The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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JUNE/JULY 2025 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 15 ❱ INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS FIVE YEARS AGO, 2020: Michi- gan athletics announced a financial sur- plus of $11.6 million for the 2020 fiscal year in June, amid an ongoing suspension of all sports activities because of COVID. Michigan also detailed protocols for re- turning to campus and eventually the fields of play. Student-athletes coming back to cam- pus would be subjected to daily screen- ings, and quarantine for those who tested positive for COVID. Athletic facilities underwent extensive sanitation efforts. Those steps represented phase one in attempting to get back to normal. Phase two was set to involve select sports (cross country, field hockey, golf, soccer, ten- nis and volleyball) returning to action in the fall. In addition, the deadline for renewing season football tickets became indefinitely extended due to uncertain- ties regarding the 2020 football season. 10 YEARS AGO, 2015: Michigan's Haylie Wagner fired a 6-hit shutout against Florida on June 2, 2015, hurling the Wolverines past the Gators and into the championship game of the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City. U-M needed only one run to win in light of Wagner's scoreless, 5-strikeout effort, and scored that one in the very opening inning. Kelsey Susalla supplied it, bringing home Sierra Lawrence with an RBI single. Michigan's defense and Wagner did the rest, the U-M pitcher improving her record to 25-2. The Wol- verines beat Florida ace Lauren Haeger, who entered the game with a 31-1 record on the year. "I knew it was going to be tough," Wagner said afterward. "But I just went out there, attacked them, and I wasn't going to let them beat me." 25 YEARS AGO, 2000: In June of 2000, Michigan quarterback Drew Hen- son found himself talking to Sports Il- lustrated about the season ahead. Tom Brady no longer roamed Michigan Sta- dium, off to the NFL as the 199th pick overall of the 2000 Draft. Henson re- mained, looking forward to a big year, following the Wolverines' strong finish in 1999. That finish involved wins over Penn State and Ohio State to close out the regular season, and a 35-34 overtime shootout against Alabama in the Orange Bowl. Henson noted the Wolverines still featured plenty of firepower from that game, saying it would be a mistake to overlook Lloyd Carr's crew in the season to come. "Teams took us for granted last year," Henson said. "We went down and played an Alabama team that was maybe the fastest in the country, and we showed them our athletic ability." Henson retained plenty of confidence, despite Michigan's defense losing a number of stalwarts following the 1999 campaign. "The pressure's not going to be on one person," he said. "We can score points when we need to and control the ball when we have to." Part of that control centered on a pair of leaders still around from the 1997 na- tional championship squad, offensive linemen Jeff Backus and Steve Hutchin- son. "We've got two first-round picks on the left side, so you're not going to get any more secure than that," he said. Over the summer, Henson went from what Sports Illustrated described as "the crown jewel of the New York Yankees farm system to the crown jewel of the Cincinnati Reds." That baseball trade took Henson out of The Big Apple, and soon enough, he'd return to Ann Arbor to prep for football. "It's been a memorable summer," he said. — John Borton THIS MONTH IN MICHIGAN ATHLETICS HISTORY Quarterback Drew Henson entered the 2000 season as the lock to start for Michigan following Tom Brady's graduation and move to the NFL. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN