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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.

