The University of Michigan may be adjusting to a new coach in Brandon Sparks, but the team is also thinking about how close they came to a Big Ten championship last year.

 

The Wolverines lost to Indiana in the Big Ten title game last fall, and while they showed well after that, including in the CRC 7s invitational, that loss has stuck with them. Meanwhile, Head Coach Matt Trenary had to take a step back due to time commitments, and Sparks moved back from California to his home state to take over the reins.

 

So, there's little time to just ease into things, and captain Joel Conzelmann is pleased with how the team has started so far.

 

Michigan defeated Wheeling Jesuit 24-15 on Saturday in a warmup, and Conzelmann was the backs player of the game, while Drew Vecchio earned the honors among the forwards. The flyhalf said the road trip was a long one, but worth it.

 

"We're pretty focussed and we're working on executing as a team," Conzelmann told Goff Rugby Report. "We have had a pretty smooth transition with the coaches, and that helps. We had to get through some first-game nerves, and we made some errors that we had to overcome, but we also played pretty good defense."

 

WJU stormed back with two late tries to make the game close, and Conzelmann chalked that up to Wheeling's tenacity more than Michigan letting off. Still, there's work to be done.

 

"We have five or six new starters and we're working all of those personalities into the team," he said. "We need to work on playing together more and not making those errors. We have a lot of that stuff to do, but the Big Ten is definitely on our mind."

 

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