The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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miscues did not cost the Maize and Blue. And there was some good too: fifth-year senior graduate transfer punter Blake O'Neill averaged 42.3 yards per punt over his final six contests and redshirt junior Kenny Allen went 9 of 11 on field goals (81.8 percent), finishing his year 16 of 20. Lewis replaced Peppers at kickoff returner and averaged 25.2 yards on 15 chances, including three runbacks of 30 yards or more. His 55-yard re- turn in the fourth quarter at Penn State helped set up Michigan's game- clinching touchdown. With the negative plays all occur- ring so closely together, it is under- standable to look at special teams with a critical eye, but over the course of an entire regular season, to have less than half a dozen mistakes, with so many positive impactful mo- ments, the unit merits a solid mark. Best Player: KR Jabrill Peppers Most Improved: PK Kenny Allen Who To Watch In 2016: New Punter ❏ The Wolverines With The Best Regular-Season Report Cards Below are the seven Michigan players that The Wolverine would've graded with 'A' performances during the regular season. Redshirt junior K Kenny Allen — A+: Michigan's kicking game was consid- ered in the preseason to be, potentially, U-M's biggest hole, but Allen proved incredibly reliable. He is one of just seven kickers in program history to make 80 percent of their tries (minimum 10 attempts), connecting on 16 of 20 field goals. Junior CB Jourdan Lewis — A: Lewis finished the regular season ranked as the top cornerback nationally by ProFootballFocus.com with a +21.2 mark that was almost five points better than No. 2 Nick VanHoose of Northwestern. Quarterbacks completed just 36.5 percent of the passes they threw Lewis' way. Redshirt junior WR Jehu Chesson — A: Chesson may have been a surprise first-team All-Big Ten selection because of his relatively meager reception total (45), but his eight TD catches led the Big Ten and his 11 total scores ranks him third in the Big Ten behind tailbacks Ezekiel Elliott (19) and Jordan Canzeri (13). Junior TE Jake Butt — A: It wouldn't make sense to give the Big Ten's Tight End of the Year anything less than an "A," and Butt is deserving of such recogni- tion. The junior was consistently Michigan's big-play threat in the passing game, leading U-M with 11 receptions of 20 yards or more, while adding another 11 catches of 10-19 yards. Senior FB Sione Houma — A-: For the first time in more than a decade, Houma made the fullback position at Michigan relevant, totaling 42 offensive touches for 229 yards and four touchdowns — all three statistics marked the most by a U-M fullback since B.J. Askew had 146 touches for 848 yards and seven touchdowns during the 2002 campaign.