The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/614487
of that the commitment you make to your sport and the level of commit- ment Coach Harbaugh demands. It's remarkable." Hackett recalled his own time at the Football Bust. "When you get to be my age — I'll be 61 in a few weeks — that is 40 years from when it happened," he said. "It still is fresh in my mind as though it hap- pened just yesterday. Why is that? "First, you will never experience kinship like you have tonight, with your other brothers on this team. The fact that you have clawed and scratched your way to prominence says a great deal about all of you, and you won't forget that. "Those who stayed achieved notoriety that we haven't achieved in almost eight years." Forman told the as- sembled Wolverines their efforts and victories — now on the cusp of double digits for only the second time in nine seasons, heading into a bowl game — stirred some fond memories. "This football team has reminded us that we are the winningest foot- ball program in the history of colle- giate football," he said. "This football team reminds us that we have 128 All-Americans, three Heisman Tro- phy winners, 11 national champion- ships, 13 undefeated seasons. That's Michigan football. That's what this team reminds us of." Brandstatter, in addition to trad- ing lighthearted barbs with For- man, introduced the 1985 Michigan football team, special guests at the Bust. Harbaugh himself led that Bo Schembechler-coached crew as a quarterback, through a 10-1-1 sea- son that included wins o v e r N o t re D a m e , Michigan State and Ohio State, and a bare- knuckle brawl with Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl. "After a very dif- ficult first half at the Fiesta Bowl in Ari- zona, Michigan put on a great comeback in the second half and defeated Nebraska, 27-23," Brandstatter recalled. "After that game … I'll never forget, sitting in Bo's room. We're getting the tape ready, the [Michi- gan Replay] camera is getting set up, and we're setting this tape up so we can show young recruits. "Bo was sitting there with his cigar, and he looked at me and goes, 'Jim, this is the best team that I ever had. Anybody in the country … we'll play 'em, and we'll beat 'em.' "And that's when I knew he loved the '85 team, that wound up as the No. 2-ranked team in the country, when all was said and done. In Bo's Tight end Michael Jocz received the Dr. Arthur D. Robinson Scholarship Award as the top senior scholar. The mechanical engineering major posted the team's top GPA. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN