Tod Rockwell Ferdinand Almon " Tod " Rockwell ( 1900 – March 22 , 1952 ) was an American football player and coach . He played quarterback for the University of Michigan in 1923 and 1924 . He helped the 1923 Michigan Wolverines football team win a National Championship . He was the head coach of the North Dakota Fighting Sioux football team from 1926 to 1927 and of the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football team from 1928 to 1929 . Playing career . Rockwell was a backup quarterback for Michigan at the start of the 1923 season but got the starting quarterback job after Irwin Uteritz broke his ankle in a game against the Quantico Marines . When Rockwell came into the game against the Marines , Michigan lined up for a field goal with Rockwell holding the ball . As the Marines came through to block the kick , Rockwell jumped to his feet and ran the ball 26 yards for a touchdown . The touchdown run was Rockwell ' s first play for Michigan ' s varsity team . The following week , Rockwell played back to receive a kick against Wisconsin . The ball bounced off his chest at the 32 - yard line , and Rockwell picked up the loose ball . Rockwell was hit and appeared to be knocked down , but the whistle was not blown and Rockwell continued running 68 yards through a relaxed Wisconsin secondary , which thought the ball was dead . Rockwell scored a touchdown that defeated the Badgers 6 to 3 . Years later , Harry Kipke wrote about the play and described Rockwell ' s " perfect acrobatic somersault " as he appeared to be down but maintained his balance and ran for the winning touchdown . The following week , Michigan faced Minnesota for the Western Conference championship , and Rockwell caught a pass from Michigan ' s fullback on his fingertips , juggled the ball , and ran 31 yards for a touchdown that led Michigan to a tie with Illinois for the conference championship . Rockwell ' s performance in the closing games of the 1923 season led sports writer Billy Evans to write : " Rockwell is one of the best open field runners in the Western Conference . He , more than any other man , saved the Big Ten title for Michigan . " After the 1923 season , another sport writer said of Rockwell : " Through the years Michigan has turned out a bunch of brilliant quarterbacks , ' Boss ' Weeks , ' Shorty ' McMillan , Tommy Hughitt and Uteritz but Rockwell gives promise of equaling the remarkable performance of all these former celebrities . " The 1923 team finished the season with a perfect 8 – 0 record and has been recognized as the National Champion of 1923 by Billingsley . Rockwell returned in 1924 as Michigan ' s starting quarterback . He started seven games at quarterback and one at halfback in leading the Wolverines to a 6 – 2 record in 1924 , including wins over Michigan State ( 7 – 0 ) , Wisconsin ( 21 – 0 ) , Minnesota ( 13 – 0 ) , Northwestern ( 27 – 0 ) and Ohio State ( 16 – 6 ) . However , the Wolverines could not stop the Illinois team led by Red Grange , giving up 39 points to Michigan ' s 14 . Rockwell was the second leading scorer in the Big Ten Conference in 1924 with 77 points on 10 touchdowns , 14 extra points and one field goal ; Rockwell ' s point total was one point behind conference scoring leader Red Grange . Coaching career . After graduating from Michigan , Rockwell coached for four years at of the North Dakota ( 1926 – 1927 ) , where he had a record of 8 – 8 , and Louisiana Tech ( 1928 – 1929 ) , where he had a record of 5 – 11 – 3 . Rockwell later became a sports writer for the " Detroit Free Press " .