The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1530730
JANUARY 2025 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 31 to reach out, and I was able to play for the circuit teams. The more I played, I got up to the higher level." He signed with Ohio State during the COVID season and enjoyed plenty of per- sonal success there. He's careful to stress that while he's 100 percent Wolverine, he hasn't burned personal bridges with where he began his college career. "I enjoyed my time at Ohio State," he said. "I'll never tell you I didn't. I have some family there, and guys I met from other places. I will never regret my time there. But I feel like I made the right deci- sion for me and my family, coming here." May obviously won't regret the rangy guard joining his first Michigan squad. "Roddy is stringing together some consistency," May offered. "He's been awesome in practice. He's a great leader. When he speaks, his teammates listen, because he's about the team. He de- serves the success. He works hard, and he's doing it in a lot of different ways. He's doing it as a creator, doing it as a shooter, as a driver." May also seemed to anticipate Gayle's strong effort against Iowa, talking about him days prior to Michigan's narrow victory. "Roddy, when he's locked in, is ex- tremely disruptive," May said. "He's making shots at a high rate. I think he'll get to the foul line a little more than he is now. Part of that is with the bigs, figur- ing out the spacing, when to drive and when not to drive. We need Roddy to impact the game every possession he's on the court, because he's capable. He's such a good athlete. He's such a good re- bounder. He's got great lateral quickness. "His role for us is simply to be one of those guys who impacts every single possession through the big plays but also the invisible plays." Gayle's leadership is anything but in- visible, and he loves the potential for this group of Wolverines. When he in- sists the team still has a long way to go, it's not in a spirit of negativity about where they stand. Rather, it's in the sense of where it can go if these players continue growing together. "It's definitely exciting," Gayle said. "It's people who have been successful in their own paths and we're all coming together with different experiences but a common goal — to win." ❏ Gayle, a transfer from Ohio State, averaged 12.3 points per game in Michigan's first 10 contests this season. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL