As we continue previewing Northwestern’s 2025 football opponents, we reach the 10th game on the ‘Cats schedule. This time it’s the team of maize and blue, the Michigan Wolverines. Wrigley Field will be prepped for football as the team across Lake Michigan will make the trip to Chicago in November.
The Basics
Returning Production: 65% overall (65% offense, 64% defense); 24th in FBS
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2024 Record: 8-5 (5-4 B1G)
Head Coach: Sherrone Moore (second season)
The Stats
2025 SP+ Overall: 10th
2025 SP+ Offense: 32nd
2025 SP+ Defense: 3rd
2025 SP+ Special Teams: 22nd
2024 Capsule
A classic National Championship hangover summed up 2024 for Michigan. Just a year after making it to the promised land, the Wolverines looked vastly different. Coach Jim Harbaugh had left for the NFL, quarterback JJ McCarthy was drafted 10th overall in the NFL Draft and many other big contributors were no longer on the team. A Week 2 loss to Texas didn’t seem that significant, as Texas was one of the best teams in the country, and a thrilling win over No. 11 USC helped propel the Wolverines to a 4-1 start. But that’s when the season started to fall apart, with Michigan losing four of its next five (three losses were against ranked opponents: No. 22 Illinois, No. 1 Oregon and No. 8 Indiana). Sitting at 5-5, the Wolverines would then destroy Northwestern at the Big House before shocking Ohio State in Columbus. The season overall wasn’t bad, but it did not meet the standards of the previous years. The inability to find reliable quarterback play was very showing, as were the expected growing pains with a new head coach. Michigan did finish the season on a high note with a bowl game victory over Alabama, but still ended the year longing for more.
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Offensive Overview
Before getting into the quarterback rabbit hole, let’s start with the rest of the offense. Michigan landed a very talented running back from Alabama in Justice Haynes, who was the star of the spring game for the Wolverines. It also has Jordan Marshall returning who looked solid in his garbage time appearances. The depth in the running back room also looks solid with some other lower level transfers, but Haynes is projected to be the workhorse with Marshall serving as a secondary option. As for the receiving corps, losing Colston Loveland at tight end is a huge hit to this offense. He saw a 30% target share last season, double the second-leading receiver. While his raw numbers were not eye-popping, he was far and away the most impactful playmaker on the offense that allowed for Michigan’s passing offense to function. Marlin Klein was behind Loveland last season and will return to be a contributor at the position. Hogan Hansen is the other tight end who will likely see many reps in 2025 and could be the next great tight end at Michigan. He has the athleticism to do so and saw a lot of playing time as a true freshman in 2024.
At wide receiver, Semaj Morgan returns after an underwhelming season. Part of that may have been attributed to subpar quarterback play, especially considering Morgan was a solid contributor during the National Championship season. Among the other notable returning wideouts are Fredrick Moore, Peyton O’Leary and Kendrick Bell. Moore has the seemingly highest ceiling, but last year any passes thrown to players not named Colston Loveland were few and far between, while also not being efficient. Donaven McCulley comes in from Indiana after redshirting in 2024, despite solid production in 2023. Anthony Simpson from UMass also joins the Wolverines receiver room after putting up good numbers in 2023, but an undisclosed injury and leave of absence from the team in 2024 prompted his transfer to Ann Arbor.
Michigan’s offensive line in 2023 was fantastic. However, he entire starting group ended up going on to the NFL after winning it all that season. In 2024, it was a different story, filled with issues including line mismanagement and failures in recruiting in the 2022 and 2023 recruiting cycles.The Wolverine’s offensive line projects to be a hodgepodge this season, but for the future it looks brighter after they started to get back on track with recruiting at the positions.
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Now on to quarterback. In the spring, the only two available guys were 2024 4-star Jadyn Davis and consensus 5-star (ranked as the best overall recruit in the 2025 class by 247Sports) Bryce Underwood. Both looked inexperienced as expected, but Underwood is the guy projected to start day one. That is if Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene is still not healthy. Keene first played as a true freshman in 2021 for UCF, filling in for Dillon Gabriel after he went down with an injury in Week 3. The next year, UCF brought in a transfer quarterback but defaulted back to Keene for the last four games before he would transfer to Fresno State and have two above-average seasons. He was held out of spring practices due to a shoulder injury and is still not a full-go in fall camp yet. At the point in the season where Michigan plays Northwestern, expect it to be either Underwood or Keene at the helm.
Defensive Overview
2024 was the first year that Wink Martindale ran the defense after being hired as the defensive coordinator following coach Moore being promoted to his now-head coaching job. Martindale was alright as the DC in his first season in Ann Arbor, but a lot of his success can be attributed to having two first-round defensive tackles in Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant. Despite both now being in the NFL, the Wolverines got some meaningful run from several backups at the same position last season. Rayshaun Benny is the big returning name, showing his potential last year as a productive rotational piece. Despite having depth in the room, Michigan did surprisingly pull from the transfer portal, snagging Damon Payne from Alabama and Tré Williams from Clemson. Both guys have rarely seen the field throughout their careers but are looking to change that with the Wolverines.
At edge, they keep most of their production from the past two seasons. Josaiah Stewart was the only real loss in the defensive end room this offseason after he was drafted in the third round to the Los Angeles Rams. Derrick Moore, TJ Guy and Cameron Brandt are in line to get the majority of reps off the edge for Michigan this season. But the most exciting addition to this room has to be Jaishawn Barham, who is switching over from linebacker to try and generate some Micah Parsons-type magic. Barham will likely still see reps at linebacker, as he won’t switch entirely over to being an edge rusher, but instead will be a hybrid mix. Ernest Hausmann returns alongside him and is likely going to be the green dot guy in 2025 rather than Barham, despite Barham being a more polished linebacker. Aside from them, the rest of the room consists of a few returners who are looking to carve out bigger roles.
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Moving away from the front seven and into the secondary, Michigan lost cornerback Will Johnson to the NFL. Johnson was a second round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, although an injury-filled 2024 prevented him from going even higher. On the other side of Johnson last season was Jyaire Hill, who returns in 2025 and has the backing of his staff to grow into his position. Zeke Berry projects to play opposite Hill this year after he filled in at nickel last fall. The nickel spot now is more up in the air for the Wolverines, but in the spring game it was mainly sophomore Jo’Ziah Edmond and 2025 recruit Shamari Earls. They also brought in a pair of brothers from Arkansas to help in the secondary in TJ and Tevis Metcalf. At safety, Rod Moore is still working his way back from an ACL tear in the spring of 2024. Moore was a huge part of the 2023 National Championship team and hopes to get back on the field soon. Michigan did bring in a transfer after Moore went down in Jaden Mangham, but he likewise went down with an injury last season and is aiming for a return for the 2025 campaign. Before both guys get back, though, it projects to be Brandyn Hillman and TJ Metcalf as the starting free and strong safeties, respectively. Metcalf was the starter at Arkansas last season while Hillman was the more frequently used backup last season for Michigan.
