 |
| Mike Kwiatkowski |
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 257 lbs.
High school: Macomb (MI) Dakota
Position: Tight end
Class: Redshirt senior
Jersey number: #81
Last year: I did not rank Kwiatkowski. He played in two games but did not accrue any stats.
Kwiatkowski didn't play much last season and didn't start playing football in college until last year. However, from what I have seen in practice and film, I think Kwiatkowski could be a surprise contributor this season. He's big enough to be a blocking tight end when the offense uses multiple tight end sets, and he's even athletic enough to catch a pass here or there. I don't expect him to start or turn into a star, but he could be the offense's equivalent of Nathan Brink.
Prediction: Backup tight end
What's his story, does anyone know? How do you not play football until your senior year? Since he's a redshirt senior, that must mean he's done something else before. Was he just an underclassman at Michigan who decided it was time to give football one last time and started working out again or was he playing another sport?
ReplyDeleteGoogle doesn't provide much information. 247 sports has him redshirting in 2008 and playing 2009-2011, though I tend to believe Thunder over them regarding a Michigan redshirt senior walk-on.
Isn't he mentioned in Three and Out as a walk-on who joined the team during the Rodriguez years? Maybe through an open try-out event? I could be wrong, but I thought it was the same guy and that he's been on the team for a few years.
ReplyDeleteMGoBlue.com and the Bentley Historical Library both say he was only on the team in 2011.
DeleteFound it (for whatever reason I have my copy of the book here at work), on pages 324-325 it says that he won a spot on the team at a try-out on Sep. 13, 2010. Maybe because it was during the season, he wasn't officially a member of the team until the following fall (of 2011)? Apparently, I was wrong in thinking he had been around for a few years though.
DeleteYeah, perhaps he couldn't join the team until the spring. Or because it was already September, maybe he just wasn't put on the roster.
DeleteEither way, good memory and good find. I read the book and forgot that, I guess. I will say, though, that when I started writing up the list, I thought I remembered Kwiatkowski being around longer, too. Maybe I saw him on the sidelines in 2010 or something. I'm not sure.
So I was sorta friends with Mike our freshman year and have from time to time talked with him since. I was never super tight with him but the way I understand it was Mike was just one of your average high school stud athletes from a good high school who could have played smaller school ball but choose to go to Michigan instead for the obvious reasons (academics and lifestyle). Eventually during the open try-out, having always loved football, he figured he'd give it a shot and made the team. Regardless, I can speak to both a very high level of character and intelligence.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting, Anonymous!
DeleteBorges loves him some TEs.
ReplyDeleteWent to UM for undergrad aiming for Med school. Joined powerlifting club and gained a lot of weight. Decided to tryout because he knew someone who was a walk on before (Ricky Reyes).
ReplyDelete