Chase Winovich's Grandma Paying Him $5 and a Candy Bar for Playing Hard is My Favorite News of 2019

How else can I express my sentiments other than, “I’m sorry, Chase Winovich. And thank you retroactively for accepting my apology in advance.”

I’m big believer in the philosophy that when a man in is error, he should own the mistake. Only then can he move on. In the words of man-of-integrity Rick Pitino, “When you admit your mistake, it becomes part of your past. When you don’t, it becomes part of your future.” And since most of his mistakes have lasted less than 15 seconds, it takes a lot of character for him to say that.

Here’s what I wrote in an early April draft preview of Edge defenders:

What I say? One man’s passionate, high-octane, nitro-powered funny car of football energy is another man’s self-promoting douchebag. It’s a matter of what kind of player you want to hand your coaching staff. As pleasant a surprise as his speed was at the Combine, some scouts who interviewed him were turned off and thought he was a little too high on himself and his celebrity. Not many of the draft pundits are in agreement, either. I’ve seem him ranked as high as the ninth best prospect at his position and as low as 26th. Wherever he ends up he’ll be a folk hero for as long as his somewhat limited athleticism will keep him around. I’d just hold off on buying your kid his jersey for a year or two. If you can rent one somewhere, that’d be the smart play.

I could try to defend myself by saying that what I wrote was repeated in some similar (but way less entertainingly eloquent) fashion by every draft site, show, podcast and magazine in the country. The difference between me and them is I’ll not only admit I was wrong, I’m ecstatic to do so. It took less than two reps of watching Winovich in minicamps for him to convince me of that. He is every bit the race car in the metaphor I used and has shown zero tendencies toward self-promotion or douchebaggery. He’s gotten better seemingly by the practice. And has been the defensive standout of both preseason games.

Not to go all negative, but part of me does worry that Grandma Winovich’s $5 and chocolate bar gift will probably be ruled a salary cap violation and the league will take draft picks away. And I’ll be shocked in the NCAA doesn’t throw the book at Jim Harbaugh for allowing it and Michigan will lose scholarships and bowl games. But that’s a concern for another time.

For now, I’ll just vow to lobby Barstool for a “$5 and a Bar of Chocolate” t-shirt. And promise that if he plays hard and doesn’t get hurt in Week 1 against Pittsburgh, I’ll buy a Winonvich No. 50 jersey. No rentals.