longform pieces

At long last, Strauss Mann was set to visit the University of Michigan. There were other schools to visit, true, but of course he would visit Michigan; he had to visit Michigan. He grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut but felt pulled toward Ann Arbor because...well, Mann isn’t quite sure. “I had no reason to be a fan of them but I always kind of was, so it was always a thought [to come here],” he says. And so it was that he scheduled himself and his family a junior-year tour of the campus, which had the academic programs and rigor he was looking for, as well as a sports culture that he thought would be fun to be a part of. If he was going to be a fan and not an active participant, Mann wanted to go somewhere with high-level competition and a fanbase that was passionate.

That thought—life after hockey—was one he was contemplating that year. Mann was the backup on his high school varsity hockey team, which left precious few opportunities to impress scouts and coaches in a sport that has kids barely old enough to have cell phones from which to tweet their college commitments doing so with regularity. His journey from scheduling his own Michigan tour to leading the Fargo Force to a USHL championship to starting in net for the Wolverines in the Big Ten Tournament this weekend is not only unconventional but was nearly inconceivable just a few years ago.

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That Mann ever laced up a pair of skates is something of a coincidence. He played a number of sports when he was young, including soccer and baseball, but didn’t start playing hockey until he was seven; his parents didn’t play, and he credits a group of friends for getting him interested in the game.

Mann started off primarily playing forward, but the house league he was part of had the kids rotate who played goaltender. Permanent goaltenders were in place for Mann’s second season and he wasn’t called upon to start in goal, but his team’s goalie got hurt early in the year and Mann volunteered to fill in; he had been a catcher on his baseball team and thus had some experience with objects being flung at him at high speed.

That may have helped him feel more comfortable between the pipes but wasn’t why Mann wanted to jump in; he credits the novel materials of the position like the pads and helmet for piquing his interest. He’s not captivated by the equipment the same way he was during elementary school, but Mann puts a great deal of care into his pad and helmet design to this day. His pads have the part alteration mark emoji that has been adopted by Michigan student-athletes and fans as a stylized “M.” They also have a small version of the logo that takes up most of the back of Mann’s helmet. That logo has a silhouette reminiscent of Yost Fieldhouse, while the text inside the logo says “Haus.” The “AU” at the center of the text is in a larger font as a tribute to Mann’s cousin, Andrew Unterberg, who passed away unexpectedly almost two years ago. Strauss’ sister recently made hats with the logo embroidered on them that she handed out to family members. “That’s definitely something that’s meaningful to that side of the family,” he said. “They kind of ride behind it.”

[After THE JUMP: “He’s the guy that shows up an hour before his ice session, warms up the right way, and has cooked all his meals the right way before he’s come to the rink,” he said. “He’s the most dedicated professional that’s not a pro yet that I’ve gotten the opportunity to work with.”]

Before Tom Brady became the king of comebacks, before David Terrell became the MVP of the Orange Bowl, before Lloyd Carr and the offensive coaching staff eschewed running the ball for an aerial attack mid-bowl game, Michigan had to lose, and lose big. It was the the kind of loss that builds resolve when things get tough. And get tough they did, over and over again. The 1999 season ended on a high note in the wee hours of the second day of the new millennium, but whether Michigan would have been in the same spot without being blown out by Ohio State to end the 1998 regular season is an open question.

Aaron Shea, fullback: I remember one thing: 1998, the only year I lost to Ohio State, Tommy Brady and I, we walked off the field in Columbus and he looked at me and he goes, ‘We’re never losing to these motherfuckers ever again.’ This is a fact. And I go, ‘100%, let’s go.’ Coach Carr, he instilled in us in 1998 after we lost to Ohio State—that bowl trip was horrible. The entire offseason we worked so hard.

The hard work paid off immediately. Michigan opened the 1999 season with a visit from #16 Notre Dame and, in what would soon become the season’s signature, watched as the offense turned one final drive into the necessary points for a come-from-behind win. Lloyd Carr put Tom Brady under center with about four minutes left in the game—controversial in some circles given the competition with limitlessly talented Drew Henson—and Brady drove the offense sixty yards down the field, hitting David Terrell inside the 5-yard line to set up an Anthony Thomas plunge over the goal line with less than two minutes remaining. Michigan’s defense held on for a 26-22 victory.

Todd Howard, cornerback: We got off to a good start (against Notre Dame) and I ended up getting injured in the first quarter. One of the wide receivers clipped Tommy Hendricks while I was coming to make a tackle. I ended up breaking my wrist in that game and ended up playing the whole season with a broken hand. Played the rest of the game. Didn’t really find out it was broke until the following Tuesday right before practice. I was out there practicing, had it taped up literally, and then Tuesday they were like ‘Let’s get you an x-ray.’ Came back with a broken scaphoid or whatever it’s called, the smallest bone in your wrist. It was surgery or you could wear a cast for the rest of the season and I didn’t want to miss any time so I ended up playing the whole season with a cast, which as a DB is not the most fun thing.

Jay Flannelly, volunteer student assistant: The ‘97 team, the national championship team, was based on their defense. There were about five or six guys that started on the ‘97 team on defense that were seniors in ‘99, so it was very odd back then. No really good players are in college for four years or five if these guys redshirted. The linebacking corps—James Hall, Dhani Jones, Ian Gold—and Josh Williams, Rob Renes, Tommy Hendricks, these guys played a lot of games, so they were a very veteran defense. Then even on the offensive line, you had Steve Hutchinson and Jeff Backus. The ‘97 team, you think about that, Steve Hutchinson and Jon Jansen and Jeff Backus, they played about 40 years in the NFL combined if you look it up.

So we had a really strong foundation within the team; the ‘97 defensive guys, the two stud offensive linemen, Anthony Thomas was a great player, the receiving corps was underrated—David Terrell was developing but Diallo Johnson and Marcus Knight really had a good rapport with Tommy, and one of Tommy’s best friends is Aaron Shea, who was like a combination hybrid fullback like a—and you’re not old enough to remember this—Tom Rathman-type player.

The team, they were supposed to be good. Obviously the Drew and Tommy thing draws headlines, but we knew we were gonna have a really, really good team coming into the season.

Howard: Going through the season we were playing pretty well then ended up losing to Michigan State and then we lost the Illinois game. That was a tough one for me being from Illinois, and the team that we had that year, we were just loaded with talent and I remember us being like, Man, this is not how this season’s supposed to go. We had national championship aspirations.

David Terrell, wide receiver: Illinois was...damn. Me and Tom had a play in the back of the end zone.

[After THE JUMP: how South Beach scooters are the ancestor of today’s Schembechler Hall moped pit; a failed trade proposal]

The rain hammers the brick. The water lashes out but is pushed back, flowing down the long, squat building on the west side of Detroit. The red glow of the CVS sign is difficult to see through the storm. These deluges were favorites of Michael Onwenu and his sister, Jessica, not for what they are but for what comes next. After the clouds roll on they will leave a flooded alley behind the store. The puddle isn’t the kind you throw on rain boots and splash in. No, this puddle requires better gear, the kind of gear that lifts you off the pavement and lets you slosh through with speed. If you’re picturing the giddiness of the two youngest Onwenu siblings upon seeing rain fall and then the kids as they grab their bikes and attack the puddles, if you’re hearing the sleesh of pair after pair of tires cutting the stillness of the body of water that extends the full width of the alley behind the strip mall then the lede worked as intended, but it’s the exception to the self-described rule of Michael’s childhood.

Activity usually required parental prompting. “As a kid I was just a lazy person of bigger size,” he says. “I was just watching cartoons, playing games, but my dad had put me in sports.” Left to his own devices, Michael would watch Cartoon Network shows; “Ben 10” was a particular favorite. If his two older siblings, Joshua and Stephanie, were watching the lone TV in the house hooked up to cable, then he and Jessica would watch “Yu-Gi-Oh” on WB20 or shows on PBS Kids like “WordGirl” or “Cyberchase.”

Football doesn’t leave much time for watching TV these days, but when he does get a chance Michael likes to watch crime dramas like “Law and Order” or “Person of Interest,” shows that invite critical thinking. Most of what little free time he has is spent playing video games, which has unanimously been cited as a hobby of players previously profiled in this space. Last October the offensive line decided they would collectively buy Red Dead Redemption 2. “That’s one of the games I bought when it first came out full price like I’m ‘bout to play this and it was like time consuming where it’s like Alright, I’ll stick to what I know.” What he knows is waiting, with hype stonewalled by his practicality and preference for a lower-key experience. “It’s crazy because I play the games so much but I don’t even really buy new games until they get old. 2K came out but I probably won’t get it for another two or three months just because…”Onwenu pauses. “I don’t know. Same with music. I just like for stuff to die down so I can digest it fully.”

There likely won’t be a need to pass around that copy of 2K to too many teammates given the timeframe of acquisition, but even if he did it would be to a small, tight-knit group. Onwenu was closest with Cesar Ruiz, Juwann Bushell-Beatty, and Greg Robinson. This season the group is down Bushell-Beatty, who graduated. It doesn’t surprise Onwenu’s siblings that it is difficult to breach his inner circle. When the prospect of profiling Onwenu was raised in June there was instant skepticism from some football staffers; the prospect of him sitting for an extended period to essentially shine a spotlight on his personal life was thought to be something of a reach. “He’s a shy person and not shyness in a bad way, but he’s private and a keeps-to-himself type of person and personality,” Stephanie says. “He still is the same reserved [guy] who stays to himself or he stays to the same five or however many people he came in with,” Jessica adds. “He sticks to those same people. He’s a down-to-earth individual. He’s still the same.”

Onwenu is also exceedingly practical. He is minoring in entrepreneurship and would like to own his own business someday. One of his dreams is to open a shop—resale, not retail, he specifies—that specializes in shoes for people with larger feet. Onwenu, who wears a size 15, says he isn’t into fashion per se but does like to “look good,” and he and his brother were frustrated with how much trouble went into searching for shoes they wanted that would also fit them. That Onwenu has thought ahead and decided a resell shop is his best option makes sense when considering depth and acquisition of inventory, but Joshua notes that it fits Michael’s personality because his penchant for letting hype die down extends even to shoes. When I ask where he might want to open his business, he explains to me that he would need to have an online store with a stable following before considering operating a storefront.

[After THE JUMP: the strength of the Onwenu family, Michael's motivation, and the rapid ascent of a football player who picked up the sport in eighth grade]