The Wolverine

August 2022*

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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AUGUST 2022 THE WOLVERINE 31 votes, 273 second-place tallies and 174 third-place nods. He is the third Wolverine to finish second in the final balloting, joining running backs Tom Harmon (1939) and Bob Chappuis (1947), and the first de- fensive player to earn runner-up place- ment since Notre Dame's Manti Te'o in 2012. The Plymouth, Mich., native is the 10th defensive player selected as a finalist. The edge rusher was named a con- sensus first-team All-American, and was one of just seven Wolverines to be named unanimous All-Americans over the last 25 years, joining Woodson (1997), Steve Hutchinson (2000), Bray- lon Edwards (2004), LaMarr Woodley (2006), Jake Long (2007) and Jabrill Peppers (2016) He won the Lott IMPACT Trophy, the Rotary Lombardi Award and the Ted Hendricks Award, and was the co-re- cipient of the 2021 Mayo Clinic Come- back Player of the Year honor, after an ankle injury held him out of the sec- ond half of U-M's 2020 campaign. He was a first-team All-Big Ten pick and awarded the Chicago Tribune Silver Football for the Big Ten's best player. The son of former U-M All-American defensive lineman Chris Hutchinson led the Wolverines to their first win over Ohio State since 2011, first Big Ten title since 2004, first College Football Playoff appearance and third-ever 12- win season. The Maize and Blue fin- ished No. 3 in the country in both major polls. Beating Ohio State 42-27 in The Big House and taking care of business ver- sus Iowa 42-3 in the Big Ten title game in Indianapolis were signature mo- ments for Hutchinson, who was named the MVP of the latter contest. "I felt like I was on top of the world," he said. "I felt like literally nothing could stop me. I think that's how we all felt. We did this. It was something we did that nobody thought we could do. People were projecting us to win noth- ing, and we won it all." The team MVP was the anchor for a unit that slotted top 30 in scoring defense (eighth), total defense (20th), rushing defense (27th) and passing de- fense (27th). Hutchinson attended the 2022 NFL Draft in Las Vegas, and was selected No. 2 overall by the hometown Detroit Lions during the April event, behind No. 1 overall pick Travon Walker, a former Georgia defensive end who was taken first by the Jacksonville Jaguars. "He's a football player," Lions head coach Dan Campbell said after the or- ganization selected Hutchinson. "He brings a motor. He brings tempo. He brings relentlessness. He brings rush. He brings run production. He's quick; he's powerful; he's explosive. He's re- ally everything we're looking for. "We said all along, these are the type of players we're looking for, particularly defensively. You want your whole de- fense to play with that type of your hair is on fire [attitude] … This kid plays the game the right way." He is U-M's highest-drafted de- fender of all time, and the Wolverines' 11th top-five selection in history. He is the program's highest pick since Long went No. 1 overall in 2008. Five U-M defenders have been cho- sen in the top 10, with Hutchinson joining Woodson (No. 4, 1998), Curtis Greer (No. 6, 1980), Mel Owens (No. 9, 1981) and Devin Bush (No. 10, 2019). "My Michigan legacy is complete," Hutchinson said in his farewell post to U-M on social media. "And it was truly the best time of my life." — Clayton Sayfie 1. Paul Juda, Gymnastics — The junior won NCAA titles in all-around and vault, marking U-M's first all-around cham- pionship since the 2014 season (Sam Mikulak) and first title overall since Anthony McCallum in 2019 (vault). Juda was the 19th individual in program history to win an NCAA crown. He earned six All-America honors, tying Miku- lak's modern-era program record, and placed in the top eight on high bar (second, 14.566) and parallel bars (fourth, 14.366) in addition to finishing eighth on both floor exercise and still rings. He was named Big Ten Men's Gymnast of the Year in 2022 for a second straight season, becoming the school's second athlete to win the award twice, joining Mikulak. 2. Nick Suriano, Wrestling — The sixth-year senior gradu- ate transfer from Rutgers won the NCAA title at 125 pounds, defeating Princeton's Patrick Glory in the championship match in Detroit. With that, he became just the second wres- tler in history to win a national title at two different schools, having done so as a Scarlet Knight at 133 pounds in 2019. Suriano enjoyed an undefeated 16-0 season, including a 7-0 dual-meet mark. He earned bonus points in 12 of 16 wins, recording seven major decisions, two technical falls and three pins. The Paramus, N.J., native was named one of eight final- ists for the Hodge Trophy, wrestling's equivalent to football's Heisman Trophy. 3. Matty Beniers, Hockey — The sophomore forward and 2021 No. 2 overall NHL Draft pick to the Seattle Kraken helped lead U-M to a Big Ten Tournament title and its NCAA-leading 26th Frozen Four appearance. He was tabbed a first-team All-American by the American Hockey Coaches Association and named first-team All-Big Ten. He was also a finalist for conference player of the year honors. Beniers scored 20 goals and 23 assists in 37 games, averag- ing 1.16 points per game, and scored at least one point in 25 contests. He led the Big Ten with 26 points in 18 league games, despite missing time for the Olympics and World Juniors. 4. Hunter Dickinson, Basketball — The sophomore center led U-M in points (18.6) and rebounds per game (8.6) for a second straight season, earning the squad's MVP honors. The second-team All-Big Ten standout also paced the Wolverines with 240 made field goals and a 56.3 overall shooting per- centage and posted 29 double-figure scoring games, with 14 of 20-plus points. He also led U-M with 1.5 blocks per game and was third on the team with 2.3 assists per outing. The 7-1, 260-pounder helped the No. 11 seed Maize and Blue reach their fifth consecutive Sweet 16 berth, knocking off No. 6 seed Colorado State and No. 3 seed Tennessee in the Big Dance. He combined to score 48 points in the first two games of the NCAA Tournament, which was the most by a Michigan player since Juwan Howard in 1994. — Clayton Sayfie Runners-Up

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