The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1538670
PHOTO BY BRANDON BROWN 1st True road game at a Southeastern Confer- ence opponent in Michigan football history will come Sept. 6 at Oklahoma (7:30 p.m. EDT, ABC-TV). 10th Is where Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt placed Michigan in his preseason top 25. "I can't help myself," Klatt said of the rank- ing. "I just love the way that they finished the season. This is a defense that got it going late in the year, even with their star players not playing. "They cannot be worse on offense than they were a year ago. I think they're going be back among the elite in college football." 10 Is where 2023 Michigan ranked on Sports Illus- trated's listing of the best 25 college football teams of the last 25 years. The Maize and Blue went 15-0 and won the program's 12th-ever national championship. They stand behind only 2001 Miami, 2019 LSU, 2020 Alabama, 2018 Clem- son, 2005 Texas, 2004 USC, 2022 Georgia, 2009 Alabama and 2021 Georgia. 1937 Is the last time Michigan football didn't have consecutive home games in a sea- son, before the Wolverines will have that oddity occur again in 2025. This will be the third time in program history, with 1924 being the first. U-M will also play only six home games in a season, the few- est since 1986. $1.83 Billion Is the "projected price" of the Michigan football program — the fifth-most valu- able college team in the nation, according to The Athletic. Only Texas ($2.38B), Geor- gia ($1.92B), Ohio State ($1.9B) and Notre Dame ($1.85B) are considered more valu- able. Michigan's average football revenue is $141 million. "It's going to be the same product, different num- bers, different guys out there. We've got a lot of talent out there, so it's going to be fun." — Graduate edge TJ GUY on the defensive line There were so many lessons that I learned in college about competition, about growing up, about responsibility and accountability, about team, about decision-making, about work ethic, about leadership. All of those sustainable traits that I learned at Michi - gan, through not only my doing, my ex- perience, but watching some of the other incr edible men that I got to be a part of on that team and teams that I was a part of. For my entire life I can look back on that and be grateful." — TOM BRADY on "Big Noon Conversations" He's very confident. He has that natural leadership. He's loud. You have to be confident to be a quar- terback. Not cocky, but confident, and I really love that about him." — Graduate offensive lineman Giovanni El-Hadi on freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood There are just some things that [freshman] Bryce [Underwood] can do that [graduate Mikey Keene] can't do. And there are some things that Mikey can do because he is calm and because he's seen it 100 times or 1,000 times. Both of those guys look really good. I like the fact that we've got two quarterbacks. And I'll throw [sophomore] Jadyn Davis in there, as well. He's still working on his release and his throwing motion, but he's got a gun for an arm." — Jon Jansen on the "In The Trenches" podcast ❱ INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS I went with an A+. I don't know what else they could've done." — Field of 68's Rob Dauster grading U-M men's basketball's offseason PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL