This season hasn't exactly been ideal for anybody involved with Michigan football, but especially the seniors such as fifth-year defensive lineman Carlo Kemp, who chose to return to Ann Arbor after last season not knowing how unconventional the 2020 campaign would be. Kemp can choose to return next year, due to the NCAA passing a free year of eligibility, but he said Monday he hasn't thought about that option just yet.

Michigan missed the last two weeks due to a COVID outbreak within the program. The Wolverines were not able to play against arch rival Ohio State last Saturday. The Maize and Blue returned to practice on Sunday for the first time in over two weeks, and Kemp said it was a blessing to get back to football. Michigan is set to take on Iowa Saturday night in Iowa City.

"It just felt good. It just felt good to get back out there, put the helmet on, put the shoulder pads on and get going again," Kemp said. "Especially when the level that we were shut down was — you couldn’t even come into the building. You weren’t even able go see each other.

"And we were, obviously, over these last two weeks just to stay away from each other and keep each other as safe as possible. So you really just spent a lot of time these last 14 days being by yourself, and that’s tough, especially when a lot of you guys are feeling the same way, you don’t get to feel that same feeling emotionally with all of your teammates.

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"But yesterday, just being able to come back to the building, prepare again for a game, the last game of the season — it just felt so good to be back out there, be with the coaches again and just pick up that energy, because it definitely didn’t have it these last two weeks, sitting at home, watching games and just being by yourself."

Not being able to play 'The Game' against Ohio State, a contest they prepare all year for, was devastating for Kemp and the entire program, just as it was for the Buckeyes, with the Wolverines leading the all-time series 58-51-6.

"I think, right now, obviously I miss it a lot," Kemp said. "But I think I’ll really understand over time and as I get older how much I truly miss that game, especially not being able to play it your senior year.

"It’s definitely something I never really imagined. You think about everything your senior year as wanting it to be your best year in a lot of aspects, and you wanted to play your best game against them this year.

"So obviously, right now it definitely sucks a lot. I mean, it’s just painful that you don’t get the opportunity to play in that game. That’s a huge reason why you even come to Michigan, and you understand how much that game means to this program, to the people of Michigan, to the alumni, the players that have all played for Michigan.

"When we had to cancel that game, it was definitely just like a state of shock, but now it’s hard, you have to move past that week, even though there’s a lot of emotions that go into it. We have an opponent that we got to play this weekend — we gotta play Iowa — so you have to bottle those emotions up."

Michigan and Ohio State will not play for the first time since 1917. Ohio State chose to cancel its game against Illinois two weeks prior due to its own COVID outbreak, but there has been a notion — started by former Ohio State quarterback and current ESPN personality Kirk Herbstreit — among fans that the Wolverines were 'ducking' the Buckeyes when they were forced to cancel. Michigan was not cleared by its medical officers to practice or participate in the game last week due to an uptick in positive COVID test results.

Kemp shot down the false notion that has no evidence to support it.

"I just listen to some of the stuff — you try to ignore it as best as you can, and I think a lot of us do a really good job of ignoring all of that stuff," Kemp said. "But it was a lot easier to kind of see it this week, because we were just kind of at home, so we had more time to just kind of see what people say during the week.

"It’s frustrating, and there’s so much that goes into it. These are the rules that are put in place by the highest level doctors that we have in the country. This is beyond any player’s control. Players don’t vote on if we want to play games this week or if we want to play this opponent.

"We’ve been playing this game for over 100 years, and all of the sudden now we don’t want to play the game? That’s just not the case; that would never be the case.

"You come to Michigan to play that game. It’s the game you think about the entire year, just because it’s the last game and you want to keep building the entire season and use every game until you get there to just get better and better, so that by the time you play them in the last game, you’re the best version of yourself, the best version of your time, and hopefully be able to go out there and showcase out there on Saturday.

"But by no means was anybody not trying to play them. We had a spike in numbers and these are peoples’ lives and this is peoples’ health, and that’s way more serious than anything compared to playing a football game on a Saturday."

With the COVID outbreak under control, Michigan's players are excited to get back to the field to play Iowa in the final game of the Big Ten season.

"Let’s do it. It’s a great opportunity, a great challenge that we have with this last game of the season," Kemp said. "I don’t think you’d want it any other way, to go to Iowa, a place that I’ve actually never been in my time here and have that new experience with a bunch of these guys, and go out there Saturday and play our best game."

While the Wolverines are 2-4, the NCAA has waived a minimum number of wins to be eligible for a bowl game berth, so Michigan could theoretically participate in a postseason game. Kemp said he's sure Michigan would be open to it, but that's not where the team's focus currently lies.

"Everyone’s focus is Iowa; we’re honed in on Iowa and we’re so focused on this week for Saturday that we haven’t even really thought past it, because that’s just the respect that you give your opponent — when it’s that week, that’s what you’re focused on," Kemp said. "We haven’t even really been focusing on anything after the season.

"It just feels good that we have this game, and I don’t think any of us are looking past Iowa, because that’s on the forefront of our mind and we’re just thankful that we get to play. But I’m sure everybody in this building would love to continue and keep playing after this week.

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