The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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to get this fifth year and have this opportunity," he said. "It's awesome for me, and I'm really excited about it, but now it's just wondering when am I going to get the opportunity to have this final season with all of my teammates." No doubt, 2020 produces obstacles like Jim Tressel produced NCAA violations. Kemp's flow and fit involves a lot. Sure, he'd like to serve as a captain for a second straight season. He plans to lead either way, but he learned a lot last year and wouldn't mind applying those lessons in an official capacity. He longs to get back to the easy banter and purpose-driven camaraderie with his team- mates. The grind of football isn't ever easy, yet it's deeply satisfying to invest in that effort, side by side, with brothers dedicated to a cause. Without question, Kemp wants to win. It's not like he hasn't been a part of strong Michi- gan teams over the past four years. The Wol- verines won 10 games his true freshman sea- son. They beat Wisconsin, beat Penn State, beat Michigan State and came within one play — or one courageous, integrity-infused spot of the ball by officials in Columbus — of going to the Big Ten Championship Game and likely the College Football Playoff. The last three seasons, they've won 27 games, setting the Michigan State series aright, and holding their own against Penn State and Notre Dame. They've accomplished a lot … except their biggest goals of all. Without any prompting, Kemp brought up Ohio State, and what he and his teammates consider an exasperating myth surrounding it. Michigan hasn't beaten the Buckeyes un- der Harbaugh, and the past two years has taken it on the chin in unprecedented fashion. But they care, Kemp assured. They care with every fiber of their physical and mental being, whether slinging bricks or trying to slow a scarlet tsunami. "One thing that always gets lost — and you always hear from the outside — is that we don't take that game seriously, or we don't respect that game," Kemp offered. "That game is all we think about. It's the game that all of us want. "Everyone in our locker room can't wait to get to that game. That's the only game we want to get to." Now, Kemp and his teammates can't af- ford not to prepare diligently for the others, he cautioned. With a schedule beginning at Washington, and a Big Ten slate offering up Wisconsin, Penn State and a road game with the Spartans right out of the gate, anything else would be asking for disaster. But the Wolverines know the ultimate key Kemp was voted a captain by his teammates in 2019, and if he repeats the honor he would be- come just the 13th multiple-time football cap- tain in Michigan history. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN THE WOLVERINE 2020 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 89