The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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NOVEMBER 2017 THE WOLVERINE 13 INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS 4 Field goals from 40 yards or more have been made by red- shirt freshman kicker Quinn Nordin after six games, which is tied for seventh in U-M history and on pace to set a new re- cord (breaking the old mark of seven, set by Ali Haji-Sheikh in 1982). Nordin is just the seventh U-M kicker to have mul- tiple makes from 50 yards or more (two, the career record is Hayden Epstein's four), and is also on pace to set a new record for single-season makes with 14 successful tries so far (30 with a bowl would break Remy Hamilton's 25 in 1994). 4 Is where Michigan freshman hockey defenseman Quinn Hughes checked in on the NHL Draft rankings done by The Athletic's Corey Pronman. "Hughes is one of the most tal- ented defensemen to ever come through the United States National Team Development Program and is expected to be an impact freshman at Michigan," Pronman wrote. "… He's arguably the best skater in the draft class with incredible lateral agility. … Hughes can be an elite power play asset." The rookie proved that final point in his U-M debut, netting a power play goal in a 3-1 win over St. Lawrence. 11.9 Projected points per game average for Michigan graduate transfer guard Jaaron Simmons, accord- ing to Sports Illustrated. The system — which uti- lizes college and AAU statistics, recruiting rankings and coaching data to project every Division I team and player — ranked him the 22nd-highest scoring transfer among eligible players going from one Division I school to another. Redshirt sophomore Charles Matthews checked in at No. 53 nationally; SI predicted him to average 8.1 points per contest. 29 NFL Player of the Week awards have been won by former Michigan quarterback TOM BRADY, which are the most in league history. The latest AFC Offensive Player of the Week laurel came Sept. 27, giving him the honor in weeks two and three, the fourth time he has earned consecu- tive mentions. In the Sept. 24 win over Houston, Brady became the oldest quarterback in league history to throw for five touchdowns and zero interceptions, at 40 years and 52 days old. A week earlier, he enjoyed his 10th regular- season 400-yard passing day (he also has one in the playoffs), with 447 yards and three touchdowns through the air, his NFL-record 52nd contest with three or more touchdowns and no in- terceptions (that total now stands at 53). 98 Was fifth-year senior tackle Maurice Hurst's grade out of 100 in the week six loss to Michigan State, according to Pro Football Focus (PFF), an advanced analytics website that grades every play of every FBS game. He was officially cred- ited with a team-high 10 tackles in the game, including 3.5 for loss. PFF also awarded him one quarterback hit and three hurries while bestowing the nation's top grade of the week on the big man. It was the fourth-highest grade of the year, although only one of the top three came in a Power Five vs. Power Five game, like Hurst's did. He followed up with a 97.4 against Indiana. $892,951,000 Was how much The Wall Street Journal estimated the Michigan football program to be valued at in a recent study. The total ranked sixth nationally and second in the Big Ten, behind national leader Ohio State ( $ 1 , 5 1 0 , 4 8 2 , 0 0 0 ) . The values were a n e s t i m a te o f what each team would be worth on the open market if it sold like a profes- sional sports team; three were valued at over a billion dollars. By The NUMBERS PHOTO BY DAVID SILVERMAN/COURTESY OF THE NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS