ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It didn’t take long for Olu Oluwatimi, Michigan’s starting center who transferred from Virginia in the offseason as a graduate student, to understand the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry.
Michigan, No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday at 11-0, 8-0 Big Ten, will play at Ohio State, the No. 2 team with an identical record, on Saturday at Ohio Stadium. The Wolverines snapped the Buckeyes’ eight-game winning streak last season at Michigan Stadium but have not won at the Horseshoe since 2000.
This will be the first time since 2018 that Michigan has played in Columbus after the Wolverines canceled the 2020 game because of a COVID-19 outbreak in the team. The winner of Saturday’s regular-season finale will win the Big Ten East Division title and earn a spot in the Big Ten championship game and likely a berth in the four-team national playoff.
“We know everything goes through Ohio State,” Oluwatimi said Tuesday night after practice. “To reach all our goals that we have for the season, it starts with them. You see it everywhere, (signs that say) ‘What are you doing to beat Ohio State today?’
“Since I got here from Day 1, that was the goal, that was the mission. That’s just what it is. That’s the simple fact that if you’re a Michigan football player, you’re going to have to go through them to reach the goals that you want.”
Last week was exceptionally challenging emotionally for Oluwatimi, who not only dealt with the deaths of three of his Virginia teammates, shot by a former UVA player, but also his father, Olufemi Oluwatimi, underwent successful surgery to remove a brain tumor last Thursday, two days before Michigan played Illinois.
“He’s doing well, he’s back home,” Oluwatimi said. “He’s a warrior. That’s my idol, that’s who I look up to.”
On Nov. 13, his friends, Virginia football players Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry died from gunshot wounds in a campus parking garage after a group they were part of returned from a field trip to Washington, D.C. Mike Hollins was wounded and has been discharged from the hospital.
Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., a former Virginia walk-on, was arrested Nov. 14 and has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in commission of a felony.
“Olu Oluwatimi, he has the strength of 10 men,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said after the Wolverines win over Illinois. “There’s so much admiration for him, and I will feel ever proud to be his friend. That week he had this week, not only the physical strength of 10 men but the mental strength of 10 men.
“Victims at Virginia, where that tragedy was personal for him, those were some of his teammates. And his dad had successful surgery to remove a tumor in his brain. All that was going on for Olu. I think back to being that age and there’s no way I could have handled that. But he has the strength of 10 men and thank God that was a successful surgery.”
Oluwatimi said he relied on teammates from both teams for emotional support.
“Those are my teammates I knew as well as anyone probably other than their family,” Oluwatimi said of his friends who were killed. “Last week was tough. I relied on my teammates here, relied on my family. It was a lot of long nights, some tears, but when you’ve got a great support system and when coach Harbaugh is continually checking up on me, it makes me feel loved. That got me through that.”
He also relied on himself as he dealt with his father’s surgery just days after his friends were killed.
“At the end of the day, you’ve gotta put things in perspective,” he said. “The world waits on nobody. I know it’s kinda sad to say in a time like that, but I had to kinda deal with the struggle, deal with the adversity and deal with it head on and make the most of it by bringing a win home for my brothers. Just making the best out of the situation.”
It is difficult to flip an emotional switch, but football has been the constant for Oluwatimi this season, and it most certainly helped him deal with everything he endured last week.
Oluwatimi arrived at Michigan as one of the top centers in the nation, one of three finalists for the Rimington Award last season, his third starting at Virginia. He brought a wealth of experience and knowledge and quickly acclimiated to his new team and teammates.
He was voted an alternate captain, and with two captains, quarterback Cade McNamara and tight end Erick All both out for most of the season after surgeries, Oluwatimi has been a leader and vocal when he’s had to be, although that is not where he’s most comfortable.
“I’ve kinda had to (be a leader),” Oluwatimi said. “My teammates are relying on me to be that constant steady voice of confidence when things are going bad be able to lift guys up and give them the juice they need to go and turn things around. I embrace the role.
“I’m not much of a rah-rah talker guy. I will come to somebody on the side and hype ‘em up and give them that encouraging talk that they need. If you want to win, you’ve got to do what’s asked of you and what the team needs from you. When I was voted an alternate captain, I understood what that would mean. I would be in a reserve captain role, but that means I have to open my mouth a little more than I have been.”
Oluwatimi has played in loud, hostile environments before, but Ohio Stadium, especially with so much at stake and this being the first Michigan-Ohio State game there since 2018, is expected to be as raucous as ever.
He would have to be loud as a leader, but more importantly, he will have to be loud making calls for his four linemates.
“You’re practicing the whole week for a loud environment, for a hostile environment,” Oluwatimi said. “You’ve got to lock in, make calls, communicate, trust the brothers around you. We’ve taken a lot of snaps this season together, and just go out there and execute. That’s all it comes down to.”
This is what it all comes down to for Michigan and for Oluwatimi who transferred here to win a national championship.
“I’m very excited,” he said. “This is the game of the year.”
