The 2012 Michigan football captains are fifth-year senior safety Jordan Kovacs and senior quarterback Denard Robinson, the team announced Sunday night.
- University of Michigan Athletic Department
- Fifth-year senior safety Jordan Kovacs is one of Michigan’s 2012 captains.
- University of Michigan Athletic Department
- Senior quarterback Denard Robinson is one of Michigan’s 2012 captains.
The players were selected in a team vote on Sunday and will lead Michigan’s ‘Team 133’ onto the field beginning this Saturday in Arlington, Texas for the Cowboys Classic against defending-champion Alabama.
“Denard and Jordan are two guys who represent what Michigan football stands for, on and off the field, and they certainly are deserving of being named team captains,” Michigan coach Brady Hoke said in a press release. “They have played a lot of football here. I know they will do a great job of leading the seniors and Team 133.”
Kovacs, a native of Curtice, Ohio, joined the team in 2009 as a redshirt freshman after catching then-Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez’s eye at an open tryout that fall. Within a month, Kovacs was Michigan’s starting safety. Kovacs’ father, Louis Kovacs, was a defensive back at Michigan in the early 1980s.
In three-plus years of starting time — 33 starts in 37 career games — Kovacs has totaled 266 tackles, five sacks, four interceptions, two forced fumbles and three pass breakups. He has also been named to the 2012 preseason watch list for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and the Lott IMPACT Trophy, each awarded to the country’s best defensive player.
Robinson, from Deerfield Beach, Fla., took over as the starting quarterback at Michigan for the 2010 season opener against Connecticut. He quickly separated himself from then-sophomore quarterback Tate Forcier in the quarterback battle and hasn’t missed a start since — starting 27 of his 38 career games at Michigan.
In three seasons, Robinson has passed for 4,931 yards and 40 touchdowns and rushed 546 times for 3,229 yards and 35 touchdowns. He has shattered some records and is approaching more; Robinson ranks in the top-10 in Michigan history in passing completions, attempts, yards and touchdowns and in rushing yards, touchdowns and 100-yard games (14), according to the release.
He is the only quarterback to accomplish an 1,500-yard passing/1,500-yard rushing season, which he did in 2010. That season he broke the single-season quarterback rushing record (1,494 yards) previously held by Air Force’s Beau Morgan. He currently holds five of the top-10 Big Ten single-game quarterback rushing games in history.
Robinson has been named to the 2012 preseason watch lists for the Davey O’Brien Trophy, awarded to the best quarterback in college football, and the Manning, Maxwell and Walter Camp Player of the Year Awards.