The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MICHIGAN FOOTBALL the service academies, the ACC, Stan- ford and USC," he said. "Stanford, USC and Navy are not coming off the schedule, as well as obviously our rotation with the ACC. "Ideally, I think if we're just taking a step back and looking at it, we don't want a gap. That doesn't make sense to have a huge gap. I think there were other factors that forced that gap, and that was the impending move into the ACC, the uncertainty of what the landscape of college football looked like and two ADs that were not on the same page. That is all changed. I think we have stabler ground … I think we have two coaches that want to play." Michigan and Notre Dame have met 42 times. The Wolverines hold a 24-17-1 edge in the series. "A great deal of credit goes to Coach Harbaugh and Coach Kelly for initiating the discussion of sched- uling this series," Michigan Direc- tor of Athletics Warde Manuel said. "This rivalry is also important for the fans of both programs, and we look forward to renewing one of college football's great rivalries." MICHIGAN PLAYERS GET NOTICED ON WATCH LISTS Several Michigan football play- ers have cropped up on individual award watch lists while the summer steams toward the Wolverines' Sept. 3 opener. On July 5, the Maxwell Football Club listed Michigan senior tight end Jake Butt and fifth-year senior wide receiver Jehu Chesson to the roster of candidates for the 2016 Maxwell Award, given annually to the Player of the Year in college football. Meanwhile, redshirt sophomore linebacker/defensive back Jabrill Peppers, along with senior corner- back Jourdan Lewis and fifth-year se- nior defensive lineman Chris Worm- ley, are up for the Chuck Bednarik Award, presented each year to the nation's best defensive performer. Butt earned the Kwalick-Clark Big Ten Tight End of the Year award last season as the conference's best at his position, after making 51 catches for 654 yards. Chesson wound up as Michigan's Most Valuable Player, fol- lowing a breakout season featuring nine touchdown catches in Big Ten play, the best in the conference. Wormley earned third-team All-Big Ten laurels a season ago, and enters 2016 with the most tackles for loss (24) and sacks (12) on the Michigan roster. Lewis earned All-America honors in 2015, and Peppers garnered the Big Ten's Thompson-Randle El Freshman of the Year honor in 2015. Lewis and Peppers also received mention May 18, when the watch list for the Lott IMPACT Trophy was an- nounced. The Lott award, established by The Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation, goes to the nation's top performer, combining both character and perfor- mance. It claims to give equal weight to the character aspect of a player's overall makeup. IMPACT is an acronym for: Integ- rity, Maturity, Performance, Academ- ics, Community and Tenacity. Both