conry 
said. 
“Those 

last 10 minutes, 
that’s the team 
that 
we 
know 

and love, and has 
potential to be a 

pretty special group.”

While 
the 
Wolverines 

showed promise with their late 
run, the team’s struggles with 
ball control and ball movement 
still 
remain 
a 
lingering 

issue, and Conry knows that 
Michigan must cut down on 
errors in one of the nation’s 
best conferences.

“If you make mistakes, the 

teams are gonna make you pay,” 
Conry said.

If Conry’s squad plays the 

way it did in the fourth quarter, 
the team could be the first in 
school history to clinch a berth 
in the NCAA Tournament. 
If the Wolverines play the 
way they did in the second 
quarter, though, this could be 
yet another season where fans 
wonder what could have been.

TEDDY GUTKIN
Daily Sports Writer

“We couldn’t 
come out ... and 

hold off that 

blitz.”

MEN’S LACROSSE