The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, October 14, 2020 — 19

As his senior season nears, Kwity Paye’s 

Michigan career comes into focus

As the Big Ten’s 2020 football 

season hung in the balance 
leading up to this fall, senior 
defensive end Kwity Paye had “a 
million people” in his ear. Some 
told him he should hold out hope 
for a season and remain in Ann 
Arbor. Others thought opting out 
and declaring for the NFL Draft 
would be a better long-term 
choice.

But in Paye’s eyes, it was never 

much of a dilemma.

“I came back for a reason,” 

Paye said on a Zoom call with 
reporters Thursday. “I didn’t 
come back just to say, ‘Oh, I was 
coming back.’ I came back to play 
a season, so that was the only 
thing going that was through my 
head. That’s why I stayed so long, 
just because I got my hopes up 
playing this season.

“… I wanted to graduate, I 

wanted to play a season, and 
that’s what I did. I’m not really 
the type of person to take advice 
from other people. As my mom 
would say, I’m real stubborn 
and once I have my heart set 
on something, I like to see it 
through. I came here for four 
years and I’m happy with that.”

With the Big Ten football 

season set to begin in a little more 
than two weeks, Paye’s career has 
come into focus. Three years ago, 
he arrived in Ann Arbor as the 
third-lowest-ranked 
prospect 

in the Wolverines’ heralded 

2017 recruiting class — a group 
that ranked No. 5 nationally, 
according to 247Sports.

Last October, Paye recalled a 

moment during his recruitment 
when a Michigan fan called him 
a “three-star bum” on social 
media. The comment stuck with 
him. By flipping his commitment 
from Boston College to Michigan, 
Paye got his first taste of what it’s 
like to drown out the noise.

“I still remember when I 

decommitted 
from 
Boston 

College,” Paye said. “When I 
committed to (Michigan), people 
were like, ‘Oh no, you’re not 
going to play. You’re making a 
big mistake. Don’t do it.’ All these 
years later, all it took was hard 
work and consistency and I am 
where I am.”

Now 
a 
senior, 
Paye 
has 

emerged as a crucial piece of 
the Wolverines’ defense. He 
recorded a team-high 12.5 tackles 
for loss last season — including 
6.5 sacks — and added three 
quarterback hurries. When the 
team’s back was against the wall 
against Army, Paye recovered 
the game-winning fumble in 
double-overtime.

After a junior season of 

wreaking havoc in the run game, 
Paye used the offseason to zero 
in on improving elsewhere.

“I didn’t show enough of (my 

pass-rush moves) last year,” Paye 
said. “That’s because I didn’t 
feel like I focused on it a lot last 
year, but this offseason I really 
focused on my go-to move and 
then my counter and then just 

really working on my pass rush. 
Last year, I would say I was 
really more of a run defender but 
now this year I’ve kind of worked 
the pass rush into there as well.”

With Michigan’s top pass-

rusher from last season, Josh 
Uche, now in the NFL, Paye 
and junior defensive end Aidan 
Hutchinson will be asked to 
pressure the quarterback even 
more. If Paye answers the 
call, it’ll further cement his 
projection as a top pick in the 
2021 NFL Draft. CBS Sports’ 
latest mock draft featured Paye 
at No. 10 overall on Wednesday, 
while other outlets have floated 
his name as a potential first-
round selection.

So far, Paye checks all the 

boxes — he’s put plenty of 
highlights on tape and his 
reputation and physical abilities 
precede him. He topped The 
Athletic’s list of “freaks” across 
college football in July, and 
his 6.37 three-cone drill time, 
sub-4.6 40-yard dash time and 
34-inch vertical make it easy to 
see why. 

That leaves only one thing left 

to accomplish.

“I have no rings,” Paye said. 

“I came to the University to 
be a champion, and I’m yet 
to be a champion. I’m trying 
to accomplish that one thing 
because I feel like I’ve done 
everything I’m supposed to do. … 
This is my last year. I’m giving it 
all I got. This team is giving it all 
we’ve got.

“Just trying to get that ring.”

DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Editor

FILE PHOTO/Daily

Senior defensive end Kwity Paye celebrates a stop against the Northwestern Wildcats in 2018.

T

here’s a small, 
white house a few 
blocks from Mich-
igan Stadium.

Most months, it sits empty, 

even as the surrounding 
neighborhood is packed with 
student renters. 
But seven 
Saturdays 
a year, Paul 
Furlo and 
his friends 
descend on 
the house, 
which they 
purchased 
a few years 
ago to 
enhance 
their game-
day experience. “Little house 
at the Big House,” Furlo calls 
it.

Their routine, by now, is 

set in stone. They cater the 
same order from Zingerman’s, 
coupled with a few kegs set 
up in the backyard. In early 
September, before the weather 
gets too cold, they bring along 
their small children, hoping 
to indoctrinate them into the 
tradition.

This year, that opportunity 

is already past — Michigan’s 
home slate won’t start until 
Halloween. But when it does, 
Furlo and his friends will still 
be there, looking longingly at 
Michigan Stadium from the 
outside.

“We’re gonna enjoy those 

home games still,” Furlo said. 
“But we’re gonna enjoy them 
on the many big screens at our 
house in Ann Arbor and we’ll 

socially distance and still enjoy 
the games and still be able to 
be in our favorite college town 
to watch games on TV.”

Furlo isn’t the only one 

who’s planning to continue 
his tailgating tradition even as 
fans are barred from attend-
ing games. A few blocks away, 
Eric Metzendorf and his wife, 
Lauren, are planning to do the 
same.

The Metzendorfs moved to 

Ann Arbor in 1999 for Eric’s 
job and immediately bought 
season tickets. Occasionally, 
they’ll miss a game or two for 
weekend trips, but this season 
would have been their 22nd 

in a row attending at least a 
handful of games. “We buy 
them because we enjoy going,” 
Metzendorf said of his season 
tickets.

This year, the Metzendorfs 

— along with more than 70,000 
other season-ticket holders — 
won’t have that opportunity. 
Instead, they’ll have a few 
friends over and tailgate at 
home like they usually do for 
away games. If the weather 
cooperates, Eric says, they 
might venture downtown to 
watch games at restaurants 
with outdoor seating.

“What’s interesting too is 

I’m paying attention to the col-

lege football season, but really 
not as much,” Metzendorf said. 
“I’m not as intent to watch 
games until Michigan starts 
playing.”

Like for Furlo and every 

other season-ticket holder, it 
won’t be the same. But Michi-
gan fans are taking the small 
victories as they come. Met-
zendorf was thrilled to learn 
that the Ohio State game is 
back in its traditional spot as 
the season finale, moved back 
from an earlier schedule itera-
tion that placed it in October. 
“I said, ‘OK all is right with the 
schedule again,’ ” Metzendorf 
said.

For Steve Raymond, a long-

time season-ticket holder, the 
relief came earlier, when the 
Big Ten announced games 
would be closed to fans. While 
Furlo said he would con-
sider attending games with 
minimized capacity, Raymond 
opted out of his job as an event 
staffer back when Michigan 
was considering allowing fans.

“I am perfectly happy to 

sit this season out,” Raymond 
said. “Because I’m of an age 
where I feel like the risk is not 
worth it to me for my own per-
sonal health.”

Unlike Furlo and Metzen-

dorf, he doesn’t plan to host 

tailgates or watch parties. Still, 
he’s excited for the normalcy 
that college football will bring, 
even if it’s just on TV.

What won’t be the same is 

the lack of non-revenue sports. 
Since moving to Ann Arbor in 
1970, Raymond’s been to watch 
every Michigan sport except 
tennis. Soccer, track and field 
and softball are among his 
favorites. None of those will be 
open to fans this year.

So instead, Raymond will 

be stuck at home watching not 
just football, but every other 
sport as they gradually return 
to play. It won’t be an entirely 
foreign experience — Raymond 
has watched home games on 
TV before — but it brings a dif-
ferent air to fall in Ann Arbor.

Season-ticket holders, like 

everyone else, will miss the 
little things about game days. 
They’ll miss the walk down 
Main Street to the stadium and 
the kettle corn once they get 
there. They’ll miss that first 
sight of the field each Septem-
ber and the camaraderie of 
singing the fight song together 
after touchdowns.

And even when they get 

together for their tailgates and 
watch parties, it won’t quite be 
the same.

“When you lose something 

great like Michigan football,” 
Furlo said, “it makes sure that 
none of us take it for granted.”

Mackie can be reached at 
tmackie@umich.edu or on 

Twitter @theo_mackie.

‘It makes sure that none of us take it for granted’: Season-ticket 

holders prepare for season without fans

THEO
MACKIE

ALEC COHEN/Daily

Michigan Football season ticket holders are coming up with creative ways to keep the gameday tradition alive despite not being at the games in-person.

Versatility and explosive plays set to 

determine ceiling of Michigan’s run game

A year ago, Zach Charbonnet 

and Hassan Haskins combined 
for 1,348 yards and 15 touchdowns 
on 270 carries. For Michigan, it 
was a promising revelation. Two 
players who had never played a 
college snap proved they could be 
trusted to take over the backfield 
from Karan Higdon.

And yet, as a whole, the 

Wolverines produced their least 
effective rushing offense of the 
Jim Harbaugh era. In his first 
four years, Michigan averaged 
188.3 rushing yards per game on 
4.5 yards per carry. Last year, 
those numbers dropped to 151.2 
and 4.0.

The problem, as running backs 

coach Jay Harbaugh alludes to 
now, may have been a lack of 
versatility.

Jay Harbaugh won’t come out 

and say as much. Charbonnet and 
Haskins were both objectively 
good last year. Criticizing them 
for having similar skill sets would 
be both unfair and unhelpful.

But in Jay Harbaugh’s praise 

of Chris Evans, who is returning 
from 
a 
year-long 
academic 

suspension, his recognition of the 
pair’s flaws is evident.

“Being able to have a guy who 

excels outside the tackles,” Jay 
Harbaugh said, “helps balance 
out Zach and Hassan who are 
good out there, but they’re special 
inside the box.”

This year, Evans and freshman 

Blake Corum will provide just 
that. But while Corum — the 
12th-ranked 2020 running back, 
per 247Sports — will have to 
adapt to the college game as 
Charbonnet did a year ago, Evans 
will need no such adjustment. In 
three seasons at Michigan, he’s 
rushed for 1,722 yards on 304 
carries, good for 5.7 yards per 
attempt.

“As far as where I see myself 

at, I’m wherever they need 
me at,” Evans said on Sept. 11. 
“Whatever’s gonna put the team 
in the best situation.”

Evans’ stats through three 

seasons are a testament to his 
explosiveness — something Jay 
Harbaugh referenced repeatedly 
last week. But the 101 carries 
per season are also a testament 
to what Evans isn’t. Two inches 

shorter than Charbonnet and 
Haskins, Evans was reared as a 
high school wide receiver. His 
frame, even now, isn’t designed to 
take 224 carries, as Higdon did in 
2018.

In other words, his skill set 

should comport perfectly with 
those of Charbonnet and Haskins. 
That extends beyond the running 
game, too. A year ago, Michigan’s 
top four backs combined for 
20 receptions. In 2018, Evans 
notched 18 on his own.

“Chris, he’s just different than 

a standard back,” Jay Harbaugh 
said. “… Last year, you would 
say a lot of times, the guys we 
had on the field, they’d get out 
on check downs where they 
weren’t really a factor in the 
quarterback’s thought process, in 
his progression.

“A guy like Chris, who can 

beat the majority of linebackers 
or safeties he runs a route on 
and then he can make the play 
and catch the ball, that adds 
an element where you can 
include the running back in the 
progression.”

For the Wolverines to bolster 

their running game, though, 
Evans alone can’t be responsible. 
In 2018, when Michigan gained 
203.8 yards per game on the 
ground, Higdon paced the team 
with 5.3 yards per carry.

Last season, Charbonnet and 

Haskins managed just 4.9 and 
5.1, respectively. The gap between 
those numbers and Higdon’s 
might not seem substantial on 
balance, but over the course of 
270 carries, it cost the Wolverines 

over 100 yards a year ago.

To 
bridge 
that 
gap, 
Jay 

Harbaugh says, Michigan needs 
to transform more pedestrian 
five-yard gains into 20-yard 
chunk plays.

That’s where months of Zoom 

meetings came into play, back 
before 
the 
Wolverines 
were 

even able to resume small group 
workouts in June. Admittedly, 
speed, balance and change of 
direction all play a role in the 
ability to break off explosive 
plays. More important, though, is 

the mental aspect.

Michigan’s running backs need 

to be able to identify opposing 
defensive schemes so that they 
can see where the defense is 
trying to funnel them and do the 
opposite. But simply identifying 
the 
defense’s 
direction 
isn’t 

sufficient. In concert with the 
offensive line, running backs 
have to know which defenders 
are supposed to be in which 
gaps, allowing them to spot 
holes before they open and avoid 
the opponent’s free hitter — the 
unblocked cornerback or safety 
designated to make the tackle.

Explaining this in a Zoom 

call with local media, though, 
won’t transform the Wolverines’ 
running game. Jay Harbaugh’s 
message, so sound in theory, now 
lies in the hands of his players.

“I would love to hear you ask 

those guys that,” he said when 
asked 
how 
to 
manufacture 

explosive plays. “Just to see how 
much they’ve been focusing on it 
and if they’ve internalized stuff.”

In two weeks, he’ll find out.

THEO MACKIE

Managing Sports Editor

ALEC COHEN/Daily

Chris Evans’ explosiveness will open up the Wolverines’ running attack in 
his return to the roster.

