Tag: Schemmy Awards

Schemmy Awards: Most Valuable Player of the Year

The best player on the Wolverines, as voted by the players.

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On a team with 130-some players, it’s something to be named the best player on the Michigan football team.

There were several candidates, including LG Ben Bredeson, WR Nico Collins, VIPER Khaleke Hudson and QB Shea Patterson.

But as the award was voted on by the team itself, only one could win. And, as head coach Jim Harbaugh presented the award at the annual Schemmy Awards at Crisler Center on Sunday, the winner was selected by a wide margin.

As the players see it, the far and away most valuable player on the team is quarterback Shea Patterson.

Patterson, who transferred to Michigan after his first two years at Ole Miss, has been a starter the whole way, and has gotten better and better as he’s been under center. He improved upon a solid 2018 season with an even better 2019 season, passing for 2,828 yards and 22 touchdowns compared to 6 interceptions.

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Schemmy Awards: Defensive Player of the Year

One defensive player stood out above all the rest.

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Michigan’s strength the past several years has been on the defensive side of the ball. If there’s one thing that’s always for certain, the Wolverines will field a top ten defense.

Thus, it’s a difficult proposition to pick one player and say they’re the best.

At the annual Schemmy Awards, formerly the Michigan football bust, only one award could be given out to Defensive Player of the Year, especially considering that it’s a distinction voted on by the team.

With players like Khaleke Hudson, lockdown corner Lavert Hill and defensive skill player of the year Ambry Thomas, it makes it that much more of an honor to be selected as the best of the best. But that was the case for senior SAM linebacker Josh Uche.

Uche broke out in 2018, but he had an even better year as a versatile, every down-type of player in the 2019 regular season. He bested his team-leading sack total from a year ago, with a team-best 8.5 sacks this season.

This was Uche’s final year in Ann Arbor, as he’s already announced he will forgo his final year of eligibility to enter the 2020 NFL Draft.

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Schemmy Awards: Offensive Player of the Year

One Wolverine stood out above the rest on the offensive side of the ball.

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Michigan’s offense was a work in progress in 2019, but really started to show out as the season progressed.

Therefore, at the annual Schemmy Awards, formerly the Michigan football bust, held on Sunday at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, there were a lot of candidates for the best player on that side of the ball.

Naturally, with new offensive coordinator Josh Gattis installing a new ‘speed in space’ attack, it took some Herculean efforts to get the offense on track. As Gattis noted: “It takes all 11 players on the field, each and every play,” further praising how the Wolverines faced eight Top 30 defenses in 2019, and still ended up being one of the most efficient attacks in the country.

The nominees for offensive player of the year, given to the best player on offense, regardless of position, were: WR Ronnie Bell, who led the team in receiving; two-time team captain and LG Ben Bredeson; WR Nico Collins, who leads the Big Ten in yards-per-catch and QB Shea Patterson.

But only one could take home the award, and though he wasn’t targeted as much as some fans would have liked, Nico Collins won the award, as voted on by his teammates.

Collins finished the regular season with 33 receptions for 681 yards and 7 touchdowns. He averaged 20.64 yards per catch.

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Schemmy Awards: Rookie of the Year

Three first-year players earned awards for the job they did on the field in their first year in Ann Arbor.

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Michigan football had a lot of true freshmen make big impacts on the football field in 2019.

Whether it be on offense, defense or special teams, first-year players came in and looked like wily vets throughout, whether it was right out of the gates or as the season progressed.

Therefore, at the annual Schemmy Awards, formerly the Michigan football bust, it was no surprise which first-year players were destined to come home with the hardware, a 10-inch replica of the Bo Schembechler statue.

The winners of the Rookie of the Year Award, given to the best true freshmen in each phase, were RB Zach Charbonnet on offense, S Daxton Hill on defense and KR Giles Jackson on special teams.

Charbonnet was a co-starter with redshirt freshman running back Hassan Haskins, but lead the team with 136 carries and 642 yards and 11 touchdowns. He set a team record for most rushing touchdowns by a true freshman in Ann Arbor.

Hill was a former five-star who came on strong later in the season, showcasing his top-end speed once he got the opportunity to be an impact defensive player midway through the season in the Rutgers game. He started the last two games with starting safety Brad Hawkins out with a foot injury. He finished the regular season with 28 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss.

Jackson started right out the gates at kick returner, taking the mantle from incumbent KR Ambry Thomas. His biggest highlight was in the opening kickoff on the road at Maryland, where he took the first play of the game the entire distance to put Michigan up for good in that game.

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Schemmy Awards: Defensive Skill Player of the Year

A local Detroit standout took home the award given to the top defensive back in the 2019 regular season.

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Big things were expected of Ambry Thomas when he committed to Michigan out of Detroit (MI) King.

One of his rival coaches at the high school level, Belleville (MI) head coach Jermain Crowell — who coached both Jourdan Lewis and Lavert Hill — said that Thomas would be the best of the bunch. And he seems to be on track towards that.

In 2019, it wasn’t known whether or not Thomas would get much playing time, as he spent the entirety of the preseason out with a bout of colitis. However, he didn’t just suit up for the maize and blue in the season opener, he was one of the standouts in the game.

Thus, when at the annual Schemmy Awards, former the Michigan football bust, the award was given to the top defensive skill player, presented to the top player in the defensive backfield, Thomas was the obvious choice.

Thomas is co-leader on the team with 3 interceptions on the year.

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Schemmy Awards: Offensive Skill Player of the Year Award

Despite the talented trio of junior wideouts, an unheralded sophomore took home the honors.

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When Ronnie Bell committed to Michigan in December 2017, it wasn’t something that garnered a lot of positive attention, given that he was a three-star and was quite unheralded as a recruit. But the former Missouri Valley basketball commit has come on strong as of late since joining the team.

In 2019, he was stellar, leading the team with 44 receptions for 705 yards and one touchdown — unthinkable given the Wolverines trio of Nico Collins, Donovan Peoples-Jones and Tarik Black.

As such, when the team was handing out regular season awards at the annual Schemmy Awards at Crisler Center, Bell was awarded the Offensive Skill Player, a designation given to the best skill player.

The nominees were Bell, Nico Collins, Sean McKeon and Donovan Peoples-Jones.

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Schemmy Awards: Hugh H. Rader Award (Top Offensive Linemen)

The Wolverines nominated four and picked two All-Big Ten first-teamers as their standouts of the year.

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As Michigan offensive line coach Ed Warinner tells it, the Wolverines are the best in the country in putting offensive linemen into the NFL. And while it was a weakness a few short years ago, now the maize and blue have not just one, but two All-Big Ten first-team offensive linemen.

Thus, when awarding the Hugh H. Rader Award, given to the team’s best offensive linemen, at the annual Schemmy Awards, the staff couldn’t pick just one player to earn the distinction.

Both men on the left side of the line, who are both of the aforementioned All-Big Ten first-teamers — Jon Runyan Jr. and team captain Ben Bredeson — won the award, as announced by Warinner at Crisler Center on Sunday night.

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Schemmy Awards: Richard Katcher Award (Top Defensive Lineman/outside LB)

The Wolverines were so solid up front, the staff couldn’t pick just one, as two standouts won the award.

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The Richard Katcher Award is an annual award given to Michigan football’s best defensive lineman or outside linebacker. And given how the Wolverines were up front, it’s not surprising that the maize and blue named two.

Earlier in the season, sophomore Aidan Hutchinson said that Kwity Paye called the duo bookends ‘salt and pepper.’ And like you can’t have one without the other, Michigan named both the recipients of the award.

Hutchinson had 63 tackles in the regular season in 2019, which also included 8.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks.

Paye, in his third-year, had 49 tackles, a team-leading 12.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks in the 2019 regular season.

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Schemmy Awards: Roger Zatkoff Award (Top Linebacker)

One of the hardest working players on the team took home the award at Crisler Center.

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The Roger Zatkoff Award is given by Michigan football yearly to the top linebacker on the team, and it wasn’t without a bunch of quality candidates.

Those included fifth-year senior Jordan Glasgow, team captain and VIPER Khaleke Hudson, redshirt freshman turned-starter Cam McGrone and versatile SAM linebacker and team-leading sackmaster Josh Uche.

But it was no surprise at the Schemmy Awards held at Crisler Center on Sunday evening that when linebackers coach Anthony Campanile took the stage, that the announced winner would be weak-side linebacker Jordan Glasgow.

In 2019, Glasgow started every game and notched 79 tackles, second on the team, and had 6 tackles for loss and 5 sacks.

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Schemmy Awards: Most Improved Player of the Year Awards

There were three recipients of the Most Improved Player, one for each unit on the football team.

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Michigan football had a lot of standouts this season, but some came as if from out of nowhere.

That’s why the Most Improved Player Award is a coveted designation for a player who wasn’t a household name in previous years.

At the Schemmy Awards, hosted by Jon Jansen at Crisler Center, one player from each of the three units — offense, defense and special teams — each got to bring home a replica of the Bo Schembechler statue.

On offense, redshirt freshman running back Hassan Haskins won the award. He spent much of the 2018 season on defense at linebacker before becoming the starting RB in 2019. Haskins had 103 carries for 561 yards and 4 touchdowns.

On defense, junior safety Brad Hawkins won the award. He had 53 tackles in 2019.

On special teams, it was Peter Bush who took home the Schemmy. He registered one tackle in 2019.

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