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Sports
Wednesday, September 5, 2018 — 7A

Hawkins settled in as replacement for Metellus

Sophomore 
safety 
Brad 
Hawkins saw the ball go up. He 
turned his hips, his eyes fixated 
on the opportunity that he’d 
long awaited.
“(I) thought it was mine,” 
Hawkins said Tuesday.
Of course, it wasn’t. 
Instead, Notre Dame receiver 
Chris Finke leapt over Hawkins’ 
back, 
snatching 
a 
43-yard 
touchdown 
that 
sent 
the 
stadium into a frenzy and gave 
the Irish a 14-0 lead halfway 
through the first quarter, a lead 
Notre Dame carried through 
the end of the game Saturday.
“He Moss’d him,” exclaimed 
television commentator Mike 
Tirico, referencing a play hall-
of-fame receiver Randy Moss 
might make. Finke is 5-foot-10, 
half a foot shorter than Moss.
Four plays after replacing 
junior safety Josh Metellus, 
who was ejected for targeting, 
the 6-foot-2 Hawkins found 
himself the victim of a surefire 
poster. It was far from the 
auspicious start Hawkins might 
have imagined after countless 
hours 
honing 
his 
coverage 
skills, lifting in the weight 
room, watching film.
Defensive 
coordinator 
Don 
Brown 
simply told him 
he’d make the 
play next time, 
that all he can 
do is move on. 
At 
halftime, 
Hawkins spoke 
with 
Metellus 
who relayed a 
similar message. 
Hawkins saw the game as his 
opportunity — one that some 
never see. He wasn’t going to let 
a single play derail that.
“It happens,” Hawkins said. 
“I moved on to the next play, 
and I continued to play the way 
I know I’m capable of playing. … 
I definitely was surprised, but it 
happens.”
Hawkins 
came 
into 
the 

program as the 66th-ranked 
receiver 
in 
the 
country, 
according 
to 
247Sports’ 
composite ranking. But when 
he got on campus, Brown 
approached 
him 
with 
a 
proposition.
Brown asked Hawkins to 
do something most with that 
pedigree would scoff at; he 
wanted him to switch to the 
defensive side of the ball. Far 
from opposition, Hawkins was 
eager to make 
the move — in 
fact, he’d decided 
during his senior 
year at Suffield 
Academy in New 
Jersey in 2016 
that his future 
would be best as 
a defensive back.
That’s where 
he concluded his 
size and ability 
fit best in his football future. It 
doesn’t mean the move came 
without trepidation.
“I thought I was going to be 
bad at covering,” Hawkins said, 
retrospectively, thinking about 
when he first made the move 
to defense in 2017. “Coming 
into this system, you’re playing 
man. I’d never really covered 
anybody in my life, honestly.”

Hawkins turned to Devin 
Bush Sr., on Michigan’s staff 
as a defensive analyst at the 
time, for guidance. Bush Sr. 
played safety at Florida State 
and then in the NFL for eight 
years, winning championships 
at both levels. He lent Hawkins 
some tricks of the trade during 
a freshman season in which 
Hawkins played sparsely.
“Coach Bush helped me a lot 
with my covering,” Hawkins 
said. “Just him 
playing 
in 
the 
league. He has a 
lot of experience. 
He’s 
a 
winner. 
He has a national 
championship, he 
has a Super Bowl. 
Having that type 
of mind in the 
safety room with 
you is definitely a 
help.”
With more refined technique 
and 20 extra pounds, Hawkins 
came into camp and earned 
praise from the coaching staff.
Though Metellus and senior 
safety Tyree Kinnel came into 
the spring and fall entrenched 
as the returning starting safety 
duo, Hawkins fought to claim 
the role of next man up. Sure 
enough, that became a necessity 

eight minutes into the season.
On the road in a hostile 
environment, against a top-15 
team, Hawkins was ready.
“About two plays,” he said, 
when asked how long it took 
to become comfortable. “I just 
went in there and just did my 
job. It’s something that I’ve 
been doing for the past two 
years now. I thought I was 
comfortable back there.”
For some, in the interim, the 
touchdown 
will 
mask 
all. It’s a play 
Hawkins 
should 
have 
made. 
He 
knows that.
Those 
people 
will 
then 
forget 
Hawkins’ 
six 
tackles and one 
pass deflection, 
his 
strong 
positioning 
and 
dutiful 
work 
all 
night 
in 
replacing Metellus.
His teammates are not among 
them. 
“I think he did well,” said 
sophomore 
linebacker 
Josh 
Ross. “He’s also a young guy that 
came in. But we’re all trying to 
get to the level where we’re 
above anybody and everybody.”

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Sophomore safety Brad Hawkins notched six tackles and one pass deflection after giving up a touchdown on Saturday.

MAX MARCOVITCH
Daily Sports Editor

‘M’ cruises past Crusaders

At some point this year, the 
Michigan volleyball team will lose 
a set.
Right?
But that’s a question for another 
time. Certainly not for Tuesday 
night against Valparaiso, whom the 
20th-ranked Wolverines defeated 
in three sets (25-19, 25-13, 25-20) for 
their sixth sweep in six games this 
season.
It was a typical early-season 
takedown 
of 
an 
overmatched 
opponent, done in style. While 
the contest — especially the first 
set — was pockmarked with bouts 
of sloppy play, Michigan mostly 
did what it was expected to do, 
pummeling the Crusaders (6-2) 
into oblivion with fluid chemistry, 
formidable skill and sheer physical 
power.
Junior setter MacKenzi Welsh 
orchestrated 
the 
offense 
to 
perfection, dishing out 30 assists 
with a diverse arsenal of passes, 
while keeping the tempo smooth 
and balanced. There to turn Welsh’s 
sets into kills was an imposing front 
line led by freshman outside hitter 
Paige Jones, junior outside hitter 
Sydney Wetterstrom, senior outside 
hitter Carly Skjodt and redshirt 
junior middle blocker Cori Crocker, 
who contributed to a season-high 
.363 hitting percentage.
In particular, Crocker was nearly 
unstoppable, as the Wolverines 
recognized a glaring mismatch 
between their middle blockers and 
Valparaiso’s right out of the gate. 
So Crocker went to work, hitting 
at a .778 clip with eight kills for the 
contest.
How do you stop that if you’re 
the Crusaders — and you have 
only one starter taller than six feet, 
compared to Michigan’s five?
For the most part, you don’t. 
“Today was definitely a pretty 
obvious mismatch,” Crocker said. 
“We had a couple people that 
definitely could have dominated 
who they were matched up with.”
As Crocker feasted, her towering 
presence also opened up the outside 
for Jones (.438 hitting percentage), 

Wetterstrom (eight kills) and Skjodt 
(14). But the offensive onslaught 
didn’t stop there.
With a two-set lead in hand, 
coach Mark Rosen was able to ease 
his reserves into action in the final 
frame, as freshmen Lizzie Sadilek 
and Kayla Bair and junior Katarina 
Glavinic all contributed. Sophomore 
libero Jacqueline DiSanto also saw 
considerable playing time in relief of 
senior Jenna Lerg.
While many starters and key 
players sat for long stretches of the 
third set, Skjodt, who Rosen called 
the “glue” of the team, remained 
in throughout. Rosen described 
her presence as crucial for lineup 
consistency.
“We don’t want to have a new 
player in there with a bunch of other 
new players,” he said. “Because 
then, it’s not like they get a chance 
to acclimate to what the lineup 
is like, so we try to sparingly put 
those kids in, get them experience 
with 
veteran 
kids, 
with 
the 
experienced kids. Because that’s a 
better way to learn, and they don’t 
feel that pressure in having to do 
everything.”
The Wolverines aren’t going to 
dominate all their opponents the 
way they did Valparaiso. Not while 
competing in a Big Ten which 
claims seven teams — including 
Michigan — in the AVCA Top-25. 
As such, there’s plenty of room for 
improvement.
“I think our services could still 
get better,” Jones said. “First-ball 
contact, first serving and passing.”
Added Rosen: “We’re settling in 
on what our top group is and what 
our lineup is … (and) what our team 
is looking like.”
But then again, if there’s ever a 
good time to be patient, to ease up 
on the concern, it’s right now.
School is just getting back into 
swing. Conference play is over two 
weeks away. The Wolverines still 
haven’t dropped a set.
They’ll eventually have more 
questions to answer, but they can 
afford to take their time.

JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer

“I’d never 
really covered 
anybody in my 
life, honestly.”

“I think he did 
well. He’s also a 
young guy that 
came in.”

Read more of this story online 
at MichiganDaily.com

VOLLEYBALL

