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Tuesday, September 5, 2017
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Starting off strong
The No. 11 Michigan football team put concerns about its inexperience aside, beating No. 17 Florida, 33-17, in the AdvoCare Classic at AT&T Stadium in Dallas.
» Page 1B CAMPUS LIFE
ITS updates accessibility, computing sites for fall Revamps include new MPrint app, cloudbased software for improved student-access MCKENZIE HANIGAN Daily Staff Reporter
AVA WEINER/Daily
Big data: University researchers navigate ethics, unpredictability of data science research
Research encompasses high-performance computing, analytics and management ALEXA ST. JOHN
Managing News Editor
In recent years, big data emerged as a powerful tool, spurring the University of Michigan to dedicate an initiative and institute to its
study and implementation. In a statement in 2015, Jack Hu, vice president for research at the University, wrote that big data — exorbitantly large data sets that can be parsed to show trends and associations — was “revolutionizing research in extraordinary range of
disciplines.” The University’s financial and professional investment in data science has since proven beneficial; with $100 million subsidizing the University’s Data Science Initiative over five years, faculty members from multidisciplinary
and intersectional departments have been part of grounding the University’s research in modern data computation, analytics and management. “With this initiative, our goal is to spark innovation in research See DATA, Page 3A
Information and Technology Services at the University of Michigan released updates to campus computing sites for fall 2017. The updates are part of an initiative to make technology more accessible to students on more devices, according to a University press release. The updates include Sites Windows computer software, which will now be available through AppsAnywhere, a portal similar to the app store that can be accessed via web browsers. AppsAnywhere uses Cloudpaging, the same on-demand service as the
College of Engineering’s CAEN Lab Software, which allows students to access computer software from a web browser on different devices, rather than a start menu on just one computer. The MPrint mobile app also was revamped, now allowing students to use their own mobile devices to wirelessly collaborate with campus technology. The app for iOS and Android devices will work with Follow Me print queue, a new application for campus computers that can save documents for up to 24 hours. Students can release their saved documents to the most convenient campus printing site. See COMPUTING, Page 4A
Campus community members repaint Pride fest First class welcomes rock after racist, pro-Trump messages of students
CAMPUS LIFE
ACADEMICS
incoming students
Multiple departments, administrators join in solidarity with Latinx students
More than 40 clubs and orgs welcome 500 LGBT freshmen, allies
University of Michigan students, faculty and community members gathered Monday afternoon at the University Rock to paint over anti-Latinx and pro-Trump writing that happened over the weekend. The rock read “F— Latinos” and “MAGA,” short for Make America Great Again, or the slogan of President Donald Trump’s campaign, covering what was originally welcoming messages painted by the newest student cohort of Assisting Latinos to Maximize Achievement. “I thought this would be sort of taking action as opposed to writing a letter that students know is important, but this would be a different approach,” said David Schoem, director of the Community Scholars Program, who decided to paint over the writing.. “So the idea is to reclaim the rock and the campus for all the students at U of M and drive out, paint away the hate.” Students and faculty painted the rock completely white, obscuring any other writing and then painted phrases such as “Latinx belongs,” and the names of other LSA programs in a show of solidarity. “The message I think we’re writing is we support Latinx students and (Assisting Latinos
MATT HARMON Daily Staff Reporter
Forty-two clubs and Universitysponsored organizations welcomed incoming LGBT freshmen and allies to the University with the annual Pride Outside event at Palmer Field Monday. Formerly known as Gayz Craze, Pride Outside is sponsored by Out in STEM, an organization that supports LGBT students in Engineering and STEM fields. The event, which attracted about 500 students, was sponsored by Central Student Government but was transferred to oSTEM two years ago when Engineering senior Sindhu Sreedhar offered to bring the event under oSTEM’s leadership. Twelve clubs were specifically for LGBT students, though all organizations represented are in support of creating safe spaces for LGBT students, including social justice and volunteer organizations. “We try to get organizations that are really built around community building and community organizing so we can cater towards the LGBTQ community in that way,” Sreedhar said. See PRIDE, Page 4A
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COLIN BERESFORD Daily Staff Reporter
to Maximize Achievement),” Schoem said. “We want to set things right before classes start: that we’re all here as a community, every student counts, every student owns this University and we’re going to stand together to make sure that’s the case, that everybody feels this is their University.” LSA sophomore Noelle Wade, a member of the Lloyd Hall Scholars Program, attended the event in a show of solidarity with the Latino community.
“I decided to come out today because social justice is a very big passion of mine and if I can support marginalized students on campus, I will,” Wade said. “(LHSP) decided to come out as a group and show our support for Latinx students on campus.” Wade included that it’s important to show that the University doesn’t approve of the messages that were previously painted on the rock in order to support students from various backgrounds and
ethnicities. “It sets a happy tone (for this school year) because it shows that a bunch of different people, from a bunch of different walks of life, different ethnicities, can come together and support someone else,” Wade said. “Maybe you aren’t the person it was directed toward, but maybe you know how it feels and you came out and showed support and that shows that the University of Michigan can be a … welcoming environment and a supporting environment.”
CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily
The University Rock on Washtenaw Avenue is repainted Monday afternoon.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 82 ©2017 The Michigan Daily
enter new curriculum
School of Public Health welcomes cohort of 95 to undergraduate program JENNIFER MEER Daily Staff Reporter
This fall, the School of Public Health is launching its undergraduate public health major program, with its first cohort of 95 students. Gary Harper, the director of the office of undergraduate education at the Public Health School, as well as a professor of health behavior and health education and global public health, said he chaired the task force that was created in 2014 to develop the undergraduate program. The initial idea for the creation of a program came from the dean’s office at the School of Public Health and Martin Philbert, the former dean, who is now the University’s provost. “It’s something that has been talked about at various times here in the School of Public Health and I think the timing was right,” Harper said. “There just seemed to be the time to actually get serious about creating something and figuring out what we could do in the undergraduate space.” Students apply to the program in the winter term of their See HEALTH, Page 4A
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................5 ARTS......................6
SP O RTS . . . . . . . . B -SEC TIO N
2A — Tuesday, September 5, 2017
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ON THE DAILY: RUN, NARUTO, RUN! At 4:19 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 4, the Diag was packed with freshmen looking for Angell Hall. Suddenly, as the clock struck 4:20, the whoops and hollers of University of Michigan shinobi echoed over the trees. Heads darted toward the corner of North University and State Street. A plethora of anime cosplayers was barreling towards the Block M. In a momentous display of solidarity, courage and love of meme culture, about 200 students pulled themselves up by their ninja sandals, threw their arms into the wind and booked it across the Diag as a part of the “Run Across the Diag Naruto Style” Facebook event. Naruto, a popular Japanese anime, features a young shinobi (dubbed as ninja in the U.S. version) named Naruto Uzumaki and centers around his quest to be a respected ninja. According to the Facebook description, the event spawned from a previous event in Pittsburgh titled “Come to the Smash Mouth Concert Dressed as Shrek” and gained further popularity in the infamous “UMich Memes for Wolverteens” page. For those unfamiliar with the
particular techniques of running like Naruto, wikiHow reports proper form mandates a true shinobi should lean forward with your back straight, keep your head up to look for oncoming enemies and hold both arms behind you for maximum speed. Engineering junior Veronika Bayer, who created the event, led the pack of meme enthusiasts in full Naruto cosplay with the orange jacket, pants and headband. She cited meme and troll culture as the main reasons for the event’s popularity online and the large physical attendance. She also said many of the attendees watched the Naruto anime when they were younger and can now unleash their inner child as they run across the campus they love so much. “Michigan is a place where everyone can learn how to be free and enjoy themselves and really embrace themselves in all of their weirdness and quirks,” she said.
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Justin Wolfers @JustinWolfers My message to #Dreamers at @umich is simple: Welcome to class.
Michigan Students @UMichStudents Ugh. Welcome weekend is over and now I gotta go back to being a mediocre student.
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily Students run in “Naruto Style” across the Diag Monday afternoon.
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES M Farmers Market at Wolverine Tower WHAT: Buy locally sourced fruits and vegetables. M Market is a partnership between MHealthy, Michigan Medicine, MDining, CSG and Planet Blue. The market is open on select Tuesdays throughout the Fall. WHO: MHealthy WHEN: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. WHERE: Wolverine Tower Ground Level
Makeup Party workshop WHAT: Makeup artist Hannah Butler will provide makeup tips and techniques. Participants can follow along with their own makeup bags. WHO: Ann Arbor District Library WHEN: 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. WHERE: 343 S. Fifth Ave.
Economic History WHAT: As a part of the Economic History lecture series; Northwestern University professor Joe Ferrie will teach a seminar on World War II’s Lanham Pre-Schools and Later Life Human Capital. WHO: Department of Economics WHEN: 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. WHERE: Lorch Hall Rm. 201
Indian Classical Dance WHAT: A number of classically trained artists will showcase rasas, or art disciplines, including vocals, traditional instruments and dance performances. WHO: Kerrytown Concert House WHEN: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. $20 general, $15 students/seniors WHERE: 415 North Fourth Ave.
Moth StorySLAM: Schooled WHAT: The Story Slam will feature five-minute stories centered around the theme of school. Attendees can sign up to share stories, serve on the judges panel or simply watch. WHO: Michigan Radio WHEN: 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. WHERE: Greyline, 100 N Ashley St.
WHAT: Students interested in studying abroad through CGIS must attend a session to learn about program options, financial aid and applying to various trips. WHO: Center for Global and Intercultual Study WHEN: 12 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. WHERE: Weiser Hall, Suite 255
Pre-Health Orientation
Dr. Mark Schissel @DrMarkSchlissel
WHAT: This critically acclaimed 2006 release starring Clive Owen is a dystopian film exploring hope, religion and environmental destruction. WHO: Michigan Theater Summer Classics WHEN: 7 p.m. WHERE: Michigan Theater, 603 E. Liberty St.
WHAT: Incoming students interested in pre-health career tracks will learn about resources at the University. Participants should bring their UM ID. WHO: University Career Center WHEN: 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. (A-N last names) and 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (M-Z last names) WHERE: Modern Languages Building, Auditorium 3
New discoveries, good friends, favorite places & amazing knowledge await at @UMich. Welcome to a new academic year!
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Coined the “Bois,” the device was the result of brainstorming various products Daily Staff Reporter
Just in time for tailgate season, a new product has arrived at the University of Michigan’s campus: the Bois. The Bois is a luxury bottleopening wallet — founders Ken Kernen and Philip Ruffini call it the first of its kind. Business students Kernen, a sophomore, and Ruffini, a junior, met through the Delta Upsilon fraternity but have become better friends through their shared interests in e-commerce businesses and enrollment in Ross School of Business. “Whenever I have a question, he is able to provide some feedback,” Kernen said of
Ruffini. “We will shoot each other messages and they’ll either be about minimum order quantity or just a fun conversation immediately. There is no barrier or hesitation to have any conversation with him.” In June of 2017, Kernen received a phone call from Ruffini in regard to the popularity of project-funding site Kickstarter and asked Kernen as to what he thought about pursuing something within the Kickstarter marketplace. Kickstarter is a crowdfunding site that provides a platform for entrepreneurs to gauge interest and demand for their products. Sellers choose a monetary goal and a time frame in which they plan on raising
umich is a lotta average looking white boys lemme tell u
Children of Men screening
Student entrepreneurs reinvent wallet with attached bottle opener RACHEL LEVY
edamami @jamsjohns
First Step Sessions
those funds — if they do not succeed, they do not make any money. “He’s a very entrepreneurial guy, and is able to recognize opportunity very easily,” Kernen said. The two decided to begin working together to create a product. “The first week was just ideas, ideas, ideas,” Kernen said about the events following the phone call. “We were thinking about doing wallets, some sort of wallet. And then we were like, ‘It would be cool if it had a bottle opener on it.’” In week two, the decision about what materials to use began.
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DATA From Page 1A across campus while inspiring further advances in the techniques of data science itself,” Hu also said in 2015. Big data has been the crux of medical initiatives and disease research, the uncovering of international corruption scandals such as in the Panama Papers, and worldwide technological and economic development. For example, access to massive deposits of information related to issues such as on-field behavior can help predict athletic-related injuries, teaching and learning analytics can lead researchers to create better educational techniques, and patterns in accumulated patient data could help doctors discover preventative measures diagnose health conditions. Now celebrating two years at the University, the Michigan Institute for Data Science — an institute under the umbrella of the DSI — has expanded as a multidisciplinary and interdepartmental sphere for all research in data, much alongside two other sectors of the DSI, including Advanced Research Computing – Technology Services and Consulting for Statistics, Computing and Analytics Research. Co-director of MIDAS Brian Athey, a professor of computational medicine and bioinformatics, said innovations continue as the quest for finding new ways to use big data grows. ********** Even before this influx of datadriven institutions, researchers at the University had been using these large data sets to tackle issues such as disease prediction and augment the research of computer science. Eric Michielssen, University associate vice president of Advanced Research Computing – Technology Services, said there is a “tsunami” of data available for use for these issues and more, but he and Athey cited the importance of a concept called the Four V’s of Big Data. Aside from simply the volume of data Michielssen said researchers consider velocity, or the ability to receive vast amounts of data with unprecedented speeds. They must also note the variety of formats available, not just the receipt of data through structured spreadsheets, and the veracity, or uncertainty and trustworthiness of the data received. Michielssen, whose office is home to MIDAS and the overarching Data Science Institute, said collecting and generating data on a daily basis at unprecedented speeds — particularly through social media, financial transactions and a newly coined “internet of things,” where objects are given the ability to share data through sensors, wireless technology and complex networks — requires researchers to consider how to leverage that data for the good of society and science, making it an innovative phenomenon. “It’s nothing short of a game changer for society, as well as for science and education.” Michielssen said. “Research in just about every field is being affected by this new phenomenon, this big
data phenomenon.” According to Athey, the overall significance of data science at a university level — especially in the context of the University’s topranking research across the board — is that much of the University’s history in machine learning, data analytics, statistics and computation has already paved the way to today’s methodologies. “We had an ideal environment to do this at U of M,” Athey said. Noting an increase in the power of computing and a decrease in its cost — also known as Moore’s law — Athey said, “Data science and big data are transformational to society and higher ed.” The modern data scientist isn’t surrounded by rows of outdated computers that flash neon green numbers, MIDAS Managing Director Kevin Smith said. Instead, Smith said, managing data today requires the threefold collaboration of MIDAS — the University’s academic hub — a focus on data science services such as consulting through CSCAR and a central avenue for high-performance computing infrastructure through ARC-TS. “This is really thinking holistically about how you take data and be able to integrate and aggregate it in a meaningful way so that you can explore that data in the context of whatever scientific or business problems you’re trying to solve so that the analysis, the visualization, the exploration that you’re doing is valid,” Smith said. Transportation and Tech In much of its data science research, Michielssen said, the University focuses mostly on application rather than theory and method to yield more tangible results, especially through applications to policy, education and infrastructure. “In many ways, we’re trying to frame this as an opportunity to advance the field of data science from a methodological perspective but in the context of the application of data science,” Smith added. For example, researchers within MIDAS’s Centers for Data-Driven Transportation Research and that of Data-Intensive Learning Analytics Research are using data for improving automobile use and transportation, as well as creating new tools to examine the modern learning process. Carol Flannagan, an associate research scientist for the University’s Transportation Research Institute, noted her team’s application of big data to the analysis and creation of simulations of driver behavior, traffic regulations and transportation systems, all with traditional, automated and connected vehicles. “Transportation data is changing so fast,” Flannagan said. “It’s a really great area for novel applications of existing methods or even extensions of methods and new methods.” In addition to working to expand the amount of data available to researchers in the field of transportation data analysis, Flannagan and her team have been successful in surveying motor vehicle crashes and establishing applications of crash-avoidance technologies. These applications can be transferred to vehicle occupant protection against and ideally, total crash prevention.
Tuesday, September 5, 2017 — 3A
Through visualization tools and a surplus of traffic crash data, vehicle-centric countermeasures against vehicle crashes — particularly vehicle design — work in conjunction with behaviorcentric measures, roadway design and enforcement to produce new options for policymakers and infrastructure designers. This helps optimize design and laws and eliminate unnecessary crashes. Taking a comprehensive view of safety, making predictions and taking into consideration laws that are working well for some aspects of driving allows researchers, policymakers and others to integrate and focus improvements elsewhere. Flannagan said one thing that poses difficulty are quick accessibility and shareability of data. “We are not freed from the requirement to think first before engaging with data analysis,” Flannagan pointed out. “The requirement to think first just got harder.” Data science research does not come without other challenges, however, particularly in a changing landscape of big data. Social Science and Challenges In May 2014, former President Barack Obama’s Executive Office released an official White House report detailing the significance of upholding privacy values, responsible education in a digital age and using data as a public resource. “Properly implemented, big data will become an historic driver of progress, helping our nation perpetuate the civic and economic dynamism that has long been its hallmark,” the report reads. Since then, the nationwide use of big data has more recently been at the heart of controversy surrounding the 2016 presidential election; big data was first seen as generally predictive for the election’s results, though others claim now-President Trump’s initial dismissal of the importance of data was a mask for his use of the information to target rural voters. The work of research professor Michael Traugott, for example, could be applied to ultimately help prevent the effects of social media and news content on election outcomes. Traugott and his team — in collaboration with Gallup and Georgetown University — have been collecting data to examine political communication in the 2016 presidential campaign. By using computer software to search for key topics and sentiment in open-ended question responses from thousands of participants throughout the election, researchers can check the representativeness on people’s opinions related to what they’ve seen on social media in terms of news. A computerized content analysis of nine major U.S. newspapers can also be compared with attitudes and content in the tweets of journalists, another indicator of how news content is related to citizen sentiment later. “I have been surprised by the
emphasis on personality at the very earliest stage of the campaign and the disproportionate amount of coverage that (Trump) received,” Traugott said. “We hope to be able to track the news content sentiment against the favorability measures, as well as the topics mentioned in the open-ended (questions with participants).” Traugott will use this data to establish whether traditional framing and agenda-setting themes are still present in contemporary reporting, but in a social media environment. Because of the possibilities big data can hold in a politically charged and competitive social sphere, The Washington Post has called for further privacy considerations and tech policy amid the endless possibilities big data presents. It also noted that an inherent bias in data’s original collection — no matter how big
or small — will continue to have consequences, resulting in what some refer to as a dangerous and ominous future. Concerns for privacy and confidentiality are other unexpected hurdles University researchers grapple with daily — transportation data, medical records and social science information are just three avenues through which data can come that need to be secure. “Someone has to put in place measures, software systems that allow one to do research and developments in this space while at the same time, guaranteeing the privacy of the person who gave rights to the data in the first place,” Michielssen said. Fear of the unknown is another complication, Athey said, as the dearth of research in big data’s abilities makes future uses frighteningly ambiguous.
“Data science could be used to help society or frankly, could be used to take advantage of different groups within society or manipulate things,” Athey said. “Those that have the methodology and the computing and the access to the data have a distinct advantage on everybody. That could be used for good or for bad.” Being data-illiterate comes with consequences, he explained. “If you’re uneducated about data science and if you don’t know how to practice it, you would be a victim of it,” Athey said. “This is the society that we’re living in — Google and all these things — are not going to go away.” Likewise, Smith noted an issue of ethics clouding global data science.
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4A — Tuesday, September 5, 2017
COMPUTING From Page 1A LSA sophomore Caroline Ordway studies computer science and said she looks forward to a faster and more efficient printing process. “I think (these updates) have the potential to improve the efficiency of the printing process,” she said. “It simplifies the process of needing your computer or having to go onto a University one, especially if you are in an area without access to a campus computer.” Bob Jones, ITS interim executive director of support services, said his main goal is
HEALTH From Page 1A sophomore year. This year, there were 131 complete applications. Harper said there continues to be a lot of interest in the program, even inquiries from high school students who have heard about the new major and are wondering what they can do to be accepted as sophomores. “The group of applicants were all, I would say, stellar applicants — people with a lot of great experiences, a lot of really beneficial coursework,” he said. “It was a quite impressive group. In terms of what we’re looking for, we really do take a holistic approach to the review process. We’re not just looking for some particular GPA cutoff. We are really looking at well-rounded students that have a good understanding of what public health is and what public health does, and a real commitment and
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accessibility. “With the availability of Follow Me printing, application streaming to personally managed devices, and cloud storage services like Box and Google Drive, we aim to make many of the Sites capabilities available on most devices, anytime, anywhere,” he said. According to the release, updates for the fall term include Windows 10 operating systems on all campus PCs, access to U-M Box and U-M Google Drive as network drives and new hardware and software updates on more than 2,000 campus computers at almost 100 locations.
compassion for public health.” Harper referenced a set of guiding principles, which can be found on the program’s website, and said the program looks to see if applicants are in alignment with them. Such principles include social justice, cultural humility and interdisciplinary focus, among others. In terms of acceptance, Harper said the program plans to keep its acceptance rate about the same for the next admissions cycle, about 95. He said after the first cohort completes the program, it will likely increase the number of students admitted. Logistically, the program offers either a Bachelor’s of Arts in community and global public health or a Bachelor’s of Science in public health sciences. According to Harper, within each major, there are a set of four integrated core courses, which address various aspects of public health, from an interdisciplinary and integrated lens.
PRIDE From Page 1A way,” Sreedhar said. Designed as a Welcome Week event, Sreedhar said, one of its main purposes is to introduce incoming freshmen the resources available on campus for LGBT students. Shreedhar said the tents are placed on Palmer Field because many freshmen live on the Hill and will be easily seen by incoming students walking around their dorms. LSA senior Victoria Johnson attended the event as a freshman and this year represented the Coalition for Queer and Trans People of Color as a co-chair. She said Pride Outside helped her find the coalition and the timing of the
event couldn’t be better. “It can be hard and daunting, especially as an incoming freshman, trying to find your community and find people that you want to socialize with and hang out with,” she said. “Having events like this, especially during Welcome Week, this is the time everyone’s going to come out.” When President Donald Trump proposed the transgender military ban back in July, many transgender students and allies on campus reacted adversely to the news. Johnson said pro-LGBT events like Pride Outside can contribute to a positive community on campus. “People need community now more than ever,” she said. “Having events like these is super important to show that there are people here who are going to support you and be
there for you and even when it feels like everything is going wrong and the world is crumbling apart, you still have these people you can turn to.” LSA senior Yong-Joon Kim volunteers with the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center and represented the organization at a booth at Pride Outside. He echoed Johnson’s sentiments and said the event is crucial for newer students trying to find resources. “Marginalized identities, as we know, on this campus have been facing a lot of hate and negative stuff going on right now so just having an event during Welcome Week that allows LGBT students to know they’re welcome on this campus, especially one that’s catered by the student governance organizations, definitely helps show unity and
acceptance on this campus,” he said. According to the 2015 Campus Climate Survey, lesbian, gay or bisexual students were 2.5 times more at risk for sexual assault than heterosexual students. By working with SAPAC, a University sponsored program, Kim said it shows how the University is dedicated to helping LGBT students feel free to speak about sexual assault. LSA freshman Cheyanne Killin said the large-scale event showed her how many resources she actually has on campus from clubs and students alike. “I think it’s really nice to have this inclusion here,” she said. “It’s such a positive space and coming from a community where I didn’t have that ability to be proud of who I was, this is just massive to know that I’m supported here.”
“In graduate training in public health, you would take a course on epidemiology, a course on biostatistics, a course on health management, things like that,” Harper said. “What we’re doing is combining different aspects of public health and putting them together because at the core of our program, we’re really focusing on what we call liberal education.” Liberal education, according to Harper, is an approach to learning that helps prepare students to deal with complexity, diversity and social change. “We’re not just teaching public health skills,” he said. “Some types of undergraduate public health programs teach skills and they’re more of a skills training degree, then you get some kind of certification. We want students to be able to think in innovative and complex ways about the public health challenges that we currently face but then we want to prepare them for the future public health challenges. ” Though the program is only in
its first year, Harper said, based on statistics from other schools’ public health programs, some students are expected to go into medicine or other health-related fields, some go into graduate programs in public health, others go into the workforce — departments of public health, the Peace Corps or working in nonprofit organizations with a health focus — and some even go into law, engineering and other fields. Faculty for the program will consist of faculty from the Public Health School, who teach graduate courses and have real-world experience in the field of public health. Harper said the goal of the program is to take an interdisciplinary approach to think about critical public health issues. He the program will attack issues from multiple perspectives using different lenses. He said he thinks students will feel stimulated in classes to think about things in a
different way. Harper said the program will be evaluated over the course of the year and it will be seeking feedback from its first cohort about strengths and weaknesses to make improvements and provide the best educational experience possible. This semester, Harper is teaching a new course developed for the program, called Community Culture and Social Justice in Public Health. It is required for the B.A. students; it can be taken as an elective for the B.S. students and is also offered to non-public health students. “The course will really be an opportunity to explore, interrogate, understand, work with different concepts of community, of culture, of social justice, because a lot of people use these terms in public health and elsewhere, but don’t often have an in-depth understanding and meaning of (them),” he said. “I want to demystify and really have people think in a critical manner. I think overall we really want students to
come out of this class being able to engage in a critical analysis of the field of public health.” It is important to look at different public health challenges and the ways in which they’re being addressed by the nation, to find the flaws and strengths, both locally and globally, said Harper. “There’s ways in which we are doing public health work in other countries and is it really done in a manner that is building capacity or is it a way that is making other countries dependent on us?” he said. “So it’s really that critical process of really thinking about all of these different aspects of public health intervention.” Aya Takai is a junior public health major who transferred from Oakland University. She was in a pre-professional health sciences program at Oakland and was a competitive figure skater for 15 years.
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Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Tuesday, September 5, 2017 — 5A
LEVI TEITEL | COLUMN
The stigma of the millennial student
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TOM AIELLO | COLUMN
W
In defense of protests
hen asked about the violent white supremacist, neoNazi rally that occurred in Charlottesville, Va., a few weeks ago, President Donald Trump not-so-deftly shifted attention to the “alt-Left that came charging at (the neo-Nazis)” asking, “(D)o they have any semblance of guilt?” President Trump’s false equivalency of the predominantly peaceful counterprotesters with the neoNazis (one of whom actually murdered a counterprotester) at Charlottesville is but the latest in a growing tradition of conservatives attempting to delegitimize liberal, and often student, protesters as either silly and inconsequential children or dangerous free speech fascists. These attacks on protesters are both wrongheaded and a potential threat to the constitutionally guaranteed right to freely assemble. Fascinatingly, conservative commentators employ what appear to be two diametrically opposed lines of attack against student protesters whose causes they deem illegitimate. First, pundits sneer at selfimportant millennials overly triggered by such “trivial” matters as systematic racism or police brutality. Former host for “The Blaze” Tomi Lahren has achieved viral star status on social media by insulting “typical snowflake millennials.” After protests broke out on college campuses throughout the nation in the days after Trump’s election, Lahren stated: “A protest is a peaceful objection to a grievance. A bunch of sore losers occupying a space is called a tantrum. …” Pundits often paint a separate — and sometimes simultaneous — portrait of liberal student protesters as politically correct fascists ruthlessly silencing any voices they disagree with. These pundits seemingly miss the irony of simultaneously declaring student protesters to be whining babies and some sort of politically correct Gestapo. Conflating peaceful protesters with violent, speech-suppressing activists is a transparent attempt to discredit and silence students with legitimate concerns about the threat to vulnerable groups the often racist and misogynistic rhetoric of speakers, such as Milo
Yiannopoulos, pose. Students have the same freedom to object to Yiannopoulos’s language as Yiannopoulos has to speak in the first place. The right to peacefully protest the racism and misogyny of another individual isn’t a tantrum; it’s a constitutionally protected right and an American tradition. In addition, attributing violence to liberal protesters obscures the fact that right-wing extremists committed 74 percent of domestic extremist-related murders in the United States in the last decade. Do not take my defense of young liberal protesters as a defense of anarchist violence as a means to silence ideological opponents. As dangerous, violent and disgusting neoNazis and white supremacists are, normalizing violence against these groups normalizes political violence in a manner which could ultimately harm the vulnerable individuals and minorities the left seeks to empower. Legitimizing violence sets anti-governmental and anticonstitutional precedents neoNazis and white supremacists could seize upon throughout and beyond the Trump era. Beyond being a completely valid and constitutionally protected form of selfexpression, protests simply work. Perhaps the most obvious value of protests is their sheer visibility. The larger and more raucous the protest, the more media attention the protest receives. The attention protests generate act as a sort of protective shield for minority groups without proper representation in democratic countries. Think of Gandhi’s Salt March in India, civil rights activists being sprayed with fire hoses in Birmingham, Ala. or, more recently, the police decked out in full military gear to control protesters in Ferguson, Mo. Media dissemination of protests promulgates bad press, which pressures elected leaders to acknowledge, and sometimes acquiesce to, the grievances of marchers. Student protesters demonstrated the power of bad press during the ’60s and ’70s when student activism against the Vietnam War helped garner enough public ill will to ultimately halt the conf lict. Protests also act as a gathering ground for likeminded individuals to build political community and
JOE IOVINO | CONTACT JOE AT JIOVINO@UMICH.EDU
solidarity. Marches and gatherings offer a critical space for citizens to collectively grieve, celebrate or diffuse anger. The community building aspect of protests becomes especially important when responding to tragedies. Following the death of counter protester Heather Hayes in Charlottesville, thousands of University of Virginia students held a candlelight vigil to mourn and broadcast campus solidarity in the face of hate. Traditionally, invisible and underrepresented groups find these spaces critical. From the 1960s through today, LGBTQ individuals have found validation, security, dignity and joy through Pride parades. Whether marching for basic dignity in the 1960s, AIDS relief in the ’80s and ’90s or the right to marry before 2015, otherwise invisible gender and sexuality non-conforming young people have used Pride parades to break out into the open. Lastly, protests act as an entry point to further political activism for many students. Most protests entail much more than simply marching down a street chanting slogans and holding signs. Protests may begin or end with a slew of speakers offering information about the topic being protested. Organizers often give marchers a suggestion of relevant nonprofits to donate to in the future. In addition, some protests include political workshops where attendees sign up for political organizations or nonprofits and receive training in fundraising and other forms of political activism. The nationwide Women’s March in January initiated a wave of female candidates running for office and young people getting involved in politics. Peaceful public demonstrations are the backbone of democratic free speech traditions and promulgate critical political action. Consequently, petty attacks on students peacefully exercising their right to protest only undermines a fundamental American tradition. Young protesters have been critical in every social movement in the United States, from civil rights to sexual liberation.
Tom Aiello can be reached at thomaiel@umich.edu.
A
s Ann Arbor becomes flooded with micromanaging parents and awkward-yet-eager freshman, I revel in the sight of familial dynamics. It’s like a reality TV show except I don’t need a Netflix account and only need to peer out my window to get a sense of the action. The opportunity that a summer break affords is a chance to scrutinize and think critically about many different issues — that is, before the stress comes when thinking about starting anew in September. Over the past few weeks, there has been a lot of misleading news concerning the state of education in Michigan. The nerves brought about by moving to school somehow trickles down to journalists who write about this topic. Going back to school was always a struggle for me. I went to summer camp for eight years growing up, and after not having to care about anything related to academics for two months, it was difficult to acclimate to tests, reading and writing essays. I still struggle with this dilemma. Since our summer break is nearly four months long, it’s easy to forget what being in school is like. Would the University of Michigan be better suited with a shorter summer break? In a recent article published in The Atlantic titled “Why School Still Starts After Labor Day in Michigan,” the case is made for a shorter summer break. Mind you, this article only addresses our state’s K-12 education system, but a similar case could be made for our universities. Most of my friends at other Big 10 colleges have already been in school for a few weeks, and sometimes I wonder if I’m missing out by not starting earlier. However, our long summer affords us so many opportunities that are not available during the school year. With just a short break,
students would find it much harder to be able to pursue the internships, study abroad trips and research opportunities that many take advantage of. As students trickle back to school, national news organizations, such as The New York Times, devote substantial portions of their Sunday editions to higher education. More locally, the Detroit Free Press’s Mitch Albom wrote a column on going back to school. Albom, who says he was on a college campus last week, observed the madness of moving in. Unfortunately, for people from older generations, they are ticked off that we college students are too obsessed with intersectionality, technology and gender pronouns. Great stereotyping, right? The point of Albom’s satirically tinged column was to note both the continuities and breaks between students from his college years and that of his offspring. But his diatribe falls into a trap of lambasting college millennials, and even may hurt the case for diversity at universities. Take a look at this bit: “After helping our son hang his flat screen and surroundsound speakers, we went for a walk around campus. We saw the 24-hour state-of-theart exercise facility and the 24-hour Apple computer labs. He showed us the ‘safe spaces’ where no offensive words can be used, and the ‘healing spaces’ where you can go if you were accidentally exposed to an offensive sentence.” OK, maybe I’m just being overly sensitive to that paragraph. But that’s fulfilling an incorrect stereotype, no? While Albom’s misguided rant on politically correct culture was not ideal, I must award merit to a recent New York Times infographic
on college enrollment and diversity. The study found that as affirmative action policies have been implemented at many colleges nationwide, Black and Hispanic enrollment still lag behind. Lack of diversity is acute at our university, but it’s not just limited to this campus. Increasing diversity is a boon to improving an educational experience — students are able to better understand a variety of viewpoints and meet individuals from places they otherwise would not encounter. The University is a unique case given our vast academic opportunities, which our long summer break aids in facilitating. We have the chance to go home or wherever else we are spending our summers to help spread this diverse array of viewpoints we experience. And, if anything, we should be expanding these opportunities rather than stifling them. We can only hope that our institution’s new initiatives to address this problem will be successful. It’s frustrating that journalists are not always up to speed with the types of issues college students currently face. This may be attributed to the fact that many have not been enrolled in a university in quite a while. But after not having to worry about school for an entire season, it is imperative that students acknowledge how and why stories take the angle they do when covering the places they learn. My advice to other students, however, is not to panic even though journalists appear to be out of touch with issues that students are facing — the same way you shouldn’t panic over realizing how much work you have to do after only your first day of class.
Levi Teitel can be reached at lateitel@umich.edu.
CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and op-eds. Letters should be fewer than 300 words while op-eds should be 550 to 850 words. Send the writer’s full name and University affiliation to tothedaily@michigandaily.com. STEPHANIE MULLINGS | COLUMN
M
y little sister absolutely loves back-to-school shopping. Everything about it excites her, from the color coordination of her notebooks and pencils to the smooth glide of Paper Mate InkJoy pens. I make fun of her a lot, calling her things like “nerd.” I differ from my sister in the sense that I couldn’t care less about which brand of notebooks or pens my mother bought. But when I reflect upon it, in my younger years, I, too, shared similar excitement. I enjoyed the newness of it all: new textbooks, new teachers, new classmates, new locker assignments. Even the floors were freshly buffed and waxed, the walls sticky with a coat of new paint. When I entered college, I was promptly and totally overstimulated by my excitement with the new environment. Yet, it introduced some of the worst nerves I have ever experienced in my life. For a homebody and introvert like myself, having to live on my own away from home for the first time was terrifyingly overwhelming. However, as my time at the University of Michigan progressed, I adjusted and found solace in my “new” normal routine. With the impending start of what will be my last year as an undergraduate, my nerves have returned, and my short-lived comfort has ceased. Though the University has remained the same since my arrival, everything outside of it has turned completely upside down. Bigotry, hate, racism and utter dissolution have begun to bubble
The first day and now fester like sores within our communities, seemingly stemming from the root of the executive branch of government. That being said, the essence of my fear lies within the chaos of the outside world penetrating the little bubble of our campus, as our campus has been extremely susceptible to racist and oppressive messaging, defilement and hate speech that has surfaced within recent years. So, as we all pack our bags, whether they contain InkJoy pens or colorcoordinated notebooks, I ask the questions: How do we learn to cancel out the noise? Do we remain fearless and poised in the face of negativity? How do we challenge ourselves to support each other in times of need? And how do we learn to not only understand each other, but refrain from becoming inept to embracing others’ differences? This is no small feat, and by the looks of the racially charged incidents on campus in recent years, the answers to these questions have yet to reveal themselves. My fear additionally stems from the realization that I have absolutely no idea what the future holds for American society. Though racism, hatred and oppression have found a home in this country for centuries, I think it’s safe to say these societal sores resurged forcefully and publicly after the 2016 presidential election. This may sound outrageous to admit, but I have absolutely no clue why people are so upset with President Donald Trump. As if he did not foreshadow the executive decisions
he has enacted during his campaign. As if he did not reveal his prejudices prior to his inauguration. As if he did not instill fear within minority groups in the United States and spread hateful rhetoric through his speeches. No one should be surprised by the events that have unfolded across the course of these few months of his presidency, simply because he told us they would happen beforehand, just as no one should be shocked with regards to his motives. However, what should be excessively upsetting is the fact that there were enough like-minded people within our country to elect someone with values rooted in racism and bigotry. It is this portion of the population, which seeks to invite hate to college campuses, as we witnessed in the devastating events which took place in Charlottesville, Va., a few weeks back. Can these types of hate-filled infections reach a campus like the University? Am I valid for experiencing some anxiety because I almost expect this? As my sister readies herself for her first day of class and fills her backpack with all of her new fancy pens and notebooks, I prep for my first day by crossing my fingers that this year will not bring the “altright,” neo-Nazis and white nationalists to our campus. How are you going to spend your first day?
Stephanie Mullings can be reached at srmulli@umich.edu.
Arts
6A — Tuesday, September 5, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
THEATRE
Local playwright unveils work on Tennessee Williams BAILEY KADIAN Daily Arts Writer
It all began when LSA Junior Max Vinogradov and his good friend Jackson Abohasira decided to make short films together, creating funny scripts to match their ideas. Those short films turned into a series of small projects that combined creativity with a touch of theatre. Vinogradov recently won the Hopwood award in Drama,
and the Dennis McIntyre Prize for his play, “A Night of Stars with Tennessee Williams.” The Slipstream Theatre Initiative, located in Ferndale, MI, has taken Vinogradov’s script to the stage. In addition to Vinogradov’s success, Abohasira, who plays Andy Warhol and Marlon Brando in the show, recently won the Wilde Award for Rising Star. “Moving it from writing to the stage is an awesome thing and a bad thing,” Vinogradov said. “You look at this precious
thing that you wrote and you’re like ‘this is what I was thinking about,’ but at the same time, so much of it is letting the actors discover the characters
themselves.” The play explores the life of Tennessee Williams, an American playwright that revolutionized 20th-century
drama in America with works such as “The Glass Menagerie,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “Sweet Bird of Youth.” Vinogradov’s play, “A Night of Stars with Tennessee Williams,” projects a series of Williams’ memories, which include numerous stars, like Frank Merlo, Truman Capote, Andy Warhol, Marlon Brando and Greta Garbo, among others, who come to Williams with hopes of landing a role in
“A Night of Stars with Tennessee Williams” Slipstream Theatre Initiative September 7th 10th September 14th - 17th $12 one of his plays. The play moves through a series of memories, recalling the lives of stars that brought Williams’s scripts to life. Though the connects scenes with iconic figures, they are somewhat obstructed by Williams’s recollection of the past. “He (Williams) was an alcoholic and a drug abuser, so his memories are destroyed, in many senses,” Vinogradov explained. “He is trying to change the memories he recalls, because there are things he really screwed up, and relationships he is trying to save — but he really can’t.” With extensive research into Williams’s life, Vinogradov grew to understand the playwright’s lasting impact. “Williams made the memory play. I think what a lot of it has to do with is what we choose to remember,” Vinogradov said. “In his blackouts due to alcohol, he has lost all these good memories, and the things that withstood were traumas that
were just too great to be deleted. They persisted and the question is: Is that a choice?” Through the making of this piece, Vinogradov grappled with questions of what we choose to remember. Vinogradov found that the more he thought about these questions, the more they emerged through Williams’s memoirs. “Marlon Brando, for example, was just recently discovered to have raped a woman on set,” Vinogradov said. “This icon for so many of us just instantly fell to ashes. At first I kind of wrote him as a monster. And then I had to come to terms with that being a little too easy.” In understanding human flaws that can’t be removed from remaking a memory, Vinogradov creates the depth that his characters demand. “How do you make him complicated without forgiving him? The way we kind of learned that … the person who hates him more than anyone else is himself. That was a really delicate thing to dance around,” Vinogradov said. While discussing character relationships, and sharing about what each actor has brought to each role, Vinogradov found that the actors discovered elements of the script that he wasn’t even aware existed. Through these elements, two main themes rest at the heart of Vinogradov’s script. “The first is the idea that for something to really be beautiful, it needs to have ugliness. Beauty is a direct perspective of something else we are looking at. In order for you to have lived a beautiful life and a good life, you have to recognize the ugly things that happened,” Vinogradov said. “The other thing that really impacted me is the idea that you are not what you’ve done, but what you do. You can become the person you want to be.” Despite the rather tragic events that unfold in the play, the audience is left with an overwhelming sense of optimism. “When you are put in the midst of such horrible things — we as human beings are awesome. We are going to find things to grasp onto and love.”
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Tuesday, September 5, 2017 — 7A
Arts
8A — Tuesday, September 5, 2017
ALBUM REVIEW
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
TV REVIEW
Latest PVRIS album is ‘Game of Thrones’ season catchy & thrillingly dark seven finishes strong LAURA DZUBAY Daily Arts Writer
“You took my heaven away,” sings Lynn Gunn on “Heaven,” the first track of PVRIS’s new album All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell. This sentiment — anguished and accusatory, the lyrics backed by a hard swell of rock — sets the tone for the rest of the album, a self-assured musical exploration that is as angry and troubled as it is fierce. All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell is PVRIS’s second album after their well-received debut, White Noise. It includes much of the emotional force and honesty that originally made White Noise popular, and refreshingly, it accomplishes the rare feat of not reaching too far beyond itself. The rock-infused approach to songs like “Heaven” and “No Mercy” is hard and dark, but not oppressive, and the lyrics are dramatic, but don’t come across as presumptuous or overused. This is especially true on “What’s Wrong,” with the repeated line, “You don’t need a metaphor to know I’m miserable.” The result is an album that is sure of itself, well defined and enthrallingly catchy. It’s also very cohesive; the hard-edged guitar chords and ripped-raw lyrics carry the listener through anger, desperation, sorrow and finally numb resignation in the span of 10 songs, and at no point do the transitions feel jarring or unearned. This is in part because one of PVRIS’s strengths is their ability to balance soft, contemplative melodies with active, livid rock, often within the space of a single
song. For instance, “Separate” a hundred thousand souls / But starts out with a gentle (albeit none of them would ever feel dark) electronic ambience that, like home,” and “Nola 1” closes through steady drums and out the album with skewed and mounting production, escalates scattered images of a house smoothly into a chorus that once haunted. Things do get a feels at once angry, waking little cliché and melodramatic and alive. The most surprising in “Walk Alone” (“I was the thing is that smoke in your the transition lungs tearing you is so seamless apart,” “Darling, I — it’s difficult always knew that to notice it’s we were doomed,” even happening etc.). However, until it’s already every song on the over. The album album puts in comes full circle at least a strong particularly in effort where lyrics PVRIS its final track, are concerned, “Nola 1,” which both in terms Rise incorporates of visibility and the tune of the description and in chorus of the earlier track, terms of honesty. “What’s Wrong.” For all its merits, it must An especially appealing be said that All We Know of aspect of All We Know of Heaven, Heaven, All We Need of Hell doesn’t take PVRIS very far away from White Noise in terms of artistic direction. It’s darker and feels more complete and realized, but doesn’t mark any drastic new risks or interesting incorporations of new genres. Every once in a while it feels generic, because when you’re singing about relationship turmoil and tension from a frame as broad as heaven and hell, it’s hard not to get a little generic at times. But this is only the band’s second album, and it still stands alone as a dark, snappy and quality piece All We Need of Hell is that while of work. The lyrics, production it was clearly carefully produced and melodies all contribute an and arranged, it doesn’t lean on equal effort to make the album: its own skillful production to A strong representation of the carry the meaning. The lyrics turmoil that comes at the end also hold up to scrutiny in their of a relationship, and what that own right. Early on, “Anyone can mean emotionally for all Else” cuts to the bone with involved. lyrics like “’Cause I could touch
All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell
The hard-edged guitar chords and ripped-raw lyrics carry the listener through anger, desperation
CONNOR GRADY Daily Arts Writer
Since its premiere in 2011, “Game of Thrones” has developed a reputation for bold, sweeping season finales. That’s not to take anything away from the rest of the series’s episodes, which are equally ridiculous and consequential, but only to say that “Game of Thrones”’ finales have become almost larger-thanlife. True to form, the latest season sendoff, “The Dragon and the Wolf,” more than lives up to this tradition. Capping off the show’s seventh season masterfully, “The Dragon and the Wolf” redeems some of the series’s earlier season missteps and reminds audiences of the show’s status as television royalty. Clocking in at 81 minutes, “The Dragon and the Wolf” is a massive cinematic episode that sees “Thrones” scheming at its best, with the Starks and the Lannisters leading the way. Having followed Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner, “Barely Lethal”) through her brutal upbringing in King’s Landing, viewers finally got to witness the culmination of Sansa’s transformation into a merciless and cunning Lady of Winterfell. In one of the most powerful scenes of “The Dragon and the Wolf,” Sansa beautifully conspires with Arya Stark (Maisie Williams, “iBoy”) to finally extract vengeance against Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish (Aidan Gillen, “The Wire”). Watching Sansa use lessons in ruthlessness learned from Littlefinger himself
— the architect of much of her suffering — was simply incredible. Elsewhere, in King’s Landing, Cersei Lannister (Lena Headley, “The Brothers Grimm”) concocts a brilliant plan with Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbæk, “Lucy”) to stealthily ferry The Golden Company mercenaries to Westeros. While Cersei’s maneuver to bolster the Lannister army through mercenaries figures to be a central aspect of the next and final season, Season Eight seems primed to be dominated by the war between the White Walkers and the StarkTargaryen allied forces. “The Dragon and the Wolf” did a great job of featuring many of the series’s various overlapping stories, while still making clear that this war between the armies of the living and the dead is the show’s primary focus. For now, audiences will have to wait for any more clashes between the Lannisters and the Targaryens. “The Dragon and the Wolf” also handled Theon Greyjoy’s (Alfie Allen, “John Wick”) meandering storyline well, inspiring viewers to root for the disgraced Greyjoy son again. After yet another season of a timid, spineless Theon, nearly all loyal “Thrones” supporters had given up hope of any sort of redemption from Theon. Flipping that narrative on its head, this season finale featured Theon summoning the courage to set out to rescue his sister Yara Greyjoy (Gemma Whelan, “The Wolfman”). In the process, Theon kills a fellow Ironborn in a
Game of Thrones
Season 7 Finale HBO
barbaric fistfight that wins back the support of his soldiers and, by extension, “Thrones” fans. This is one of the biggest strengths of “The Dragon and the Wolf” — it rewards “Thrones” viewers’ loyalty with outstanding pay-off scenes. For years, “Thrones” has teased that “Winter is coming,” and with it, the army of the dead. The finale portrayed winter’s arrival in grand through a snowy scene in King’s Landing with a breathtaking shot of the Wall collapsing, shredded with fireballs by a White Walker riding an undead dragon. Outside of these shots, “Thrones” gave audiences a Jon Snow (Kit Harington, “Pompeii”) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke, “Terminator Genisys”) sex scene after several episodes of subtle sexual tension. As a “Thrones” season finale, “The Dragon and the Wolf” wouldn’t be complete without some last second plotline bombshell, and the episode fully delivers in this area. In the penultimate scene of the episode, fan-favorites Samwell Tarly (John Bradley, “Traders”) and Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright, “The Boxtrolls”) learn of Jon’s true lineage as the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. While the show has hinted at this revelation since its premiere, the discovery remains monumental by making Jon the true heir to the Iron Throne, though it also makes his relationship with Daenerys clearly incestal — she is his aunt. Having such a stunning reveal as only a minor piece of the stellar season finale is exactly what audiences have come to expect from “Thrones,” and it’s why they will keep returning to watch the series’s eighth and final season.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Tuesday, September 5, 2017 — 9A
CONCERT REVIEW
FOOD COLUMN
TBS breaks 2000s mold
COURTESY OF ALEXIS BACKUS
DOMINIC POLSINELLI Daily Arts Writer
Remember the last time you had a truly cathartic release at a concert — who was there and what songs you screamed. Nostalgia holds an undeniable power over musical experiences, but it can also become toxic when exploited in the present. In a world of never ending anniversary tour announcements, it’s refreshing to find a band stand out among the rest without the crutch of nostalgia. On August 13th, Taking Back Sunday lit the sold out Crofoot in Pontiac ablaze, setting the standard for early 2000s emo bands still fortunate enough to be playing shows. Calling Taking Back Sunday an “emo band” in 2017 is a bit of a stretch. Coming off the release of 2016’s incredible record Tidal Wave, the band has proven their ability for constructive change, making a record with an unprecedented rock atmosphere for the band without straying too far from what fans have come to expect of their music. Fully cognizant of their fanbase’s desires, Taking Back Sunday’s setlists actively engage all the eras of their music — frontman Adam Lazzara even took the time to explain the inclusion of “Everything Must Go,” a deep cut from their typically overlooked record New Again.
I’ve now seen Taking Back Sunday both pre- and post-Tidal Wave, and it’s safe to say the new material expertly blends with the old. Where contemporaries have begun to falter (see: literally all of Fall Out Boy’s music postreunion), the music on Tidal Wave fits perfectly with the rest of their catalogue included in their sets. Opening with the title track and throwing “Death Wolf” in the middle of the performance did nothing to dampen the energy; if anything changed, a marginal amount of people didn’t know all the words to sing along. Now you find yourself halfway through Taking Back Sunday’s set. You’re out of breath and sweaty, packed like a sardine in the crowd of drunk young adults. None of this should be remotely comfortable, but you just finished dancing your ass off to the rock ‘n’ roll of “Death Wolf” when the band launches into the aching ballad of “You’re So Last Summer.” Without even thinking, you’re screaming, “Boys like you are a dime a dozen!” because that’s the infectious relationship Taking Back Sunday have with their fans. Adam Lazzara and John Nolan are natural performers. They easily banter with each other, the rest of the band and even audience members. Anecdotes and jokes pass fluidly between songs, except for a long story on how Lazzara
used to sing and dance in his kitchen pretending to be Billie Joe Armstrong before performing their toned-down acoustic cover of Green Day’s “She.” By sprinkling nostalgia here and there throughout the night, Taking Back Sunday kept long time fans emotionally engaged without the corniness of living in the past. It’d be amiss to not mention Taking Back Sunday’s support from All Get Out and Every Time I Die. The former opened the show with their gorgeous and earnest altpunk tunes, while the later all but destroyed everybody that dared to enter the pit with their violent, highspeed blend of hardcore and metal. With diverse, talented openers (and only two of them thankfully), the show quickly ramped up the energy before Taking Back Sunday even took the stage. And this is exactly why Taking Back Sunday continues to thrive today. They’ve grown from their roots, branching into a band more beautiful, more diverse than their past without ignoring it. They didn’t miss a beat the entire night, bombarding the crowd with anthem after anthem, old and new. If Taking Back Sunday predicted anything on their first record, it’s that they will always have the mic and the crowd will always have the mosh pit.
Food, culture and code-switching It’s not fun to say the words tandoori chicken. The dish itself is fine — a quite tasty preparation that’s been successfully imported and popularized in the US—but pronouncing the actual words, as an Indian-American kid, is kind of a chore. Same with vindaloo, or biryani, or Qatar, even. It’s that awkward choice you’re asked to a make in a split-second: do I say this the American, Anglicized way to make sure this conversation continues smoothly, or do I f lex a little bit and pronounce this how it’s meant to be, thereby ensuring a slight but notable uptick in discomfort levels around the room? But comparatively, tandoori is a walk in the park. My family is from Kerala, in the southernmost part of India, and our cuisine (and culture, for that matter), is wildly different than chicken tikka and paneer. It’s more seafoodbased, heavier on the coconut milk and bananas, and our vegetarian options are much more robust (for the sake of simplicity, we won’t dive into the varying branches based on religion). Along with a starkly different food landscape, however, is a language that is just as foreign, and so it is that saying the seemingly innocuous word dosa in front of a bunch of white people is a peculiarly stressful experience. Try ordering idli off of a menu at your local South Indian vegetarian spot. Or pronouncing the word puttu without sounding like you’re mocking it. Maybe even take a stab at my last name! It’s a
linguistic hellscape down here on the humid, rain-heavy tip of India, and for people who can’t roll their r’s or lay down a “hard t,” it’s nearly impossible to navigate. Sure, this is an ostensibly stupid thing to complain about; the social anxiety of immigrants pronouncing meals on a menu is on par with “the
of a conundrum: to assimilate or to retain one’s heritage, all magnified by the order at a dinner table. Code-switching is, on the whole, a much larger and more fascinating phenomenon to be considered. But in the context of food and its weirdly specific customs, it takes on a more dynamic meaning. For the foreigner, eating a plate of puttu and kadala curry (with your hands, of course) is, if for only a moment, a brief glimpse into a land miles away; for the immigrant, a banana leaf covered in the
NABEEL CHOLLAMPAT people of Bomont not being allowed to dance” on the wideranging scale of legitimate oppression. But what do you do when faced with the choice? Let’s all agree that there’s no one worse than the dude who, in the middle of an otherwise normal description of food, decide to pronounce salsa verde as if he recently took a missionary trip to rebuild schools in Mexico. But for the immigrant —or, in this case, the first-generation child — to whitewash the pronunciation of your homeland’s food is odd, and uncomfortable. The history of that dish, and the history of your family, awkwardly brushed aside for convenience. There’s a tinge of guilt whenever you do it; it’s an internal acknowledgement that you have, for the moment, sold out to appease these white devils, even though you know better. It’s a microcosm of that age-old, tiresome cliché
It’s a linguistic hellscape down here on the humid, rain-heavy tip of India
offerings of a traditional sadya — choru, aviyal, thoran, and countless more tiny mounds of exhaustively prepared side dishes — is an evocative snapshot of a phantom home, with all the emotional weight and cultural baggage that it portends. That split-second of hesitation, then — the moment before “doe-suh” or “thoshuh” — is often the wait of a lifetime.
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10A — Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Sports
WOMEN’S SOCCER
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
FIELD HOCKEY
Wolverines fall short at Dowthwaite falls just short Notre Dame Invitational of giving Wolverines victory PAIGE VOEFFRAY Daily Sports Writer
After a 1-1 tie against Santa Clara (2-3-1) Friday, the No. 23 Michigan women’s soccer team was slated to face No. 11 South Carolina as its last opportunity to come out of the Notre Dame Invitational with a win. And for a brief moment, it looked like a possibility. Just eight minutes into the game, junior forward Reilly Martin sent a free kick towards the Gamecocks’ goalkeeper, who managed to punch it away without an issue. But sophomore defender Jada Dayne was there to head the ball to the back of the net, giving the Wolverines an early 1-0 lead. Michigan was eager to walk away with a win, but two secondhalf goals from South Carolina (5-1) meant the Wolverines would leave the Notre Dame Invitational with a tie and a loss. Trouble arose when Michigan (3-1-2) allowed two goals within a matter of minutes. The Wolverines maintained their one-goal lead through the first half, but in the 54th minute South Carolina’s midfielder Bianca Galassini collected a deflection in the box and slotted it in. Michigan struggled to keep its composure, and Galassini took advantage of a poor clearance and chipped it into the top right corner for her second goal of the day. From there on out, the Gamecocks controlled the game. South Carolina dominated possession in its half of the field until the final whistle blew. The Wolverines didn’t even get their first shot of the second half until the 75th minute, when redshirt junior forward Taylor Timko ripped a shot to the far-right post that sailed wide. A quiet outing from junior midfielder Abby Kastroll surely impacted the Wolverines’ chances
against the Gamecocks. Kastroll registered only one shot Sunday, where Friday she managed six shots and had the game-tying goal. She pressured Santa Clara’s backline, which allowed for freshman midfielder Sarah Stratigakis to send a through ball for Kastroll to tap in. Michigan coach Greg Ryan doesn’t consider the weekend unsuccessful, though. With only one game left before conference play starts, Ryan knows the strong competition will prepare his team for what’s to come. “We have a lot of younger players and this kind of experience is huge,” Ryan said. “We had the opportunity to play two teams that were in the Elite 8 last year of the NCAA Tournament, so I think this will help us face the top teams in the Big Ten.” Still relatively early in the season, Ryan’s top priority is giving players
as much playing time as possible. Two goalkeepers saw action this weekend, with senior Sarah Jackson starting Friday and freshman Hillary Beall starting Sunday. The two combined for nine saves on the weekend. While Ryan was pleased with his team’s performance, there is still plenty of work to be done before the Big Ten season begins. Michigan started five freshmen in both games over the weekend, and its inexperience was evident. The defense was especially suspect as the Gamecocks’ two goals came off defensive errors. With the goalkeeper position up in the air and new faces in the backline, the Wolverines now look to create a rhythm with their defense and hope the experience from beginning of the season was enough to garner a successful run in conference play.
ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily
Sophomore defender Jada Dayne scored in a loss against South Carolina.
EFE EDEVBIE
Daily Sports Writer
The No. 11 Michigan field hockey team experienced its first snag of the year, losing 2-1 to No. 4 Connecticut on Sunday in Ann Arbor after opening the season with three consecutive wins over ranked opponents. The contest was locked in an offensive stalemate for much of the game, with both teams remaining scoreless well into the second half. “I think (Connecticut) had a really good one-on-one defense. They were very stingy coming into the circle, which gave us some trouble,” said Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz. “I think we tended to not have very good vision and had our heads down instead of transferring the ball around and penetrate another side of the circle. Those two things together probably didn’t make for a great day for us.” The tie was broken by Huskie defender Casey Umstead on a corner shot with 15:08 remaining in the matchup. Umstead would tack on another goal on a penalty stroke less than four minutes later, giving Connecticut a 2-0 advantage. The barrage of goals by the Huskies ultimately became the deciding factor in the game. With 11 penalty corners to the Wolverines’ two, Connecticut was able to swing the balance with its ample amount of goal-scoring opportunities. “If you give them that many corners, they’re going to execute one or two here, eventually. And they did,” Pankratz said. “We need to have more opportunities on our end so we can even up the score, and weren’t able to do that.” Despite the sudden flurry of Huskie goals, Michigan was able to tighten the margin with a corner goal from sophomore forward Meg
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Sophomore forward Meg Dowthwaite’s goal wasn’t enough for Michigan.
Dowthwaite with 3:26 remaining. The goal was Dowthwaite’s fifth in four games. After finally getting on the scoreboard, the Wolverines kept high pressure into the waning seconds of the game. In the final minute of the game, the team had one last penalty-corner opportunity. But Michigan wasn’t able to convert, and Connecticut was able to run the clock out to preserve the victory. “You pick up energy when you get a corner; we hadn’t had a corner all game,” Dowthwaite said. “You get a goal and it lifts the mood again and you get more energy and more confidence. So we really tried to go really hard in that last five minutes. (We) got a corner at the end but we just couldn’t finish it, unfortunately.” Signs of fatigue were apparent
given a short turnaround from last Friday’s contest against No. 25 Liberty. The Huskies had a full week of rest before Sunday’s matchup. Even with the loss, the Wolverines look to have a promising season ahead of them, with a resume that already includes a win over then-No. 1 North Carolina. The team will look to bounce back this Friday against William & Mary. “The last four minutes (against Connecticut) was the team that was here on Friday and last weekend,” Pankratz said. “It took us 66 minutes to get there, so that was unfortunate. We’ll just have to try to work on that and fix it for the next weekend. It’s a long season and that’s why we play the games — to get better every game so we’re at our best at the end of the season.”
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
FOOTBALL
Patience paying off for Marshall ORION SANG
Daily Sports Editor
The last four years of Lawrence Marshall’s life have been all about trusting a process he never knew would take so long. It’s a process that required nearly 50 pounds of weight gain, two position switches and three years of patiently waiting. That process isn’t over yet. But, at least for one play, the redshirt junior caught a glimpse at what could lie in his future when he recovered a fumble in the third quarter of Michigan’s 33-17 victory over Florida on Saturday. “That’s what we preached all spring ball, all fall camp — just running to the ball,” Marshall said. “That’s the Michigan thing. Coaches always preach that; you never know what you’re going to find when you’re running to the ball.” Marshall has yet to break into the starting lineup, or develop into the fearsome defensive lineman that many predicted he would. But given how long he’s waited to make an impact on the field, that fumble recovery meant all the more to both him and his mom, who Marshall said texted and called him “five or six times” after the game ended. Marshall, now a defensive tackle, has certainly had a humbling experience at Michigan despite a recruiting pedigree that would suggest otherwise. He arrived in Ann Arbor as a highly-touted four-star defensive end — one of the best in the nation — who had previously committed to Ohio State. Yet Marshall was not prepared for one of big-time college football’s harshest realities: chances are, the roster already has players who
were just as highly-ranked as you were — and they have an advantage in experience. It didn’t matter that Marshall was a blue-chip recruit, or that Michigan had won a hard-fought recruiting battle for his services. Once he enrolled on campus, he was at the bottom. “We just had some incredible players that were ahead of me, and I just had to wait my time,” Marshall said. “It was difficult, being a highly-recruited guy coming in and you’ve got to start
“That’s what we preached all spring ball, all fall camp — just running to the ball. That’s the Michigan thing. Coaches always preach that; you never know what you’re going to find when you’re running the ball.” from the bottom of the barrel and build your way up, but perseverance is everything and that’s what I stand by.” It didn’t help that Marshall was quickly converted into a strongside end — a position that, compared to the weakside, typically requires more weight in an emphasis to hold up better against the run. Then, he was eventually
moved again, this time to defensive tackle. For Marshall, that meant retooling his entire passrushing technique. And that didn’t come easy. “A lot of work went into it,” Marshall said. “Rushing from the inside versus outside are two different games.” He gained an edge during the offseason, though, after working with fifth-year senior defensive tackle Mo Hurst. Hurst, commonly regarded as one of the nation’s premier interior pass-rushers, taught Marshall “everything.” Those sessions, coupled with more time spent at the position, saw Marshall enjoy what he thinks is one of — if not the — best fall camps he’s ever had. “I’m more aggressive, I feel like — more knock ‘em back, playing low, my pad level has gotten way better, my technique has improved a lot,” Marshall said. “I was just watching film of myself my sophomore year where I was stepping inside some or stepping outside, and now it’s straight steps and punching somebody in the mouth first, so that’s what I felt like I improved the most on.” Saturday, he saw regular snaps as part of the interior rotation. While that may not seem like much, Michigan spent much of the game in a three-man front, which meant there were fewer snaps for its interior linemen. Perhaps that’s the best indicator of how far Marshall has come — while he was once the highly-touted recruit biding his time, he’s now the veteran seeing the field ahead of younger and even more highly-ranked freshmen. “You have to be patient to a certain extent,” Marshall said. “I was patient all the way up to this point.”
Tuesday, September 5, 2017 — 11A
MEN’S SOCCER
Mukuna proving value for Michigan MARK CALCAGNO Daily Sports Writer
Before Friday night, Daniel Mukuna doesn’t think he had ever scored two goals in a soccer match — no matter the playing level. The junior defender found the back of the net just three times last season at Campbell University, as offensive chances were simply scarce for the England native. But in just his third game as part of the Michigan men’s soccer team, Mukuna scored twice — including the eventual game-winner — to lead the Wolverines to a 3-1 victory over Cleveland State. “It means a lot to get those goals,” Mukuna said. “It’s a privilege for me to play here, and whenever there’s a chance
“I believed that these were the coaches that would take me to the next level — that’s why I transferred here. ” to get a goal, I definitely want to be who comes up and gets one. “I believed that these were the coaches that would take me to the next level – that’s why I transferred here. It’s great to see things come together tonight.” Michigan coach Chaka Daley pushed Mukuna up the pitch, noting his ability in the air off set pieces. Despite a 1-0 Michigan lead that forced the Vikings to increase their tempo in the attacking third,
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Michigan coach Chaka Daley has been impressed with Daniel Mukuna.
Daley returned fire with an aggressive approach that led to Mukuna’s first goal in the 55th minute — a buried header off a cross from senior midfielder Tristan Jacob. Just four minutes later, Mukuna completed his brace with a powerful finish from the right f lank as the Wolverines continued to pressure on the offensive end. “Going in, we talked about getting goals from the back and how beneficial that would be,” Mukuna said. “There definitely was an emphasis on it, and it’s great to see it come to fruition.” On the defensive half, Mukuna and his fellow starting backs – junior Marcello Borges and sophomore Abduo Samake — held the Vikings to just four shots. Though one of those found the back of the net, the trio consistently frustrated Cleveland State’s attackers with solid positioning and speed to cut off potential chances. “(Our defenders) have been a great partnership so far,” Mukuna said. “Everybody
has been working thoroughly in practice on keeping our discipline and shape and making sure out tactics are right. I’m happy that it’s showing up on the field.” Mukuna even found himself saving goals, too When the Vikings opened the field in pursuit of equalizing goals in the 75th minute, Cleveland State forced sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Verdi out of position from an initial chance, creating an open net opportunity off the rebound. But Mukuna — almost 100 meters from where he scored his two goals — blocked the Viking attempt to preserve Michigan’s two-goal lead. Despite the return of junior Peter Brown, Mukuna has now started over the incumbent defender in all three matches. “Certainly, he’s a physical presence and has kept himself super fit,” Daley said. “He’s very much a team guy, is technically sound and very dangerous on dead ball situations. He’s been solid to this point.”
12A — Tuesday, September 5, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
B
The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | September 5, 2017
TUESDAY
YOUNG DON’T MEAN NOTHIN’ - Devin Bush Jr.
Michigan 33 Florida 17 The 11th-ranked Wolverines defeated No. 17 Florida at AT&T Stadium in the AdvoCare Classic, quieting any concerns there may have been that Michigan is too inexperienced. KEVIN SANTO
Managing Sports Editor
ARLINGTON, Tex. — The first pick came, then the second. Suddenly, the Michigan football team was trailing by a touchdown with its starting quarterback taking a seat on the sideline. Then came a blocked punt, and the game was at risk of spiraling out of control. And yet, the 11th-ranked Wolverines (1-0) — a team ample with youth after returning, at best, five starters — threw their inexperience out the window, recovering to score 20 second-half points and defeat No. 17 Florida, 33-17, in the AdvoCare Classic at AT&T Stadium. “I mean, we didn’t hang our heads,” said freshman wide receiver Tarik Black. “You know, when we face adversity,
Meet Mr. Riddle
By now, you’ve probably heard of the letter that inspired the Wolverines. Get to know the Marine who wrote it.
» Page 6B
we just got to get back to it, get back up. “Really, Coach just emphasized coming out and pretty much clearing our heads and just coming out and doing what we do, and that’s play Michigan football. And I think that’s what we did.” The secondhalf resurgence started with redshirt junior quarterback Wilton Speight, as he went 5-for7 with 52 yards to set up junior running back Karan Higdon for a three-yard touchdown rush on the opening drive. Redshirt freshman kicker Quinn Nordin slowly built Michigan’s lead for the rest of the third quarter, nailing a 30
and 50-yard field goal after two fumble recoveries to put the Wolverines ahead, 26-17, entering the final frame. Then the defense took over, as it had the entire game. Florida (0-1) failed to score a single point in the second half, eventually replacing Feleipe Franks with Malik Zaire at quarterback. The Wolverines’ defense tallied stop after stop — holding the Gators to just 192 yards, conceding just three points and capping the day off with a sack of Zaire that turned into a fumble recovery in Florida’s end zone. “I seen a bunch of g uys play like men today,” Bush said. “…
“We didn’t hang our heads. You know, when we face adversity, we just got to get back to it, get back up.”
We just had a bunch of g uys rise to the occasion. I can’t express how happy I am and proud of those g uys I am.” And if not for the defensive unit, the first half could have easily gotten out of hand. Though he eventually returned, linebacker and defensive captain Mike McCray started the game on the sideline for unknown reasons, and sophomore linebacker Devin Bush was nearly ejected for targeting on the first play of the game. Roughly 12 minutes later, after finding freshman wide receiver Tarik Black for a 46-yard touchdown to give Michigan a 10-3 lead with just
over three minutes left in the first quarter — going 75 yards on three plays in just 43 seconds — Speight’s day took a turn for the worse. The Gators turned his two pick-sixes into a 17-13 lead, despite failing to score a single offensive touchdown and tallying just 91 total yards in the first half. And with the pick-sixes came the quarterback controversy. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh went with Speight to start the game, but two consecutive interceptions landed him on the bench with just under 11 minutes left in the first half. Fifth-year senior John O’Korn took over, only to
“I seen a bunch of guys play like men today. ... We just had a bunch of guys rise to the occasion.”
watch sophomore Will Hart have his punt blocked after O’Korn’s first offensive drive ended with a three and out. O’Korn wa s g iven only one more of fensive drive af ter t he punt block, a s Speight recla imed his duties under center for t he rema inder of t he ga me a nd f inished 11-for-25 w it h 181 ya rds, one touchdow n a nd t wo interceptions. “There’s a lot to learn from it,” Harbaugh said. “There’s really good things to learn from it. We already have talked about some of them, and there will be more to learn from it. But he’s experiencing it. That’s big. “And then, you know, it’s always astonished me, you know, with quarterbacks. It’s a sign. It really is a sign when a quarterback can have something really bad go, something really bad happen, and come back from it.”
Feelin’ special
Quinn Nordin and the special teams unit helped Michigan win a phase of the game Saturday that they were never supposed to.
» Page 5B
SportsTuesday
2B — Tuesday, September 5, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
A letter and a lesson A
RLINGTON, Tex. — Dear Coach Harbaugh, The letter began. My name is Anthony Riddle; I’m a 13-year combat veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. I now live just thirty minutes west of Ann Arbor in Jackson, MI. Michigan’s football coach kept reading. The reason for this letter is for the last three months KEVIN I have heard SANTO how young this year’s team is, how inexperienced the team is, how many players we have to replace, or lost to the NFL. Then came the real point. Let me be clear that sort of criticism is bullshit. The night before the 11th-ranked Wolverines’ 33-17 victory over No. 17 Florida, Harbaugh shared Riddle’s message with his team — joking that it was “better than anything I could have told (them).” With the way Michigan played, maybe it was. Ever since the Wolverines lost to Florida State in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30, the question has been how Michigan would fare after losing all but one starter on the defensive side of the ball. Saturday, the Wolverines trotted out a defensive lineup with seven first-time starters and gave a definitive answer. Florida managed just 181 yards in the air, and — even more uninspiring — rushed for just 11 yards. The Gators totaled just 11 first downs, not including penalty yardage. Michigan forced four fumbles and recovered three, the final of which was a touchdown that
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Sophomore linebacker Devin Bush Jr. and sophomore defensive end Rashan Gary showed that concerns of Michigan’s youth were unfounded after all.
proved to be a dagger in the game’s final two minutes. Sophomore linebacker Devin Bush Jr. led the unit with seven tackles, two sacks and three tackles for loss. Junior safety Tyree Kinnel wasn’t far behind, racking up six tackles and 1.5 for loss — each good for second on the team. That’s not bad for two guys making the first starts of their careers. It’s even more impressive considering the hand they were dealt. Michigan’s defense allowed just three points the entire game. And yet, the Gators held a 17-13 advantage at halftime, due to redshirt junior quarterback Wilton Speight’s two pick-sixes in the second
quarter. In moments like that, when a team is losing a game it has no business losing, youth conventionally crumbles. The Wolverines’ response was anything but. “After those two picks, you know, we didn’t go in the gutter,” Bush said. “We didn’t start pointing fingers. Our job is to get us out of this hole. … As a team, you got to pick the offense up when they need help. So that’s what we all did.”
And when pushed further, asked if he was at all worried after the interceptions, Bush spoke without hesitation — “Nah.” Cool. Confident. And for an inexperienced team, unconventional. As for the offensive side of the ball, it was the same story. The Wolverines racked up 215 yards on the ground, and another 218 through the air. They did so with seven players making their first career starts
“Let me be clear that sort of criticism is bullshit.”
at their respective positions. Freshman wide receiver Tarik Black and redshirt freshman tight end Nick Eubanks handled their new receiving responsibilities with the poise of veterans — combining for 144 yards on four receptions. And though he played plenty last year, sophomore running back Chris Evans took his first start in stride, leading Michigan’s backs with 22 carries while notching 88 yards. When it was all said and done, the Wolverines left the field with a victory to show for it. Undoubtedly, mistakes were made. Two of them came from a veteran in Speight, while the
other — a punt block — was a special teams gaffe. Michigan still walked away with a 16-point advantage, and youth was far from the problem. After the game, Speight and Harbaugh shared the story of the letter. Then Harbaugh handed it out for all to see. The Wolverines’ coach didn’t equate football to war, but he thought Riddle’s message resonated nonetheless. Riddle went on to write about his experience serving in Iraq, about being handed the responsibility — at 20 years old — of leading 52 Marines into battle, all of whom were the same age or younger. He told Harbaugh how every member of that unit completed their mission and returned safely. He told Harbaugh that if his unit could do that, at 20, in war, then this Michigan group could win a Big Ten championship, if not a national championship. It’s way too early to say that Saturday was any justification of a championship-caliber team. But it was certainly a justification of Riddle’s first point: Against the Gators, the concerns about youth were, in fact, “bullshit.” Speight highlighted a simple fact in the bowels of AT&T Stadium. Last year, Michigan’s roster was made up of a collection of 22- and 23-yearolds. This year, the Wolverines have a bunch of 18- and 19-year olds. What everyone saw Saturday was that it really didn’t matter. There wasn’t a single Wolverine for whom the stage was too bright. As Bush bluntly put it: “Young don’t mean nothin’.” Santo can be reached at kmsanto@umich.edu or on Twitter @Kevin_M_Santo.
On big stage, Bush showcases star potential ORION SANG
Daily Sports Editor
ARLINGTON, Tex. — The final scene of a football game, as the fans stream out of the stadium and the teams congregate in the middle of the field, can tell you everything you need to know. On Saturday, all one needed to do was watch Devin Bush Jr. as he waded through masses of Michigan and Florida players following his team’s dominating — yet oddly close
— 33-17 victory. Bush, a sophomore linebacker making the first start of his career, was treated like a star. He took several interviews with reporters from ESPN and other outlets. He met and took pictures with Florida players, with his teammates, all with a giant smile on his face. And then, quite fittingly, he ran off the field in lockstep with defensive coordinator Don Brown, who raised his hand in the air and brought it down to meet Bush’s, as if he was
about to signal, ‘This is the champ.’ Yes, Devin Bush Jr. was the champ Saturday. His name may not have been known to the larger world of college football before Saturday afternoon — but just like a movie star becomes famous after their first leading role, Bush will be known to many now. Yet it was a performance that was nearly derailed before it even began. Bush, who has already been ejected once in his career before, was flagged for a late hit on the first snap of the
game. The officials went to review, the players to their huddles, and Bush awaited his fate. It would have been a big blow to the defense, especially considering how definitively Bush won the starting competition at middle linebacker. But Bush didn’t seem to worry about the outcome too much, considering his comments after the game. “I don’t remember,” Bush said. “But if I wanted to say, like, it’s just me. That’s just what I do. If they want to
eject me, eject me.” That mindset — of unbridled aggressiveness and ferocity on every snap, regardless of whether it’s on defense or special teams — fits well with Michigan’s defense and with Brown’s scheme. Bush and his coordinator, it seems, were meant for each other. That’s not to say the player Bush replaced in the middle — Ben Gedeon — was shabby. Gedeon played well last year and was drafted in the fourth round of the NFL Draft, in fact. But Bush is the type of prospect Michigan fans have been longing for, a player who has the requisite speed and agility to play sideline to sideline and disrupt plays in a manner that his predecessors couldn’t quite do. Bush, to put it simply, looked like a
heat-seeking missile, if a heat-seeking missile could play middle linebacker. Time after time, he shot into the backfield on well-timed blitzes, or snuffed out the rare Florida ball carrier that got past his defensive line. He led the team in tackles with seven. He led the team with tackles-for-loss with three. He led the team in sacks with two. It was the type of performance that might indicate that Michigan’s defense may not have lost much of a step, despite last year’s departures. And that’s the larger point that Michigan wants to make, the message it’s been trying to tell everyone all offseason: The Wolverines may have lost a lot, but the players stepping in this year can do just as well — if not better. Just ask Devin Bush Jr.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsTuesday
Tuesday, September 5, 2017 — 3B
Five Things We Learned: Florida ORION SANG
Daily Sports Editor
Yes, things didn’t go perfectly. But, all things considered, Michigan’s 33-17 victory over Florida in the season opener at AT&T Stadium was a win the Wolverines could be proud of. For some reason, Jim Harbaugh just seems to have Jim McElwain’s number. Now, a young Michigan team whose main detriment may be inexperience can finally say it’s a little less inexperienced — especially after a top-25 win at a neutral-site venue. Here are five things we learned from Saturday’s game: 1. There isn’t a quarterback controversy Yes, Wilton Speight did get benched following the rarest of occurrences — consecutive picksixes, of which only the latter was his fault. Harbaugh said after the game that he wanted his starting quarterback to ‘reset’ mentally. The move seemed to pay off: Speight’s first drive of the second half saw him complete 5-of-7 passes for 52 yards and lead Michigan down the field for a touchdown that allowed it to reclaim the lead. “I thought Wilton did a good job of getting calmed down and started off hot and then hit the rough patch,” Harbaugh said, “and then really finished strong and led our offense very well.” Of course, Harbaugh never benched Speight when he struggled last year, and John O’Korn did look better than he has in the past when he ran the offense for two series. But there isn’t any debate: Speight is — and will be — Michigan’s starting quarterback for the foreseeable future, and deserves to be so. While many might point to the interception on which he badly overthrew junior receiver Grant Perry, Speight did just fine — and better than just fine occasionally. There was the 46-yard touchdown pass to freshman receiver Tarik Black, or the numerous completions in the short passing game where he
took what Florida’s defense gave him, or the late deep ball to redshirt freshman tight end Nick Eubanks. Speight even showed promise on one of his late miscues — an overthrow of what would’ve been a touchdown — by audibling into the play in the first place. Perhaps the best indicator of what type of player Speight is, and can be on a more consistent basis, was his 28-yard pass to junior wide receiver Grant Perry on the opening drive of the third quarter. Perry was between two defenders, but Speight threaded the needle and placed his throw perfectly. It was a tough play, even more so considering Speight had been benched just before. The throw, and Speight’s willingness and capability to bounce back after a couple tough breaks, could certainly portend good things for the future. 2. The defense looks elite once again The game was never more than nine points out of distance for Florida until the final few minutes, but those nine might as well have been 50 considering how stifling Michigan’s defense was. This was a unit that lost nine to 10 starters from last year — and yet, somehow, looks like it hasn’t taken a step back at all. The Wolverines looked eerily similar to last year’s elite unit as they swarmed to the ball, created havoc in the backfield and imposed their will on Florida’s offense. The stats tell it all: the Gators passed for just 133 yards and ran for a measly 11 yards. There were several chunk plays given up by the young secondary, but Florida was unable to capitalize and turn any of them into points besides a 34-yard pass on the first drive that led to a field goal. But that unit will have time to mature over the year, and the Big Ten will never be confused with the Big 12. There aren’t many elite passing attacks that Michigan will see this year. And even if the secondary does experience more growing pains, realistically, that won’t matter if the
front seven is making life hell for the opposing quarterback and offensive line anyway. 3. Michigan looks deep at running back Sophomore Chris Evans earned the majority of carries, rushing 22 times for 78 yards. But the two other running backs to find playing time — fifth-year senior Ty Isaac and junior Karan Higdon — certainly played like they were the feature back as well. Isaac received 11 carries and turned those into a productive 114 yards. He ripped off several long runs, including a 36-yarder on Michigan’s first drive of the game. Perhaps most impressive was an 18-yard scamper on a fourth-andone that showed the ability that made Isaac so coveted as a five-star recruit: He picked up the first down easily, bouncing outside, before displaying agility unnatural for his size by juking a safety and tacking on another 10-plus yards. Higdon, meanwhile, toted the ball just seven times, but made the most of every carry. His speed was apparent on one play when he bounced the ball outside and outran a defensive back to the first-down marker. Former running backs coach Tyrone Wheatley showed a predilection towards giving other backs carries even with an undisputed starter in De’Veon Smith last year. And from the looks of it, Jay Harbaugh — the position group’s current coach — may do the same with this year’s rotation and with similar success. 4. Young tight ends could be special While redshirt junior Ian Bunting and redshirt sophomore Tyrone Wheatley Jr. are the most experienced members at tight end and earned their fair share of snaps Saturday, it was two of their younger running mates in sophomore Sean McKeon and redshirt freshman Nick Eubanks who flashed the most potential. McKeon caught three passes, second-most on the team, for 25
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Redshirt junior quarterback Wilton Speight threw two interceptions, but there’s no quarterback controversy.
yards, proving to be a reliable option in the short and play-action passing game for Speight. He runs well for his size and showcased good balance, breaking a tackle to rumble his way for a first down. Perhaps most tantalizing for Michigan’s coaches was his blocking: McKeon consistently executed his assignment in the run game, helping pave holes for his running backs. Blocking can be the hardest aspect of the position to grasp — even former All-American and Mackey Award winner Jake Butt struggled with it at times — which makes McKeon’s performance all the more impressive. If he can be effective in both phases of the position, that gives his coaching staff flexibility; they won’t be tipping run or pass whenever they put McKeon in the game. His counterpart, Eubanks, looks more like a receiver. But if you’re going to look like a receiver at tight end, you’re going to have to play like
The good, the bad and the ugly: Florida TED JANES
Daily Sports Writer
ARLINGTON, Tex. — One win into the Michigan football season has revealed so, so much. We learned who is starting at almost every position, where the team needs to improve and who has upped their game since the Wolverines (1-0) last played in 2016. After Michigan’s 33-17 win over Florida (0-1), coach Jim Harbaugh talked about a season opener filled with both highs and lows. The Daily breaks down the Wolverines’ turnaround victory over the Gators at AT&T Stadium: The good Most importantly, redshirt junior quarterback Wilton Speight bounced back after a devastating stretch of drives that resulted in two pick-sixes. Harbaugh took Speight out to calm him down, and after a couple of unconvincing drives from fifth-year senior John O’Korn, Speight returned to command the game. The Wolverines scored 20 unanswered points and tallied 230 yards of total offense in the second half. The game could play a major role
in Speight’s development moving forward. Looking more specifically at the position groups, wherever on the field Michigan graduated players, somebody new stepped up. The defensive linemen and linebackers looked almost as good as last year. The D-line of sophomore Rashan Gary, fifth-year senior Maurice Hurst, senior Chase Winovich and senior Bryan Mone pressured Florida’s offense all game. At the start of the game, the Wolverines’ defense had zero players on the field that started for Michigan last year. Fifth-year senior linebacker Mike McCray watched from the sideline, to the surprise of many. He eventually entered the game, but the young linebacker unit, including Devin Bush (seven total tackles with two sacks) and Devin Gil (one tackle), was playing well anyway. Michigan’s defense allowed just 11 rushing yards and only gave up three points Saturday. It even capped the game off with a touchdown of its own after forcing Florida’s quarterback to fumble in the end zone. On the other side of the ball, Michigan’s offensive position
players proved they are ample with depth. At running back, sophomore Chris Evans, fifth-year senior Ty Isaac and junior Karan Higdon combined for 231 rushing yards. The trio helped the Wolverines escape a handful of tricky thirdand-long scenarios, and Higdon also notched his first touchdown of the season. Sophomore tight ends Nick Eubanks and Sean McKeon displayed their speed and catching ability in the second half. McKeon made three catches for 25 yards, and Eubanks made two catches for 61 yards, all of which came in the second half. The tight ends combined well to fill the hole left by former All-American Jake Butt. The receiving core is also solid. Starting for Michigan this year are sophomore Kekoa Crawford, freshman Tarik Black and junior Grant Perry. Crawford’s day was uneventful, but Perry made four catches for 46 yards, and Black made two for 83. Freshman Donovan Peoples-Jones got into the mix as well, but for now it seems like he’ll mostly be used to return punts. Finally, it’s impossible to evaluate Michigan’s scoring
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Michigan’s defense looked like it hasn’t lost a step since last year in the season-opener against the Gators.
weapons without looking at its newest kicker, sophomore Quinn Nordin. Nordin, who originally committed to Penn State, flipped and committed to Ann Arbor after Harbaugh slept over at his house a few years ago. The efforts clearly paid off. Nordin went 4-6 on field goals against Florida, hitting a 50-yarder and a 55-yarder in the process. The bad The offensive line returned just two of five starters, senior left tackle Mason Cole and sophomore left guard Ben Bredeson. Unsurprisingly, the left side of the line looked just fine in protecting Speight’s blind side. The right side, however, struggled to contain Florida’s imposing defensive ends. The Gators sacked Michigan’s quarterbacks five times Saturday. Harbaugh complimented the new starters on the O-line after the game, including fifth-year senior center Patrick Kugler, sophomore right guard Michael Onwenu and redshirt sophomore right tackle Nolan Ulizio. Redshirt sophomore Jon Runyan also stepped in for a few downs at right tackle. Harbaugh emphasized the importance of improving on the offensive line from week one to week two, and that playing against Michigan’s strong defensive line throughout fall camp has helped them progress. The ugly The obvious choice here is Speight’s two interceptions. The first pick, though, may not have been as bad as the ensuing Florida touchdown seemed. Speight actually threw a pretty decent pass, but receiver Kekoa Crawford couldn’t corral the ball, and ending up batting it straight up for the Gators’ secondary to pick off. Speight’s second pick-six, though, was worse. He sailed a pass well over Perry’s head right to a Florida cornerback who easily strolled into the end zone. Speight has thrown some big interceptions before — two against Ohio State and one on his first pass in the season opener in 2016. The Wolverines can’t afford those kinds of mistakes if they want to get over the hump this year and compete for a Big Ten championship.
one, and Eubanks certainly did so. In the fourth quarter, he lined up as the tight end, ran down the seam past a defensive back after Speight faked a handoff, and then reeled in a difficult over-the-shoulder catch as two Gators tried to break the pass up. Eubanks had a reputation as a recruit for being raw — he played a lot of receiver in high school — but immensely talented. It was thought he would take a couple years to develop mentally and physically. Saturday — when Eubanks finished as Michigan’s second-leading receiver — suggested he may be progressing faster than many anticipated. Couple that with McKeon’s ability and the veterans, and Michigan’s tight end group could do better in replacing Butt better than initially expected. 5. Bold prediction: Tarik Black finishes as Michigan’s leading receiver Former star Mario Manningham’s
2005 season remains the gold standard for freshman campaigns in Ann Arbor — and he tallied just 27 receptions for 433 yards and six touchdowns, a relatively modest season by most standards. Tarik Black, though, appears poised to break that record and more. After earning praise from teammates and coaches all offseason, Black was finally able to prove that his performance on the field could match the considerable amount of hype. He led Michigan with 83 receiving yards and one touchdown Saturday, hauling in a pair of deep balls. He displayed a willingness to block, ran crisp routes and was able to win one-on-one matchups. Given the opportunities Black should receive as one of the starting outside receivers, it’s more than safe to say he should break Manningham’s record. And, judging from Saturday, it seems like he’ll be Michigan’s No. 1 option this year.
FOOTBALL
Black, Isaac boost Michigan’s offense TED JANES
Daily Sports Writer
ARLINGTON, Tex. — Tarik Black’s name had been tossed around plenty throughout the offseason. Talk of an “electric, young” wide receiver buzzed about, but questions remained as to if he — or any of the receivers — could step up and replace Michigan’s leading wideouts from 2016. Saturday afternoon at AT&T Stadium, Black answered the call in his first career game, as the No. 11 Michigan football team (1-0) beat No. 17 Florida, 33-17. Early on, with the game tied at three and the Wolverines’ offense deep in Gator territory, Black lined up to the left. His matchup was another true freshman, Florida cornerback Marco Wilson. Michigan snapped the ball, and Black ran 10 yards down and in, 10 yards down and out and then cut in one last time. He’d completely shaken off Wilson and streaked unguarded to the end zone. Redshirt junior quarterback Wilton Speight threw a lofty pass, landing it right in Black’s arms. It was Black’s first career reception, and a 46-yard touchdown at that. “I was a little nervous,” Black said of the play. “I used to play in front of a hundred people, now I play in front of 100,000. It was pretty nervewracking, but as long as you just focus and look at the ball all the way in, you should be fine.” The play call also signaled that Michigan’s new passing game coordinator, Pep Hamilton, can adjust well on the f ly. On the prior play, Florida’s senior safety Nick Washington
left the game with an injury. Replacing him on Black’s side of the field was another true freshman, defensive back Shawn Davis. Michigan’s coaching staff recognized the Gators’ inexperienced secondary, and attacked it to perfection. Black ended the day with 83 receiving yards, looking very sure-handed for the Wolverines. Michigan’s other offensive standout was fifth-year senior running back Ty Isaac. Sophomore Chris Evans earned the start, but when Evans struggled, Isaac stepped in to settle the nerves and ultimately made the biggest impact. Isaac ran for 114 yards on 11 carries Saturday, highlighted by a 36-yard gain to help Michigan escape a thirdand-13 situation in the first quarter. “We called some offschedule third-down runs… and we were able to pick those up through the running game,” Harbaugh said. “Ty Isaac did a great job, so really happy for him. That really gave us a boost.” Isaac’s performance marked his first 100-yard rushing game since 2015. Consistency has been an issue for him ever since he transferred to Michigan from Southern California after his freshman year. But a running back rotation with Isaac, Evans and junior Karan Higdon provides quality depth for Michigan in case one of them struggles to perform. Saturday was evidence of such. Isaac and Black were instrumental in sparking Michigan’s 433 yards of total offense, quieting any questions about ‘filling gaps from 2016’ at the running back or receiver slots.
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Notebook: Harbaugh praises offensive line Michigan cruises by Cleveland State, 3-1 MEN’S SOCCER
ORION SANG
Daily Sports Editor
Long third downs can be an offense’s worst nightmare. The defense often sells out against the pass, making it all the more difficult to convert long completions. In Michigan’s 33-17 victory over Florida, the Wolverines faced one of those situations during their opening drive when a sack forced a thirdand-13 from Michigan’s 48-yard line. The Wolverines, though, went against convention, calling a draw play that sprung loose fifthyear senior running back Ty Isaac for 36 yards. The draw play worked perfectly as what Jim Harbaugh calls an ‘off-schedule’ run — where Michigan runs the ball in a passing scenario to try to catch the opponent off guard. And Isaac, who rushed 11 times for 114 yards, was the beneficiary twice, converting another long third down on a similar play in the third quarter. “It’s in the scheme,” Isaac said Monday. “We look at a lot of film, obviously the coaches know what they’re doing when they’re drawing up plays. There were a couple situations where we got the looks that we were expecting to get, which made it a little easier. “They know what they’re doing. I’ll never doubt my own abilities, so it could be thirdand-30 and if they call my number, I feel like I’m going to go get it. We practice certain things, we do a lot of situational work in practice, so it goes back to knowing the type of looks we’re going to get for the most part.” While Isaac led the team in rushing yards, sophomore Chris Evans — the starter — still received double the amount of carries with 22. But Isaac is okay with however many touches he gets. He said he simply wants to have an impact on the game,
MAX MARCOVITCH Daily Sports Editor
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Sophomore right guard Michael Onwenu impressed Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh with his level of play against Florida.
whether that’s with three or 11 or 20 carries. And his continued improvement with limited carries certainly caught his head coach’s eye. “Ty has been a very elusive runner,” Harbaugh said. “He’s been outstanding. I think his pass protection has improved greatly, he’s always been a great catcher of the ball and his instincts are good and improving.” Harbaugh pleased with offensive line While an outside glance at the stats — five sacks and 11 tacklesfor-loss given up — might indicate Michigan’s young offensive line had a rough afternoon against Florida’s front seven, Harbaugh was pleased with what he saw from his starters. He’s mentioned before that he thinks the line is more athletic than previous units. On Monday, he compared the new group to last year’s line, which featured three senior starters. “There were times consistently during the season last year where we were getting beat and there were free runners on the quarterback, and there was a lot less of that in this ball game
against a very good defensive line and linebacker corps where they’re fast,” Harbaugh said. “We were getting them blocked. We were moving our feet. It wasn’t perfect, but it’s a good place to be, and glad we’re at that level. You don’t know where you’re going to be exactly until you play your first game, and we’re at a good level. We can improve from here.” All three of the new starters — fifth-year senior center Patrick Kugler, sophomore right guard Mike Onwenu and redshirt sophomore right tackle Nolan Ulizio — earned praise from Harbaugh for their efforts. He was especially pleased with Onwenu, who won the starting job this offseason after losing weight at the request of the coaching staff. “Very happy with Mike Onwenu,” Harbaugh said. “You go into it and you think, ‘Okay, Mason Cole is our best offensive lineman, and then Ben Bredeson right there close. Mike Onwenu or Ben Bredeson, who’s better?’ They’re both ascending, and Mike’s ascending real fast.” Nordin earns award after
first start Redshirt freshman kicker Quinn Nordin arrived on the college football scene in a big way Saturday. He hit his first four field goals, setting a program record by converting two field goals of 50 yards or more in one game, and even went viral for his haircut imitating Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn from the popular 1989 film Major League. His breakout performance saw him named co-Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week on Monday, sharing the award with Maryland’s Antoine Brooks. “He’s got a great leg,” Harbaugh said. “There’s no question about it. We worked very hard. You’ve got to give Cameron Cheeseman a lot of credit, you’ve got to give Garrett Moores a lot of credit, I mean, that whole battery. It’s a battery. Two out of the three gotta go really well to make a kick. One of the three go wrong, you’re not going to make the kick. So that team effort was good. “I think (Nordin) responds to the moment and the pressure. I think he’s got that wonderful quality about him.”
Last season, the term “routine win” didn’t seem to exist in the vocabulary of the Michigan men’s soccer team. But perhaps, as a new team starts to find its form, it may just shed that reputation as well. Though the Wolverines were missing two key playmakers due to injury — junior forward Francis Atuahene and freshman forward Mohammad Zakyi — they made a routine game look, well, routine, taking care of non-conference foe Cleveland State, 3-1, to improve to 2-0-1 on the season. Neither injury is considered to be long term, according to Michigan coach Chaka Daley, who was hopeful both Atuahene and Zakyi would be ready to return for Monday’s match against Dartmouth. In their absence, however, the Wolverines found offense from other sources. In the 50th minute, junior forward Jack Hallahan ended the stalemate with a goal worthy of SportsCenter highlight reels. With the ball at his feet just in front of the midfield line, Hallahan looked up to see the goalkeeper off his line. With several defenders surrounding him, Hallahan calmly chipped the ball over the backtracking keeper’s outstretched arm. “I saw (the goalkeeper) off his line, I looked around and didn’t see a pass,” Hallahan said. “And I go for it. See what happens.” Hallahan admitted that such an audacious attempt isn’t something the forward would ever practice, but compared the shot to a long pass towards the net. From there, the floodgates opened, as the Vikings’ defense started to open up. In the span of the next 10 minutes, junior defender Daniel
Makuna — a typically unlikely source for goals — netted two in quick succession, all but sealing the result. The first came in the 55th minute, when senior midfielder Tristan Jacob found the ball at his feet on the left wing and swung a quick ball into the box. Mukuna lunged forward, heading the ball past the diving goalkeeper. Mukuna scored his second just four minutes later, when Hallahan’s cross found Mukuna once again, who made no mistake in powering the ball into the net. Cleveland State pulled a goal back in the 70th minute, but the effort was too little too late for the Vikings, as the Wolverines calmly saw the game out from there. Though Michigan dominated possession early, it struggled to find that elusive first goal. Heading into halftime, though, Daley never doubted his offense would ultimately break through. “I wouldn’t say we struggled to generate chances (in the first half), we just struggled to hit the target,” Daley said. “At halftime we just told the guys to keep doing what we’re doing, don’t lose focus defensively. Continue to keep things locked down, and give the team a chance.” Last season, dominant shot totals and controlling possession was hardly out of the norm. What this team showed a glimpse of Friday, was a newfound propensity to convert those into goals. “I thought it was a good team performance, from start to finish,” Daley said. “I thought defensively we were sound, and attacking wise it took us a little while, but certainly we broke it open when we broke it open. “Certainly pleased for tonight, and back to work tomorrow.” It was a different tone from Daley, almost routine.
Atuahene’s late goal pushes ‘M’ remains hungry during Wolverines past Dartmouth successful opening stretch JACOB SHAMES Daily Sports Writer
For a while, it looked like last season all over again for the Michigan men’s soccer team. Huge advantages in shots and possession weren’t enough to carry the Wolverines in 2016, and for 80 minutes Monday it was the same case against Dartmouth. But then, Michigan did what it was unable to do on so many occasions a year ago. With eight minutes to play, junior forward Francis Atuahene took a pass from sophomore forward Jack Hallahan, created space in the box and slotted the ball into the bottomright corner of the net, giving the Wolverines (3-0-1) a 1-0 victory over the Big Green (0-2). Monday’s contest at U-M Soccer Stadium showcased a number of trends — both positive and negative — that have followed Michigan, some of them dating back to last season. For a third straight contest, the Wolverines were held scoreless in the first half, and were less aggressive in attack before intermission than after. In Michigan’s last three games, it has taken 17 first-half shots compared to 35 secondhalf attempts, including five and 13, respectively, against Dartmouth. The lack of first-half success included the Wolverines squandering a golden opportunity just after kickoff. In the eighth minute, freshman forward Umar Farouk Osman drew a penalty after a run into the box, but junior midfielder Ivo Cerda’s attempt was blocked by Big Green keeper Christopher Palacios. Fortunately, Michigan’s defense, while not perfect, was effective in denying a
Dartmouth squad replete with size, especially up front. Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Andrew Verdi made a number of acrobatic saves, junior centerback Daniel Mukuna was a physical presence in the air and junior left back Marcello Borges won several tackles at key moments. Wolverines’ coach Chaka Daley attributed the slow start and subsequent near-misses in the second half to fatigue from Friday’s 3-1 win against Cleveland State, injuries — Atuahene did not start because of an injury, and freshman forward Mohammed Zakyi sat out for a second straight game — and plain bad luck, of the same variety from last season. “We just worry about the process, doing our job,” Daley said. “As we continue to get healthy that stat could turn on its head, but at the moment we are what we are and we just try to find a way.” The Wolverines found a way just in time. Hallahan fired
“We just worry about the process, doing our job.”
off five shots in a span of 10 minutes midway through the second half, sparking a run of aggression that culminated when he assisted on Atuahene’s game-winner. “The opposition is worn out,” Hallahan said. “They’re coming out with their game plan to slow us down in the first half and when that’s worn out we’re just picking them apart.” Added Atuahene: “It’s soccer, sometimes you get lucky and score a lot of goals, and sometimes it’s the 90th minute. For us this year it’s more composure, keeping our shape. We keep doing the same thing over and over and eventually it breaks teams down.” On Monday, Michigan did plenty of the same things it did last season. But it did one thing differently: It came out on top. As the Wolverines prepare to take on Wisconsin in their Big Ten opener Friday, they have a chance to equal their win total from 2016, just two weeks into the season. And for them, after last year, that’s all that matters. “Everyone is just really excited to erase everything that happened last season,” Atuahene said. “Just start fresh and keep playing.”
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Junior forward Francis Atuahene scored a late game-winner to beat Dartmouth.
KATIE CONKLIN Daily Sports Writer
There were just eight minutes left on the game clock at U-M Soccer Stadium. The Wolverines and the Big Green were locked in a scoreless draw, and time was winding down for both teams. Channeling his inner Johan Cruyff, Michigan men’s soccer junior Francis Atuahene slipped the ball behind his left leg to push past Dartmouth’s final line of defense. Exploiting the gap, Atuahene finished the ball with his right laces, low and hard to the bottom right corner of the net. The Big Green (0-2) didn’t have much of a chance to respond, and the Wolverines (3-0-1) emerged with a 1-0 victory. Last season, it took Michigan 10 outings to earn its first win. Four games into this year, the Wolverines have already earned three. Michigan coach Chaka Daley, though, doesn’t like to compare. “We don’t talk about last season. That’s number one,” Daley said. “Two, we have a great character group. They’ve
gone through some adversity, but the new guys only know what we’ve been building on since the spring. We take one game at a time and keep going from there.” Daley specifies that he puts an emphasis on said character, and this team — more than most — has just that. The Wolverines appeared both prepared and composed on the pitch against Dartmouth. “Everyone is trying to be responsible on the field and everyone is trying to look out for each other on the field,” Atuahene said. “It’s not about me, it’s not about any individual, it’s about the team.” And though Atuahene and his fellow upperclassmen lead Michigan on and off the field, Daley doesn’t shy away from playing the younger players in the slightest. When he recruits, he looks for character, and expects them to be ready and eager from day one. Six newcomers have seen
significant playing time all over the field so far this season. Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Andrew Verdi has yet to miss a minute, conceding just two nearly unpreventable goals in his first four games. He tallied three impressive saves on the day. Freshman Umar Farouk Osman comes to Ann Arbor as the 2017 Gatorade National Player of the Year and has already begun to stand out in the midfield. His nifty foot skills garnered the fans’ cheers throughout the entirety of the match as he weaved in and around the Big Green. Along with the fresh faces, opening up the season with five consecutive home games is new for the Wolverines. It has never occurred in Michigan men’s soccer history, and Daley thinks it may have played a role in the Wolverines’ early success. “The second game of a double header on a weekend is very difficult for energ y,” Daley said. “We were a little lackluster in the first half, but certainly the crowd and the Michigan Ultras pushed us through to the end there.” And while the hype from the fans and the talent from the team’s new faces certainly add elements of both excitement and depth, Daley believes the core of the team’s success has come down to their attitude. “In the end, it’s really comes down to character. (The team is) really grinding through and listening. They’re disciplined and they’re working hard at it. And they’re hungry,” Daley said with a smile. “I make sure they are.”
“We don’t talk about last season. That’s number one.”
ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily
Michigan coach Chaka Daley’s team is off to a much better start this season.
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Tuesday, September 5, 2017 — 5B
The battle they won A
RLINGTON, Tex. — Special teams was the battle Michigan was supposed to lose. Florida had kicker Eddy Pineiro and punter Johnny Townsend — both of whom were named to the preseason BETELHEM All-SEC ASHAME second team. Pineiro made 21 of 25 field-goal attempts last year — 11 of 13 from 40 yards or farther — while Townsend averaged 47.9 yards per punt with 27 downed inside the 20-yard line. The Wolverines, meanwhile, had lost Kenny Allen, who doubled as their kicker and punter. Before Saturday’s kickoff at AT&T Stadium, they weren’t sure who would replace him. While that might not seem out of the ordinary for a Michigan team tasked with replacing all but five starters from last season, the backups-turned-starters on offense and defense had the benefit of playing important roles as rotational players. The potential options on the special teams unit, on the other hand, had never even seen the field. It would have been understandable if redshirt freshman kicker Quinn Nordin and sophomore punter Will Hart couldn’t compete with the Gators in that phase of the game. The Wolverines would have banked on their offense and defense carrying the load. But Saturday, the special teams unit picked Michigan up when it faltered and defeated its Florida counterpart in the process, winning the battle and, ultimately, the game. It all happened in the blink of an eye. Around the 12-minute
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Redshirt freshman Quinn Nordin hit four of his six field goals Saturday, helping the Wolverines win a phase of the game they were never expected to.
mark of the second quarter, the Wolverines had a 10-3 lead and looked poised to add to it. Redshirt junior quarterback Wilton Speight had just thrown a 46-yard touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver Tarik Black, and was only building more momentum. But on the ensuing drive, one of Speight’spasses bounced off sophomore wide receiver Kekoa Crawford’s hands and into those of Gator defensive back Duke Dawson, who then took it 48 yards to the end zone for a picksix to tie the game.
One and a half minutes passed on the game clock, and Speight had tossed another. Florida cornerback CJ Henderson corralled an errant throw and ran it back 41 yards. Suddenly, the Gators had their first lead of the game and the momentum swinging dramatically in their favor. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh replaced Speight with fifth-year senior John O’Korn, but O’Korn couldn’t change the tide. On two consecutive drives, the Wolverines went three and out. After the initial series, Hart
“Youth isn’t always a bad thing. Youth brings energy.”
lined up for his first career punt, but an energized Florida pulled off a block. The Gators gained possession at the Michigan 37-yard line, and looked primed to add to their lead. But while the Wolverines’ defense managed to force a three and out, Pineiro was set up for a 47-yard field goal. Considering he had already nailed a 46-yarder, it would have been expected for him to make it a 10-point game. It would have been Florida’s special teams unit that carried the plaudits, turning the game for
the Gators. Instead, though it took them a little longer, that’s exactly what Michigan’s third phase did. Pineiro missed the field goal, and on the Wolverines’ second threeand-out possession, Nordin was set up for a 55-yard field goal. He had already converted from 25 yards out, but a 50-plusyard attempt is an entirely different monster that most kickers in the nation would miss. But he didn’t. With all the poise of a kicker much older than he is, Nordin stared down his target and put the force of his body into
“That’s when they put me out there, and I just did my job.”
the kick. Then he simply watched as it sailed 55 yards and dipped straight through the uprights. “I was just doing whatever my team needed me to do, and if they needed me to put points on the board, then that’s what I was going to do for my team,” Nordin said. “That’s when they put me out there, and I just did my job.” It may have just been three points, but it was worth much more to Michigan. In nailing a field goal from 55 yards out, Nordin did what no other college kicker had ever done at AT&T Stadium. After that, Florida didn’t score another point. Nordin, on the other hand, scored six more, hitting a 30 and a 50-yard field goal on consecutive drives as part of the Wolverines’ 13-point third quarter outburst. The former came after freshman defensive back Ambry Thomas forced and recovered a fumble at the Florida 16-yard line. The latter made him the first Wolverine ever to hit two field goals from 50-plus yards in a single game. For a Michigan team whose ability has continually been called into question on the basis of their inexperience, maybe Nordin’s fellow young teammates just needed to see that their age and their ability are two completely different concepts. “We’re a young team, 100 percent, but youth isn’t always a bad thing,” Nordin said. “Youth brings energy, and I think moving on we’re going to continue to grow as a team.” On Saturday, the Wolverines’ special teams unit took the first step in that growth. They weren’t supposed to win their phase of the game on paper. Then they did anyway. Ashame can be reached at ashabete@umich.edu or on Twitter @betelhem_ashame.
6B — Tuesday, September 5, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
The Marine whose inspiration Harbaugh found letter-perfect KEVIN SANTO
Managing Sports Editor
On Monday, Anthony Riddle still couldn’t believe what Jim Harbaugh did with his letter. After all, a 15-minute press conference after Michigan beat Florida — during which Harbaugh explained that Riddle’s letter became his pregame speech — turned him into a celebrity. His Facebook blew up with requests from journalists and everyday individuals alike, all looking to talk to the man that inspired Harbaugh’s Wolverines. But before that, it started with his sister, Shelle. “My sister ended up giving me a call,” Riddle said in a phone interview with the Daily. “And she’s like, ‘Hey, my boyfriend just got an ESPN alert that Jim Harbaugh just read some Marine’s letter. Was that you?’ ” Yes, it was. *** Before the letter, there was a speech. Riddle was tasked with writing about his friend, who is set to receive an award in the coming month. And for the entire offseason, Riddle had heard a collection of analysts say that Michigan was too inexperienced to have success in 2017. Finally, while writing the speech for his friend with ESPN and Big Ten Network on in the background, he decided he needed a break. So nine days ago, on the Sunday before Michigan’s season opener, instead of finishing his speech, he started writing the letter. He proofread it. He Googled Jim Harbaugh’s email address, picking the only one he could find. He clicked send. Riddle never expected Harbaugh would read it, let alone reply. He sent the email
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh read the Michigan football team a letter from Anthony Riddle the night before the Wolverines opened the year by beating Florida.
thinking to himself, “What’s the worst that could happen?” A half day later, a response from Michigan’s coach arrived in his inbox. “I’m sitting at work, and it says Jim Harbaugh,” Riddle said. “My hands started shaking and I’m like, ‘No way.’ ” Harbaugh told Riddle that he had put the irrelevance of youth in better perspective than he could have himself, and he admitted as much during his press conference Saturday night. And he said that he would be sharing the letter with the team. But Riddle expected it to surface in practice and fade away quietly. But now you know what really happened. The thing is, it doesn’t stop
there. In his original reply, Harbaugh invited Riddle to Ann Arbor, asking to meet the Jackson, Mich. native and draw on his experiences. On Monday, Harbaugh took it a step further — telling Riddle that he is welcome to be on the field for a game of his choosing. “It’s hard because I want to be as respectful to him and not take up any unneeded time,” Riddle said. “I think overall it just speaks volumes for what type of a person he is. He could’ve just looked at that
letter and said, ‘Oh, I get 50,000 of these a day.’” *** Riddle’s path to the Marines began with a dream that would be familiar to most, but real to him — he wanted to be an astronaut. In sixth grade, his father told him that if he worked hard, he would be able to get there, but added a word of caution: The men who go to space are some of the smartest people in the world. Three years later, Riddle entered high school and realized his dream needed some tinkering.
“I’m sitting at work, and it says Jim Harbaugh.”
“Going into high school, I didn’t have the greatest grades,” Riddle said. “I didn’t have the worst, I wasn’t dumb by any means. But I obviously didn’t have the grades to be like, ‘All right, I’m going to be an astronaut one day.’ ” So he set out on a new path. He knew that most astronauts were former pilots and figured that, if he became a good enough pilot, his dream might be attainable after all. But after evaluating his options for service school, he found himself visiting his brother’s best friend at boot camp in 1996. Then came the revelation. “From that day on,” Riddle explained, “I said, ‘That’s what I’m doing.’ ” Just after his high school graduation, he joined the
Marines. But two weeks into boot camp, he broke his collarbone. Riddle was forced into medical rehab, all the while watching everyone else around him move on and graduate. Eventually, he’d had enough. “It (was) very depressing being in this medical rehab platoon,” Riddle said. “So I was there for about a week and I went back down to the doctor’s office and said, ‘Look, I’m not gonna sit here and watch everyone else move on and train, and I’m not gonna sit here for the next six weeks.’ “And she told me, ‘Well in order for you to get back into a platoon, you have to get down and do push-ups … and then you have to do a physical fitness test.’ ” He did the push-ups. Then he beat everyone in the physical fitness test. He ran three miles in 17:10, and did 28 pull-ups and 175 sit-ups in two minutes. He still had a broken collarbone. He graduated boot camp in October of 2000, and became a platoon sergeant as a corporal — a position typically reserved for military members in their early 30s — roughly two years later. He then led 52 Marines, all under the age of 20, into Iraq. The video of Sadam Hussein’s statue being torn down was filmed from his vehicle. He did that all before his 22nd birthday. And that’s what he told Jim Harbaugh in his letter. Now he has a blank check to cash. And he’s spending it the way he wants to. “(My sister) is a Spartans fan,” Riddle said. “She graduated from (Michigan State), so she’s like, ‘If he offers you to come to a game, that’s the one I want to go to.’ “I said, ‘No, if he offers me to come to a game it’s gonna be against Ohio.’ ”