2B — Monday, October 8, 2018
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Here’s the season for Michigan
M

ichigan sophomore 
fullback Ben Mason 
says he’s looking 
forward to next week’s game 
against 
Wisconsin.
So are we.
This is 
the season-
defining 
stretch 
for the 
Wolverines, 
a gauntlet 
of three 
difficult 
games. 
Wisconsin, Michigan State, 
Penn State.
“The beginning of the 
schedule was prep to get 
through these,” said junior 
linebacker Devin Bush Jr., 
“and I feel like we’re ready.”
All the offseason talk 
of improvement, of being 
ready for the big games, of 
contending for a Big Ten 
title and a bid to the college 
football playoffs — all that 
talk comes to a head next 
week.
Because everything 
Michigan wants is still on the 
table. All of the Wolverines’ 
goals were still there for the 
taking even after their ugly 
season-opening loss at Notre 
Dame on Sept. 
1.
It feels like 
that game took 
place ages ago. 
In the context 
of a 12-game 
season, it did.
Against the 
Fighting Irish, 
Michigan 
started slow 
out of the gate. 
It fell behind, 
21-3, and that was too much 
to overcome, because the 
Wolverines couldn’t give 
Shea Patterson enough time 
in the pocket. They couldn’t 
establish the run game. They 
couldn’t make big plays when 

they needed to; they gave up 
big plays when they could 
least afford to.
Basically, they looked a lot 
like they did last year, when 
they stumbled 
to an 8-5 
season.
In a way, 
this team is 
still dealing 
with some of 
those same 
issues. No one 
has forgotten 
Michigan’s 
17-0 deficit at 
Northwestern 
last week. The 
offense still has drives in 
which it looks stagnant.
But there’s plenty that’s 
different now, too.
It starts up front. Give 
the Wolverines’ offensive 
line credit. They talked all 

offseason about simplifying 
things, about the effect of 
new offensive line coach Ed 
Warriner. 
Against Notre Dame, it 
looked like that 
talk was just 
that: talk.
But the 
offensive line 
has steadily 
improved. To 
borrow the 
lingo of Jim 
Harbaugh, it’s 
an ascending 
unit. They kept 
Patterson clean 
against Western 
Michigan, SMU and Nebraska.
Then the linemen did the 
same against Northwestern’s 
Joe Gaziano and Maryland’s 
Jesse Aniebonam, two of the 
conference’s premier pass-
rushing ends.

The run game has been 
consistent, too. Karan 
Higdon is averaging over 
100 rushing yards per game. 
Mason continues to plow over 
defenders in 
short-yardage 
situations.
And, of 
course, 
Patterson has 
been everything 
Michigan 
needed him to 
be. He has been 
one of the best 
quarterbacks in 
the conference 
so far. He 
has been a steady presence 
under center, and when 
things go wrong, he can still 
make plays like the 34-yard 
touchdown pass he completed 
to sophomore receiver 
Donovan Peoples-Jones, when 

Patterson spun away from the 
rush, flipped it to Peoples-
Jones and watched as his 
receiver did the rest.
That’s the sign of a good 
quarterback: 
he makes the 
easy plays look 
routine, and 
does the same 
with the hard 
plays.
Patterson is 
on a roll, and 
his impact can’t 
be understated. 
He has already 
surpassed the 
total number of 
touchdowns Michigan threw 
all of last season, and he did 
so in six games.
That has opened things 
up for the offense, too. In 
stark contrast, Michigan is 
opening its playbook up. The 

Wolverines are adding layers 
to what they’d shown through 
the first few weeks.
Last year, it was the 
opposite. On the ground, 
Michigan scrapped its zone 
running schemes and went 
with a steady diet of powers 
and counters. It asked even 
less of its quarterbacks.
The offense looks like a 
more consistent unit than last 
year’s. It looks ahead of where 
it was against Notre Dame.
The defense has been great, 
too, like it was expected to be. 
There have been minor blips 
on the radar; the unit would 
probably have liked to have 
several drives against Notre 
Dame and Northwestern back. 
Still, this has been one of 
the best units in the nation. 
It has beaten up on the teams 
that it should’ve, and now it’ll 
have a chance to prove itself 
against Wisconsin’s power-
run game, the dual-threat 
capability of Michigan State 
quarterback Brian Lewerke 
and the explosiveness of Penn 
State’s offense.
Think of the past five games 
as homework assignments. 
The Badgers are a midterm 
exam. So are the Spartans 
and the Nittany Lions. All 
in preparation for the final 
against No. 3 
Ohio State. 
Michigan 
lost to all four 
teams last fall. 
It wasn’t good 
enough.
The 
Wolverines 
believe they’re 
good enough 
this year. They 
think they’re 
ready for this 
stretch. We’ll find out if that’s 
true after these next three 
weeks. 

Sang can be reached by 

email at otsang@umich.edu 

or on Twitter @Orion_Sang

ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily
Junior quarterback Shea Patterson and the Michigan football team have the toughest stretch of the season ahead, facing Wisconsin, Michigan State and Penn State.

ORION 
SANG

“The beginning 
of the schedule 
was prep to get 
through these.”

Think of the 
past five games 
as homework 
assignments.

The Wolverines 
believe they’re 
good enough 
this year.

FOOTBALL
Gentry notches career highs against Maryland

Ask Jim Harbaugh where 
redshirt junior tight end Zach 
Gentry has grown most, then sit 
back and listen.
First, to the physical stature.
“The way he’s grown most is 
probably putting on 40 pounds 
of muscle.”
That’s not all.
“He’s 
grown 
so much as a 
blocker.”
Then to his 
receiving ability.
“He’s 
grown 
as 
a 
hands 
catcher; 
he’s 
able 
to 
pluck 
the ball out of 
the air with the 
hands. He’s got a 
great frame and target, a great 
catch radius. But also makes the 
tight body catch, the contested 
catch.”
Missing anything?
“And 
he’s 
got 
the 
best 
attitude you ever want to be 
around a guy.”
In Saturday’s 42-21 win over 
Maryland, Gentry added seven 
catches and 112 yards — both 
career highs — to a rapidly 
ascending 
breakout 
season. 
The former quarterback has 

evolved into the top target in 
Michigan’s receiving corps. He 
now leads all Wolverines pass 
catchers with 20 catches and 
306 yards, nearly matching his 
career output prior to this year 
(20 catches for 324 yards). 
When Harbaugh and his 
staff envisioned what a 6-foot-8 
high school quarterback with a 
4.6-second 40-yard dash could 
do at tight end, 
this is what they 
envisioned. 
A 
quarterback’s 
best 
friend. 
A 
matchup 
nightmare.
It 
should 
have 
been 
a 
sign of things 
to come when, 
in 
the 
face 
of 
adversity, 
Patterson turned to Gentry 
against 
SMU 
to 
open 
up 
the offense. In that contest, 
Patterson found Gentry down 
the seam on a crucial 3rd and 
four, after the Wolverines had 
started the game with three 
drives and zero points.
Against 
Northwestern, 
another 
sign. 
This 
time, 
Patterson looked for Gentry 
on the game-winning drive. 
The duo completed two crucial 
receptions, including a laser 

throw and catch to put Michigan 
in a goal-to-go situation.
These aren’t trends anymore, 
though. They are facts. Gentry 
is the primary weapon in 
the passing game and the 
player most trusted by junior 
quarterback Shea Patterson.
A reporter posed Patterson 
a question of that ilk after the 
game.
Shea, can you 
talk about your 
connection 
with 
Zach 
Gentry 
today?
“Ah, 
yeah,” 
Patterson 
said. 
“That’s my boy.”
When 
Patterson got to 
Michigan, Gentry 
was one of the 
first to welcome 
him with open arms. That 
relationship is now bearing 
fruit on the field, as well.
“He’s a heck of a target,” 
Patterson said. “You can really 
put it anywhere — (6-foot-
8), fast too. Kinda like (Rob 
Gronkowski) out there. He’s 
going to play this game for a 
long time. Just excited I can 
throw the ball to him.”
Against 
the 
Terrapins, 
Gentry showed all the tools that 
have enticed him to Harbaugh 

and Patterson. He caught balls 
down the seam. He showed an 
ability to find pockets in the 
zone. He caught a pass with a 
defender draped on his back. 
He even showed that much-
improved run blocking. 
It hasn’t always been this 
smooth for the New Mexico 
native, though. His transition 
from quarterback tight end 
— 
while 
retrospectively 
a blessing in 
disguise 
— 
caused 
some 
frustration for 
Gentry.
“At 
the 
time, 
it 
was 
upsetting,” 
Gentry 
told 
The Daily on 
Sept. 10. “I had 
never played another position 
other than quarterback my 
entire life. Being recruited to 
be one, it was a little upsetting.”
Just four weeks ago, after 
a win over SMU in which 
Gentry registered four catches 
for 95 yards, he admitted that 
he had been frustrated early 
in the season with his lack of 
involvement. In the first two 
games of the season, Gentry 
registered just three catches 
for 31 yards. He knew he was 
capable of more.
“I hadn’t been maybe as 
involved as I wanted to be the 
first couple games,” Gentry 
said at the time. “I was just 
kind of patiently waiting.”
Wait no longer.
For the redshirt junior tight 
end, it’s all coming together at 
the right time. If he continues 
down this path, it’s not hard 
to imagine an All-Big Ten 
season, a high selection in the 
NFL draft. The Gronkowski 
comparisons 
come 
across 
as 
premature 
but 
hardly 
unimaginable.
Finally, 68 seconds after he 
began, Harbaugh tied up his 
answer into a bow.
“He’s really worked hard,” 
Harbaugh said. “Everything 
you want a tight end to be, 
he’s really growing into a 
prototypical type of tight end.”

MAX MARCOVITCH
Daily Sports Editor

Watson pick-six marks 
growth of senior corner

The Michigan football team’s 
game against Maryland was not 
in doubt with just over 4:30 to 
play.
The 15th-ranked Wolverines 
had just driven down the field 
and scored to go up, 35-14, and 
the Terrapins’ ensuing drive 
felt more like an effort to make 
the score respectable than an 
attempt to climb back into things.
So on third down, when 
Maryland quarterback Kasim 
Hill dropped back and threw 
a 46-yard pick-six to fifth-year 
senior 
cornerback 
Brandon 
Watson, the greatest effect was 
not on the result of the game. 
Instead, it was on Watson and his 
teammates, who have seen him 
develop into a solid cornerback 
and a leader on the defense.
“He’s very deserving of that,” 
said senior safety Tyree Kinnel. 
“He’s like one of the old guys 
around here, so, you know, 
everyone respects him. Everyone 
looks up to him around the 
building. And he’s been working 
so hard through his five years 
here, and that’s a well-deserved 
play for him. I’m just happy 
for him. I know he’s happy for 
himself, and everything’s good. 
I thought we played really well 
today, and he’s a big part of the 
reason why.”
The 
play 
continued 
what 
could only be categorized as a 
successful season for Watson 
so far. He has been one of the 
biggest surprises, considering his 
past within the program.
Watson 
was 
a 
three-star 
recruit in the class of 2014. He 
redshirted his freshman year, 
and for the last three seasons, has 
wavered between being mainly a 
special teams contributor and 
a cornerback when the starters 
need a spell.
There wasn’t much reason to 
believe that would change this 
season, as juniors Lavert Hill 
and David Long were one of the 
best cornerback tandems in the 

country last season.
But ever since the beginning 
of Michigan’s season opener 
against Notre Dame, Watson has 
consistently rotated in alongside 
Hill and Long. In fact, he made 
an instant impact, recording his 
first career interception against 
the Fighting Irish.
You could even make the case 
that Watson has been the most 
consistent cornerback on the 
Wolverines’ roster.
“B-Wat been consistent since 
last year, in my opinion” said 
junior linebacker Devin Bush. 
“He’s been consistent since last 
year, this offseason, spring ball, 
camp, you know, he’s always been 
B-Wat. So, I mean, I expect that 
out of him.”
Perhaps the difference this 
season is Watson’s experience, 
which has catapulted him into a 
leadership position on a defense 
chock full of talent.
“He’s developed a lot as a 
leader, you know, leading our 
defense, 
making 
sure 
we’re 
doing everything we’ve gotta 
do, taking over the corners room 
as a leader,” said junior VIPER 
Khaleke Hudson. “He’s a great 
leader for us, and I really like 
him.”
“He’s grown, technique-wise. 
He’s grown into a leader,” added 
Kinnel. “... With me and him 
being the leaders back there, 
we just try to motivate and be 
the leaders back there. And he’s 
improved so much individually, 
so I’m excited for him.”
The theme here, of course, is 
happiness for Watson, getting a 
definitive big play to point to as a 
mark of how far he has come in 
his career. And that was evident 
after Watson’s interception.
As 
he 
sprinted 
into 
the 
endzone, Watson didn’t stop, 
jogging all the way across the 
field and back to the sideline, 
where he was mobbed and 
knocked over by his teammates, 
eager to celebrate a pick-six that 
meant more for sideline spirits 
than it meant for the outcome of 
the game.

MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor

EMMA RICHTER/Daily
Redshirt junior tight end Zach Gentry set career highs in both receptions and receiving yards on Saturday.

“He’s got a 
great frame and 
target, a great 
catch radius.”

“You can really 
put it anywhere 
— (6-foot-8), 
fast too.”

