8 — Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
From Ghana to Ann Arbor, Osman and Zakyi don’t forget their past
The ball was often makeshift, a
few paper bags knotted together
or a pile of folded clothes tightly
wound
by
rubber
bands.
The
children kicked it around with their
bare feet, the bottoms caked with
dust and sand. The street was their
pitch, and the kids scurried in and
out of oncoming traffic.
It wasn’t perfect. But it was
soccer.
For junior forwards Umar Farouk
Osman and Mohammed Zakyi,
this was how their careers started.
Long before being teammates at
Michigan, they roamed the red
clay streets of Tamale, Ghana, as
neighbors from lower-middle class
families who played every day until
the sun went down.
“Everyone knew who I was,
everyone knew who Umar was,
because anywhere there was a
soccer match going on, we were
there,” Zakyi said. “That’s how
Umar and I knew each other, we
were always playing soccer.”
Osman and Zakyi’s paths from
Ghana
to
Ann
Arbor
started
together
and
largely
remained
together. Each departed Ghana
— Osman at 15, Zakyi at 17 — to
attend preparatory high schools in
Connecticut on scholarship. Before
that, each attended the prestigious
Right to Dream Academy in the
country’s Eastern Region.
Founded in 1999 by Tom Vernon,
Right to Dream doubles as both a
school and soccer factory, designed
to outfit younger players with
opportunities to advance their skills
on a=nd off the pitch — opportunities
they might not otherwise have.
“I got to the Academy and it
meant everything,” Zakyi said. “I
was provided with soccer cleats. I
was given food, given shelter, given
education. Everything was provided
for, and that’s when I started taking
soccer more seriously.”
Spots in the Academy are both
limited and highly coveted. Once a
year, Right to Dream sends scouts
to each of Ghana’s 10 regions to hold
tryouts. Osman remembers close to
500 kids swarming his, with each
hopeful having only 20 minutes of
playing time to prove himself.
From the initial field, scouts
chose 11 players from each region
to move on to the second tryout.
This pool is then narrowed down to
one final group of 11 who compete
against current Academy-goers, a
test to see if they can hang with the
tougher competition.
Osman and Zakyi each joined
Right to Dream in 2009, each only
10 years old.
“It was very stressful,” Osman
remembered. “First the tryouts,
then leaving your family that young
to go to a completely different
place. There were points when I
got homesick, but I kept thinking
that my institution at home wasn’t
that great, and Right to Dream was
giving me this great opportunity.
So I had to overcome my fear and
I think at that moment I became a
man, working for myself and my
family.”
At
Right
to
Dream,
the
opportunities
were
boundless.
Osman and Zakyi traveled the
world, competing against other top
academies. Zakyi spent time from
the U12 level to the U18 training
with Manchester United. Each
had access to training, expertise
and invaluable experience in a
professional soccer environment.
Soon,
scouts
took
notice
and
America beckoned.
But to get to America — to earn a
scholarship to a preparatory school
— prowess on the pitch wasn’t
enough. Soccer skills had to be
accompanied by good grades.
“Growing up, I didn’t want to go
to school,” Osman confessed. “My
mom, she always wanted me to
go to school, but we didn’t always
have the financial support. Right
to Dream came along and I learned
the value in getting an education
because soccer isn’t going to be
there forever.”
Soccer can be a passion, but it
can’t be life. It’s a lesson Zakyi
learned the hard way.
A torn meniscus suffered early on
in his career at the Academy forced
him to the sidelines for two years,
stripping him of his foundation.
“That’s when I decided to take
school
very
seriously,”
Zakyi
said. “Because I knew if I don’t do
anything about school and this
happens to me in the professional
world, my life is done. It was all
soccer, soccer, soccer until the
injury. But after, I started studying
really hard, taking a lot of exams so
I could not only come to America
but also succeed in the classroom.”
Getting an education is a luxury
that Zakyi’s dad, a high school
dropout, never could afford. Same
for a handful of Zakyi’s childhood
friends who quit school and reverted
to hustling and violence after their
respective soccer careers flopped.
None were fortunate enough to use
soccer, a passion, as a springboard
to greater heights in life.
MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily
Junior forward Mohammed Zakyi grew up in Ghana before moving to the United States and getting the education his father could never afford.
See ZAKYI, OSMAN, PAGE 7
JARED GREENSPAN
Daily Sports Writer
Projecting Michigan’s 2020 starters in the absence of spring play
This past Saturday would have
been Michigan’s spring game if not
for COVID-19, but in its absence
all that remains is speculation on
what we might have seen. The
biggest takeaway from spring games
is typically getting a peek at the
rotations and seeing who works out
with the first team. Luckily, we’re
not totally in the dark. The 2019
season offered plenty of clues as to
who could be among the Wolverines’
starters in 2020. The Daily’s football
beat projected Michigan’s starting
lineup and broke it down, position
by position:
Quarterback: Dylan McCaffrey
This position has been a highly-
publicized battle between redshirt
junior Dylan McCaffrey and redshirt
sophomore Joe Milton. Both have
their pros and cons — Milton has a
big arm but lacks accuracy, while
McCaffrey has more speed but less
arm strength. Neither has had many
in-game reps the past few years and
without a spring season, it’s nearly
impossible to tell where the battle
is at. That said, the lack of spring
practice probably gives McCaffrey,
with his extra year of experience
— something Michigan coach Jim
Harbaugh values immensely — the
edge. Still, offensive coordinator
Josh Gattis has expressed a desire to
use both quarterbacks extensively
in 2020 and this position should
continue to be one of intrigue
throughout the season.
Running
back:
Zach
Charbonnet and Hassan Haskins
Arguably
Michigan’s
deepest
offensive
position
group,
this
season’s
running
backs
room
should be among the Wolverines’
strong suits. The run game has two
reliable workhorses in sophomore
Zach
Charbonnet,
who
broke
the program’s freshman rushing
touchdown
record
last
season,
and redshirt sophomore Hassan
Haskins,
who
made
a
strong
impression in the second half of 2019
after converting from linebacker.
Beyond that, Michigan will welcome
back senior Chris Evans from a one-
year academic suspension, while
freshman Blake Corum and redshirt
sophomore
Christian
Turner
could factor in as well. In Gattis’s
up-tempo offense, there’ll be plenty
of snaps to go around.
Wide receiver: Nico Collins,
Ronnie Bell and Giles Jackson
Michigan returns its two biggest
producers at the position in Ronnie
Bell and Nico Collins, making this
one of the offense’s strongest spots
headed into next year. We already
know that Bell can produce at a
high level in the college game, as he
broke out last year to become Shea
Patterson’s favorite target. Collins
comes into next season as one of the
most potent big-play threats in the
conference, standing 6-foot-4 with
jump-ball ability that stands out.
Behind them, Giles Jackson figures
to get a bulk of snaps in the slot or
H-back positions after a freshman
year that saw Gattis get better
and better at leveraging Jackson’s
unique skill set.
Offensive line: Jaylen Mayfield,
Chuck Filiaga, Zach Carpenter,
Andrew Stueber and Ryan Hayes
This group is arguably Michigan’s
biggest question mark outside of
quarterback going into 2020. The
unit loses four starters from a year
ago, leaving only junior right tackle
Jalen Mayfield. All four of those
departures could be selected in this
weekend’s NFL Draft, which speaks
to the talent that the Wolverines are
losing at the position. Fortunately
for Harbaugh, he and his staff
have recruited well at the position
recently, leaving Michigan with a
deep but unproven group for 2020.
Ryan Hayes figures to slot in at left
tackle, where he started in place of
the injured Jon Runyan early last
season. Hayes is a 6-foot-7 former
TE, giving him a prototypical
tackle’s body.
At guard, Stueber and Filiaga
are the most likely starters. Stueber
was in a battle with Mayfield for
the starting right tackle position
last year, before tearing his ACL in
fall camp. Though he was playing
tackle before the injury, his bigger
frame means he’ll likely shift to
guard to make way for Hayes and
Mayfield at tackle. As for the other
guard spot, Nolan Rumler was a
four-star recruit in 2019, giving him
the highest upside of Michigan’s
potential
options,
but
Filiaga’s
additional two years of experience
make him the most likely option.
He’s been the Wolverines’ backup
left guard for the past two seasons,
seeing snaps in eight total games.
Michigan’s
biggest
challenge
on the offensive line will likely
be replacing center Cesar Ruiz,
a potential first-round pick on
Thursday. The top candidates seem
to be sophomore Zach Carpenter and
fifth-year senior Andrew Vastardis,
who has backed up the position the
past two years. Carpenter, though,
received plenty of buzz last year and
was named Michigan’s offensive
scout team player of the year.
DESIGNED BY JACK SILBERMAN
DAILY FOOTBALL BEAT
Daily Sports Writers
Read more online at Michigan-
Daily.com