I'm curious, is there a more heat and shade tolerant variety that can handle Michigan winters? I hear a lot about bermuda and zoisia grasses but not sure they can tolerate our zone. I still struggle to find a shade grass that can deal with dense shade and periodic heat/dryness.

Good advice about rolling it in. When I hand seed and drive over it the grass shoots up in the tire tracks and not so well elsewhere so I always tamp it down in small areas or roll it in in larger seeded plots with a pull behind water filled lawn roller.