It’s one of the greatest honors a Michigan football player can earn during their time in Ann Arbor, and now the greater public knows exactly which players are looked up to as the leaders of the 2025 Wolverines.
Max Bredeson (fullback), Rod Moore (safety), Gio El-Hadi (offensive line), Ernest Hausmann (linebacker), Derrick Moore (defensive line) and Marlin Klein (tight end) were named captains for the 2025 squad, just more than a week before the season opener Saturday, Aug. 30, at home against New Mexico (7:30 p.m., NBC).
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The players voted for three individuals on each side of the ball to represent the team every week, while Joe Taylor (wide receiver) and TJ Guy (edge) were nominated as alternate captains in Year 2 under coach Sherrone Moore.
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Ohio State Buckeyes cornerback Davison Igbinosun (1) locks up with Michigan Wolverines tight end Max Bredeson (44) during the NCAA football game at Ohio Stadium in Columbus on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. Michigan won 13-10.
Bredeson, Hausmann and Moore were U-M’s three player representatives at July’s Big Ten football media days in Las Vegas. Rod Moore was a captain last year despite missing the entire season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament while Bredeson worked his way up from a walk-on when he arrived to a captain in 2024 as well.
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U-M hadn’t had a two-time captain since Mike Sainristil (2022-23).
Meet Michigan football captain Max Bredeson
Bredeson, with 44 career appearances for U-M, has been honored for his toughness and his love of the U-M program.
Perhaps his biggest play in 2024 came on fourth-and-goal against USC on Sept. 21, 2024; he blew up a down lineman on the 1-yard line to pave the way for a winning Kalel Mullings touchdown in the final minute.
“Full-back, utility (guy), heartbeat of our football team,” coach Sherrone Moore said of Bredeson over the summer. “Tone-setter for our football team, continues to do that on and off the field for us.”
Michigan’s Rod Moore makes the game-sealing interception with 25 seconds remaining to clinch the Wolverines’ 30-24 win against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Michigan Stadium, Nov. 25, 2023.
Meet Michigan football captain Rod Moore
Moore was an NFL draft prospect – thanks to six interceptions and 141 tackles in 37 games with the Wolverines – who returned to U-M for 2024 to try and play himself into a first-round pick. Instead, he tore his ACL in April 2024.
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Moore isn’t fully healthy yet, though he told the Free Press in July that he was about “85%” and implied that he expected to play sometime during the first three weeks of the 2025 season.
“Seeing his journey where he was and where he is now, running again, just makes me happy, because he’s like a mentor to me,” Zeke Berry said recently. “He told me just to be confident and believe in yourself, because if everybody else believes in you, you should, too.”
Michigan linebacker Ernest Hausmann (15) tackles Michigan State running back Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams (15) during the first half at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024.
Meet Michigan football captain Ernest Hausmann
Not only is Hausmann the green-dot linebacker, calling plays on the field for defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, after making All-Big Ten honorable mention last season, but he’s a leader off the field.
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This past offseason, Hausmann returned to his homeland of Uganda for the first time in 16 years as he became a partner with One Million Wells, a U.S. based nonprofit, to provide a community with clean drinking water.
“You develop relationships with players and as a defensive coordinator, it’s like an offensive coordinator does with his quarterback,” Martindale said about his bond with Ernest Hausmann. “I think that he understands what I’m calling while I’m calling it, because we have those conversations.
“But if you ever just want to do a story on somebody, do it on Ern, he’s a fascinating, fascinating young man that’s seen a lot and done a lot…outside of football.”
Meet Michigan football captain Gio El-Hadi
El-Hadi, an All-Big Ten honorable mention last season with 42 career appearances for U-M, spent his summer working on the bond between his fellow offensive linemen, including organizing an outing at the Belleville Yacht Club. El-Hadi said it costs “thousands” to feed dozens of college athletes, but he made it a point to help his team bond.
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“At 95-97% of programs across the country, he is a three-year starter and is probably in the NFL already,” offensive line coach Grant Newsome said this month. “I think it’s a credit to him and his mentality, being patient but not being complacent. Going out and competing and winning the starting job.”
Meet Michigan football captain Derrick Moore
Minnesota Golden Gophers running back Darius Taylor rushes chased by Michigan Wolverines defensive end Derrick Moore in the first half at Michigan Stadium, Sept. 28, 2024 in Ann Arbor.
Recently listed by ESPN as one of the top 100 players in college football, Moore has played in 41 games with 12 starts and is a two-time All Big Ten honorable mention. Each of those starts came last season when he recorded 23 tackles with six for loss, four sacks, four quarterback hurries, two pass breakups, and one fumble.
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“I don’t think he gets enough credit for what he does and the work that he puts in and the value to the team,” defensive coordinator Wink Martindale said. “He does a lot of the hard stuff. He’s healthy and he looks good, and we’ll keep him that way.”
Meet Michigan football captain Marlin Klein
Michigan tight end Marlin Klein (17) tries to jump over USC cornerback John Humphrey (19) during the second half at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024.
Klein recently detailed how coach Steve Casula brought him to “the jungle” a few years back with some tough love and coaching. Casula borrowed coach Sherrone Moore’s phrase: “we coach hard, but we love harder” to describe his motivational tactics to get the most out of the team’s players.
It’s worked as Klein has emerged as a German-born pass catcher who had “never blocked a soul” to the man who Casula says is the best on-ball blocking tight end in the nation. The past three years he spent in the shadows of Colston Loveland, a top-10 NFL selection this past spring for the Chicago Bears.
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Now, he’s seen as one of the leaders of one of the most historic programs in America.
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Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football names 2025 captains, led by familiar faces
