Julius Welschof had been on a ski race team for 12 years in Germany before deciding it was time to look for another sport.
He wound up in Jacksonville, Florida, where his family had a friend who coaches tennis. During some down time during his six-week stay, Welschof was shown a football and began to throw it around.
Four years later, Welschof, the 6-foot-6 1/2, 255-pounder — “with good speed,” as he describes himself — is a defensive end who signed this week to play football at Michigan. He is the first European player in the program’s history.