The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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10 THE WOLVERINE AUGUST 2020 INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS BY THE NUMBERS 2 Former Wolverines are on the ballot for the College Football Hall of Fame's class of 2021: former offensive lineman Steve Hutchinson (1997-2000) and defensive tackle MARK MESSNER (1985-88). Hutchinson was a unanimous first-team All-American in 2000, one of just seven players to ever earn four first-team All-Big Ten nods, and a three-time Big Ten champion and 1997 national champion. Messner was another unanimous first-team All-American (in 1988) and four-time first-team All-Big Ten pick in the trenches. He was also named the 1988 Big Ten Player of the Year and MVP of the 1985 Fiesta Bowl. The inductees are scheduled to be announced in early 2021. 2nd 2nd Best group of 2021 offensive line commits was what U-M was listed as having, according to a Rivals.com ranking done in early July. "Michigan is a close second here [to Ohio State]," national recruiting director Mike Farrell wrote, "with IMG's Greg Crippen, in-state com- mitment Giovanni El-Hadi and Raheem Anderson, another local. An argument could be made for Michigan to be No. 1 with an extra commitment." Michigan was also listed with one of the nation's top classes of commits at four other position groups: defensive ends (third), quar- terbacks (fifth), tight ends (fifth) and linebackers (eighth). Farrell said four-star quarterback pledge J.J. McCarthy "has a special skill set and is getting bigger and stronger, so he should be a great fit under Jim Harbaugh." 7th Is where the Wolverines ranked in The Athletic's formulaic countdown of the top 25 most dominant college football programs of the past 50 years. Despite Michigan not having a single squad listed among the outlet's 25 most dominant individual teams of the past 50 years, as an overall program it cracked the top 10 nationally, one of four Big Ten schools to do so (behind No. 3 Ohio State and No. 4 Nebraska, but ahead of No. 8 Penn State). U-M's record since 1970 came out to 446- 158-8 (.735), and it won the 1997 national championship, but finished among the sport's elite for its overall consistency dur- ing that span. "No team has finished ranked in the AP poll more often than Michigan in the past 50 years," The Athletic's Matt Brown wrote. "The Wolverines have been in the final poll in 41 of 50 seasons, with 24 top-10 finishes and just three los- ing seasons, the latter of which all came in the past 12 years. BO SCHEMBECHLER never won a national championship, but he won 12 Big Ten championships in this time period. "The past decade and a half has frequently been any- thing but dominant … but the Wolverines rank among the top five in many categories [used in the ranking formula], including No. 1 in top-10 SRS [Sports-Ref- erence's Simple Rating System, which combines point differential and strength of opponent to rank all teams] finishes; No. 2 in scoring defense, weeks spent ranked and losing seasons; No. 4 in average SRS ranking and AP top-10 finishes; and No. 5 in point differential, winning percentage, average SRS ranking and time spent ranked in the top 10." Sucks being locked out the country and away from my teammates. Seems like a never-ending dream at this point! Miss my brothers, man." — U-M redshirt freshman defensive end David Ojabo in a July 14 tweet, when he was stuck in his home country of Scotland due to a travel ban. He returned to the U.S. July 20. At the end of the day, I think it's kind of unique to say, 'Yeah, I'm playing for a coach that was a part of that history at that time.'" — Grand Rapids Christian head coach Eric Taylor, ex- plaining how four-star shooting guard and U-M commit Kobe Bufkin will someday be playing for former Fab Five star Juwan Howard PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY