The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1334389
12 THE WOLVERINE FEBRUARY 2021 INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS THEY SAID IT "Now if you have a top-five-ish guy nationally in [125-pound freshman Dylan] Ragusin; [sixth-year senior 133-pounder Stevan] Micic comes back, he's a clear title contender; you've got [sixth-year senior 184/197-pounder Myles] Amine, [sixth-year senior 174-pounder] Logan Massa and [junior heavyweight] MASON PARRIS — who is a legit Hodge Trophy contender … he's going to be a guy that scores major bonus points and pins a bunch of dudes, he already has — Michigan starts to reenter that [conversation] that they can definitely win a title this year if they have all those guys." — FloWrestling senior editor Christian Pyles on Michigan wrestling's opportunity to contend for a NCA A team title. The squad is currently ranked second nationally by the outlet PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETICS Michigan has the No. 1 recruiting class coming in that everyone is celebrating, and this is how things begin to snowball in recruiting. You flash some suc- cess, land big-time kids that makes other big-time kids want to go there, and that's how things begin snowball- ing. This is how it starts for everyone, including Clemson in football — you have some success and land one big recruiting class, and the next thing you know, you're a juggernaut. I think that can happen for Michigan and I think the stars might be beginning to align there. We're not scratching the surface yet on what this program can become under JUWAN HOWARD." — Rivals.com national basketball recruiting analyst Rob Cassidy 80 + Points scored by Michigan basketball in 10 of its first 14 games this season. The Wolverines aver- aged 79.6 points per outing in that stretch, which tied for 47th in the country (out of 340) and third in the Big Ten, be- hind only Iowa (second nationally) and Illinois (19th). 314 Days separated Michigan basketball's last loss of the 2019-20 campaign (March 8, 2020 versus Maryland) and its first setback of the 2020-21 season (Jan. 16, 2021 against Minnesota). Obviously, the global coronavirus pan- demic and the cancellations and delays it has caused played a major factor in this statistic, but the Wolverines rattling off 11 straight vic- tories to begin the season is a rarity, with the program only doing so four times since the 1988-89 national title campaign.