The setting is Weber’s Inn, Ann Arbor, for the weekly Monday meeting of the UofM Club of Ann Arbor, which since joining several years ago, I’ve called the “geriatric advisory council to the athletic department”. Yes, Kathy and I lowered the average age when we joined several years ago. The Club collects dues, and funds scholarships and awards. The biggest is the “Michigan Man” award, given annually to the Michigan athlete whose performance on and off the field marks him as a true “Michigan Man”, posessing a set of intangible attributes that identify a man as one who would have inscribed “Go Blue” on his headstone. Among my wife’s Kathy’s duties, since getting on the board of the Club, is handling the speakers we invite. Football and basketball have their own channels, but then there’s the “Olympic Sports” (a better euphemism than “non-revenue sports”). So, although Blake’s appearance was pre-arranged, Kathy still had to shepherd him in and out.
Here they are:
Anyone who only knows about Blake from watching our games is missing the full measure of the man. Nevertheless, see here 15 minutes of football highlights (1). Harbaugh knew he had something special in Blake when, as a freshman, he clocked a 4.0 in the 40-yard dash and a 4.00 in the classroom. Yes, he was a damned important component of the team that won the Natty, but there’s so much more to him that my heart burst with pride as he delivered his remarks. . The resolve for this team to gird up for a Natty run may have started in November ’22, when Blake’s amazing season was cut short by a hit on his knee. He would have won the Heisman had he finished the season uninjured. Instead, Blake continued with many teammates seeing the 2023 season as “unfinished business”. Blake became the touchdown machine. Red-zone difficulties? Give it to Blake. Two years earlier, he was the “lightning” to the “thunder and lightning” of him and Hassan Haskins, now with the Tennessee Titans. Blake’s breakaway runs in ’23 were less common, but he mounted enough touchdowns to claim the Michigan record. Yet it was his performance off the field that was even more impressive. Blake did well with NIL, handsome dude that he is, but chose to funnel his funds to community projects. He handed out 150 turkeys and 150 gallons of milk to needy Ypsilanti residents at Thanksgiving ‘22, then came up with 600 turkeys for them last fall (2).
Blake’s comments to the assembled geezers were magnanimous, of course. He’d take no individual credit for the success of his team, instead insisting the whole effort was a team project. He was just named the Big 10’s Medal-of-Honor recipient, an honor handed out since 1915. The Big Ten Medal of Honor is awarded to one male and one female student from the graduating class of each member institution who has demonstrated excellence on and off the field throughout their college career. The highest honor that a student competing in conference athletics can achieve in the Big Ten, the award was established in 1915 and was the first award in intercollegiate athletics to demonstrate support for the educational emphasis placed on athletics. During the past century, the Big Ten Medal of Honor has been awarded to more than 1,300 honorees. These individuals have translated their campus experience into success in all walks of life (3). Blake said he looked forward to his time in the NFL, seeing his 18 teammates on the boards as future competitors but also still friends. When asked about how his life would change upon becoming a pro, he went on about a project he had in mind. He’s set to develop a camp in the area for inner city youth. One of the things he wants to do is instruct them in “lost skills”, like changing a tire. He already has a name for the place. When he was growing up on a farm in Virginia, he liked to chase and capture frogs. So the name: Camp FROG, all caps because that’s an acronym: “Forever Relying on God”. The devotion of this team did not get a lot of press. But from the get go, they were a team bound in religion. Their head coach is a devout Catholic (despite that one divorce). How that translated to a whole team praying together prior to a game hasn’t gotten out yet (4). Yet hearing players in their post-game comments dedicate their success to the “glory of God” should have been a hint something was going on here. Just look at one of the t-shirts the boys were selling to get a little of that NIL money. See our all world QB JJ with backup QB Jack Tuttle, who started at Indiana in ’22 but transferred so he could work with Harbaugh. Jack stuck around and is in the mix to replace the departed JJ his year.
New coach 36 year old Sherrone Moore shows full commitment to Michigan traditions of smashmouth and God. So we of the faithful expect continued success, God willing.
Hail to the Victors and Go Blue!!
References
- BlueSince97. “Blake the Great” | Blake Corum Michigan Career Highlights. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpbfXwRAiUA
2. Breiler C. Michigan’s Blake Corum Uses NIL Money To Give Back. Sports Illustrated 11/19/23. https://www.si.com/college/michigan/football/michigan-wolverines-football-blake-corum-charity-thanksgiving-turkey-big-ten-ohio-state
3. Shepard C, McIntosh M. Wilson, Corum named Michigan’s Big Ten Medal of Honor Recipients. MGoBlue 4/23/24. https://mgoblue.com/news/2024/4/23/general-wilson-corum-named-michigans-big-ten-medal-of-honor-recipients
4. Schwarz M. ‘All Glory to God’: Just Before Thrilling Playoff Win, Michigan Players United in Prayer. The Western Journal 1/2/24. https://www.westernjournal.com/glory-god-just-thrilling-playoff-win-michigan-players-united-prayer/
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