JJ Buchanan explains Michigan's game-winning Hail Mary catch

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — All during fall camp, the buzz was that Utah transfer wide receiver could catch anything thrown his way. All contested catches appeared to be his domain, but considering that was something that happened behind closed doors, it couldn’t be believed until it was seen.

And on Saturday night, he made it apparent that it wasn’t just bluster.

The sophomore from Utah had six catches for 126 yards, but the most important was the game-winner — a walk-off Hail Mary that he could with zeroes on the clock from 47 yards out. Often, when players make big, career-making plays, the thought is they have a lot running through their mind: evade this defender, get the ball in your hands, come down with it — et cetera. However, for Buchanan, no such thing happened.

He thought he just had to run down into the end zone and do what he had to do. That was that.

“I just got to run down, and hopefully the ball finds you and the ball found me,” Buchanan said. “I don’t know what I saw. I just saw the ball, and I attacked it.”

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That was that? There was nothing more?

Well, just that he had to be the one to finish the play with a touchdown. That’s that.

“Just I got like the ball’s got to end up in one of our hands,” Buchanan said. “That’s really the only thing that could have been going through my mind. So, when the ball was in the air, I had to find someone, and it found me”

While that’s rather simplistic, obviously Buchanan knew the stakes. This is something that he’s worked on — ensuring that when it comes between him and a defender — or several — he’s got to be the one to finish on the positive end.

He was pleased to be the one to give the Wolverines the victory, but he’s also none too pleased that it came down to that.

“Man, like the team needed a play,” Buchanan said. “And, like I said before, there’s not too much practice that goes into that. You kind of just run to a spot and look for the ball. And so when I caught it, just relief. Like everyone’s been saying, like it shouldn’t have been that close. And I feel like our priorities are maybe somewhere else. But it was surreal. Like it was a surreal moment.”

He’ll need to continue his ascent if Michigan football is going to have a chance in Week 2, as Oklahoma is set to come to The Big House for a big Big Ten-SEC showdown.

This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: JJ Buchanan explains Michigan’s game-winning Hail Mary catch