Michigan Football Q&A: Jehu Chesson
11/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Jehu Chesson with the Little Brown Jug
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Michigan players and coaches will sit down with MGoBlue.com's Steve Kornacki weekly during the 2015 season to discuss Wolverine football. Wide receiver Jehu Chesson spoke on Sunday (Nov. 1) about the 29-26 win at Minnesota, his career-high two touchdown catches, "Wilt the Stilt," Halloween and just how many photos he had taken with the Little Brown Jug.
Q. What was the bus ride to the airport and flight home like after such a wild win?
A. "We got 'The Jug' back!" was probably the most-repeated phrase. It was a special time, and everybody just kept taking pictures of "The Jug" together. I took one with Drake Johnson. I took one with the receivers. I took one with Jake Rudock. That kid fought his butt off. It was awesome. I took one with Wilton Speight. He came in and fought his butt off, too.
You don't realize it now, but pictures will be around forever. When we're 50 or 60, we can always look back at Oct. 31, 2015.
Q. Your first catch as a freshman in 2013 against Akron was a touchdown, and we've joked about how you've scored touchdowns running and on a kickoff return but haven't had another receiving touchdown. Well, in this game, you had two -- a 13-yarder from Rudock and then a 12-yarder from Speight for what ended up being the game-winning score.
A. Football's a funny game. Jake did a wonderful job of putting the ball where it needed to be on the first one, and on the second one Wilton made a great throw. It becomes special because of the circumstances we were in, but that last touchdown was one we made 20 times this week in practice. And Amara (Darboh) catching the two-point conversion was the same thing. It's just a matter of making it when the game depends on it, and we were able to execute those plays. The post (route) switch on the last touchdown was the perfect call. Our coaches put us in a great position to win that game, and we did it.
Q. Speight said he was "good to go" after completing his first pass to Jake Butt on the game-winning drive. Could you sense him gaining confidence and taking charge after that?
A. Yeah, but he was confident from the get-go. To come in there and deliver the balls where they needed to be delivered he utilized his personnel -- throwing where we could get them.
Q. Do you guys have a nickname for Wilton?
A. "Wilt the Stilt," yeah, "Wilt the Stilt!" (laughter)
Note: Speight is 6-6, and the original "Wilt the Stilt" was the late NBA superstar center Wilton Chamberlain.
Q. What's Speight like in practice?
A. Wilt, back in the summer along with all the quarterbacks, they worked hard, and Jake won the job. But they helped each other and built each other up. They understand they always have to be ready to go just like Wilt was last night. In practice, he's very calm, very cool. He gets the job done.
Q. You also had a 22-yard run on a third-and-four play that set up Jabrill Peppers' six-yard touchdown run. Minnesota's defense bit on Jabrill but also had to respect your speed.
A. Jabrill got the hand-off squared away, and I turned the corner. Two guys were pursuing on me and had angles, but we thought we were going to get more yards on that play. But it was a good third-down call. It was my job to beat those last two guys, and I tried as hard as I could, but I couldn't beat them. But Amara did a heck of a job in securing his guy (with a block).
Q. Minnesota had two plays in the final seconds at the Michigan one-yard line or closer. Your teammates made a goal-line stand to assure victory. What was your reaction on the sideline?
A. I just fell on my knees and was thanking God because it wouldn't have happened without Him. It was a stressful game to watch. We made so many mistakes in that game. They made a lot of mistakes as well, and we capitalized on those mistakes. They did the same with us. It was very hard. After the game, I was just so thrilled to see our defense stop them. I was so grateful we got the win, and I'm just looking forward to the next game (Saturday, Nov. 7, at home with Rutgers).
Q. Coach Jim Harbaugh talked about how important winning a game that required big plays in the final minutes and seconds was for the team. What was his postgame speech about?
A. He told us, "Now we've done it! We know we can do it again." He talked about sticking together as a team, and that nothing was going to be given to us. We understand that. But, at the same time, if we don't put ourselves in position to have success, we won't be able to receive it.
Q. It was a wild Halloween night. There were fans dressed as sharks, like Coach Harbaugh, and like ghouls. What was the atmosphere like in that stadium?
A. The game was very intense, and a lot of guys came out to support their team. I respect that about their program. But there's nothing like winning in the Big House. It was a great experience, but you can't really beat the Big House.
Q. Have you ever had a better Halloween?
A. Was it my best Halloween? I didn't look at it like that was Halloween. It was just a great experience playing football with my teammates, and it just so happened to be on Halloween, one of the best holidays there is. I guess it's a holiday. But we're all very excited.
Q. And on that note, what was your favorite Halloween costume as a kid?
A. Oh, man, let me think. It was my "Planet of the Apes" costume when I was in like fourth or fifth grade. I was one of the apes (laughter).
