The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/299859
FOOTBALL RECRUITING "I think I stepped into a fortunate situation where we were a little thin on the depth chart," Kovacs said. "I just got the opportunity, and I made the most of it. There's a lot of prepara- tion that went into it and really being ready. I was ready to play some ball. I knew once I got my opportunity, I'd take advantage of it. "There's a lot of film study, a lot of things that are tough to recruit and to see when you're recruit- ing. There's a lot more that goes into it than being big and athletic. That's a lot of it, but there's more to it than that." Kovacs is a success story, but even he is aware that a physi- cally superior player like Peppers will suc- ceed more often than not. While there are rags-to-riches stories of a walk-on becoming an all- conference player (Kovacs was honor- able mention in 2011 and 2012, and a second-team selection by the coaches in 2012), more often than not, their role is to provide the competition that Jack- son cited as one reason for Michigan's success in the early 2000s. "I always had guys to compete with and that were pushing me," Kovacs said. "Then I had guys that I was on the field with at the same time, and we were competing together. We were pushing each other to be the best we could be. That's what it's about. That's what this recruiting thing's about, and that's what football's about." The competition isn't just about within the position group. Michigan's long quarterback history was accom- panied by a history of success at wide receiver as well. The defensive backs were competing with those players each and ev- ery day in practice, and ultimately Michi- gan's offense and de- fense benefitted. "It is necessary and essential in order for your team to be suc- cessful," Jackson said. "When we were in school, practice was more competitive than the game. When you had all of us DBs going up against Braylon Edwards, Jason Avant, Steve Breaston, Adrian Arrington, all these different guys, it pushes you to another level, and makes you that much more comfortable going into the game. "You need to have that competition so that there's no easing up and get- ting comfortable by players who look around and see, 'I'm not being pushed — this guy does not threaten me.' That was not possible when we were here. You constantly were threatened by your position, and it made you go out and compete even harder and want to succeed." The Wolverines are making strides Safety Jordan Kovacs, who spent the 2013 season with the NFL's Miami Dolphins, went from walk-on to All-Big Ten performer during his time in Ann Arbor. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL