The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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22 THE WOLVERINE ❱ MAY 2023 sition, but it's a little bit rarer up front, O-line or D-line. "You don't see those guys come in often that are strong enough and heavy enough, really, to be able to stand their ground in the middle of Big Ten offen- sive and defensive line play. That's one thing. He just physically was strong enough. "Now this is where I think he really becomes a good player — his ability to use leverage. In talking to him and other D-linemen and O-linemen that watched him play, his ability to stay low, play with leverage, a lot of that comes from his wrestling background. "He's able to use his body weight. The tools he's been given to take advantage of, he maximized every single one of those." Graham became a two-time heavy- weight champion wrestler in the Trin- ity League in California. He recognizes a host of advantages his second sport provided when it comes to success in the hand-to-hand combat of football. "It's on the leverage side of things," Graham insisted. "When I'm taking on double-teams, I know where that pres- sure is coming from. I know what to fight. You fight pressure with pressure. I have a good feel on different blocks — ways I will get blocked, and how to defeat it." It certainly doesn't hurt to face what he describes as "the best O-line in col- lege football" every day in practice. Combine that with strength and con- ditioning director Ben Herbert's work with him in the weight room, and Gra- ham doesn't lack the tools to succeed. The rookie came in putting up the requisite 225 pounds 21 times on the bench press — an astonishing number for most. He's now up to 27, but the bench repetitions just scratch the sur- face of his strength training, Graham noted. "It's already improved drastically," he said. "But it's not just in bench, but all the things that go overlooked — bal- ance, stability, other muscles that aren't really thought of when you think of playing football. I've really developed those." Working with defensive line coach Mike Elston, Graham added, "I've made a lot of gains, probably most in my football knowledge and our scheme of things, defensive-wise. I'm start- ing to understand the bigger picture, why we're doing the stuff we're doing. What's working, what's not, what can we do better." THE BIGGEST PICTURE Graham got introduced to the fierc- est big picture for Michigan in strik- ing fashion last season. There were the ever-tough battles against Michigan State and Penn State. Then on the fi- nal day of the regular season, Graham stood on the turf at Ohio Stadium with a team attempting what no Michigan squad had done since 2000 — win in Columbus. They did so in resounding fashion, 45-23. Graham and the Wolverines got to exult like no group of U-M perform- ers in their lifetimes. He didn't take the experience lightly. "Coming in, everyone always talked about how important the game is," Gra- ham reflected. "But you have to experi- ence it to understand what it feels like. "I had an idea of what it was going to be like, but it definitely exceeded my expectations. It was a battle." The battle came to a stunning, con- clusive end late in the fourth quarter, in a moment seared onto a freshman defensive tackle's consciousness. The clock hadn't run out, but for all practical purposes, the game was over. "It was definitely after one of our de- fensive stops, and the offense scored," Graham said. "I think it was one of Donovan's [Edwards] long runs. I looked over to their sideline. They all had their heads down. They all looked defeated. "That's when we all looked at each other and said, 'We've got 'em.' We just kept playing harder and harder from there, and the result came out like we wanted." One game later, Michigan caused Pur- due's Boilermakers to bow their heads in a 43-22 blowout for the Big Ten cham- pionship, and Graham got a chance to hoist the conference trophy. But U-M's 13-0 magic season ended in Glendale, Ariz., when TCU came away with a 51- 45 win in a wild, mistake-filled scram- ble to reach the national title game. Wolverine after Wolverine insisted this spring: We should have been in the championship game. In 2022, Graham notched 2.5 sacks and 14 solo stops among his 27 tackles, broke up a pass, recorded a QB hurry and earned mention as a Pro Football Focus Freshman All-American. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN