The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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10 THE WOLVERINE MAY 2022 INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS Michigan transfer center Olu Oluwatimi was a Rimington Award finalist last year after an outstanding season at the University of Virginia. The 6-3, 310-pounder is off to a great start and will man the middle of the Michigan line this year. He met reporters after the spring game and also spoke with former Michigan lineman Jon Jansen on his "In the Trenches" podcast. The Wolverine: What ulti- mately brought you to Michi- gan as a transfer from Virginia? Olu Oluwatimi: "Michigan as a university, it stands alone right there, and it stood above the rest of the options I had when I entered the transfer por- tal. And obviously, the brand of football — the O-line coming off the Joe Moore Award [for best offensive line nationally], the team coming off making the College Football Playoff. I just loved the momentum of the program and I feel like I can add to it, so it was a no-brainer." The Wolverine: You explored all your options? What did the NFL folks have to say? Oluwatimi: "I definitely did. I got my draft grades back and my feedback from the league, and I was getting Day 3 grades and undrafted. So, I was like, I'm going to use my last year of eligi- bility to work on what the league says I need to work on. Michigan offered that for me the best instead of me re- turning to the University of Virginia." The Wolverine: What was your first interaction with offensive line coach Sherrone Moore? And what do you like about him? Oluwatimi: "We talked on the phone when he started first recruiting me, but when I got up there for my of- ficial, honestly it was kind of like a big brother role. We were just talking and having fun. Getting to know each other. It wasn't really like a coach- player relationship. I kind of enjoyed that because I have been in college for a while, and I am like one of the older guys on the squad. That was my first interaction. "But actually, he coached one of my former teammates at Vir- ginia, coached him when he was at Central Michigan … a tight end. That tight end had nothing but great things to say about Coach Moore. I kind of knew it was going to be a great marriage." The Wolverine: How quickly have you acclimated with your teammates? And what about Michigan's play on the field do you like? Oluwatimi: "Prett y quick , honestly. The guys are good here, football is football, and I enjoy being at Michigan. So, the acclimation didn't take long. "… Then obviously, the brand of football. Here, we're a physi- cal unit. We love to run the ball. We want to establish the run game, and that's what I wanted. Being at Virginia, we had an explosive offense, but we didn't run the ball a lot. I definitely wanted to work on that part of my game." The Wolverine: What did you see from the offensive line this spring? Oluwatimi: "I think we're a work in progress. Nobody's going to be a fin- ished product on April 2. We have a lot of ball left. We have to go into training camp [strong]. We've got the summer cycle, so we're a work in progress. "But we're all eager to continue to get better." — Chris Balas Oluwatimi is a 6-3, 310-pound graduate transfer who is expected to bolster the Wolverines' offensive line at center. He was a Rimington Award finalist at Virginia last season. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL The men's basketball season came to an end with a 63-55 loss to Villanova in the Sweet 16. This brought a 19-15 season to a close, but a fifth consecutive trip to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament helped keep the program's postseason pedigree intact. Michigan finished as Ken Pomeroy's 27th-most-efficient team in college basketball and had the 21st-ranked offense and 74th-rated defense. The Wolverines hung their hats on the defensive end of the court this year, but finished 46 spots lower than their next-worst ranking in the last six years. This season's run to the Sweet 16 was a defensive outlier compared to the previous four appearances. Michigan has not finished lower than sixth defensively in any of its tournament trips since the 2016-17 season. That will be a point of empha- sis for the program in the lead-up to the 2022-23 season. Kansas closed out the season with a national champion- ship by finishing as KenPom's No. 3-ranked team with the s i x t h - ra n ke d o f fe n se a n d 17th-rated defense. Gonzaga ended the year ranked No. 1 despite a loss to Arkansas in the Sweet 16. — Anthony Broome Sitting Down With Michigan Graduate Student Center Olu Oluwatimi Year Rank AdjO AdjD Season Finish 2016-17 20th 4th 6th Sweet 16 2017-18 7th 35th 3rd NCAA runner-up 2018-19 6th 24th 2nd Sweet 16 2019-20 16th 20th 28th N/A (COVID-19) 2020-21 3rd 9th 4th Elite Eight 2021-22 27th 21st 74th Sweet 16 U-M Men's Hoops Recent KenPom Finishes