The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/629217
MICHIGAN FOOTBALL trio combined for 215 stops. Bolden's team-high 83 takedowns are the fewest by a Michigan leading tackler since Stevie Brown had 80 stops in 2009 and represent only the fifth time in the past 20 years that U-M's top defender had less than 85 tackles. • The Maize and Blue will return rushers that totaled 1,490 yards on the ground last season and 15 touchdowns, the most since Michigan entered the 2012 season with ball carriers that produced 2,636 rushing yards the previous year. • When Michigan beat Florida 41-7 in the Citrus Bowl, it marked the first time since the 1987 season that U-M had won its bowl game in the same year that it had lost to both Michigan State and Ohio State. In the 28 years since, Michigan lost to both rivals in 2001, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2014, and lost bowl games in 2001 (to Tennessee), 2010 (to Missis- sippi State) and 2013 (to Kansas State). • Could tailback De'Veon Smith be on the brink of a 1,000-yard campaign in his senior year? Seven of the last nine times a ball carrier with remaining eligibility rushed for 750 yards or more in one season, they followed it up with a 1,000-yard season; Smith rushed for 753 yards in 2015. Running back De'Veon Smith, who rushed for 753 yards as a junior in 2015, could be poised for a 1,000-yard season next fall. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN