ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Four games into the 2023 season, Michigan center Drake Nugent has already experienced more winning than he had all of last year at Stanford. Or the year before. And it’s equal to the four wins he enjoyed in the six-game 2020 campaign in Palo Alto, or the four games the Cardinal won in his freshman year.
So to come to Ann Arbor, and to play for a team with different expectations, it’s a bit of an adjustment for Nugent.
If Michigan does what it’s supposed to do and at least makes the national championship game, Nugent could possibly win more games in one season than in his four at Stanford combined. He won 14 games total with the Cardinal, so to already have four wins in four games is a bit of an anomaly to the rest of his college career.
“I mean, obviously, I’ve always felt like I’ve had a winning mentality,” Nugent said. “I feel like in the past, I haven’t let that get to me. But obviously, I’d be lying to see if it didn’t feel different. I mean, this is probably already the equivalent to the most games I’ve won in a year and a half at Stanford. But at the same time, I can’t be satisfied with that, obviously. It’s a different program, it’s a different community, with a different team. It’s a new week, every week, gotta keep stacking wins and it’ll just keep going up.”
Nugent isn’t alone in that sentiment.
Of course, his Stanford teammate, Myles Hinton, also plays for the Wolverines, but there are other transfers who come from programs that don’t have winning traditions. Cornerback Josh Wallace was the latest addition to the maize and blue, joining the team in the summer months after spending the rest of his career at UMass. In Wallace’s career, he only won three games in a four-year span with the Minutemen, so he was surprised to see his teammates in Ann Arbor act like the 31-6 win over Bowling Green in Week 3 was a loss. Because, hey — a win is something to be celebrated.
Nugent didn’t quite feel the way Wallace did after the win over the Falcons, noting he was disappointed with the many offensive mistakes. Thus, he’s quickly acclimated to a different mindset, one where perfection is expected, not merely hoped for.
“Honestly, I had a little bit of a morose feeling,” Nugent said. “I’m kind of a perfectionist a little bit so obviously we’re after the game always thinking about like the crappy plays we had, what we could have done better rather than just enjoying the win. But at the same time, Josh is right, it was a win, you’ve got to enjoy it. But at the same time, we’re not here to beat the Bowling Greens of the world. Those games, you have to win those. You got to be perfect and like, you’ve got to be perfect in every game. Obviously, that’s not going to happen, but you’ve got to strive to be perfect in every aspect you can.
“Yeah, I’d say that it was a little bit of a morose feeling, but it didn’t really affect me that much.”
Nugent will get another crack at a win, Michigan’s potential fifth of the season — more than he’s experienced in one singular year — on Saturday, when he travels to Lincoln to face Nebraska. Kickoff is slated for 3:30 p.m. EDT and the game will be broadcast on Fox.