The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1488967
32 THE WOLVERINE JANUARY 2023 MICHIGAN FOOTBALL NATIONAL AWARDS ROUNDUP Michigan football was solidly repre- sented at the College Football Awards Dec. 8, and graduate center Olu Olu- watimi proved to be a headliner. He walked out of the night with the Rimington Award for the nation's best center and the Outland Trophy for the country's best interior offensive line- man on either side of the ball. Olu- watimi is the first Michigan player ever to win the Outland. For Oluwatimi, it was a long time coming. He was a Rimington semifinal- ist at Virginia last season but lost out to Iowa's Tyler Linderbaum. Oluwatimi came to Michigan for a chance to take his game to the next level and has sur- passed all expectations. Surprisingly, the national selectors valued his play more than Big Ten voters, who voted him second-team All-Big Ten during all-conference awards one week earlier. After arriving in Ann Arbor last win- ter, Oluwatimi learned the playbook before spring ball even started. This allowed him to slide right in and an- chor the interior of Michigan's offensive line, a job he never ceded any ground on throughout the offseason. That mastery of his craft helped him earn an alternate captain nod from his teammates, a role that increased when captains Cade Mc- Namara and Erick All went down with injuries early this season. Michigan kicker Jake Moody was up for the Lou Groza Award, which he won last year. Unfortunately, he lost out to North Carolina State's Christopher Dunn. Junior Blake Corum was a candidate for the Doak Walker Award, which goes to the nation's top running back. How- ever, that honor went to Texas' Bijan Robinson, who ran for 1,580 yards and 18 touchdowns this season. Corum, who missed the final two and a half games, finished the year 1,463 yards and 18 touchdowns. However, Corum was named the re- cipient of The Chicago Tribune Silver Football Award, which is given to the best player in the Big Ten regardless of position and voted on by the head coaches in the conference. He is the 19th Wolverine in program history to win the award and gave Michigan has back-to- back winners for the first time since 2003-04 (running back Chris Perry and wide receiver Braylon Edwards) after defensive end Aidan Hutchinson took home the trophy in 2021. After spending much of the season as a potential front-runner, Corum was not invited to the Heisman Trophy ceremony, which had USC quarterback Caleb Williams taking home the prize over TCU quarterback Max Duggan, Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud and Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett. Corum finished seventh in the final vote with Tennessee quarterback Hen- don Hooker and Alabama signal-caller Bryce Young ahead of him. Corum and his Wolverine teammates did receive plenty more national praise as All-America teams were put together, though. Both Corum and Oluwatimi were consensus first-team picks while Moody was named to All-America sec- ond teams by the Walter Camp Founda- tion, Associated Press and American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). Corum actually was a unanimous All- American, selected to the first team by the above three organizations in addi- tion to the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and Sporting News. Oluwatimi was named a first-team se- lection by Walter Camp, FWAA, Sport- ing News and AFCA, while the Associ- ated Press tabbed him as a second-team honoree. Senior edge Mike Morris cracked a pair of All-America lists, being named to the second team by the FWAA and AFCA. Michigan also had a pair of Fresh- man All-America honorees in defensive tackle Mason Graham and cornerback Will Johnson, who were named to Pro Football Focus' group of top first-year performers across college football. Both players also cracked On3's list of Fresh- man All-Americans, in addition to tight end Colston Loveland. — Anthony Broome MICHIGAN RAKES IN INDIVIDUAL BIG TEN HONORS The Wolverines won the ultimate prize by claiming their second straight conference crown with its 43-22 win over Purdue Dec. 3, but the week lead- ing up to its second consecutive trip to Indianapolis was full of individual hard- ware for Michigan's standout players on each side of the ball. Head coach Jim Harbaugh, the ar- chitect of the team's 2022 success, was named the Big Ten's Coach of the Year by both the media and coaches after leading the Wolverines to a 12-0 regular season and consecutive Big Ten titles for the first time since 2003-04. Offensively, the award haul was headlined by junior running back Blake Corum, who was named the Ameche- Dayne Running Back of the Year in addi- tion to receiving first-team All-Big Ten honors from both the coaches and me- dia. He is U-M's first-ever winner of the running back of the year award, which was first given out after the 2011 season. Michigan's Joe Moore Award-winning offensive line had plenty of representa- tion. Junior guard Zak Zinter also grabbed a spot on the first team from both voting parties. Graduate center Olu Oluwatimi and senior guard Trevor Keegan were first-teamers on the coaches ballot and second-team selections from the media. Graduate left tackle Ryan Hayes (sec- ond team, coaches; third team, media) and senior right tackle Karsen Barnhart (honorable mention, coaches and media) also earned accolades from the Big Ten. Oluwatimi also was a Big Ten Sports- manship Award Winner. Graduate center Olu Oluwatimi was one of two Wolverines to be tabbed a consensus All-American, plus he earned the Rimington Award for the nation's best center and the Outland Trophy for the country's best inte- rior lineman, offense and defense. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL