Shoutout to Jordan Kovacs
A student at my wife's school (huge UM football fan) chose to write a paper on UM football. The teacher emailed the team captains to try and help give the kid some material and Jordan was the only one who wrote back. Not only did he write back but gave some solid, lengthy answers and if you could tell a tone from an email he seemed really happy to help the kid out. It absolutely made her year when she got to read all of it.
So a tip of that hat, sir, for reaching out and continuing to make us all proud!
March 15th, 2013 at 12:02 AM ^
Feel like I should say "and that's the Michigan difference"!
Pretty cool though! Some really good kids have come and gone through that program... Hail!
March 15th, 2013 at 12:03 AM ^
Agreed. He's a classy guy. My friend's sister is his girlfriend and he was nice enough to autograph something for me on a whim at a family gathering. Here's hoping he gets picked up by a good team (looking at you, Pats) and has a career he can be proud of, no matter the stats.
March 15th, 2013 at 12:03 AM ^
picked up by an NFL team. Seems like a classy guy.
GO BLUE!!
March 15th, 2013 at 12:05 AM ^
That's pretty solid. If the other captain had answered, the answers would have read like "Oh yeah, oh yeah...we hungry. And, ya know we just out here working hard having fun with our teammates."
No disrespect meant to Denard, he just has a distinct way of answering questions. Lord knows I would be a nervius wreck standing in front of reporters so props to Denard and Kovacs for doing it all these years.
March 15th, 2013 at 12:05 AM ^
"did you know he was a walk-on" for another 10 years or so.
March 15th, 2013 at 10:36 AM ^
Agreed
March 15th, 2013 at 12:33 AM ^
Classy guy. I hope he gets a shot in the NFL. He's a smart player who will put his hat on you right freaking now. His numbers show he isn't all that slow either
March 15th, 2013 at 12:39 AM ^
He has got to be one of my all-time favorite Wokverines. He wasn't the biggest or fastest guy out there, but he was always in position to make a play. I could probable count on one hand the number of tackles he missed in his whole career. He will be greatly missed, and I really hope he comes back a few years from now as a coach
March 15th, 2013 at 10:34 AM ^
I know it was a typo, but I'm picturing a "Wokverine" as a UM grad who went on to be a world-class Chinese cuisine chef.
March 15th, 2013 at 12:44 AM ^
For the Denver Broncos!!! IMO
March 15th, 2013 at 12:51 AM ^
Kovacs is so obviously a good dude that my friends who are MSU and Ohio fans all like him. He's such a sterotype though..a 5'11 walkon white kid who looks unathletic but very football smart. Plays with grit ...you get the point. The guy's a badass
March 15th, 2013 at 10:23 AM ^
He is hard not to like isn't he. I mean, they made a damn movie about a ND walkon who grew up idolizing the team and fulfilled his dream by actually getting on the field for one play (or something like that, I only got halfway through the movie), why wouldn't someone make a movie about this guy?
A walk on who comes back after an injury and ends being an all B1G safety? I'm sure it would be just as touching and even has a better ending than that movie with the hobbit who got to come into one game just so he could say he played.
March 15th, 2013 at 12:54 AM ^
With a solid reccomendation from someone like Greg Mattison, I really wouldn't be surprised if he gets drafted.
Class act all the way. Man I hope some team gives him a shot this year.
I could see an NFL team picking him up late in the draft or signing him as an UDFA. He'd be a great special teams contributor and backup safety in the league for 7-8 years.
Not trying to downplay his ability, because the man is a football player, in the most cliched sense of the word. However, my first thought about Kovacs post Michigan is: man that guy will make a great coach. I hope he has a long, injury-free NFL career, and then comes back to Michigan to coach, because he seems to have all of the classic attributes of the best players-turned-coaches.
Yeah, Kovacs' physical abilities have been underrated. I agree though, that he does seem to be the type of player who could become a great coach.
It seems that elite players (Gretzky, Jordan, Magic, etc.) can't always translate into great coaches. Bird was probably one of the exceptions here. It seems these players have physical abilities and/or vision that can't be passed on to others.
Although Kovacs has recently been proven to be a better athlete than a lot of people gave him credit, he did have to think the game better (film, recognition, etc.) to become the player that he was. Those are usually qualities that you can pass on to others.
to describe Kovacs - class act.
That is two words.
"That is two words." = four words
just poking a little fun at everyone saying the same thing. Also, you always add or subtract the number from your lists, per Forrest Griffin in his book.
It is a little discouraging to hear that he was the only one to respond. Let's hope Denard was not checking email while preparing for Michigan's Pro Day and will respond soon. That seems out of character for him.
Not trying to make excuses for anyone, but considering the volume of "fan" mail they probably get. It may be hard to sort out the cases such as this, where it was for a school project instead of "Hey, Bro party at my house tonight stop by and lets get Denarded hahahlol see what I did there?".
Fair point. Kovacs and Denard are probably at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to the volume of mail they get. +1 to you.
March 15th, 2013 at 10:42 AM ^
I thought that for a split second and then got eight past it because of how busy they can get (as student-athletes), being in that position as such a prestigious school (must lead to a lot of fan/student mail), and in Denard's case I am sure he is working nonstop getting ready for the draft. I told my wife that hands down Denard is the one who would be all over something like this 9.9 times out of ten so he must be real busy.
But last night we were visiting a friends kid in the hospital and Jordan kovacs along with other athletes were making their way around Mott visiting the kids and joking around with them. I think it's really great not only that the athletes make time to visit the kids but that kovacs also does. He was a blast to speak with along with the other athletes and they really boosted our friends kid spirits.
I'd love to wish him success in whatever he decides to do, but with Kovacs that seems irrelevant. If there was ever a better example of working hard and making your own luck, I can't think of it. I think through this, he has learned how to be successful in whatever he does.
When you start to get jaded and wonder if the business and media and hype around college sports outweigh the value of the student-athlete experience and opportunity, think of Kovacs.
Sheer determination *might* not be enough to get him to a long productive NFL career, but whether it does or doesn't, I'm confident he will continue to exceed peoples' expectations.
March 15th, 2013 at 10:23 AM ^
Kovacs is the quintessential Michigan Man
March 15th, 2013 at 10:53 AM ^
This one time, Jordan Kovacs rescued a cat out of a tree.