For many college football teams, an 8-5 season is seen as a success. For the Michigan Wolverines, that’s far below the standard. Especially coming off a national championship season. But the Wolverines ended their “disappointing season” with a historic upset over #2 Ohio State and a win over #11 Alabama in the ReliaQuest Bowl.
That’s a pretty good turnaround for a team that looked dead in the water just two months ago. And after ending the season on such a high note, the Wolverines look primed to compete again in 2025, and here’s why.
New QB in Town
To say Michigan struggled to pass the ball in 2024 would be an understatement. Some games looked like Michigan had never heard of the forward pass.
Fortunately for Wolverine fans, the team dipped into the NIL funds and landed 2025’s top prospect Bryce Underwood. After initially being committed to LSU, Underwood signed with Michigan after a four-year $12 million NIL offer.
Underwood should dramatically change Michigan’s offense. He is an accurate passer with a cannon for an arm, and is a dynamic runner inside and outside of the pocket.
Sherrone Moore did mention it would be an open competition between Underwood and transfer Mikey Keene, but it would come at the shock of many in Underwood wasn’t under center against New Mexico week one.
Play Caller Change
Offensive Coordinator Kirk Campbell was fired after leading Michigan’s 128th ranked offense. But the Wolverines wasted no time finding a new player caller in North Carolina’s Chip Lindsey.
Lindsey found great success with the Tar Heels, leading an offense that averaged 30.6 points per game. On top of being the play caller Lindsey will also serve as the quarterbacks coach. He has a history of developing quarterbacks, most recently Drake Maye. Like Underwood, Maye was a five-star prospect coming out of high school. Lindsey was an integral part of Maye’s development, he built an excellent system around his star quarterback that ended up being seventh in the nation. There’s no doubt he’ll try to replicate that with Underwood.
Don’t expect this Michigan team to go away from their ground and pound mentality though. Even with Maye as his quarterback, Lindsey’s offense still put up over 180 yards per game on the ground the last two seasons.
Would you should expect to see is some creativity within Michigan’s rushing attack, as Underwood rushed or 489 yards and three touchdowns his senior season.
The Defense
It took some time, but defensive coordinator Wink Martindale really got the Michigan defense rolling by the end of the season. The Wolverines held some top tier offenses to close out the year: #8 Indiana scored 20, #2 Ohio State scored 10, and #11 Alabama scored 13.
In all three of those games Michigan was without All-American cornerback Will Johnson, and were without four star defenders in the ReliaQueset Bowl.
Despite the rocky start, the Wolverines still finished with the 11th ranked defense in college football. Wink has Michigan’s young defenders playing at a high level. That combined with transfer portal portal commits like Damon Payne and Troy Bowles, the Wolverines should be one of the nation’s best defenses again.
Young Stars
Even though Michigan had an underwhelming season it wasn’t for lack of star power. Michigan had many stars leftover from their national championship team who will surely be missed. Michigan currently has nine players projected to be drafted in April. Among those nine, four are projected first round picks in Will Johnson, Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, and Colston Loveland.
But as the old adage goes, great college football teams don’t rebuild, they reload. And Michigan is no exception to that rule. On top of Bryce Underwood, the Wolverines have some young stars ready to breakout.
Jordan Marshall, the true freshman running back, had his coming out party in Michigan’s bowl win racking up 100 yards on the ground and winning the game’s MVP.
〽️ 23 CAR
〽️ 100 YDSRelive freshman RB Jordan Marshall's breakout @ReliaQuestBowl 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘢𝘮𝘦 performance 🤩#B1GFootball x @UMichFootball pic.twitter.com/YL8BfM2q4m
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) December 31, 2024
Michigan will have a one-two punch again in the backfield again as the landed the transfer portal’s top running back Justice Haynes from Alabama.
Haynes and Marshall will also have some great blockers too. Marshall wasn’t the only true freshman who shined in the bowl, as tackle Andrew Sprauge made his debut as right tackle. Sprauge stands at 6’8″ and weighs 305 pounds. In his debut Sprauge showed off his ability to move defenders to create running lanes. Sprague will be joined by tackle Andrew Babalola, Michigan’s second five-star recruit.
Despite Michigan’s defensive departures, they still have some stars in the front seven returning. Derrick Moore is the name to look out for. Moore has always been apart of Michigan’s pass-rush rotation, but next season he’ll be the leading man. And he showed out in his first game as “that guy” against Alabama. Moore recorded four tackles, two sacks, and a fumble recovery.
The Wolverines also bring back starting linebackers Ernest Hausman and Jaishawn Barham. Hausman will be Michigan defensive quarterback as Wink Martindale said he wanted Barham to move to edge rusher. They also return Rayshaun Benny, who’s been a key rotational piece for two season, will now finally get a chance to shine.
Michigan Wolverines 2025 Outlook
What freshman Jordan Marshall told Bryce Underwood after the ReliaQuest encapsulates Michigan’s mentality heading into next season,
“This isn’t happening again. We’re playing for the chip. We’re playing for the Natty.”
Obviously the Wolverines had many holes in their 2024 team, but with a more experienced staff and major early roster improvements, the Wolverines should be back in the thick of things in 2025.
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