The Top 12 Position Switches In Modern Michigan Football History! Presented by Detroit Jerky!

[Hail Media presents the top 12 position switches in modern Michigan football history. A Hail Media original presented by Detroit Jerky. Hey everybody, Doug Cohen here. I’m a co-founder of Hail Media along with my partner Chris Howard. And today we’re going to be talking about the top 12 position switches in modern Michigan football history. And the criteria is we’re talking about guys who were full-time at one position and then completely switched to being full-time at another position. So somebody who might have been a wide receiver who moved over to become a defensive back or maybe a quarterback who moved to tight end.

A drastic full-time switch from one position to the other. So, I’m not including somebody who might be the greatest player that ever played at Michigan like Charles Woodson because Charles Woodson never left defense to become full-time offense. He played both ways. He’s incredible. But that’s not exactly what this list is about. This list is about guys who made the switch. And it’s not necessarily a ranking. Although, I will say the guy I have at number one is the best in this category. After that, it’s not a ranking. We’re just going to go through and show you highlights of these guys on both sides of the ball and break it down a little bit and tell you what I know about them.

A few of them were my teammates, a few of them were my brother’s teammates, few of them I know, and a few of them I don’t know, but we’re still going to have some fun. So, let’s go.

Okay, first on the list, Damon Denson. I personally have not met Damon Denson, but I know about him because he was actually the subject of a recent “A Wolverine Life” feature on the football alumni of Michigan website. So you can go to michiganfootballalumni.org and go to A Wolverine Life and see what Damon is up to today. Great feature by Brian Resutek who was a manager at Michigan for the football team as well. So Damon came in as a defensive lineman and I found a great highlight of him making a great play, shedding a block, making a tackle against Wisconsin.

Ended up moving to offensive line, started for a full season and ended up having a career in the NFL as an offensive lineman. Damon Denson.

Next up on the list, Ian Gold. Came in as a running back for those of you that might remember and didn’t make a huge impact as a running back, but was full-time running back. Made a great run here against Minnesota up in Minneapolis. It was only about a 5-yard run, but he shows a little power and you could see that he had—I mean, obviously he’s a great football player. Could have had potential as a running back. I think they found that he was better suited to be a linebacker. And yeah, I’d say they were right.

He ended up being a great player at linebacker, great career in the NFL, great guy, too. I’ve met Ian and hung out with him a couple of times, and I’m really happy to feature him here.

Next up on the list, Tom Hassel out of Cincinnati. Tom Hassel was a tough guy and he played with my brother Jeff and from what I understand was one of Bo’s favorites. Bo had some favorites just in terms of he liked to have a little fun with guys who were tough guys. You know, when I was there, it was Chris Calloway who was a wide receiver who played like linebacker and Bo would come in before team meetings and he would say, “See that guy right there? That’s Calloway.” He’s tough. If I had a hundred Calloways, I’d never lose a game.

And from what I understand, Hassel was that guy as well where they could call on Hassel in a team meeting and Hassel could get away with saying, “Yeah.” You didn’t answer that way typically in a team meeting, but that’s what I’ve been told. And Hassel came in as a fullback. Carried the ball some. Here he is making a nice little carry keeping his balance, dragging a guy with him against UCLA in the Bluebonnet Bowl, which I was at down in Houston in 1981. And then they moved him to outside linebacker and he makes a great play here with a sack in 1982 on Chuck Long where he basically bounces off of a blocker, keeps the motor running, goes around him and makes a great sack, but a big win in Iowa City.

So Tom Hassel and I played with his brother Rick as well.

Next on the list, my brother’s roommate out of Plymouth, Michigan, Rich Hewlett, who came in as a quarterback, option quarterback, great athlete, throws a beautiful pass to Anthony Carter in the corner for a touchdown against Northwestern in this clip in the pouring rain. And also saw some time against Ohio State as a true freshman in the game. They moved him to defensive back. He redshirted a season. His son Joey was a great athlete and special teams player at Michigan as well. In this clip against Michigan State in East Lansing, they send Rich on a blitz.

He times it up perfectly and gets the sack. Rich Hewlett, everybody, great Michigan man.

Next on the list, we have the Kentucky dog himself, Doug James, who is a legend. Doug James played three different positions at Michigan. He was a captain of the 1984 team, the ill-fated 1984 team that ended up 6-6 after quarterback Jim Harbaugh went down with an injury. But before Doug James moved to the O line and captained that team, he was a defensive lineman. And he has a great sack here against Notre Dame. And then he moved to offensive line. And here we see him making a block on a trap against Miami in really the high point of the 1984 season when Miami came in as the defending national champions, ranked number one with two games under their belt already playing against us in our opener in Ann Arbor and we smacked them.

So Doug James is a great player at Michigan. Great leader, great captain.

Next up, Jay Riemersma came in as a quarterback. He was not a starting quarterback at Michigan, but played as a backup a little bit. And here we see him throw a beautiful pass to Amani Toomer for a touchdown. And I think both these guys were young guys making their mark late in the game. They moved him to tight end and the rest is history. Riemersma had a great career for the Buffalo Bills for quite some time. Here we see Jay Riemersma catching a pass from Brian Griese in that 1995 Ohio State game which is remembered for Tim Biakabutuka rushing for over 300 yards.

But Riemersma made a really nice play here and if you notice it’s Hail Media co-founder Chris Howard that makes a nice block to keep Griese clean in the pocket so he can step up and deliver the strike to Riemersma who takes it all the way down to like the two or the three.

Next up and this one is a mindblower. Joel Honigford, who moved from tackle to tight end. Now, it’s not completely uncommon for guys to come in as a tight end and then to beef up and move to tackle, but not many 300-pound offensive linemen slim down to become a tight end and go out and run routes and catch passes, which is what Joel Honigford did. Did it well enough to get signed by the Arizona Cardinals as a tight end. So, this is a unique entry on the list. And we have a clip here of Joel playing tackle.

And then we have a clip of him catching a pass against Nebraska in the 2021 season en route to the Big Ten Championship, which was marked also by the “Pump It Up” song that became kind of the theme for that team on the sidelines. And Mr. Honigford was the guy that was responsible for that happening, and we talk about it with him as a guest here on Hail Media on the Maize and Blue Mixtape episode one. So, go check that out and you can hear from Joel and the story of how Pump It Up became the song for that season.

Next up, Tripp Welborne, a two-time consensus All-American, one of the great players ever to play at Michigan. Came in as a wide receiver and played a little bit at wide receiver. He has a nice catch across the middle for 22 yards up in Minneapolis from Demetrius Brown in 1987 in the battle for the Jug. Tripp did not start as a receiver. Didn’t make a ton of catches, but he was a full-time wide receiver. And when I came in as a freshman in 1988, the freshman would come in for two days ahead of the veterans.

We had three days of double sessions, not padded, just to get the freshman comfortable with the system, get the coaches some time to spend with the incoming freshman before focusing on preparing for the season with the veterans. Well, Tripp came to freshman two-a-days that season and there he was sitting in the front right of the room and Bo’s like, “Ah, there’s Welborne. Welborne here. He’s going to learn how to play defensive back.” You know, something to that effect. And I was like, “Oh, that’s Tripp Welborne. Here he is.” before the veterans came in.

I was impressed. That was pretty cool. And it worked. It led to Tripp being one of the great safeties to ever play at Michigan. And here, the other clip we see of Tripp is a legendary goal line stop that he made where he just came through and stoned Blake Ezor for Michigan State up in East Lansing to seal that game my sophomore year. Michigan State had a few pretty good teams in that era. and that game in 1989 at their place. Tripp was the one that made that goal line hit.

Fantastic stuff.

Next up, Jim Betts. Jim Betts played for Bump Elliott at Michigan and he played for Bo. And in 1968, he was a wide receiver. Here he is catching a pass against Washington in the 1968 game. Well, when Bo came in, Jim moved to quarterback. And here he is throwing a 59-yard touchdown to Bill Harris, Coach Billy Harris, who was the secondary coach at Michigan while I was there. And then in 1970, Jim Betts moved again to defensive back and here he is making an interception in the game down in Columbus.

So, we’re talking three different positions. And I don’t even think that was it. I think Jim played a little bit at running back as well. So, he was moving all over the place, but he clearly moved from the offensive side of the ball to the defensive side of the ball and he played receiver, quarterback, and defensive back.

All right, next up, Clay Miller. Clay started out as a defensive tackle, came in and started the Northwestern game 1981 as a freshman and makes this sack on the first series. He ended up moving to offense, was an offensive tackle and ended up being an All-Big Ten tackle at Michigan. We have a highlight here of him pancaking a Buckeye in the 1985 game at home, which Michigan won. And for those of you who don’t know, Clay Miller is a Michigan football superstar in not just the fact that he was an All-Big Ten tackle for Michigan on the field, but Clay started a mentoring program between former players and current players that’s been going for 18 years.

And there’s no other program, no other team in the country that does it the way Michigan has done it. Talk about having an impact and strengthening Michigan football. Clay has done it more than just about anybody I know, and he’s also on the board of directors for the football alumni of Michigan. So, I’m proud to call him my buddy and he’s a bad dude, Clay Miller.

Next up, Devin Gardner. Devin Gardner spent most of his career at Michigan as a quarterback, but in the 2012 season with Denard Robinson at quarterback, Devin Gardner made the switch to wide receiver full-time for the first several games of the 2012 season. It wasn’t until Denard hurt his elbow and had a little bit of nerve damage, couldn’t really grip the ball with his throwing hand that they put Denard at running back and moved Devin Gardner back to quarterback in the middle of the season. He didn’t attempt to throw in the first several games of that season.

He was a full-time wide receiver and then boom, he moved right back to quarterback again. So, he counts. He did well and actually was our leading receiver for part of that season and then moved back to quarterback and didn’t miss a beat at quarterback either. So pretty remarkable Devin Gardner.

All right, so that leads us to number one and without a doubt number one goes to Mikey Sainristil. Mikey was a freak at wide receiver. Made some great plays. Had an unbelievable diving catch in the corner laying out at Maryland. Caught a lot of passes. Played a lot of wide receiver. He was at that position for three seasons before he moved over to defensive back and I met Mikey at a mentoring dinner. We have a mutual friend Mr. Lance Dottin who was a teammate of mine who was close to Mikey in high school and so we connected over that and stayed in touch and I remember when Mikey moved over to defense and I texted him about it.

I said, “So, how you liking the defensive side of the ball?” He says, “I’m loving it over here on the dark side.” And love it he did, man, because Mikey was one of the greatest defensive backs to ever play at Michigan. Talk about big plays and just could do everything. Was like Superman out on the field. He reminded me of Woods a lot just in terms of his ability to be everywhere and making huge plays and seemingly taking over games and being there to dominate at the biggest moments. So many times down in Ohio State where he knocked away that pass in the corner which was incredible. The interception to seal it against Washington, the huge hit that he put on TreVeyon Henderson.

Like, the guy could do everything. He could make big hits. He could make big pass breakups and interceptions. Mikey was the man and that’s why he’s number one on this list.

Hope you enjoyed it. If you have anything to add, go ahead and comment below. Would love to hear what you think. And be sure to subscribe to Hail Media here on YouTube. And you can also check out the Patreon if you want to support the channel. We really appreciate it. Thanks for being here and forever, Go Blue. If you like this kind of content, please like, share, follow, and subscribe. And as always, go blue!
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