Ernest Hausmann continues to find his voice in Michigan's winning culture

The Michigan Wolverines are 5-0 and considered one of the teams to beat this season in the national title picture. And for sophomore linebacker Ernest Hausman, that level of play and program built is a far cry from what he experienced last year.

The former Nebraska linebacker returned to his former school on Saturday and was part of a team that dominated in all phases of the game, earning a 45-7 blowout win. His experience in Lincoln was important in setting him up for future success, but it was far from an emotional return.

It was a business trip.

“It felt great. It’s one of those things when I chose Michigan, I knew this game would come,” Hausmann said on Tuesday night. “I saw the schedule come out, and I knew it was one of the games that we look forward to all year. So it’s one of those things that you dream of as a player. What that place did for me, it meant a lot. And I had a lot of great memories there. And just development as a player and as a person itself. And a lot of great people that have done a lot to support me in my football career. And it’s one of those things that you look to go back there in a winged helmet, it’s to do your business.”

Hausmann had a pair of tackles in the win and even drew a smattering of boos from the home crowd. But he was too focused on helping Michigan grab a victory to soak it all in.

“During the game, you’re really locked in. You’re gonna have tunnel vision so you really don’t hear the outside noise,” Hausmann said. “You’re just focused on the next play type of thing. I knew that was gonna come throughout the week of preparation, throughout the year, I knew that’s gonna come eventually. But all I can do is smile as a player.

“It’s one of the things that, for me, I think about that you’re almost like, you almost make it, and now you have people on their side, you know, trying to boo you or spit back, you feel like, OK, you’ve done something to earn some respect in that way. But those fans over there, they’ve done a great job supporting me when I was at Nebraska. It’s a bittersweet love, it’s one of those things that comes with a price, playing football.”

Nebraska is a traditional college football power that has lost its way, and is still working to get back to relevancy. Michigan is nearly a decade into the Jim Harbaugh era and has been playing winning football throughout, headlined by back-to-back Big Ten crowns the last few seasons. Hausmann knew that he was going to have to raise his level of play to earn a role in Ann Arbor.

“I love the competition,” Hausmann said. “That’s the number one thing. When I chose to come to Michigan, I knew when you compete with the best, you have two decisions that make. You either strive to be one of the best or you just kind of level out.

“It’s one of those things I just love. I love to compete with those guys each and every day. They fight for a job each other day. There’s no just you have a job. It’s never secure. So you just fight for each every day. And I love that mentality. You wake up and it’s just… you don’t have a job and you’re fighting for that each and every day. So that’s one of those things that I just loved about coming to Michigan.”

Hausmann entered the program with his head down and focused on going to work. Over time, that has led to some natural confidence in his role with Michigan. As a result, he has started to come out of his shell a bit.

“When I came here to Michigan, I knew I had to take a step back a little bit,” Hausmann said. “When you play a lot of profound snaps out of one program and you come into another and obviously kind of realize what the whole situation is in front of you.

“As time goes on, you gain more confidence, obviously more trust, because that’s one of the things, trust is earned. It’s never going to be given by anyone, coaching staff or teammates included. So it’s just obviously as time goes on, you start building the trust. And then obviously that’s when you feel more comfortable using your voice.”

But winning breeds confidence, and Michigan projects to do a lot of it this year. Hausmann hopes that he can continue to be a positive presence in a program-wide effort to bring home a national title.

“Winning does a lot of things to a team, it’s one of those things that it’s a confidence builder, knowing you can go out there and put together a great game, all four quarters and all three phases of the game,” he said. “That’s one of those things that you just build the confidence of the team.

“There are a lot of things for a team camaraderie standpoint to survive and build on. And obviously motivation for the week ahead. It’s one of those things that you can’t really describe as a feeling because I think it’s more than just a feeling, it’s winning. It takes so many people to do something like that to win.”