The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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comprised of hundreds of birds — congregate in the barren trees, taking off from the branches in great black clouds at the first sign of movement below. The Washtenaw Audubon So- ciety estimates there are as many as 20,000 in Ann Arbor during the win- ter months. helped inspire Alfred Hitchcock's fa- mous 1963 film "The Birds." Giant flocks of crows — sometimes W hen the last leaves fall from the trees and winter begins in Ann Arbor, it's easy to imagine the town BY ANDY REID Parrot, the crow is the second- smartest bird in the world," Gibbons stated. After a search on Wikipedia and a viewing of a YouTube clip of a crow finding clever ways to crack open walnuts, Ferrigno confirmed Gib- bons' claim. Since that practice, Ferrigno has Hard Work And Perseverance Helped Brendan Gibbons Turn His Career Around TAKING FLIGHT finished the 2011 regular season with a surprising 10-2 record, spe- cial teams coach Dan Ferrigno called for a chilly outdoor practice in De- cember, in preparation for the Sugar Bowl showdown with Virginia Tech. While his kickers went about their After the Michigan football team business at Schembechler Hall, Fer- rigno first noticed the enormous swarms of blackbirds circling the field. "You know what? The crow has to that sent this year's wild thriller against Northwestern into overtime in a game the Wolverines eventually won 38-31. be the dumbest bird on the face of the Earth," Ferrigno mused. And Brendan Gibbons kicked. "Oh no, that's not true," replied Gibbons, now the Wolverines' red- shirt junior field goal kicker. "What are you talking about? They're not smart enough to get out of the cold! Birds flock and go some- place warm!" the coach replied. And Gibbons kicked again. "Coach, next to the African Grey Gibbons has connected on 11 consecutive field goals and counting, the second-longest streak in program history, and has made 93 straight extra points, also the second- longest streak in program history. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL judo — a sport in which has dad, Shawn, was a two-time national champion (1977 and 1979) — and soccer before settling on football as his sport of choice in his sophomore year at Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach, Fla. Originally, he had no intentions of In his youth, Gibbons dabbled in GETTING HIS START kicking; he was the team's starting linebacker and fullback. It wasn't un- til junior year, when an injury side- lined the Crusaders' starting kicker, that coach Don Dicus asked Gibbons to try his hand — or, more appropri- ately, foot — at kicker. Because of his experience on the soccer pitch, Gib- bons seemed to be the perfect man for the job. But, by his own estimation, Gib- bons did not immediately excel at his new responsibility. "The first couple kicks were really bad," he said. "I finally hit one good kick. It went through the end zone on taken to calling his kicker "The Crow." And since that practice, The Crow has made good on 17 of 19 field goal attempts, including game winners against Virginia Tech in overtime and Michigan State in the final seconds this season, and one a kickoff, and I just started doing it. I hit a couple 50-yard field goals, and it started being more and more fun." The following summer, he at- tended several football and kicking- specific camps, including Michigan's annual summer camp — and interest from colleges started to pour in. As a senior, he hit 10 of 12 field goal at- tempts and booted 90 percent of his kickoffs through the end zone. As the No. 8 kicker in the 2009 re- cruiting class according to Rivals. com, Gibbons signed with Michigan, redshirted his first season and pre- pared to be the Wolverines' starter in 2010. Gibbons missed three of four kicks —attempts of 43, 40 and 39 yards — in Michigan's first two games that season. He didn't attempt another until a 52-14 blowout loss to Missis- sippi State in the Gator Bowl, another miss. Days later, Rich Rodriguez, the coach who recruited him from Flor- ida to Michigan, was let go by the athletic department. Some viewed it as the end of a disastrous tenure for the kicker. Gibbons viewed the introduction of new Michigan head coach Brady Hoke as an opportunity to press reset, start from scratch and be the kicker he knew he could be. "With the coaching change, every- one was on a clean slate," he said. "I worked really hard in the offseason. Coach Hoke and Coach Ferrigno be- lieved in me, and I wanted to suc- ceed for them. I didn't want to let them down, or my family down. I was a better kicker than I had shown the University of Michigan, and I wanted to prove that." When the 2010 season concluded, Gibbons asked some friends about different kicking coaches and camps around the country. He zeroed in on Gary Zauner, one of the most re- spected kicking coaches in the na- tion. Zauner has 35 years of special teams coaching experience, including 13 seasons in the NFL. Gibbons attended Zauner's pro de- velopment camp in January 2011. "To be honest, when I saw him kick, he had a couple really bad balls," Zauner said. "But by the end of camp, he had really started to im- prove." Zauner recalled that, by the end of that first camp, Gibbons had shaken off a rough start to win the camp fi- DECEMBER 2012 THE WOLVERINE 33