The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/402034
MICHIGAN FOOTBALL over a number of classes, just like Michigan needed to do during the mid-1990s. Certainly, he noted, the '97 season wasn't based on an overload of fifth- year seniors. "They brought 25 guys in [for the 1993 class], and there were only a few left — [Brian] Griese, [Rob] Swett, [ G l e n ] S t e e l e , [Zach] Adami – out of all those guys," Ray re- called. "That was a great class. That fell apart. The '94 team had guys transferring — Tr e v o r P r y c e , Jon Ritchie, Seth Smith. "Lloyd [Carr] a n d G a r y [Moeller] had to restructure our program. That's why the '97 team was an accumula- tion of five different classes." During those "restructuring" years (1993-96) Michigan didn't win a Big Ten title, much less a national cham- pionship, Ray noted. But the pieces were being put into place. Ray, linebacker Sam Sword, tight end Jerame Tuman and cornerback Andre Weathers arrived in 1994. Eventual Heisman Trophy-win- ning cornerback Charles Woodson showed up in 1995, along with de- fensive tackles Rob Renes and Josh Williams, defensive end James Hall, and quarterback Tom Brady, who re- mained in the shadows during '97 but reportedly did okay thereafter. "In '96, you got Dhani [Jones], Ian [Gold], [Jeff] Backus, Tommy Hen- dricks," Ray recalled. "In '97, A-Train [Anthony Thomas]. All of those pieces fit into the puzzle of how we won a championship. That was a five-year reconstruction of Michigan football, and why it lasted so long and led to a cou- ple more Big Ten championships." R a y u n d e r - stands a lack of patience, but im- patience doesn't speed the build- ing process, he argued. " B u t n o b o d y w a n t s t o h e a r t h a t , b e c a u s e they don't want to hear the truth," Ray said. "That's the truth. They say the truth hurts. I say the truth hurts only if you've been lied to first. But that's just where we are." Ray noted that Michigan head coach Brady Hoke continues to build a roster, after inheriting one that fea- tured only eight scholarship offen- sive linemen and shortages of depth in several other areas, including at quarterback and all defensive posi- tions. "When you start to look at those classes, [fifth-year senior quarter- back] Devin [Gardner] came in and [fifth-year senior linebacker] Jake 2014 Football Schedule Date Opponent Time/Result Aug. 30 Appalachian State W, 52-14 Sept. 6 at Notre Dame L, 31-0 Sept. 13 Miami (Ohio) W, 34-10 Sept. 20 Utah L, 26-10 Sept. 27 Minnesota L, 30-14 Oct. 4 at Rutgers L, 26-24 Oct. 11 Penn State W, 18-13 Oct. 25 at Michigan State 3:30 p.m. Nov. 1 Indiana 3:30 p.m. Nov. 8 at Northwestern TBA Nov. 22 Maryland TBA Nov. 29 at Ohio State TBA