The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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42 THE WOLVERINE AUGUST 2019 ner as U-M's top linebacker and too many others to mention — his big- gest honor was being named team captain last season. "Shoot, that was probably one of the biggest goals of my college ca- reer," he admitted this summer. "I was super happy my peers voted me captain, even as a junior. It showed how much they believed in me and thought I was the right person for the job." The journey toward that honor started the moment he set foot on campus. He was always one of the hardest workers in the weight room, though never the tallest guy he was also always one of the toughest. He started proving it on special teams his freshman year, delivering crushing blocks that rattled defend- ers while playing on the return teams and always trying to do his part to "set the tone." He wanted to be the catalyst any time the team needed a boost, he ad- mitted, and his hits often elicited a reaction from his teammates on the sideline. "I always wanted to be the guy who sparked it," he said. "I wanted to be that spark plug for the team, be a big contributor to a win, whatever." And there were many. The Wol- verines never got over the hump to capture a championship in his three years, one of Bush's few disappoint- ments, but he never regretted sign- ing with U-M out of Pembroke Pines (Fla.) Flanagan. It was a "super hard" decision to leave the state — "I wondered, 'Am I getting in over my head leaving Florida?'" he admitted — but in the end, he made the choice he was most comfortable with and believed in, both for his football and academic career. Having his father make the jour- ney with him as a Michigan analyst, along with fellow prep teammates Josh Metellus and Devin Gil, made it even better. "The thing I liked most about it was the people I came in contact with when I was at Michigan," he said. "The teammates, the coaching staff, just the whole staff that works with Michigan football from media people to front office … everybody I met there. Even my professors and the academic part of it. "I was just very happy with the relationships I built there, the re- sources, being able to use everything Michigan had to offer and capital- izing a lot on those opportunities to meet those people. To this day I can pick up the phone and call anybody at Michigan and talk to the right people and get the right advice with anything." He leaned on some of them when he had to make the tough decision to skip the Peach Bowl, what would have been his last game in maize and blue. He was still recovering from an injury suffered in the Ohio State game and contemplating his NFL fu- ture when he had to decide, and he made it clear it wasn't an easy choice. "It definitely wasn't one I planned on," he said. "That kind of just hap- pened as it did. Never in a million years did I think I was not going to be playing in the bowl game in one of my last games. It was a hard decision and definitely was a hard thing to do … [it's] still even hard to say I wasn't playing in a bowl game knowing I was supposed to be out there with my teammates. "Honestly, the best memories I had were just getting ready for a game with Michigan. Just getting ready to play a football game, seeing my teammates, the guys I came in with, guys that were there before and after us … just to have those moments with them was priceless." Most fans, though, have their own favorite memory of him — last year's trouncing of Michigan State in East Lansing. Bush played well, but it was how he handled MSU's pregame she- nanigans that most remember. Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio thought it would be a good idea to march his troops across the field pregame despite the fact that U-M was already on the field. A The Pittsburgh Steelers moved up from 20th to 10th in the 2019 NFL Draft in order to select Bush, who is expected to start at linebacker for them as a rookie. PHOTO BY KARL ROSER/COURTESY PITTSBURGH STEELERS