8A — Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

PLUS MORE EVENTS THROUGHOUT OCTOBER, INCLUDING:

Plus remarks by President Mark S. Schlissel and senior leaders 

10–11:30 AM | HILL AUDITORIUM

2019 
DIVERSITY, 
EQUITY & 
INCLUSION 
SUMMIT

VAN JONES

OCTOBER 1 — 6–8 PM | TROTTER MULTICULTURAL CENTER

Ignite & Implement: Student Engagement with DEI Initiatives

OCTOBER 16 — 1–2:30 PM | MICHIGAN LEAGUE BALLROOM

Community Conversation: DEI Progress Update

OCTOBER 21 — 12–2 PM | RACKHAM AUDITORIUM

“An Ingenious Way to Live”: Fostering Disability Culture in 
Higher Education

OCTOBER 22 — 5–6:30 PM | PALMER COMMONS, FORUM HALL

DEI and Faith in Secular Spaces: Respecting Religious Identity

OCTOBER 23 — 12–2 PM | MICHIGAN LEAGUE BALLROOM

From #MeToo to #NowWhat: Cultivating Safe, Harassment-Free 
Learning and Working Environments

OCTOBER 24 — 8:30 AM–5 PM | MICHIGAN LEAGUE BALLROOM

Young, Gifted, @Risk and Resilient: Promoting Mental Health 
and Well-Being Among Students of Color

OCTOBER 7

Community Assembly & Discussion featuring CNN’s

OUR
MICHIGAN

VOICES 
MANY

diversity.umich.edu/summit-events #UMichDEI @UMichDiversity

When 
people 
spewed 
prognostications this offseason 
about 
Michigan’s 
new-look 
offense they generally centered 
around 
one 
foundational 
assumption: The offensive line 
was going to be a strength.
Four of five starters returned 
from a year ago. The fifth 
starting spot was a choice of 
luxury — between an athletic 
young talent in Jalen Mayfield 
and an experienced commodity 
in Andrew Stueber — rather than 
desperation. Michigan coach Ed 
Warriner was set to return for a 
second season. For the first time 
in years, the trenches would be 
of no concern.
At 
least 
that’s 
how 
the 
thinking went.
Amid the litany of issues 
plaguing the Michigan offense 
this 
year, 
the 
inexplicable 
struggles up front have not been 
lost on players and coaches.
“The offensive line, we talked 
about that being an experienced 
group,” said Michigan coach Jim 
Harbaugh on Monday. “They’ve 
got to play good, they’ve got to 
hustle, protect the quarterback, 
they’ve got to play physical in 
both areas, pass protection and 
the run game. It’s our job to get 
them to do that.”
The return of senior left 
tackle Jon Runyan from injury, 
fresh off a first-team All-Big Ten 
campaign, promised to bring 
stability back to the unit. If the 
35-14 loss in Madison is any 
indication, it will take more than 
full health to restore order.
According to one unofficial 
count, senior quarterback Shea 
Patterson was hit 19 times 
in Saturday’s blowout loss at 
Wisconsin. After dealing with 
an oblique injury the first two 
weeks, Patterson left Saturday’s 
contest with a shoulder ailment, 

only to return in the fourth 
quarter. All the while, the 
Wolverines’ two quarterbacks 
completed just 17 of 42 pass 
attempts.
“That’s 
another 
area, 
we 
have got to do a better job of 
protecting the QB,” Harbaugh 
said. “Shea’s a tough guy, but you 
have to give him time to throw 
and make reads.”
Meanwhile, 
the 
rushing 
attack was stifled from the get-
go, ostensibly quitting on itself 
before too long. In total, the 
team rushed for just 40 yards 
on 19 carries, the fewest rushing 
yards in a game since a 2013 loss 
to Nebraska.
“I thought me coming back in 
this rotation on the offensive line 
would help see our struggles the 
first two games,” Runyan said, 
“and it was really disheartening 
that I felt like I wasn’t really able 
to to do anything extra out there 
to help us do any better.”
Through three weeks, the 
rebranded 
Michigan 
offense 
has toiled in all-too-familiar 
confusion. Intended to be an 
offense predicated on options, 
it has instead been defined by 
indecision and incoherence. The 
unit has averaged just 5.1 yards 
per play and has accumulated 
nine turnovers. Even against 
two teams with drastic talent 
gaps, the offense has struggled 
to move the ball downfield with 
any balance or regularity.
Some 
of 
these 
offensive 
struggles 
fall 
on 
scheme. 
Others on play-calling. But no 
small share has been delegated 
to an offensive line that has 
categorically 
under-achieved 
thus far.
“We’ve got backs that need 
holes. We expect our offensive 
line to move people, and that 
didn’t happen this past game,” 
Harbaugh said. “We weren’t as 
physical as our opponent on the 
offensive line or the defensive 

line.”
Added 
Runyan: 
“We 
got 
punched in the mouth, early and 
often, and we were never really 
able to recover from that. I take 
credit in being part of that and 
not being able to help this offense 
move in the way that I wanted.”
None of this is to say the group 
cannot find its footing. Just over 
a year ago, fans agonized over 
problems up front perceived to 
be irreversible. Led by an overall 
simplification from Warriner, 
the group steadily improved 
throughout the year. By the end, 
it was a bona fide strength.
That 
trajectory, 
though, 
makes the shaky start even more 
confounding. 
“Coming 
into 
the 
season, 
we thought we weren’t going 
to be back in this boat, kinda 
struggling,” Runyan said. “I 
don’t think we’re struggling too 
bad, how we were last year, with 
all the experience we got coming 
back. But, you know, you can’t 
credit Wisconsin enough. 
“... Like I said, we’re just trying 
to focus on us now. That game is 
behind us.”

Monday afternoon, a predictably 
stoic Jim Harbaugh stood in front 
of reporters, lamenting Michigan’s 
physicality and hustle in Saturday’s 
35-14 loss to Wisconsin.
A few minutes later, across the 
room, fifth-year senior left tackle 
Jon Runyan echoed his coach’s 
sentiment.
“Looking back on the film, not 
trying to call out anyone, but I feel 
like there were some plays where 
the effort could’ve been better,” 
Runyan said. “I think along with 
effort comes execution.”
With the root cause of Saturday’s 
debacle 
pinpointed, 
Harbaugh 
didn’t shy away from outlining his 
plan for this week’s practices.
“Emphasis 
on 
physicality, 
emphasis 
on 
toughness 
and 
emphasis on hustle,” Harbaugh 
said. “We’ll make that part of the 
practice plan more and also playing 
the players that are dedicated and 
playing physically at all times. Get 
those players in the ballgame.”
On the surface, it’s a striking 
indictment of his players. But 

Harbaugh wouldn’t call it that, 
instead looking introspectively 
and promising improvement from 
himself and the coaching staff.
That process, he said, would 
start with this week’s practices.
So when senior linebacker 
Josh Uche spoke with the media 
Tuesday evening, it took less than 
a minute for the topic of practice to 
come up.
“Oh, it was amped up,” Uche 
said. “We were ready to go, ready 
to hit somebody. Had some 9-on-7. 
Got real physical today.”
As for who brought that energy?
“Everybody,” Uche said. “Let 
some steam off, hit each other, 
man. Got real physical. Had a great 
practice today. … All our practices 
are physical, but today we made 
it an emphasis to come out and 
make this one of our really good 
practices.”
Of course, Uche knows that 
Saturday’s scar won’t be erased by 
practices. That part will have to 
wait until gamedays — specifically 
those against Penn State, Notre 
Dame, Michigan State and Ohio 
State.
But the road to getting there 

starts now, with an improved 
focus on the practice fields. So 
while talk throughout the bye 
week surrounded fixing the “little 
things,” it now centers on the 
macro — physicality, toughness, 
hustle.
According to fifth-year senior 
defensive end Michael Danna, 
that process of re-focusing started 
with 
the 
Wolverines’ 
senior 
leaders. Their weekly players’ 
meeting hasn’t happened yet, but 
the seniors have made their voices 
heard in the immediate aftermath 
of Saturday’s loss.
“We were all devastated,” 
Danna said. “We didn’t want to 
go out like that. We didn’t want to 
put that on national TV. We didn’t 
want that on our record or on our 
label or whatever. Cause that’s not 
our identity and that’s not how 
we play football. So you know, 
it’s all about bouncing back when 
adversity hits.”
Among Michigan’s senior class, 
Danna is in a unique position, 
having transferred from Central 
Michigan as a graduate transfer 
last offseason. It gives him less 
experience in the Wolverines’ 
defense, sure, but it also gives 
him a wider perspective through 
which to view the unit’s identity.
“We’re a physical, hard-nosed 
defense,” Danna said. “There’s 
no doubt in my mind about that. I 
spent all camp being here, seeing 
it. There’s no doubt in my mind 
we’re a hard-nosed defense.”
Saturday afternoon, Michigan 
didn’t show it. Any Wolverine you 
ask will tell you as much. Now, 
the goal is to make sure it doesn’t 
happen again.
“Some things just didn’t go 
our way just because it didn’t, but 
some things were fundamental 
errors,” 
Danna 
said 
of 
the 
Wisconsin game. “But like I said, 
that’s what practice is for. We’re 
gonna correct some things and 
we’re gonna perfect some things.”

Hill to climb
Michigan’s bounceback week begins, as intense practice spearheads focus heading into Rutgers game on Saturday

MAX MARCOVITCH
Managing Sports Editor

THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Editor

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Senior left tackle Jon Runyan was disappointed in his inability to lift the level of play along the offensive line in his return.

Wolverines looking to replace 
three key blueliners this season

Things look very different on 
the blueline for Michigan this 
year.
Last season, the Wolverines 
were led defensively by Quinn 
Hughes, Joseph Cecconi and 
Nicholas Boka. Hughes was 
drafted No. 7 overall by the 
Vancouver Canucks in June 
2018 and spent the vast majority 
of last season playing on the 
top 
defensive 
pairing 
with 
Cecconi, who joined the Dallas 
Stars after the season ended. 
Boka, while not the headliner 
that Hughes and Cecconi were, 
held down the right side of the 
second pairing and headed 
for the AHL’s Iowa Wild after 
graduating.
With three of its staple 
defensemen 
off 
to 
play 
professional hockey, Michigan 
now has to figure out how to fill 
their roles.
“We’re going to lose a little bit 
of everything,” said Michigan 
coach Mel Pearson on Tuesday. 
“Some offense I think for sure 
with Quinn and Cecconi. Nick 
didn’t add a lot of offense, but 
he did log some minutes on the 
power play. I think that’s an area 
that we have to make sure we 
find someone to come in.”
Senior 
defenseman 
and 
alternate captain Luke Martin 
put things a bit more simply.
“We’re just losing a lot of 
minutes.”
Martin and classmate Griffin 
Luce should fill some of the 
void left by Hughes, Boka and 
Cecconi, but two players can’t 
fill the hole left by three. And the 
Wolverines’ other returners are 
sophomores Nick Blankenburg, 
Jack Summers and Jake Gingell, 
all of whom needed to take 
serious steps in the offseason to 
be ready for their bigger roles.
Gingell, in particular, had 
work to do to be prepared for a 
bigger role this year. He dressed 
for only one game last season 
and didn’t see any time on the ice 
in that matchup. Last December, 
Pearson said the biggest area 
Gingell needed to improve upon 

was his skating, and Pearson 
likes what he’s seen thus far.
“He’s made leaps and strides 
from where he was last year 
at this point,” Pearson said. 
“He’s fit, his footwork’s gotten 
better, he’s leaner. To me, the 
biggest thing was the skating 
and his ability to move and his 
quickness. He’s gotten so much 
better there. … He just looks so 
much more confident and good 
for him. You can tell he’s worked 
hard.”
Blankenburg and Summers 
filled larger roles than Gingell 
did last year, but going from 
freshmen 
with 
minimal 
expectations 
to 
sophomores 
who are expected to carry some 
of the load is a big step.
“That’s really up to them to 
decide, you know, how good do 
they want to be?” Martin said. 
“I think those are three guys 
that bring it every day and are 
really 
passionate 
about 
the 
culture here and bettering this 
program. And they’re in a great 
position here to really see some 
big opportunities.”
To bolster its thin defensive 
core after three key departures, 
Michigan added three new 
defensemen — two freshmen 
and a graduate transfer — this 
offseason.
Freshman 
Cam 
York 
headlines 
the 
incoming 
blueliners, as would be expected 
for the No. 14 overall pick. But 
Pearson is nearly just as excited 
about freshman Keaton Pehrson 
and graduate transfer Shane 
Switzer, both of whom should 

fill some of that stay-at-home 
blueliner role that Boka left 
behind.
Despite his enthusiasm about 
the new defensive additions, 
Pearson made it clear that 
he doesn’t want to put undue 
pressure 
on 
the 
freshmen, 
especially early in the year. His 
expectation is for the returners 
to shoulder the load, and the 
newcomers are expected to fill 
in the gaps.
“They’re not coming in to 
replace (the returners),” Pearson 
said. “It’s our returning guys 
who have to take bigger roles, 
like Summers and Blankenburg. 
Gingell, he’s going to get an 
opportunity. Those guys have to 
take bigger roles now this year. 
The freshmen have to be a good 
supporting cast, they don’t have 
to lead.”
Two 
weeks 
and 
change 
into practice, both Pearson 
and Martin are pleased with 
the growth they’ve seen from 
the returning players and the 
contributions the newcomers 
are making.
But the loss of two seniors 
and a first-round pick isn’t an 
easy one to absorb, especially 
for a team with limited depth 
defensively. 
On 
any 
given 
night, Pearson will dress six 
or seven defensemen — and 
the Wolverines have just eight 
defensive options on the roster. 
That leaves little room to breathe 
if there’s an injury and means 
that Michigan will be relying on 
all of its defensemen to step up 
and fill their designated roles.

BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Senior defenseman Luke Martin plays on the Wolverines’ blueline.

