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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, November 7, 2018 — 7A

Juwann Bushell-Beatty and the virtue of patience in his fifth season

Juwann Bushell-Beatty had a 
particular confidence about him 
when he first got to Ann Arbor. 
The now-fifth-year-senior says 
he was like most freshman on 
the Michigan football team in 
that way — upbeat that high 
school success would carry over 
to the next level.
“A lot of people coming from 
high school those first few 
years, you have that certain ego 
about you,” Bushell-Beatty said 
Tuesday. “College football can 
be really humbling. You may not 
always get those opportunities. 
There are guys that are better 
than you, there are guys who 
will get more opportunities. 
That may happen.”
That 
was 
Bushell-Beatty’s 
reality.
He did not start his first 
game until 2017 — his fourth 
season with the Wolverines 
— and was in and out of the 
lineup throughout the year. 

The offensive line struggled 
and proved to be the Achilles’ 
heel of Michigan’s lackluster 
offense.
“It 
takes 
a 
while to adjust, 
especially when 
you’re 
young,” 
Bushell-Beatty 
said. “Once you 
accommodate to 
that — you get 
stronger, 
you 
get in playbook, 
you do all these 
things and all 
these 
things 
come together — you get your 
confidence. Confidence is one 
of the most important things.”
During fall camp, however, 
Bushell-Beatty said that he felt 
that old confidence wane. It 
must not have helped when, to 
open the this season, he and 
redshirt junior Jon Runyan Jr. 
— Michigan’s starting tackles — 
were outmatched consistently 
against Notre Dame’s talent-
laden front seven.

“We knew we should be 
playing better ball,” Bushell-
Beatty said. “We knew we had 
to put better stuff on tape.”
That is exactly 
what 
Bushell-
Beatty and the 
Wolverines have 
done. Michigan 
is 
rushing 
for 
an 
average 
of 
237 
yards 
per 
game and have 
allowed just 11 
sacks since Sept. 
1.
Bushell-
Beatty’s personal improvement, 
meanwhile, has caught the eye 
of the coaching staff. In his 
postgame 
press 
conference 
Saturday, Harbaugh noted that 
athletic director and former 
offensive 
lineman 
Warde 
Manuel thought Bushell-Beatty 
had his best game of his career 
against Penn State — two weeks 
after 
Bushell-Beatty 
had 
a 
similarly strong performance in 
East Lansing.

“The last few weeks, I’ve been 
on an upward trend,” Bushell-
Beatty said. “… Being older, I 
don’t really have the classes 
like the younger 
guys do, so I’m 
just 
putting 
more time into 
film, getting into 
the 
playbook, 
paying attention 
to the opponent, 
working 
on 
techniques 
— 
those 
are 
all 
things you have 
to do.”
Rashan Gary thinks Bushell-
Beatty’s largest leap has come 
in pass protection. In previous 
battles, the junior defensive 
end used to take advantage of 
Bushell-Beatty’s impatience at 
the line of scrimmage.
But, 
recently, 
Gary 
has 
noticed a different approach 
from Bushell-Beatty.
“Sometimes, 
he’ll 
be 
aggressive and shoot his hands, 
and I’ll get them down,” Gary 

said. “But it’s like, ‘Alright, 
now what are you going to do, 
Rashan?’ Now, I got to make the 
move, and he’ll counter it. So 
it’s a great battle, 
and he’s getting 
better.”
Added 
Bushell-Beatty: 
“I think that’s 
probably 
one 
of 
the 
biggest 
things for me, 
just focusing on 
being 
patient. 
I pride myself 
on having quick 
feet and being about to adjust 
quickly. Sometimes, it’s not all 
about that. You got to be more 
patient in pass (protect) and be 

more precise and specific with 
your movements.”
Patience has indeed been 
pivotal for Bushell-Beatty — 
both in his current technique 
and career trajectory overall. 
Five years removed from high 
school, the Wolverines’ starting 
right tackle is finally feeling 
confident — and playing the way 
he once expected to.
“Some people need more reps, 
just need more time,” Bushell-
Beatty said. “Since being an 
offensive lineman is one of 
the most difficult positions on 
the field, it’s not something 
that comes to you right away. 
Once you really get it down pat 
and spend a lot of time on it, it 
becomes a lot more natural.”

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Fifth-year senior tackle Juwann Bushell-Beatty says he has become much more patient since coming to Michigan as an over-confident freshman.

MARK CALCAGNO
Daily Sports Editor

“College 
football can 
be really 
humbling.”

“Some people 
need more reps, 
just need more 
time.”

Gary returns to strong D-line after time away

There’s a big difference between 
Rashan Gary’s preparation for the 
Michigan football team’s last road 
game and its upcoming one.
Three 
weeks 
ago 
as 
the 
Wolverines got set to face Michigan 
State, Gary was questionable to 
play with a shoulder injury that he 
suffered before the season began. It 
had kept him out of the three games 
before.
On Tuesday, Gary thought back 
on that time.
“I really wanted to come back 
Michigan State, but I personally 
wasn’t ready,” Gary said. “… With 
my range, I felt that I could do a 
little bit, but you know, throughout 
the week, it wasn’t where I think I 
could come out and give my team 
100 percent.”
Heading into Michigan’s game 
against Rutgers, Gary says his 
health isn’t an issue.

Gary played in the Wolverines’ 
win over Penn State on Saturday, 
albeit on a limited snap count. He 
finished with two tackles and made 
his typical impact on the plays he 
was in.
Gary said it gave him chills 
stepping back on the Michigan 
Stadium turf with his teammates 
after his hiatus.
“I’m like, ‘Yeah, I missed y’all. I 
love y’all,’ ” Gary said. “… It felt good 
putting the pads on somebody else.”
It was an odd time away for 
Gary.
By nature of the way the 
Wolverines 
handle 
injury 
news — they hardly divulge 
any information — speculation 
surrounded Gary.
Some said he was more injured 
than Michigan was leading on. 
Some thought Gary would go the 
route of Nick Bosa and sit out before 
declaring for the NFL Draft. Gary’s 
mom added fuel to the fire by 
posting cryptic Facebook statuses.

Gary says he wasn’t perturbed 
by any of this. He said he never 
considered skipping the rest of his 
games at all and that he tried to stay 
away from the speculation.
“I’m the only person that knows 
what’s going on,” Gary said. “You 
know, I’m the only one that can 
really tell you the real story about 
it. So, you know, having my mom 
speak out on it, that’s what she 
did. You know, that’s my mom, so 
I always support her and what she 
feels, but also, you know, things like 
that, I can’t let that get me mad. I’ve 
still got things to do. I’ve still got 
goals to accomplish, and I just need 
to get back to them.”
The rumors were even stranger 
because Gary wasn’t really missed 
that much by the Wolverines’ 
defense.
His 
backup, 
sophomore 
defensive end Kwity Paye, was 
more than solid in Gary’s absence, 
while junior defensive end Josh 
Uche made a major statement — he 

is now 12th in the country in sacks.
Again, Gary claims not be 
bothered by this, rather giving 
positive reviews of his underlings.
“That’s something I’ve been 
seeing since spring ball and camp,” 
Gary said. “You know, just now that 
they got the opportunity to show 
off and showcase their talents, it’s 
crazy. You know, every time Uche 
goes in, I’m expecting him to get 
a sack. Every time Kwity goes in, 
I’m expecting him to hold it down 
and get a tackle, be an impact. And 
that’s the ability that they have and 
that’s what they’ve been showing. 
I feel like, with me not playing, 
they did a great job coming in and 
stepping up and providing for the 
team in the ways that we needed.”
Perhaps that makes Gary’s 
return all the more impactful.
Michigan’s defensive line, which 
was dominating teams without 
Gary, has now returned a potential 
first-round draft pick.
Poor Rutgers.

WRESTLING

MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Junior defensive end Rashan Gary re-joined the Michigan defense against Penn State after missing the previous three games with a shoulder injury.

‘M’ alum takes second 
at World Championship

Adam Coon stepped onto the 
mat one last time for all the marbles. 
The former Michigan heavyweight 
was paired against Russia’s Sergey 
Semenov in the gold medal match 
of the 2018 World Championships 
on Oct. 28. Win and go down in 
wrestling history. Lose and avoid 
satisfaction with the taste of 
victory fleeting your starved pallet.
Unfortunately for Coon, the 
latter would play out before his very 
eyes. After dropping his opponents 
for four straight pins to land him a 
spot in the final bout, Coon’s run 
would come up one match short. 
And in the end, Coon saw his own 
dominant move, the body lock, 
used against him and fell by a 9-0 
technical fall to Semenov.
The 
body 
lock, 
a 
move 
completed by stepping into your 
opponent and clenching your 
arms around his upper body, led 
Coon to execute devastating upper 
body throws and ultimately pin 
his opponents in dramatic fashion 
throughout the tournament.
What makes Coon’s body lock 
so deadly, though, is not his upper 
body strength, but rather shifty 
footwork that tricks his opponents 
into falling into the lock. Coon uses 
hip bumps, turns and false steps 
to lure his opponent into a prime 
position to be taken down. Falling 
for the siren call of the false step, 
Coon’s opponents then fall victim 
to the throw.
“I’ve been working body locks 
since I first started wrestling 
when I was very young, so I kinda 
grew up in it,” Coon said. “I’ve 
very comfortable in that position, 
especially when I know a lot of 
other people are not. Especially 
the way that I hit it. I have a very 
unorthodox type style from the 
body lock.”
Semenov, on the other hand, 
proved apt at countering Coon’s 
trickery 
and 
confounded 
the 

former Michigan star. Also relying 
heavily on the body lock, Coon 
knew the bout would be a fight for 
the position — though this was a 
fight he could not win.
Moving forward, Coon will look 
to diversify his offensive arsenal in 
the Greco-Roman style of wrestling, 
so as to not use the body lock as a 
crutch in future matches. Offensive 
diversification as well as defensive 
adaptability will be the name of 
the game for Coon’s future training 
regimen. And in order to gain that 
extra edge, this training might not 
happen in the United States.
Leaving 
Budapest 
behind, 
Coon fully intends to continue 
competing in the big international 
tournaments in pursuit of the 
ultimate goal — an Olympic gold 
medal. Along the way, Coon will 
look to monetize his efforts in 
next-level wrestling by pioneering 
the freshly minted American 
Wrestling League (AWL).
The AWL is seeking to create 
professional wrestling — not the 
“chair-over-the-head” kind, but 
legitimate, traditional wrestling 
where athletes can make money 
while they pursue international 
glory in the World Championships 
and 
Olympics. 
After 
getting 
drafted by fellow United States 
team member David Taylor on Nov. 
3, Coon will test the waters of the 
AWL and try to spin wrestling into 
a full-fledged career.
Before he gets another crack 
at the next major international 
tournament, don’t expect Coon to 
fade from the spotlight anytime 
soon. Whether wrestling in the 
AWL, playing tug-of-war against 
50 elementary schoolers or pulling 
trucks by rope, Coon’s stardom has 
grown beyond Michigan, and if all 
goes well, will one day land him 
on top of the podium at the World 
Championship.

JACOB KOPNICK
Daily Sports Writer

