He remembers the Alamo Bowl, but only from what he saw on TV.

Last season, as Michigan flew south to San Antonio, wide receiver Adrian Arrington traveled west - to home.

"It was tough," Arrington said. "I had not really been involved in the games the whole season, so it was tough to not go on a bowl trip because you want to help support your team but I gave all the support watching them."

Rumors swirled about the real motivation behind Arrington not traveling with the team. His high school coach, Paul James, heard them as Arrington played pick-up basketball with James's son in Arrington's old stomping grounds, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Talk of Arrington's lackadaisical attitude and even a possibility of a transfer circulated.

So in the comfort of his own living room, Arrington watched painfully as his teammates lost in a furious Nebraska fourth-quarter comeback.

Later, Arrington and Carr had several sit-down meetings in the privacy of the coach's office and worked out their differences.

"You hear something from a guy like that, he knows what's he talking about," Arrington said. "That's why I just accepted what he said and worked on myself."

Coming off a broken ankle suffered during the first game of last season, Arrington used his absence from the team as motivation entering training camp this year.

Now he doesn't stand on the sidelines or watch Michigan games from home. Instead, Arrington has become an integral part of a Wolverine passing attack that was one of the team's biggest question marks coming into the year.

For the kid who grew up on the basketball court, Michigan football has become a way of life. Arrington's time donning the maize and blue hasn't always been the easiest. But the redshirt sophomore saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

Disappointment

It was supposed to be his grand homecoming.

The high school standout, who played a mere half-an-hour away from Kinnick Stadium, would return to his home state to play Iowa in front of family and friends.

But Arrington never suited up for last season's game against the Hawkeyes. His year had already ended seven games earlier.

During the season opener against Northern Illinois, Arrington stood back at his goal line on the second play of the second quarter, alongside redshirt junior Steve Breaston, waiting for the Husky kickoff. He fielded the kick at the 15 and returned it to the 30, giving the Wolverines good field position. But the return cost Arrington dearly - he broke his ankle on the play.

"My ankle kind of got caught under the pile, and when I fell back on my back, my ankle was still facing forward," Arrington said.

His mother, Norma Arrington, watched from her seat in the Big House. She thought her son had sprained the ankle. But she knew it was worse than she imagined when Arrington didn't re-enter the game.

The top high school receiver in Iowa came to Michigan to leave his mark. Arrington knew the great tradition of Wolverine wideouts and wanted to be a part of it.

It made the injury even tougher to swallow.

When the coaches decided not to redshirt Arrington his freshman season, he believed they saw something special in him. After the graduation of superstar Braylon Edwards, Arrington thought he could step into a significant role for the Wolverines in 2005. But, it wasn't meant to be. The broken ankle shelved Arrington for the season.

"I'm a competitor," Arrington said. "I love this game, so sitting out for a whole year and having to watch from the sidelines when I could've had a greater role in it, it really hurt."

But Arrington continued to work. While his teammates struggled through a disappointing five-loss campaign, Arrington rehabbed his broken ankle. He entered training camp at about 90 percent and slowly worked his way into the receiver rotation early this season.

And finally, the kid with loads of potential started to show it off to the nation. It began in South Bend where Arrington complemented fellow receiver Mario Manningham's deep threat with tough catches over the middle. He broke through in Minneapolis against Minnesota when he caught both his first and second career touchdown passes as a Wolverine.

Then, Manningham went down and one question was on everyone's mind: Who would fill that void?

Arrington answered the call. Against Penn State, he caught the first and only Wolverine touchdown pass of the day on a 25-yard grab. And the Michigan fans' worries slowly dissipated as Arrington caught five passes for 83 yards.

"(The chance to step up was) definitely in the back of my head," Arrington said. "I just knew with our offense designed to get the ball to the open guy, pretty much whoever's open is going to get the football."

The war

They wanted him.

When Arrington was just a freshman at Washington High School, the scholarship offer came.