Michigan Wolverines | |
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Position | Punter |
Personal information | |
Born: | c. 1976 |
Career history | |
College |
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Bowl games | 1998 Rose Bowl 1999 Citrus Bowl |
Career highlights and awards | |
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Jason Vinson (born c. 1976) is a former American football punter. He was the starting punter for the Michigan Wolverines football team from 1997 to 1998, including the national champion 1997 Michigan Wolverines football team. He became Michigan's starting punter despite having been a walk-on who had never appeared as a starter in a football game at the high school level.
Vinson attended high school in Troy, Michigan. He played football in high school, but as a second-string punter. [1]
Vinson enrolled at the University of Michigan without an athletic scholarship and did not initially try out for the football team. Instead, he played intramural flag football as a freshman. [2] Having never punted in an actual football game, Vinson twice tried out unsuccessfully for a spot on the roster of the Michigan Wolverines football team. He ultimately made the team as a walk-on in 1995. [3]
After spending the 1995 and 1996 seasons on the bench, Vinson became the starting punter for the undefeated 1997 national championship team. In his first game on September 13, 1997, Vinson punted five times for an average of 42.4 yards. [3] He was selected as a second-team All-Big Ten punter after the 1997 season. He was Michigan's starting punter again during the 1998 season. [4] [5] In two years as the Wolverines' punter, Vinson handled 113 punts, good for 4,376 yards and an average of 38.7 yards per punt. [6]
The Michigan–Michigan State football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the University of Michigan Wolverines and the Michigan State University Spartans. The teams first played in 1898 and have met 116 times. The game has now been played uninterrupted, every year since 1945. In 1949 Michigan State was accepted into the Big Ten conference, though it was not until 1953 that the rivalry became a Big Ten conference game, due to protests from the University of Michigan administration. Prior to 1958 all but 6 matchups were played in Ann Arbor. The winner of each year's game receives the Paul Bunyan – Governor of Michigan Trophy, a four-foot wooden statue of a lumberjack that was first presented in 1953 to commemorate Michigan State's beginning football competition as a member of the Big Ten Conference.
Amani Askari Toomer is an American former professional football player who spent his entire career as a wide receiver and punt returner for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He registered over 1,000 receiving yards each season from 1999 to 2003, was a member of the 2007 Giants team that won Super Bowl XLII, and holds Giants' club records with 9,497 receiving yards, 668 receptions, and 54 receiving touchdowns. He also returned 109 punts for 1,060 yards and three touchdowns. As a rookie in 1996, he led the NFL with an average of 16.6 yards on 18 punt returns.
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The 1997 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1997 Big Ten Conference football season. In its third year under head coach Lloyd Carr, Michigan compiled a perfect 12–0 record, won the Big Ten Conference championship, defeated Washington State in the 1998 Rose Bowl, and was declared the national champion by the Associated Press, the National Football Foundation, and the Football Writers Association of America. Michigan finished second in the Coaches Poll behind the Nebraska Cornhuskers, resulting in a shared national championship.
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Obi Pius Ezeh was an American college football player who was a linebacker for the Michigan Wolverines. He was included on both the 2009 mid-season and the 2009 preseason watchlist for the Butkus Award. He ended his career as the Wolverines' active career leader in tackles.
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Anthonios "Tony" Branoff was an American football player. He played at the halfback position for the University of Michigan from 1952 to 1955. He was chosen as the Most Valuable Player on the 1953 Michigan Wolverines football team. He was the first sophomore to win the award. He also led the Wolverines in rushing in both 1953 and 1955.
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