Michigan Wolverines Redshirt Junior Wide Receiver Roy Roundtree is among the best receivers in the Big Ten. The active UM career leader in yards and receiving, he also holds the Michigan record for receiving yards in a single game (246) set against the Illini in the wild 67-65 multiple overtime game last November.
And in Michigan’s exciting come-from-behind victory over Notre Dame, the first night home night game in the 134 year history of the program, Roundtree had a play that will forever be his college football “signature moment.”
Like Desmond Howard’s famous “Heisman pose.”
On the last play from scrimmage, Roundtree caught a go-ahead, game-winning 16-yard TD pass from junior quarterback Denard Robinson with two seconds remaining.
It was his only catch of the game, and he made the grab despite being interfered with.
“I’m a team player, I’ll go out there and put my hand in the dirt and block, I’m not really concerned about the ball as long as we win. And now look, I got the game winner,” Roundtree told the media after the game.
Roy walked us through the physical composition of the game-changing play:
“Once I saw the ball come off, it was high, Denard put it up high, so I adjusted to it, and once I came back towards it he (Fighting Irish DB Gary Gray) was still up on me, so I just jumped up in the air and focused on it, and when I came down I made sure my one foot was in. And once I hit the ground I was like man, I just scored a touchdown,” he said.
The final drive went two plays in less than 30 seconds, and UM Coach Brady Hoke knows his team has great quick strike ability. He specifically believes in their two minute drill efficiency.
“I wanted our team to stay composed and poised. We’ve done two-minute drill since we got here in January. We’ve probably done 1,000 two-minute drills with different scenarios, different timeouts, ones on ones, twos on twos against each other, because those are the high pressure, the most pressure situations you have in a football game. I was confident we knew how to handle that.”
By the way, Denard Robinson earned multiple awards Monday (Sept. 12) following his five-touchdown performance on Sept. 10. The Big Ten named Robinson its Offensive Player of the Week, while the Davey O’Brien Award selected him as its Quarterback of the Week. Rivals.com tabbed Robinson as its National and Big Ten Player of the Week, and he is one of four players nationally nominated for the Capital One Cup Impact Performance of the Week, an award voted by the fans.
It marks Robinson’s fourth career Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honor. He becomes the first Wolverines player to win the offensive award since Roundtree last November of 2010.
Robinson accounted for 446 of Michigan’s 452 total yards against the Fighting Irish, setting career highs for passing yardage (338) and touchdown passes (4). The Maize and Blue trailed 24-7 before Robinson led U-M to fourth-quarter touchdown drives of 83, 40, 58 and 80 yards for its third-largest comeback victory in school history.
The Michigan team itself was named the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week for games of the weekend of Sept. 10.
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