Press enter after choosing selection

Wolverines Head West For Rose Bowl Game

Wolverines Head West For Rose Bowl Game image
Parent Issue
Ann Arbor News, December 18, 1969
Article Author
Wayne DeNeff
Day
18
Month
December
Year
1969
Copyright
Copyright Protected
Rights Held By
Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
OCR Text

WOLVERINES HEAD WEST FOR ROSE BOWL GAME
By Wayne DeNeff

“Operation Catch Up” starts tomorrow for the Michigan football team.
The Big Ten co-champs, who left early this afternoon by chartered plane for Pasadena where they’ll play Southern California in the Rose Bowl, will launch two-a-day practices on Friday and Saturday trying to catch up with the Trojans.
Southern Cal started regular drills Friday and right now holds an advantage over the Wolverines, some of whom came directly from final examinations to board the buses at Yost Fieldhouse for the trip to Metropolitan Airport.
Arrival time is about 3 p.m. (6 p.m. Ann Arbor time) at Los Angeles International Airport where dozens of Rose Bowl cars will be waiting to take the Wolverines along the freeways to the Huntington-Sheraton Hotel in Pasadena.
There’ll be a big welcoming party of Rose Bowl officials at the airport and all the festivities connected with the bowl will get off to a fast start with a brief welcoming ceremony at the hotel.
Following an 18-day layoff after the stunning, 24-12 victory over Ohio State, the Wolverines got in four days of practice last week but what Coach Bo Schembechler says he wants is steady, day-after-day sessions.
It’s needed to bring the Wolverines back to peak condition and the state of physical and mental readiness they exhibited during the last half of the regular season.
The Michigan staff is leaving the door open as far as additional two-a-day work is concerned next week.
Schembechler plans to “play it by ear” to determine whether both morning and afternoon workouts will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The last few days leading up to the game on Thursday, Jan. 1, will correspond as closely as possible to a normal week at home when there’s a game to be played on Saturday.
The day before the clash with Southern Cal, the Wolverines will simply warm up briefly and run through kicking drills.
Two days before the contest, there’ll be an “intermediate” practice—some vigorous work but nothing like the hard practice of the preceding day.
This much the Michigan staff did learn from the four days of drills last week—the Wolverines did start coming back fast and didn’t lose everything from the regular season.
A lot of work remains but the feeling is that the Wolverines can be made ready for a rugged game between now and Jan. 1.
Although this year’s team is not generally regarded as a “young” team, there are more sophomores on the 50-man squad than either juniors or seniors.
The sophomores number 18, the seniors 17 and the juniors 15, meaning 33 members of this Rose Bowl team will be returning to play next fall, plus defensive end Phil Seymour who was granted another year of eligibility by the Big Ten because of injury.
Sophomores making the trip include regulars Billy Taylor (tailback), Guy Murdock (center), Mike Keller (defensive end), Fred Grambau (defensive tackle), Tom Darden (roverback) and Mike Taylor (linebacker).
Other sophomores are Jim Braudstatter (offensive tackle), Reggie McKenzie (offensive guard), Mike Oldham (splitman), Glenn Doughty (tailback), Fritz Seyferth (fullback), Preston Henry (wingback), Tom Huiskens (defensive end), Frank Gusich (rover), Dana Coin (linebacker) and Bruce Elliott (defensive back).
The senior regulars are Capt. Jim Mandich (tight end), guard Bob Baumgartner (offensive guard), Dick Caldarazzo (offensive guard), Garvie Craw (wingback), Cecil Pryor (defensive end), Brian Healy, Barry Pierson and Tom Curtis, all defensive backs.
Other seniors are Mike Hankwitz (offensive end), Pete Sarantos (center), Frank Titas (offensive guard), Werner Hall (offensive tackle), Jerry Imsland (offensive end), Eric Federico (fullback), Al Francis (middle guard), Mark Werner (defensive back and punter).
Regular juniors are Dan Dierdorf (offensive tackle), Jack Harpring (offensive tackle), Billy Harris (splitman), Don Moorhead (quarterback), Henry Hill (middle guard), Pete Newell (defensive tackle) and Marty Huff (linebacker).
Other juniors are Tim Killian (center), Paul Staroba (splitman), Jim Betts (quarterback), Bill Berutti (quarterback), Lance Scheffler (tailback), Dan Parks (defensive tackle), Dick McCoy (defensive tackle) and Ed Moore (linebacker).