The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/901162
12 THE WOLVERINE DECEMBER 2017 INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS 1 Former Michigan player was listed on SI.com's midsea- son All-Pro team, released Nov. 8 — New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. "This one isn't even close," Andy Benoit wrote. "In the here and now, Tom Brady remains the best quarterback in football. He's having the most impres- sive season of his career. The Patriots have evolved into a downfield offense, which means Brady has to hang in the pocket behind an up-and-down O-line. Every week, he's made several incredible pinpoint throws under duress. His calm, efficient pocket movement is the best there has ever been, and he's lost nothing on his arm." After week 10, the 40-year-old Brady led the league in passing yards (2,807), ranked second in passer rating among qualified quarterbacks (108.3) and was tied for second in touchdown throws (19) with just two interceptions in nine games played. 3 Of the nation's top 14 prep senior wrestlers have signed with Michigan, according to FloWrestling — No. 6 Mason Parris (from Lawrenceburg, Ind.; projected to wrestle heavyweight), No. 8 Will Lewan (Lombard, Ill.; 157) and No. 14 Joey Silva (Orlando, Fla.; 133/141). Penn State is the only other pro- gram with commits from three of the top 15. 5-1 Was Michigan's record against Ohio State in fall Olympic sports. Men's soccer shut out the Buckeyes 2-0 Oct. 21; field hockey beat them 1-0 in overtime Sept. 22 and 3-0 Oct. 29 in the Big Ten Tournament on its way to the confer- ence crown; volleyball swept its two matches against OSU by identical 3-1 scores Sept. 29 and Oct. 22; and women's soccer fell on the road 1-0 Oct. 8. Both cross country teams also won the conference meet, topping the Buckeyes and the rest of its Big Ten rivals. 21 Was the women's basketball team's preseason rank by ESPNW. The Wolverines return their top two scorers from last year in senior guard Katelynn Flaherty and junior center Hallie Thome. "Flaherty has quietly become one of the na- tion's top perimeter scorers during her three seasons in Ann Arbor, but she has yet to play in an NCAA Tourna- ment," the website wrote. "The Wolverines expect that to change this year. Michigan capped last season's program-record 28 wins with a WNIT championship and should carry that momentum into its first Big Dance appearance since 2013. … Michigan should have enough to challenge Maryland [No. 16 in the rankings] for second place in the Big Ten [behind No. 5 Ohio State]." 37 Is where junior forward Moritz Wagner was ranked by CBSSports.com in its listing of the top 100 players in college basketball. He ranked third among Big Ten players, behind No. 1 Miles Bridges of Michigan State and No. 9 Ethan Happ of Wisconsin. "Flirted with going to the NBA, but made the right call to come back," Matt Norlander wrote. "Wagner had an outrageously good final three weeks to end last season. He shot 66 percent from 2 and 39.5 percent from 3 on the season. Oh, and he's listed at 6-11." 391 Rushing yards and four touch- d o w n s w e r e gained by ju- n i o r K a r a n Higdon and s o p h o m o r e C H R I S E VA N S a g a i n s t M i n - nesota Nov. 4, a n e w s c h o o l record for a duo. It topped the old mark of 373, set in 1979 by Butch Woolfolk and Lawrence Reid, who needed 46 carries to total their yard- age (8.1 yards per carry). Higdon and Evans required just 29 totes, a clip of 13.5 yards per try. 1993 Was the last year that the Wolver- ines swept the men's and women's cross country Big Ten champion- ships before doing so again in 2017. The men had three All-Big Ten hon- orees, which requires a top-14 fin- ish, and had all seven runners place within the top 25 (the next-best team, Michigan State, had just four in the top 25), while the women cap- tured their second straight crown with fifth-year seniors Jamie Morrissey and Gina Sereno placing third and fourth, re- spectively, plus another trio of Wolverines crossing the finish line 15th, 16th and 17th. By The NUMBERS PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN