While playing at Michigan, Schulz is credited with having invented the spiral snap and with developing the practice of standing behind the defensive line.

Schulz was 21 years old when he enrolled at Michigan and had worked in an Indiana steel mill and reportedly played for either amateur or professional teams.

[3][4] In 1904, Schulz enrolled at the University of Michigan at age 21, standing 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) and weighing 215 pounds (98 kg; 15 st 5 lb).

The suspicions were exacerbated by reports that Schulz was a factory worker in an Indiana steel mill who had played for a half-dozen professional teams before enrolling at Michigan.

[5] When asked years later how he got to Michigan, Schulz recalled that, in the summer of 1904, he was working in the mill and had received several offers to play football.

When he arrived in Ann Arbor, Yost was furious and accused Schulz of flirting with Amos Alonzo Stagg, the legendary coach of the University of Chicago.

[2] The team featured the school's all-time scoring leader, Willie Heston, finished with a record of 10–0, and outscored opponents 567–22.

[2] Schulz's play at center was reported to have been "gilt-edged", and his accuracy in snapping the ball was praised by the team's quarterback, Fred Norcross.

The article noted: "Schulz went to Ann Arbor practically green at the game, but by hard and consistent work he has succeeded in winning a place on the greatest team in America, and is the only freshman out of fifty who was able to do so".

In 1905, Schulz began dropping back from the line, enabling him to use his speed to move laterally and giving him greater coverage across the field of play.

Schulz's official biography at the College Football Hall of Fame states: "He missed the 1906 season; he had dropped out of school because of a lack of funds.

One newspaper reported that Ann Arbor had "5,000 students continually gossiping about him", as Schulz's return was seen as "a gigantic stride in the direction of (Michigan's) winning back her former football prestige".

One writer noted: "There is one man in the Michigan eleven that Pennsylvania fears and will endeavor to stop if possible when the two great teams meet in Ann Arbor November 16, 1907.

The acknowledged prowess of Schulz makes him an especial object of unfair attack in scrimmages by opponents who hope, by disabling him, to weaken the Michigan team".

At the same time, David Starr Jordan, the President of Stanford University, made a speech referring to modern college football as "unethical", "unchristian", "unsportsmanlike" and "a monstrosity".

One account noted: "The Michigan case will be discussed at the meeting and it is very likely that a vote requesting the Ann Arbor institution to withdraw from the body will be passed.

Michigan's open violation of the conference rules during the last year has aroused a strong hostile spirit, and it is known that a majority of the schools favor dropping the Wolverines from the association".

., and while Michigan students are not averse to going back into active alliance with the western schools, any attempt to debar Schulz from his fairly won honor is sure to cause an uproar, which may upset all of the feeling of compromise which is now evident".

While it was possible for Schulz to remove the conditions by the end of October by "burning the midnight oil", it was reported that "this is an optimistic view of the situation shared by few".

In one of the few contemporaneous accounts, the Toledo Blade wrote that the Penn players, knowing that Schulz was "the power in the Michigan game", focused their energy on wearing him down.

[43] From the 1920s through the 1950s, the story was told, re-told and likely embellished in columns by Grantland Rice, Art Carlson, Frank Blair and Dave Lewis—more than one of them writing that they had seen the game in person.

In Frank Blair's 1951 telling, Schulz played with the "strength of Samson", and Penn "put five men – center, both guards and both tackles—on the Wolverine giant".

[16] In a 1954 article, sports writer Dave Lewis wrote that Penn assigned five players to the task of mowing down Schulz.

[17] A few months before his death, Schulz told Detroit News sports writer H. G. Salsinger that he had only one regret: "I wish I could have lasted 10 minutes longer.

[16][17] In January 1910, Walter Camp published his All-Time All-American list in Century magazine, selecting the best player at each position over the 20 years he had been watching college football.

[47] In 1951, the College Football Foundation commissioned the Associated Press to conduct a poll of more than 100 sports editors to choose an All-Time All-American team.

[8][48] In announcing the selection, the Associated Press said: "Schulz was a giant of a man—six feet five and 285 pounds—with tremendous ham-like hands that worked to his advantage in that era of mass formations when ground was gained on brute strength alone".

In December 1910, Schulz did play on an all-star team against the All-Harvard club in a game in Memphis, Tennessee, for the benefit of the United Charities association.

When Kansas State beat Southwestern 53–0, the Fort Wayne paper ran a story: "Germany's Team Wins.

[78] Shortly after his appointment, Schulz announced that he was looking for "eleven raving maniacs" to fill out his team, a phrase that was picked up in wire service reports around the country.