The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/432566
MICHIGAN FOOTBALL The wideout from Farmington Hills (Mich.) Harrison accumulated 1,715 receiving yards on 126 catches over the course of his career, averag- ing 13.6 yards per grab. He caught a total of 15 touchdown passes for the Wolverines. Funchess became a Freshman All- American his first season in Ann Ar- bor, chosen by the Football Writers Association of America. He was also honorable mention All-Big Ten by conference media. As a sophomore, he captured All- Big Ten first-team honors by the media and second-team notice by Wolverines were sporting freshly minted national championship rings. That oc- curred, of course, in 1998, when they took a trip to South Bend and battled Notre Dame in Tom Brady's first start at quarterback. Michigan did leave The Big House to open the season in 2012, but that game unfolded at a neutral site, Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, versus Alabama. The 2015 campaign kicks off with the Wolverines in a true road venue once again. The Wolverines travel to Utah for a Thursday night game Sept. 3, uncharted ter- ritory for Michigan. Not only has U-M not played a Thursday game since they've become standard fare in college football's TV week, the Wolverines have never taken on Utah on the road. The contest is one of five road games for the Wolverines in 2015. Michigan travels to Maryland Oct. 3, Minnesota Oct. 31, Indiana Nov. 14 and Penn State Nov. 21. HACKETT: LOSE 'MICHIGAN MAN' TAG Interim athletics director Jim Hackett raised some eyebrows at the end of his press conference to dismiss head coach Brady Hoke, noting he'd like to do away with the term "Michigan Man." He quickly explained the reasons why. "There are three reasons," Hackett said. "One is, we live in a world where no business or anything would talk about just men in it. So that's first. "Second, the guy who said that, Bo Schembechler, one of my mentors and heroes, said it when he was being challenged about a coach being recruited somewhere else [Bill Frieder], and he meant he wanted a person who was at Michigan to be the head coach. "The third thing, though, if you let it stand for what it's supposed to mean, here's what it means: if you cut open the soul of the people who are Michigan Men, so to speak, you find, first, selflessness. This is a point about how we stand for the team first. The second thing is about the ability to win, and be competi- tive. "The competitive spirit, in my lifetime, and with others, we knew we had to work very hard. It wasn't an arrogance. It was about being prepared."