The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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culture will sustain itself, and we can be as fortunate recruiting as we were with this last four." It's on former players, too, to con- tinue to offer their support to the program, Morgan said, whether it's direct or from afar. Burke and Hard- away have both been back since they left, while having the 1989 national champions return to be honored and offer their support in March meant a lot to the team. "This program is going to continue to be great," Morgan insisted. "We've developed a culture here that will outlast any single player. That's the most important thing. "I just know how great it was to have that influence from former play- ers that were in the same trenches as you. Just to have them be proud of you was a very strong feeling. For me, it's very important moving on that I have an influence and presence here in this program." There's plenty the coaches can't control, including who leaves and when, but recruiting winners and de- veloping a team-first atmosphere is one thing they can and do have. "Culture never graduates, and we've got a culture right now that took us two or thee years to develop and is embedded in Wolverine excel- lence," Meyer said. "The challenge obviously is to not only find the talent like Nik, Trey, Glenn and Tim we lost, but the char- acter, the diligence, the passion, the perspective they brought, too. That's the challenge, and we've just got to go through a process of evaluation intrying to get the right fit." They had no idea how good some of their recruits would be, and there's no guarantee the young guys will be able to replace Stauskas and Robinson the way LeVert and Stauskas helped fill Burke's and Hardaway's shoes. "We're working at it every day," Meyer said. "We shall see. We don't know how we'll do, but right now we're just thrilled for Glenn and Nik — they earned this day. We've just got to try to continue to find the path that will allow us to sustain our suc- cess. It's a work in progress." One, though, they can't wait to undertake in their quest to keep the machine humming along. ❑ Looking Ahead Michigan sophomores Nik Stauskas and Glenn Robinson III agreed on one thing above all else when they jointly announced their NBA intentions April 15 — they were leaving the program in great hands. "Look at the guys over there," Stauskas said, nodding toward his teammates. "They are hard-working guys who have been through a lot these last couple years along with the coaching staff, which has shown what they can do with players who are wiling to work. "We have a great recruiting class coming in. This program is still on the rise, and the amount of things they can achieve is limitless. As long as they stay committed to working and listening to these coaches, I think they are going