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