The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/402034
INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS MAIZE AND BLUE NOTEBOOK ATHLETES OF THE WEEK Fifth-year senior linebacker Jake Ryan and senior placekicker Matt Wile were named Co-Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week and Co-Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week, respectively, following the Wolverines' 18-13 victory over Penn State Oct. 11. Ryan posted a season-high 10 tackles, with a sack among three tackles for loss, against the Nittany Lions. He forced a crucial intentional grounding call late in the game, and he ended the game ninth on Michigan's career tackles-for-loss list with 40.5. Wile drilled field goals of 45, 42 and 37 yards, boosting the Wolverines past the Nittany Lions. With a point after on Michigan's lone touchdown, he scored 10 points for Michigan in the contest. Wile now has seven career field goals of 40 or more yards, tying former Michigan kicker Jay Feely for eighth on Michigan's all-time list of long-range field goals. JOHN BEILEIN OFFERS MEDIA DAY WISDOM When Michigan head basketball coach John Beilein speaks in Big Ten (or national) circles these days, people listen. So it was that the coach who took the Wolverines to the national title game two years ago and to the Elite Eight last season com- manded plenty of attention on Big Ten Basketball Media Day Oct. 16 in Chicago. Beilein talked about the difficult journey to that rare March air. He knows his pres- ent team will be even younger than the two that preceded it, which were among the youngest in the nation. But he enjoys the building process, while recognizing all that goes into any sort of postseason success. "It's obviously difficult to get there," he said. "At the same time, once you've been there one time … I'm as hungry or probably hungrier than ever to get back there. I think it's great motivation for everybody because they've experienced that run. It's maybe not getting there, it's the way you get there and how you get there and those moments in between, the journey. It makes it so valuable. "Yes, it's hard. You'd like to stay injury-free, and you're going to have times — I don't care who you are —during that year where you're not going to play well. You won't look like a Final Four team, and that's exactly what you may need in February or late January or even in March." DICK KIMBALL RETURNS AS VOLUNTEER Longtime Michigan diving coach Dick Kimball has returned as a volunteer assis- tant, working beside first-year diving coach Mike Hilde. Kimball served 43 years as Michigan head diving coach, from 1960-2002, and was a volunteer assistant from 2003-10.