FRISCO, Texas — Anyone who loves the University of Michigan is having a great past few days, and especially if they're also a fan of the Dallas Cowboys. That's because, regarding the latter, it's been a lot of good being put on film by two former Wolverines — Mazi Smith and Luke Schoonmaker — the defensive lineman and tight end helping to lift Dallas to a two-game win streak in a span of only four days.
The two will forever be glued together at the hip for a couple of reasons.
The first is the most obvious, in that they both donned the maize and blue before getting the call from the Cowboys. The second is that they got that call in back-to-back dialings last April, when they were selected by Dallas with the first- and second-round pick, respectively.
The third item they have in common is that, unfortunately, they've both struggled to contribute on a consistent basis as rookies and to begin their second season, but that leads to the fourth and final variable they have in common at the moment:
They're both turning the corner.
"[Mazi is] getting better and better and better at it, and he has the criteria," said owner and general manager Jerry Jones to 105.3 The Fan. "He is an outstanding athlete for his size. Rare, rare athlete. All of that is there. He's established what he can do with his strength. Arguably, he's as strong as anyone we've had around here since Larry Allen.
"That's strong. Just pure strength. It's Sampson-type strength. It sounds like an exaggeration, but it's not. He's becoming and learning how to be a pro."
Smith has strung together multiple games now wherein he's put his stamp on the outcome of a contest, both as a run-stopper and as a pass rusher, e.g., his shared sack with Micah Parsons against Drew Lock on Thanksgiving, and the fact the Giants averaged five more yards per run when he was not on the field.
And as for Schoonmaker, having started the last two outings due to Jake Ferguson suffering a concussion in Week 11, his ability as a blocker is being put on full display but so is his ability to be a pass catcher; and his uptick in production actually stretches back to the matchup against the Houston Texans.
Schoonmaker has delivered a combined 144 receiving yards to go along with a receiving touchdown on 14 catches, averaging a 73 percent catch rate over that span while averaging 11.4 yards per catch.
For contrast, he had only 56 total yards and zero touchdowns in the previous nine games.
"I just really wanna compliment Luke for all of the extra time he's put in," said head coach Mike McCarthy. "He's some mistakes early, but there's not a day when he's not in here early — seven o'clock with his position coaches — and there's not a day when he's not staying afterwards. It's refreshing when you see guys put in the extra time and get rewarded on gameday with their production.
"He's really prepared for this opportunity, and he's really stepped up these past two weeks."
Things are really beginning to heat up for the two former Wolverines, once teammates in Michigan and now teammates in Dallas.
And that bodes well for the future.
