E HURON ST
WASHTENAW CT
The Diag
Michigan
League
Hill
Auditorium
UNIVERSITY OF
MICHIGAN
5 minutes
S STATE ST
S 5TH AVE
S 5TH AVE
E LIBERTY ST
E WILLIAM ST
E MADISON ST
Shapiro
Undergraduate Library
HILL ST
Amenities are subject to change. See office for details.
Apply online today @
AmericanCampus.com/AnnArbor
⋅ Walk or bike to class
⋅ Private and shared bedrooms available
⋅ Fully furnished apartments
⋅ Amenities for a fit and healthy lifestyle
⋅ Academically oriented environments
⋅ Individual liability leases
⋅ Roommate matching available
You’ve never lived like this.
Applications for Fall 2020 coming soon!
4B — September 3, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsTuesday
Thomas returns from colitis
Ambry Thomas knew the play
Middle Tennessee was about
to run. He’d seen it before, a
couple plays earlier. He had a
feeling he’d be the target.
Then, there he was, reacting,
knowing he had to make a play.
Blue
Raiders’
quarterback
Asher O’Hara threw the ball
at him and he picked it off like
there was nothing to it, halting
Middle Tennessee’s momentum
in the middle of the first quarter
in an eventual 40-21 win.
Mere weeks ago, such a key
play from the junior defensive
back seemed nearly impossible.
But Ambry Thomas had no
regard for the odds.
On August 13, Thomas wasn’t
even on the roster. That was
when
Michigan
coach
Jim
Harbaugh explained that he’d
been diagnosed with colitis and
had missed all of fall camp —
not practicing, not playing. He’d
lost weight. He could only do
conditioning and wasn’t cleared
for full practice until last
Sunday. A realistic expectation
seemed like three weeks. Maybe
four.
But Saturday, on the first
defensive snap of the first game
of the Michigan football team’s
season, Thomas was out there
on the field at cornerback. He
was nails in coverage all night,
finishing with an interception,
a fumble recovery and a tackle
for loss.
“It’s a little adversity I’ve
fought through,” Thomas said.
“And that’s all it was.”
While his teammates weren’t
sure when exactly Thomas
would return to play or if he’d
start Saturday, Thomas knew
from the time he was cleared
that it wouldn’t be long before
he was back making plays. All
he needed was a few reps.
Going from conditioning only
to starting at cornerback in just
nine days would be a tall task
for anyone, but Thomas — often
heralded as one of the hardest-
working players on the team
— was up for the challenge. He
regained the weight, he got back
into game shape and shook off
the rust as best he could.
“I was worried about him
going into the game week,” said
fifth-year
senior
linebacker
Jordan Glasgow. “I knew that
he’s a great corner, obviously, as
you can see from his play, but he
had a lot less preparation than
a lot of our opponents and us as
a team. So to see him come out
and make the plays that he did,
it was just great to see.”
The next drive after Thomas’
interception, the Blue Raiders
had the ball on third down at
their own 21. Receiver Terelle
West caught his pass, but
sophomore defensive end Aidan
Hutchinson hit him and forced
the ball out. Thomas fell on it.
Two plays later, Michigan
was in the end zone and a
stunningly close 10-point game
had become the blowout it
always seemed destined to be.
Thomas’
two
big
plays
changed the complexion of
the first quarter, but more
than
that,
they
marked
a
shift in mindset for a player
who was understandably still
apprehensive.
“That fumble recovery and
pick, it built my confident
thoughts in the game,” Thomas
said. “My confidence wasn’t
there because in practice, I ain’t
really did enough of practicing,
I had only been practicing, like
really practicing, since Monday,
full go practice. It just felt good
to get my confidence up there.”
The rest of the game, Thomas
was near untouchable and the
confidence showed. More than
a handful of plays against a
subpar team, that was what
Harbaugh
noticed.
Asked
about Thomas in the postgame,
Harbaugh noted the pick and
the pounce, his coverage and
his tackling, but the best part
wasn’t any of that.
The best part was the smile
that cracked across Thomas’
face, the adversity fading into
the background as he settled
back into his role, playing
football and having fun.
‘M’ defense hoping to add polish
Asher O’Hara looked done for.
The
Middle
Tennessee
quarterback was cornered by
two defensive linemen and a
linebacker. The play seemed sure
to end in a sack. On third-and-3
from Michigan’s 18-yard line,
such a play would have likely
forced the Blue
Raiders into a
field goal.
But
somehow, none
of
Khaleke
Hudson,
Michael
Dwumfour nor
Kwity
Paye
could
finish
the
tackle,
and
O’Hara
scrambled all the way into the
end zone.
After Middle Tennessee’s first
drive, the score was a shocking
7-0 in favor of the Blue Raiders.
Eventually,
the
Michigan
football team cruised to an easy
40-21 win. But that wasn’t how
things were supposed to go for
one of the top defenses in the
country, facing the No. 101 team
in preseason SP+, much less on
the first drive.
“A win’s a win, and that’s
great and everything,” said
sophomore defensive end Aidan
Hutchinson after the game. “But
it wasn’t how we wanted it.”
On one hand, the defense
looked fine after that. Of the
other two Middle
Tennessee
touchdowns,
one came after a
muffed punt in
the
Wolverines’
territory
and
the
other
was
in garbage time
against
the
second-string
defense. But on
the other hand,
Michigan seemed to struggle
after sudden changes and were
plagued by fits of sloppy play all
game.
In the second quarter after the
muffed punt, the Blue Raiders
drove down to the two-yard line.
Then, sophomore defensive back
Vincent Gray failed to pick up
on a rub route in
the end zone and
gave the receiver
too much space,
leading to seven
more
points
for
Middle
Tennessee.
In
the
third
quarter,
senior
defensive
back
Lavert
Hill
dropped
what should have been an
easy interception with no one
standing between him and the
end zone.
Against a team like the Blue
Raiders, it’s easy to disregard
such mistakes as growing pains.
But when the Wolverines plays
tougher teams — starting next
week with Army — such messy
play won’t cut it.
“Just
eliminating
self-
inflicted wounds, eliminating
plays that harm us and give the
offense advantages,” Gray said.
“We want to eliminate all of
that.”
But for a defense that lost a
lot of production from last year
to the NFL — linebacker Devin
Bush Jr., defensive ends Rashan
Gary and Chase Winovich and
cornerback David Long — there
were some positive signs.
Michigan
finished
with
five tackles for loss and three
sacks
—
including
one
by
senior linebacker Josh Uche
for 13 yards. Uche also forced
a fumble that junior defensive
back Ambry Thomas recovered,
and Thomas also snagged an
interception. The Wolverines
picked up just three defensive
penalties, and only one for more
than five yards. That’s a good
sign for a team that struggled
with too many personal fouls in
last year’s nonconference slate.
In
his
Monday
press
conference,
Michigan
coach
Jim Harbaugh didn’t show any
signs he was disappointed in
his team’s performance and
mentioned
several
of
the
team’s
new
defensive
starters
as
standouts.
Perhaps
it’s
just a matter of
shaking off the
rust, of gelling
together to avoid
the same kind of
lapses that led
to the Blue Raiders’ first two
touchdowns.
“(This defense is) a lot faster,
we’re a lot stronger,” said junior
safety Brad Hawkins. “But …
we’ve got a lot of work to do. It’s
week one, so definitely going
forward, we’re definitely going
to be improving. We definitely
try to go out there and get 1
percent better every day.”
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Editor
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Editor
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Cornerback Ambry Thomas had an interception and fumble recovery on Saturday after battling colitis during fall camp.
A win’s a win.
... But it wasn’t
how we wanted
it
(This defense
is) a lot faster,
we’re a lot
stronger.