The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
7 — Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Sports

ZAKYI, OSMAN
From Page 8

Zakyi knows this easily could’ve 

been him. 

“I was one of the luckiest that 

went through and got selected,” 

he said. “I know there are a lot of 

talents back home that have so 

much potential. I know a lot of the 

guys that went through the tryouts, 

they all went back home and they 

go home to nothing.

“That’s why it’ll always be my 

motivation, that I’m going to give 

back no matter what.”

Before staying at Michigan for 

summer classes last year, Zakyi 

would spend his summers in Ghana. 

During his first week at home he’d 

volunteer at the Academy: talking 

with younger kids, offering up 

advice, telling tales about America, 

helping out in the classroom. He 

wanted every kid to know that he’s 

still a part of them, “part of their 

family.”

“Whether it’s with my success, 

my knowledge or my experience, I 

know I can always have an impact 

on someone’s life,” Zakyi said. “I 

want to be able to put someone in a 

better position just like I was given 

a better life, too. It’s something 

that I owe to my community, that 

I owe to people who aspire to be 

great people. I want to be a part of 

their journey. I want to help them 

achieve their dreams.”

Osman has been back once, 

the summer between his senior 

year of high school and freshman 

year of college. He called it “very 

different,” 
returning 
to 
the 

Academy and seeing all the younger 

kids in the shoes he once wore. 

“I had just won the Gatorade 

National Player of the Year, which 

was talked about at the Academy,” 

Osman said. “So when I went back, 

a lot of the kids knew of me. 

“I always value the idea of giving 

back. Right to Dream gave me 

something special, so in the future 

I hope that I’m going to go back to 

my village and help give back and 

inspire young kids to follow their 

dreams.”

As 
for 
their 
own 
dreams, 

Osman and Zakyi are living them, 

preparing to leave Michigan next 

spring with four years of collegiate 

soccer under their belt and, more 

importantly, college degrees. 

Their roots — from the clay 

streets of Tamale to the Academy 

— are with them every step of the 

way. 

“Looking back home and the 

situation my family and everyone 

is in, it just gives me motivation 

to keep pushing to get to my goal,” 

Osman said. 

“Then one day, all this hard 

work, all these sacrifices that I’ve 

made will pay.”

MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily

Senior Umar Farouk Osman hopes to go back to his village and inspire the children.

No. 3 Michigan survives defensive scare 
against Maryland, remains undefeated

After 
a 
lackluster 
offensive 

performance against Arkansas State 

last week, first-year coach Stanford 

Lipsey hit a crossroads in our NCAA 

14 simulation of Michigan football. 

Defenses clearly figured out how 

to slow down the “throw it to Nico 

Collins” philosophy that worked so 

well in the opener against then-No. 

4 Washington. The Wolverines will 

need to find other ways to move the 

ball, especially when the toughest part 

of the schedule arrives in November. 

Luckily for Michigan, it opens 

up Big Ten play with three of the 

conference’s 
bottom 
feeders 
— 

Northwestern, Maryland and Rutgers 

— offering ample opportunity to 

experiment with new looks and get 

the offense back on the right track. 

Game 5: No. 3 Michigan vs 

Northwestern

Over the years, this particular 

matchup has developed a special 

talent to age viewers by decades. 

What I mean is, games between the 

Wildcats and Wolverines are terrible. 

How can we ever forget the 

2014 meeting, forever enshrined 

as the M00N game because of the 

scoreboard’s endless display of 0-0? 

Or the previous year’s matchup, 

where Michigan won in overtime 

after neither team scored a single 

touchdown in regulation?

This game was no exception. It 

felt like a Michigan v. Northwestern 

game from the very first drive, when 

redshirt junior quarterback Dylan 

McCaffrey fumbled the ball on a 

scramble at the Wildcats’ 15-yard line. 

The horrors continued three minutes 

later, 
when 
Lipsey 
inexplicably 

elected to punt on a fourth-and-1 at 

Northwestern’s 40-yard line. 

But the Wolverines’ luck turned 

late in the second quarter. After 

McCaffrey found sophomore wide 

receiver 
Mike 
Sainristil 
in 
the 

endzone to open the scoring with 54 

seconds remaining, Northwestern 

coach Pat Fitzgerald decided to be 

aggressive and go for a game-tying 

touchdown, a strategy unheard of 

between these two teams. 

Sophomore cornerback Vincent 

Gray intercepted the pass and a 

touchdown pass to senior wide receiver 

Nico Collins followed moments later. It 

was the last touchdown of the day and 

Michigan won, 17-6. Stat of the day: On 

eight combined red zone trips, the two 

teams totaled two touchdowns and 

one field goal. 

Game 6: No. 2 Michigan at Maryland

The Wolverines’ offense did its job. 

Sophomore wide receiver Giles Jackson 

cut through the defense, notching 139 

yards and two touchdowns on eight 

catches. All season long, he’s been a 

huge part of a deep receiving corps 

that’s earned Michigan the second-

best passing offense in the country. 

This time, it was the Wolverines’ 

defense that prevented a blowout 

victory. Michigan won, 34-29, but the 

Terrapins’ 460 yards of offense — 360 

of which came through the air — kept 

the game close throughout. Maryland 

wide receiver Brian Cobbs torched 

defensive backs all game, pulling in 

nine catches for 141 yards and two 

touchdowns.

After 55 minutes of being straw 

men, the defense finally stepped 

up on the final drive of the game. 

Led by quarterback Josh Jackson, 

the Terrapins made their way into 

Michigan territory before a third-

down sack by senior defensive end 

Kwity Paye shut down any hopes for a 

comeback.

It was an ugly win, but the 

Wolverines 
are 
still 
undefeated 

halfway through the season. They’ll 

be fine. 

Game 7: No. 2 Michigan vs Rutgers

On the first play from scrimmage, 

McCaffrey found Collins for a 75-yard 

touchdown. The next drive, he threw 

another touchdown to Jackson. The 

drive after that, Jackson again. 

Michigan won, 52-14, on a Heisman-

level performance from McCaffrey. 

His 21-for-31 passing night resulted 

in 430 yards and five touchdowns. 

Four of those were caught by Jackson, 

tying the record for most receiving 

touchdowns in a single game in school 

history. 

Across the board, the Wolverines 

put up similarly ludicrous numbers. 

Rutgers totaled 283 total yards, but 

only 45 of them came on the ground. 

In their six trips to the red zone, 

the Scarlet Knights scored just two 

touchdowns and no field goals. Even 

Michigan’s punting was dominant — 

each of its punts went for 52 yards and 

no return. 

In the end, the No. 2 team in the 

country was playing Rutgers. You can 

fill in the rest of the equation.

Around the country

Last week, I called the situation 

around 
the 
country 
“markedly 

ordinary.” That take aged poorly.

I’ll get right to it: Indiana is ranked 

seventh. The team it replaced? Ohio 

State, which dropped to No. 13 

after losing at home to now-No. 11 

Cincinnati. Arizona State snuck up 

to No. 9 after a big win against No. 25 

Colorado, which is, in this game, still 

coached by a virtual Mel Tucker who 

follows through on his promises. LSU 

dropped out of the rankings, after 

losing three consecutive games to No. 

14 Mississippi State, No. 3 Florida and 

Tennessee. 

McCaffrey’s performance against 

Rutgers propelled him to third in the 

Heisman watch, behind Alabama 

running back Najee Harris and Boston 

College running back David Bailey. 

Michigan’s 
pretty 
happy 
with 

7-0 right now, but it can’t get too 

comfortable. Its next three games, 

against rival Michigan State, Penn 

State 
and 
the 
seventh-ranked 

Hoosiers, will be a real test of the 

team’s toughness. 

MILES MACKLIN/Daily

Sophomore wide receiver Giles Jackson caught four touchdowns against Rutgers.

Wolverines look strong 
with returning redshirts

Sean Bormet had everything 

perfectly planned out.

Three of his top wrestlers would 

redshirt the 2020 season to prepare 

for the Olympics. They’d compete 

in Tokyo this summer. Then they’d 

come back for their final season at 

Michigan, joining a team loaded with 

talent and primed to contend.

It was an arrangement that 

should’ve 
worked 
for 
everyone. 

Instead, all of it is in flux.

First, COVID-19 canceled the 

NCAA 
Championships. 
Then 
it 

pushed the Olympics back to 2021. 

Now, Bormet and the Michigan 

wrestling team must adapt again.

Fifth-year seniors Myles Amine, 

Logan Massa and Stevan Micic, all 

of whom took Olympic redshirts 

last year, plan to return to the 

Wolverines for the 2021 season while 

simultaneously training for Tokyo. 

According to Amine, the Wolverines 

haven’t received official word from 

the NCAA on whether they will 

be able to take a second Olympic 

redshirt. But all three are already 

sold on coming back.

If Amine, Micic and Massa — all 

former All-Americans — returned, 

they knew they would join a team with 

four additional 2020 All-Americans 

in junior Mason Parris (ranked No. 2 

in the country at heavyweight), fifth-

year senior Kanen Storr, redshirt 

sophomore Will Lewan and redshirt 

junior Jack Medley, as well as a 

two-time cadet world champion in 

redshirt freshman Kurt McHenry.

That’s eight top competitors of 10 

lineup spots.

For Massa, going so long without 

competition left him restless. Micic, 

who is 24 years old and was already 

on his second Olympic redshirt, is 

just ready to finish out his college 

career. And for Amine, it was already 

tough spending one year on the 

sidelines, not being able to travel or 

wear a Michigan singlet.

“I don’t want to be in college 

forever, as much as that sounds like 

everybody’s dream,” Amine said. 

“I’m going on six years this next year, 

so I’m ready to move on to the next 

stage and graduate, get that all over 

with.”

So although the circumstances 

aren’t ideal, all three are excited 

to get back to competing with the 

Wolverines. Amine, who competes 

for San Marino, and Micic, who 

competes for Serbia, have already 

qualified for the Games, taking much 

of the pressure of a pre-Olympic year 

off.

That 
isn’t 
without 
its 

complications, though.

There are just six weight classes 

in the Olympics compared to 10 in 

the NCAA. That means all three 

wrestlers have a variation in the 

weights they’ll compete at in college 

and 
international 
competition, 

leaving the question of whether some 

may move up or down weight classes 

next season.

“Part of the conversations for that 

is trying to strike the right balance for 

the right college weight and I think 

the right college weight is our No. 1 

priority and in the process of making 

those decisions,” Bormet said. “There 

are some considerations for how 

they may impact any of our athletes’ 

international weights.”

Amine previously wrestled at 174 

pounds, but with his international 

weight at 189, he knows he’ll 

realistically have to move up next 

season — though it has yet to be 

determined whether that will be 

to 184 pounds or 197. Massa plans 

to move up to 174 pounds from 

165, filling Amine’s void. Micic’s 

international weight is 125 pounds, 

but he doesn’t plan to move all the 

way down to that class at Michigan 

(Medley, the Wolverines’ starter 

there last season, was an All-

American honorable mention and 

qualified for NCAA Championships). 

Instead, Micic says he will wrestle at 

133 or 141 pounds, keeping in mind 

that the more weight he has to cut for 

the Olympics, the harder it will be on 

his body.

Micic and Amine have also 

considered 
wrestling 
a 
limited 

schedule during the regular season, 

competing in only the most important 

duals and sitting out others in order 

to keep their bodies fresh. That could 

also give some of the Wolverines’ 

younger wrestlers, who may have 

anticipated a lineup spot in 2021, a 

chance to compete.

ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Editor

WRESTLING

Read more online at 
MichiganDaily.com

BRENDAN ROOSE

Daily Sports Writer

