3 Wolverines named finalists for national awards

On Tuesday morning, the Michigan Football team announced that three of its players were named finalists for national awards. Jake Moody, Olu Oluwatimi and Blake Corum all were named finalists for the country's top-performing player at their respective positions.

Moody, who won the Lou Groza Award (the nation's best kicker) last year, is looking for a repeat as the best kicker in college football once again this season. Moody has had another excellent season, as he is 26-32 on field goals this year, including a perfect 10-10 on kicks between 30 and 39 yards and an impressive 6-7 on kicks between 40 and 49 yards.

Although his percentage of field goals made has dropped from last season, Moody is still firmly in the running for the Lou Groza Award. He is the nation's leading scorer at this point in the season with 131 points.

Other kickers that were also named as finalists for the Lou Groza Award include Stanford's Joshua Karty and NC State's Christopher Dunn. Dunn has only missed one field goal this season, and he currently has a make percentage of 96%. Karty on the other hand, hasn't missed a field goal in 18 attempts. He's missed one extra point in 25 attempts.

It's no secret that Blake Corum has had an outstanding season, and although he's been sidelined lately due to injury, it hasn't taken anything away from the wonderful season that the junior running back has had. He's rushed for nearly 1,500 yards and has scored 19 touchdowns on the season, which has landed him as a finalist for the Doak Walker Award, which is given to the nation's best running back.

Corum has been the driving force behind Michigan's perfect regular season. The junior had scored a touchdown in all 11 games before the Ohio State game, when he was pulled after only two carries. Corum likely won't play this weekend against Purdue, but he will look to be healthy for Michigan's College Football Playoff run.

For now, Corum is joined by Illinois' Chase Brown and Texas' Bijan Robinson. Brown is an excellent back for the Fighting Illini, which was evident just two Saturdays ago when he put Michigan on the ropes with two third-quarter touchdowns. Robinson has also had an outstanding season. He's approaching 2,000 all-purpose yards and has accounted for 20 touchdowns for the Longhorns this season.

Olu Oluwatimi has been talked about as one of the best transfer portal additions of the offseason, and rightfully so. Oluwatimi stepped right in for Andrew Vastardis, and there hasn't been one hiccup in the transition. He's been a dominant force inside along with the rest of Michigan's offensive line, and he finds himself as a finalist for the Outland Trophy, which is awarded to the nation's best center.

He is joined by Pitt's Calijah Kancey and Northwestern's Peter Skoronski. Oluwatimi will look to cement himself as the best center in college football with a dominant performance against Purdue this weekend in the Big Ten championship game.

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