The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1371232
JUNE/JULY 2021 THE WOLVERINE 15 INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS THEY SAID IT "I just really like the Bengals' pick of Evans late on day three. He is probably going to be the steal of round six. And with [starter] Joe Mixon's injury history, Cincinnati definitely needed a little running back depth. "Evans is instinctive between the tackles, has quick feet and shows burst hitting the hole. He'll make defenders miss in the open field with good contact balance. But he also is very capable catching the ball, and Michigan even lined him up out in the slot a bit early in his career." — ESPN NFL Draft expert Todd McShay, calling running back Chris Evans his favorite pick made by the Bengals "His game speed is ridiculous. It's hard to judge someone's speed until you see a kid play in person, but it's evident with him. He plays ex- tremely fast." — Center Line (Mich.) High School head coach Ben Torres on Eastpointe (Mich.) High four-star wide receiver and U-M commit Tay'Shawn Trent, whom he has coached against on several occasions 1,200 Percent 1,200 Percent Was the year-over-year increase on Tampa Bay Buccaneers merchan- dise sales from 2019 to 2020, Brady's first season with the franchise. That marked the largest single-year increase for any NFL team in Fanatics history, the company's chairman, Michael Rubin, tweeted, with the team's Super Bowl success — largely due to Brady's play and leader- ship — clearly playing a huge factor in those figures. 14.2% Of all first-round picks in the NHL Draft (which has been going on since 1963) who played college hockey have been Michigan Wolverines, with 25 of the 176 first-round selections from college donning the maize and blue. Tying for second are Boston College and Minnesota with 21, while Boston University and North Dakota are tied for third with 20. 13 13 Years was the span of time since Michigan football last had a running back picked in the NFL Draft, prior to this year. Mike Hart, the program's all-time leading rusher and current running backs coach, was the most recent, in 2008, before Chris Evans was taken by the Cin- cinnati Bengals in the sixth round of the 2021 draft. I'm a big fan of the MIKE HART hire [as running backs coach], and I think Ron Bellamy is a good hire [as the safeties coach]. That's a good thing when you can inject that. The head coach is surrounding this roster with guys who played in an era that won and know what it's like to win a Big Ten championship. Can Mike Hart will his team and coach them to understand it? I hope so." — Former Michigan All-Big Ten offensive lineman Doug Skene on TheWolverine.com's podcast April 21 "Knowing Mike, he's going to be ready for anything that comes his way. You have to understand, he's been an underdog his whole life; everyone counted him out. "He went to Fenwick High School [in Illinois] and led his team to success. He performed really well at Columbia, averaging 23 points his last year there as the lead guard. "And even going into Michigan, people counted him out and said he was too short or not good enough. They said he wasn't fast enough to even play in the Big Ten. And not only could he play in the Big Ten, but he performed really well and led Michigan to the conference title in arguably the best conference in the country. That says a lot. His confidence is going to be really high, regardless of the situation he's in." — Basketball trainer Julian Boateng, who is working with former U-M point guard Mike Smith while he prepares for the NBA Draft