72 days until Michigan football: Saluting the legendary Dan Dierdorf
There’s much anticipation heading into the Michigan Wolverines football season, and TheWolverine.com is counting down the days until the Sept. 2 opener against East Carolina. We’ll discuss current Michigan events, the upcoming season and/or take a look at a significant number that correlates with how many days remain until kickoff, whether it be a player’s jersey number, a year, a date, a score, etc.
When the No. 72 comes up in a conversation about Michigan, it is hard to ignore the best player to wear it in program history. That is offensive tackle Dan Dierdorf, who exited the radio booth as one of the voices of U-M football after the 2021 season.
Dierdorf, a Canton, Ohio native, played at Michigan from 1967 to 1970 and was a two-time All-American, garnering second-team honors in 1969 and first-team consensus nods in 1970.
Dierdorf came to Michigan in 1967 as a recruit of former head coach Bump Elliott. He played both ways on offense and defense for the all-freshman team. He took a leap between his freshman and sophomore years, starting nine of 10 games at right tackle for the 1969 squad. Elliott would refer to Dierdorf as the “most active and talented offensive lineman.” He would suffer a knee injury against Ohio State, which put his future with the program in question.
Dierdorf was a key player on Bo Schembechler’s first Michigan team, helping lead the team to a Big Ten Championship in 1969 and a win over Ohio State. His play that year earned him first-team All-Big Ten honors. During his final season in 1970, he started nine games at right tackle and one at left on the 9-1 squad.
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A legendary pro career and the next chapter
Dierdorf was a second-round pick of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1971 and played all 13 seasons of his career with the organization. He was the NFLPA’s Offensive Lineman of the Year three times in a row from 1976-78. Dierdorf was a seven-time All-Pro selection with five of those nods on the first team. The six-time Pro Bowler was also a member of the NFL’s 1970s All-Decade team and is a member of the Arizona Cardinals Ring of Honor. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996.
Dierdorf’s post-playing days are headlined by his time in the broadcast booth. He worked for ABC from 1987-99 and was the color analyst for Monday Night Football for 12 years. Dierdorf moved to CBS from there, where he was with the company from 1993-2013. In 2014, he became Michigan football’s color commentator on the radio with Jim Brandstatter on play-by-play. The two called it quits after the 2021 season and give way to Doug Karsch and Jon Jansen next season.
Michigan football countdown to kickoff
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