The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/703389
Michigan featured a number of ath- letes worthy of Male Athlete of the Year consideration. Here's the best of the rest: 1. Taylor McLaughlin, track and field — McLaughlin earned All- America honors for the indoor dis- tance medley relay (DMR) and out- door 400-meter hurdles, leading the former to an All-America finish for the first time since 2007. He was a Big Ten champion in the outdoor 400-meter hurdles, a U.S. Junior national cham- pion in the same event and set the school record at the indoor 400 me- ters (46.42). In addition to setting the program mark in the indoor 400 during his postseason debut at Big Tens with a bronze-medal finish, he also lined up with the 4x400 relay that finished seventh. He became Michigan's first true freshman NCAA qualifier since Mike Woods (2005), securing All-America honors with a fifth-place finish at the national meet in the 400 hurdles. 2. Anthony McCallum, gymnastics — McCallum became only the third NCAA vault champion in Michigan men's gymnastics history and the first in 13 years when he notched 15.550 in the NCAA Individual Event Finals April 16. He also set Michigan, Big Ten and NCAA records at the 2016 Big Ten Individual Finals April 2 at Ohio State's St. John Arena with a score of 15.675 in the vault to win the league title. McCallum became the 14th Big Ten vault champion in program history and the first in 10 years dating back to 2006. 3. Francis Atuahene, soccer — The Accra, Ghana, native notched first- team All-Big Ten, Big Ten Freshman of the Year and Big Ten All-Freshman team honors and was named to Top- DrawerSoccer.com's Freshman Best XI team and the College Soccer News Freshman All-America team. Atuahene joined Soony Saad (2010) as the only rookies in school history to earn All-Big Ten first-team and All- America honors from multiple outlets. He notched 10 goals and 13 assists for 23 points in his first season with the Wolverines, finished second in the conference in goals and points, ranking No. 24 and No. 27 nationally in those categories, and finished No. 19 in the country in goals per game (1.75). He was also U-M's team MVP. 4. Jabrill Peppers, football — A Football Writers Association of Amer- ica Freshman All-American, Peppers earned second-team All-America hon- ors from Sports Illustrated, Sporting News and CBS Sports. He was also a finalist for the Paul Hornung Award, presented annually to the most versa- tile player in college football. Peppers started on defense and spe- cial teams while also contributing on offense, and was a first-team All-Big Ten honoree at defensive back and a second-team selection as a kick re- turner. He notched 45 tackles and 10 passes broken up, and averaged 27.9 yards per kick return and 11.4 yards per punt return. Michigan's Other Top Male Rookies