Though he hasn’t played much throughout his career at Michigan, fifth-year senior Pat Kugler is expected to be the man at center for the Wolverines in 2017.
Kugler explained he realized he needed to take on a leadership role this year, and he feels like he has done that.
“Me and [senior left tackle] Mason [Cole] realize this year is on us,” Kugler said. “Coach [Tim] Drevno always says we’re the heartbeat of this football team, and we took that to heart.
“We work hard every day to prove that we’re serious. It’s not that the guys last year weren’t serious, but we just put in the time and the effort this year. We made tremendous strides this fall camp on the line — we’re very deep there now.”
Part of taking on a leadership role means there can’t be any nonsense or shenanigans amongst the young players.
“When you’re in this building, it’s football all the time,” Kugler said. “This week it’s all Florida and it’s strictly business. We have a bunch of young guys this year, and we said early on we have to be serious, because we can’t afford to be making mistakes due to our youth.”
The fifth-year senior said that mental mistakes had been occurring early on in camp, but they have been cleaned up since then.
“At the beginning of camp, there were a lot of mental errors against Don Brown’s defense and his crazy, whacky schemes,” Kugler laughed. “We’ve honed in and been focused on Florida for a week or so now though, and we have a pretty good idea of what they’re doing.”
Having ended 2016 on a down note, Kugler said the team has something to prove this season, and what better way to do it than against a team like Florida.
“We absolutely have something to prove,” he said. “We lost three out of our last four games last year and still have a sour taste in our mouths. There’s no better way to get rid of that than against one of the best teams in the country in Florida.
“Their team has a lot of guys with experience. They’ve got guys who are powerful and are strong and have speed — but we’ll be ready.”
It’s hard for anybody to talk about Michigan’s defensive line and not at least mention the youth on it. Kugler talked about what it’s like going up against some of the youngsters in practice.
“Dwumy [sophomore defensive tackle Michael Dwumfour] brings a completely different view with his quickness,” Kugler revealed. “[Freshman defensive tackle] Aubrey [Solomon] is young, but you can tell he belongs.
“[Redshirt junior defensive tackle] Bryan Mone is a beast. He’s a 340-pound nose guard, so that’s not much fun to go up against every day, but it definitely makes you better. You have to have perfect technique, or he’s going to rock you off the ball.”
The veteran center insists that he and his teammates have held their own against Michigan’s defensive line in practice though.
“We know what we’re capable of,” he said. “We just have to show everyone now. We’re just as talented, if not more than last year’s group.”
Kugler will only have to wait four more days to show the country what his unit is made of.
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