"The Big Dog" Mitch Vosburg

Over the last two week’s we’ve revealed who earned All U.P. honors for 11-player football, 8-player football and volleyball for the 2024 season.

I so happened to be one of seven people that was part of all three meetings. The process, as you could imagine, is draining. Honestly, it took a few days and a couple tacos to get my brain firing back at all cylinders.

Today, I’ll dive into how I handled the meetings. I’ll explain a few scenarios I dealt with and why I fought for specific athletes.

Before I dive into my thoughts, I want to make a few things clear: Everything about the meeting was fair. Did I disagree with some people? Yes, but this country was founded on a series of disagreements. The room did, however, ensure that every single athlete that earned recognition got their recognition.

With all of that said, welcome inside the land of craziness and uniqueness that is my mind.

Nolan Bink had my vote for Dream Team

Before I step onto the campus of Northern Michigan University I have a pretty decent idea on how some votes are going to go. This year, I knew that Iron Mountain senior Ian Martilla was most likely going to be Dream Team quarterback while Menominee junior Tanner Theuerkauf was taking home First Team honors.

And to be quite honest, I couldn’t really disagree with it. Quarterbacks won a district championship and combined to have a regular season of 17-1, and the only loss was by one point.

Then I stacked up their stats to Escanaba quarterback Nolan Bink. Of all seven quarterbacks on the ballot Bink had the most passing yards (1,367) and total touchdowns (27). All of this came while seeing little to no action in the second half against Sault Ste Marie, Grayling and Alpena.

The difference was the state of Menominee, Iron Mountain and Esky.

The Eskymos are on their way back to being where they want to be (watch them be a top contender for the Big North Conference title next year). IM and Menominee were in win now mode.

What would IM and Esky look like if they traded quarterbacks? Would Martilla for sure get five wins with Esky.

I asked the same question for Theuerkauf, who I believe is a more accurate passer while Bink is the better athlete in this scenario. How would Theuerkauf handle playing with Esky.

Obviously Martilla and Theuerkauf were the right choices, but I disagreed with the room brushing over Bink.

My hardest case was Javon Stevenson

Before the season even started I knew Javon Stevenson was going to be an absolute menace at wide receiver. Then I saw him go through defensive drills during the Eskymos’ midnight practice.

A kid who’s 6-foot 4 with a wing span closer to 6-foot 8 was going to play outside linebacker. That size can be a problem at the NFL level at the linebacker position. It was also a problem for opposing offenses, who often ran plays away from him, and when they did go his way it wasn’t successful.

Throughout the entire season I was struggling to decide which side of the ball I needed to make a case for. After seeing his stats I planned on making a case for defense.

But a plan only works until you get hit in the mouth. And while no voters actually hit me in the mouth, the linebacker ballot was 20 players deep. Of those 20 players, at least 14 had more tackles than Stevenson, and three eclipsed 100 tackles.

Ultimately, I had to fight for him to get special mention at receiver. This meant I needed to gain one more vote than mine during the first team selection process. By some grace of god I managed to swing four more votes for him.

Kevin Giuliani had my vote for 8-player Mr. Football

Throughout the 8-player voting process I was tasked with making the case for North Central senior Lane Gorzinski. And honestly, it was the easiest case I had all day.

I mean, 1,821 and 31 touchdowns on the ground, 731 yards and 11 scores passing and five receiving touchdowns are video game numbers. Then you throw in his Week 9 numbers against eventual State Champions Crystal Falls Forest Park: 403 total yards, six total touchdowns, 13 tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and an interception. And rumor has it he also drove the bus back to North Central.

OK, that last part wasn’t true, but Gorzinski was a no-doubt selection for Mr. Football. And when I run into that situation I tend to bring up a kid that I feel also earned this recognition. In last year’s 11-player meeting I nominated and voted for Negaunee’s Kai Lacar when it was fairly obvious that Kingsford’s Eli Rouse was winning the honor (and rightfully so).

So my Mr. Football vote went to someone who I felt earned this accolade, but was going to be overlooked because the stats weren’t there.

Forest Park senior Kevin Giuliani enters, stage right (or left, I wasn’t great at directions in my high school theater group).

Here’s a kid that was a four-year varsity starter for a team that won a state championship. An offensive lineman who caught nine passes and was the Mitchell Snyder Offensive Lineman of the Year for the second-straight year.

All of that was in my mind as I was the only person who voted for him at this stage. But after seeing him through basketball and track and field season last year I got a pulse on what kind of kid he was.

He’s a kid that reminds me of my two friends in Dony Sowles and Zack Boyer.

Sowles was a three-year varsity starter a year ahead of me at Climax-Scotts. He was an alpha that had a way to connect and bring the best out of people, myself included. Boyer was someone that people gravitated toward. You rarely saw him in a bad mood, and those who knew him (essentially everyone) never said a bad thing about him.

Unfortunately, their funerals were two months apart in the summer of 2021. I miss them both dearly.

And for all of those reasons, Giuliani got my vote because of what he did on the field and the human being he is off of it. There’s a reason why the Trojans are state champs, and Giuliani was what made the engine go.

Picking Esky volleyball nominations was as challenging as it was fun

First year head coach Beverly Ziebell gave all 15 girls an opportunity to prove themselves for a majority of the season. While it was the right decision for the program, it does make my job challenging. But boy do I love a good challenge.

I decided to go with players who fit these four criteria: best offensive player, best defensive player, most consistent player and most improved player.

The best offensive player was Grayson LaMarche. And if I’m being honest, she was the best middle blocker I saw all season. Esky’s strength was in the middle. LaMarche was a big part of that.

While it did suck that I had to miss her signing with University of Michigan softball on this day it wasn’t because I was going sailing. It was because I was one of seven voters for volleyball and made the case for her to be on the Dream Team.

On the defensive end, well, it’s incredibly difficult not to acknowledge the season junior Harlee Coolman had at the libero spot. I mentioned last year how I felt she would’ve been an honorable or special mention in 2023. Her 533 digs on the season were mind boggling. She eclipsed 1,000 career digs against Marquette and earned 46 digs in a four-set win over Negaunee in districts. That last nuggets of stats essentially cemented her into the first team.

Then there’s the consistent player. Wait, that’s not a big enough lead-in. Esky’s Queen of Consistency this season was senior setter Clara Braun.

With 403 assists and 216 digs, she had a decent case for First Team honors. Then you look at her serving stats, and you have no choice but to step back and laugh at the fact you thought her case was only decent.

She had 32 aces. She was also a mind-boggling 96% from the service line, registering 21 errors in 494 attempts. It’s the reason why the Eskymos were at their best offensively when Braun was at the service line.

Finally, we have Susie Moberg, who walked away earning special mention. Moberg took massive steps forward this season. She amassed 163 kills and 41 blocks kills throughout the season. When LaMarche was off the floor it was Moberg (and Bet Montal as well) that provided problems in the middle of the floor. I’m geeked to see what she does in 2025.

I fought for these two young ladies

Every year I have at least one athlete I fight tooth and nail for. Last year it was Escanaba’s Noah Gagne in football and Lauren Zawada Bark River-Harris in basketball.

For volleyball, I wasn’t leaving that meeting unless two young ladies got first team honors.

As you can tell, they both got first team honors. But who were they?

The first one was Big Bay de Noc junior Caragan Thill.

I remember watching her in her first match of the year at Mid Peninsula. I was left in awe. I couldn’t think of a Division 4 team in the state of Michigan that wouldn’t benefit from having her on their team.

At 5-foot 8 she’s a menace in the middle (27 blocks), effective on the outside (220 total kills), can play a quality back row (119 digs) and efficient at the service line (64 aces, 84.4% from service line). Did I mention she was named MVP in not one, but two conferences in the Northern Lights League and the Central U.P. Conference? Because she earned MVP honors in both conferences. She didn’t deserve her First Team All U.P. selection. She earned it.

The second young lady I was fighting tooth and nail was someone I watched a total of two times in 2024. But both times I was left impressed. She was the focus of every team’s defensive gameplan. The one kid you had to slow down if you wanted a win.

Menominee senior Ava Johnson.

While Maroons finished 5-12-2 this season, Johnson totaled 327 digs, 219 kills, 33 total blocks (28 solo), 29 aces and finished 85.7% from the service line. She’s the kid that devoted everything to the sports of volleyball. A true gym rat. A young lady I hope ends up at Bay College so I can continue seeing her play in my backyard.

But there was also a tell with Johnson that made her go from meh to she earned this accolade.

I have a test when it comes to outside hitters. When they strike the ball, it sounds like a shotgun went off in the gym, and the ball was properly located, because what good is a shotgun if you can’t aim it?

Manistique Leah Goudreau is a perfect example of this test, hence she was on the dream team.

Johnson passed this test, especially in the Maroons’ district semifinal loss to Manistique.

It’s what made her spot on the first team a true no-brainer for me.

“The Big Dog” Mitch Vosburg is a multi-time award-winning sports writer and photographer who currently serves as sports editor at The Daily Press in Escanaba. He can be reached at 906-786-2021 (ext. 143) or at mvosburg@dailypress.net. You can follow him on X (realmitchvburg) and in Instagram (themantheycallmitch).