The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1490206
FEBRUARY 2023 THE WOLVERINE 9 BY ANTHONY BROOME F ormer Michigan heavyweight wres- tler Adam Coon (2014-18), a three- time All-American and two-time NCAA finalist, announced on Jan. 11 he would return to the sport after a dalliance with pro football. The 2019 Pan American Championships gold medalist plans to resume competition and work his way to potential Olympic representation. Coon, a Fowlerville, Mich., native, never played football at U-M but had high school experience as an all-state linebacker and honorable mention of- fensive lineman. The Tennessee Titans signed Coon in June 2021 to play on their offensive line before he was waived and eventually released later that summer. He was recently assigned to the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL. "For the last year and a half, I have pursued NFL football and I found out what it would take for me to continue to pursue the NFL and I have decided that my heart is no longer in that," he told his sister, Maddie Coon, in an interview on Intermat.com. "So, at this point, I have decided that I will be returning to wres- tling full-time and attempting to make the World team and hopefully, eventu- ally the Olympic team and wrestle in the Olympics. I will be moving back to wrestling and pursuing my goals there." Coon said he was nearly a two-sport athlete at Michigan and had conversa- tions with football head coach Jim Har- baugh about potentially joining the pro- gram. "I had talked with Coach Harbaugh, and he was working on trying to get me in for that fifth year to go play football and talking with a few other coaches and things were getting set up, but then in '16 after the Olympic Trials, I just couldn't use my shoulder," Coon said. "It was just so banged up and beat up from the years that I needed to have shoulder surgery to get that thing re- paired. So, I had to have labral surgery, and it was nine months of hard recovery and all that fun stuff. "I used my redshirt then and there, and then my fifth year ended up being my fourth year wrestling, and football just kind of ended right there." Football was not on his radar before the conversations with Harbaugh, but the desire was still in the back of his mind to give it a shot. "I didn't think about football too much until right around that point, and then surgery ended it, so it was kind of like I'm still thinking of football," Coon said. "I would like to try my hand at it because again … I started thinking, 'I wonder when football would fit,' but I still wasn't ready to move into football at that time." Despite his best efforts and a tryout with the Titans, Coon felt the pull back to the sport in which he had accomplished so much. He went 116-15 at Michigan in his time with the wrestling program, earning All-America honors in 2015-16 and 2018, and making the NCAA finals in 2015 and 2018. He also has a pair of silver medals to his name from the 2018 World Championships and 2020 Pan American Wrestling Championships in addition to his gold from the 2019 Pan American event in Buenos Aires. "I had my shot at the NFL, I gave it my all and I found out what I needed to find out and that was exactly what caliber I could be at in the NFL, and I found my answer," Coon said. "It felt like I didn't with wrestling, so that's why I chose to come back to wrestling. "I still have some questions that I have unanswered. I need to know, can I make another World team? And if I do, can I step on the podium? Can I make the Olympic team and wrestle in the Olym- pics? There are still all these question marks in my mind." ❏ Inside Michigan ATHLETICS Michigan Wrestling Alum-Turned Football Player Returns To Mat Adam Coon, a three-time All-American and Pan American Championships gold medalist in 2019, is back to wrestling after a brief stop in the NFL. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY