The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1051817
DECEMBER 2018 THE WOLVERINE 15 INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS "The Michigan Revenge Tour is pretty cool. That is unless you're one of the teams the Wolverines have targeted. It started with Wisconsin, a team they lost to 24-10 last season then moved to Michigan State (14-10 loss last year) and now Penn State (42-13 loss last year). And, as we know, there is one team left on the tour and that's Ohio State on Nov. 24. "Suddenly people aren't questioning Jim Harbaugh and his ability to beat rivals and top-25 teams. I have waffled on Harbaugh more than any other coach I've covered in 20 years and am now fully on the bandwagon. This is a really good Michigan football team, balanced in every way, and one of a couple of teams that could give Alabama a football game." — Rivals.com national director of recruiting Mike Farrell after Michigan crushed Penn State, 42-7, Nov. 3 "Can a guy be an up-and-comer if he started coaching girls basketball at LaSalle- Peru High School in Illinois in the late 1990s? Well, yes, and maybe precisely be- cause he spent 14 years at the high school level. It's been a quick rise in the college ranks for Yaklich, who spent four years at Illinois State before joining Michigan and driving the leaps-and-bounds defensive improvements that brought the Wolver- ines to the national title game. Another good run might amplify the buzz and, at only 42 [years old] with an ideal temperament, Yaklich still could offer a school a long-term solution." — The Athletic's Brian Hamilton on including U-M assistant coach Luke Yaklich among his 30 up-and-coming coaches in college basketball "I came to Michigan with a vision of being a championship contender. If I had left [after 2017] knowing I had another chance to get U-M in that position, I wouldn't have been able to live with myself. I love this school and would come back for a sixth year if I could. This campus, the professors, the students … I almost get emo- tional thinking about it, because it's so special to me." — Fifth-year senior defensive end Chase Winovich on the Inside Michigan Football radio show Nov. 5 "It's important for us to have that pit bull mentality this season. I actually had a pet pit bull for about six weeks, but my apartment made me get rid of it — his name was Sosa." — Michigan junior point guard Zavier Simpson "Harbaugh is a better coach than [Alabama head coach Nick] Saban. He's four for four in his stops — San Diego, Stanford, the 49ers and Michigan. When Saban was at MSU, he did not hit a home run there and only won 58 percent of his games. He won 75 percent and a title at LSU — [former head coach] Les Miles won 77 percent of his games and a title there. Harbaugh got to a Super Bowl in the NFL and Saban bombed [in the NFL]. Consider how many great coaches never even got to a Super Bowl. Plus, Harbaugh is at a program that is a top academic school in a region of the country that doesn't have nearly the high school players. He has a more impressive résumé than Saban." — FOX TV/radio personality Colin Cowherd Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh on defensive coordinator Don Brown, after the U-M defense held Penn State to just seven points and 186 yards Nov. 3 "I'm reminded of the old jingle from the '70s: [in singing voice] 'When you said Don Brown, you said it all.' Don is the king of defensive coordinators. He's so great." THEY SAID IT PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL U-M GREAT RON JOHNSON PASSES AWAY Michigan football lost one of its giants when former running back Ron Johnson passed away Sat., Nov. 10. He was 71 years old. Johnson came to U-M from Detroit and lettered for three years from 1966 to 1968. He was the team's Most Valu- able Player in both 1967 and 1968 and the program's first African-American captain (1968). He ran for 1,391 yards in his senior season and scored 19 rushing touchdowns, still a U-M single-season record. Johnson ran for 347 yards against Wisconsin as a senior playing for head coach Bump Elliott, still the Wolverines' single-game best and an NCAA record that stood for three seasons. He was inducted into the College Foot- ball Hall of Fame in 1992, at which point Elliott paid him the ultimate compli- ment. "Ron Johnson," he said, "was the best football player and the best captain I ever had at Michigan." Johnson earned All-Pro honors in both 1970 and 1972 while playing with the New York Giants (1970-75) and became the first player in Giants history to gain 1,000 yards or more in a season, doing it twice. He used two degrees, including an MBA, from U-M to succeed in the private sector, starting as a financial analyst at Dean Witter before founding the Rack- son Corporation in 1983, operating doz- ens of fast food franchises in three states. Johnson also served as National Foot- ball Foundation (NFF) chairman from 2006-07. "Ron Johnson was everything you wanted in a player, teammate, and most importantly as a person," NFF chairman Archie Manning said. "He was somebody who truly wanted to make the world a better place, and he did." Johnson's 19 rushing TDs in 1968 are still a school record. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS