The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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76 THE WOLVERINE MARCH 2023 WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The moment for Jocz was a signature play toward the end of a five-year career at Michigan. Ann Arbor was always a place he wanted to be, with several fam- ily members carving their own paths at U-M. "I knew for a while that I wanted to go to the Univer- sity of Michigan regardless of if I played football or not," Jocz said. "My family has a lot of strong ties to the university. My older sister has her bach- elor's and Ph.D. at Michigan in chemical engineering. Both my parents went, and both of my grandparents on my dad's side. So, I'm actually a fifth-genera- tion Michigan grad with about 17 people in my family within those five generations that have all gone. I was indoctrinated from an early age growing up that Michigan is where I wanted to go. That was the only school I applied to." Jocz began his playing ca- reer at U-M in 2012 under head coach Brady Hoke before the transition to Jim Harbaugh in 2015. He has plenty of respect for both men, but there was a noticeable shift in approach when the change was made. "Being a part of that transition, I re- spected both Coach Hoke and Coach Harbaugh, and all of the work they've done and who they are as people," Jocz said. "Different feel within the two or- ganizations, though. It was very much a reflection of who they are in their own ways. "Part of the transition from Hoke to Harbaugh was a lot of excitement about turning the program around. We knew we had the talent to get it done. We wanted to go out there, turn the program around and win some foot- ball games. That's what we all had come there to do. It's way more fun to win than it is to lose. [Under Har- baugh], we obviously didn't ac- complish all of the goals that we wanted to, but we kind of put ourselves on the right track and had opportunities in a lot of ways to accomplish those goals." After his playing career was over, Jocz spent a season as a graduate research assistant at U-M with former teammate Ben Pliska. They worked under two professors on a helmet de- sign for concussion prevention and built mechanical testing equipment for various helmet designs. Nowadays, he finds himself working for Rivian, an electric automobile manufac- turer founded in 2009. "When I started after gradu- ating from Michigan, there were maybe 120 people in the entire company," Jocz said. "Now, maybe 15,000 people. I looked at other automakers, knowing I wanted to stay in Michigan and the auto industry is huge here. "The chance at Rivian being a smaller company would allow me to learn a lot more in a shorter period of time and kind of utilize my engineer- ing mindset and skill set to understand why certain things are done." The dual role a student-athlete plays on the field and in the classroom teaches plenty of lessons, especially at Michi- gan. Jocz carries plenty of them into his life and career to this day. "I think there's a lot that I learned from the academic side," Jocz said. "Mechanical engineering in a way gives knowledge and skill set in a broad as- pect. "Everyone's got a little bit different perspective and skills to bring to the table from the athletic side, Determi- nation, resiliency, work ethic, account- ability and all those big things that came with being a student-athlete. "Being a student-athlete at Michigan with high academic and athletic expec- tations across the board, I developed a lot of ways to carry myself into the real world where I'm no longer part of the team, but those principles carry over and it is still a competition that looks a little bit different nowadays." ❏ Jocz, shown here with wife Natalie, is a senior mechanical engi- neer at Rivian, an electric automobile manufacturing company. PHOTO COURTESY MICHAEL JOCZ The Michael Jocz File Michigan Accolades: Graduated from the College of Engineering with a bach- elor's of science and a master's in mechanical engineering … CoSIDA Academic All-District Five Selection … Big Ten Distinguished Scholar … 2015 Dr. Arthur D. Robinson Scholarship recipient as the top U-M senior football student-athlete … Earned U-M Athletic Academic Achievement Award … Graduate research assistant at U-M (May 2016 – Aug. 2017). Professional Accolades: Senior mechanical engineer at Rivian (Aug. 2017 – Present). Favorite Spot On Campus: "I haven't been back to a ton of football games, but when you go back to a game or are near the Big House in general, you still kind of feel that atmosphere to it. It takes you back a little bit to when you were a player and running out of that tunnel." Favorite Michigan Memory: "The punt block against Colorado stands out. That was my biggest in-game achievement." Family: Warren and Ann-Marie Jocz (parents) … Jennifer and Kathryn Jocz (sisters) … Natalie Jocz (wife).