The Wolverine

January 2019

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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JANUARY 2019 THE WOLVERINE 9   INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS BY ANDREW HUSSEY A fter a successful 10-2 season, Michigan players re- ceived several Big Ten awards and 15 earned all- conference recognition on one of the top three teams. Junior linebacker Devin Bush Jr. won the Big Ten Na- gurski-Woodson Defensive Player of the Year award, which is named after Michigan's legendary defensive back Charles Woodson and Minnesota's Bronko Nagur- ski. The last Wolverine to be named the league's best defensive player was Jabrill Peppers in 2016. The only other Wolverines to capture the honor are defensive end LaMarr Woodley, linebacker Larry Foote and Woodson. Bush also won the Big Ten Butkus-Fitzgerald Line- backer of the Year award, which is named after North- western's Pat Fitzgerald and Illinois' Dick Butkus. Pep- pers also won this award in 2016. Additionally, Bush was a unanimous first-team All-Big Ten pick and the AP Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. He was selected first-team All-Big Ten by the coaches and second team by the media in 2017. Bush led the Wolverines with 80 tackles this season, and he also had five sacks, 9.5 tackles for loss and six pass breakups. The other defenders who were named first-team All- Big Ten were fifth-year senior defensive end Chase Win- ovich (unanimous), junior defensive end Rashan Gary (coaches), junior cornerbacks David Long (coaches) and Lavert Hill (unanimous), and junior safety Josh Metellus (AP). Winovich had a team-high 14.5 tackles for loss, plus 62 tackles and four sacks, which both ranked third on the squad. Last season, he was named to the first team by the media and second team by the coaches and the AP. While Gary missed three games due to injury, he still notched 44 tackles, 3.5 sacks and 7.0 tackles for loss. In 2017, Gary was selected to the first team by the coaches and the second team by the media and AP. Long had eight pass breakups and one interception, while Hill had five pass breakups and a pick. Hill was a second-team selection by the coaches and the AP last season. Metellus posted 44 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and three interceptions with six pass breakups this season; Inside Michigan ATHLETICS Fifteen Wolverines Named To All-Big Ten Teams Devin Bush Jr. was named the Nagurski-Woodson Defensive Player of the Year for the Big Ten. PHOTO BY BRANDON BROWN MICHIGAN'S ALL-BIG TEN PICKS Player Coaches Media AP LB Devin Bush 1st 1st 1st P Will Hart 1st 1st 1st DE Chase Winovich 1st 1st 1st CB Lavert Hill 1st 1st 1st DE Rashan Gary 1st 2nd 2nd CB David Long 1st 3rd 2nd S Josh Metellus 2nd 2nd 1st HB Karan Higdon 1st 1st 1st LT Jon Runyan 1st 2nd 1st LG Ben Bredeson 2nd 2nd 2nd QB Shea Patterson 3rd — — RG Michael Onwenu 3rd — — C Cesar Ruiz 3rd — — WR Donovan Peoples-Jones 3rd — — RET Donovan Peoples-Jones 3rd 3rd N/A TE Zach Gentry 3rd — —

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