The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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4 THE WOLVERINE SEPTEMBER 2022 Join The Conversation! The all-new home of TheWolverine.com LAST CHANCE! Join for only $1 Promotion is for your first year only. Regularly $99.99 FROM OUR WEBSITE September 2022 • Vol. 34, No. 3 ISSN 1048-9940 Editor John Borton TheWolverine.com Editor Chris Balas Football Recruiting Editor EJ Holland Staff Writers Clayton Sayfie, Anthony Broome Drew Hallett Managing Editor Mark Panus Contributing Editors Matt Herb Steve Downey Chris Riffer Layout And Design Jeanette Blankenship Chris Miller Contributing Photographers Lon Horwedel Per Kjeldsen Cover Photo Lon Horwedel Publisher Stu Coman Business Manager Linda Autry Circulation Manager Sarah Boone Advertising Sales Michelle DeLee-Hamilton 877-630-8768 Customer Service Cathy Jones, Laura Thornton, Shaheda Hargette 800-421-7751 The Wolverine is published monthly. A one- year (12 issues) subscription is $66.99. The Wolverine is printed at The Papers in Milford, Ind. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Wolverine, P.O. Box 2331, Durham, NC 27702. Periodical postage paid at Durham, NC 27702 and additional offices. For advertising or subscription information, call 1-800-421-7751 or write The Wolverine, P.O. Box 2331, Durham, NC 27702. The Wolverine is a publication of Coman Publishing Company, 905 W. Main St, Suite 24F, Durham, NC 27701. E-Mail Address: thewolverine@comanpub.com Subscription questions: cjones@comanpub.com Website: www.thewolverine.com PRESEASON FOOTBALL OPTIMISM IS THE HIGHEST SINCE … I'm trying to think of the last year where preseason expectations were this high for Michigan football, both nationally and from the fan base. We were coming off a nice season in 2017, but weren't even ranked top 10. And we all knew we had lost a lot off the team from the year before on de- fense. Plus, we hadn't beaten OSU. In 2016 we were a top-10 team, but we hadn't beaten OSU the year before either. Most of the momentum was from the bowl victory over Florida. Plus, despite the guys we had coming back, we were breaking in a new QB. I recall a fair amount of optimism in 2012, too. We had Denard [Robinson] coming back, we were preseason top 8 (even had one first-place vote) and were coming off a great season with a victory over OSU and the Sugar Bowl win. And then there was 2007, the last time we were preseason top 7, I believe, and we were returning a ton on both sides of the ball. Obviously, that didn't go as planned. I think it has to be 2012 or 2007 for this kind of optimism. I'm not sure anybody was this confident heading into 2016 or 2017, largely because of the losses to OSU. Am I missing anything? andrewhfine Not even close. People were thinking 8-4 or 9-3. We were unranked with tons of question marks. Maybe 2016. Hope we can live up to the hype this year. Something tells me the leadership, talent, and schedule will have us going into OSU undefeated. krs919 Since '07. Honorable mention to '12, '16 and '19… but playing Bama Week 1 dampened the hype in '12 and QB was a question mark in '16. Coming off a B1G championship, beating OSU and with this schedule is laid out puts this season over the top. Here's hoping it works out better than all of those, LOL. ConqueringHero HOW DO PEOPLE FEEL ABOUT THIS YEAR'S HOOPS TEAM? I like some pieces but am not really sure how the team will look given the roster. shaver No reason to not be optimistic. All- American center, a senior PG, an expe- rienced 4 and a very talented Jett How- ard and Kobe Bufkin. Bench is unproven and a question mark but some very talented freshmen there. Remember, only need three good backups to have a very good team. And Jace Howard will be good glue guy and defender. The ceiling of the team is very high, and the floor is an NCAA Tournament team. This will be a fun season to watch them grow and develop. SuperBlue92 "Those Who Stay …" DowJones Coming off a 12-2 record and playoff berth, Michigan received preseason rankings of No. 6 and No. 8, respectively, in the USA Today Coaches and Associated Press polls. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN