The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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APRIL 2025 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 27 ❱ MICHIGAN FOOTBALL tial return to Ann Arbor. He went 6-16 in two seasons on the job and was let go with two games remaining. "It was great having Biff back," Moore said during Ohio State week. "I'm very close with Biff, and he worked with me directly when he was here. We're excited, and we'll work those things out. … It's a possibility to have him back, and I'm looking forward to it." And now it's a reality. — Chris Balas SHERRONE MOORE IS EXCITED ABOUT HIS QB ROOM Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore was shorthanded at the quarterback po- sition last year, but he never expects to be in that position again. Though last year's starter, Davis Warren, is recover- ing from a torn ACL suffered in the Re- liaQuest Bowl win over Alabama, Moore told the "Crain & Company" podcast he can't wait to see what the others do this spring. "You've got [Fresno State gradu- ate transfer] Mikey [Keene], you've got [freshman] Bryce Underwood, and you've got [sophomore] Jadyn Davis … and he is no slouch, either," Moore said. "He's a kid that came in highly touted and is super competitive. I love his spirit, love his ability. "Right now, we've got those three guys that are really in the thick of the battle, and then we'll bring in another high school player, Chase Herbstreit, in this summer. We'll probably have an- other guy here [too], so we'll have a total of five … but those [first] three are really in the thick of the battle." It's "unbelievable" to have so much talent at the position, Moore said, and the goal is to continue to have elite options at the position for "years and years," he added. The 2025 starter prob- ably won't be named until fall camp, but the process will be "pretty simple." "Who completes the most passes, who's the best leader, and who can help the team win the most," Moore said. "Those things can sometimes be an- swered in the spring. Those things can also be pushed out throughout the sum- mer, through workouts, and then most of the time it happens when you get to fall camp and have got to make a deci- sion. "We'll take the process very slowly and make sure we make the right deci- sion for the team." — Chris Balas MICHIGAN WON'T GIVE UP ITS ANNUAL SPRING GAME Several blueblood programs, includ- ing Nebraska, Texas and Ohio State, are doing away with spring football games this year. Michigan coach Sherrone Moore insisted his team wouldn't fol- low suit, though he couldn't guarantee exactly what the fans would see when they showed up to the Big House April 19. "For me, I love the spring game. It's always been a competitive [game] … we draft teams, we split the whole building," Moore said on the "Crain & Company" podcast. "It's something we've done for a while now, since [former Michigan head] Coach [Jim] Harbaugh was here. Our players love it, so I don't want to take that away from them. "At the same time, we've got to be cognizant of what we do with the world that we live in now and how we operate. So, we'll make a decision internally how we'll handle that. I still in my heart want to have a spring game, but we'll make a decision on how we'll handle it." Some have suggested spring games have become a showcase for other pro- grams to poach players in the spring por- tal. Moore insisted he wasn't worried about that. "For us, it's really not about [that], be- cause regardless of whether you have a spring game or not, people are going to poach your players if they really want to try to. So, it's not going to be they watch them on TV or watch them [live] … they're going to figure out a way to make sure they can get involved, whether it's an agent, a family member, a high school coach. We've had high school coaches of our players shop around players who hadn't even played yet. "That piece, you can't say that just because you have a spring game, they're going to come take your players. You can not have a spring game, and they're probably still going to try to anyway, or somebody in their circle is going to shop them around. I don't think that matters as much." The format for the spring game will be a team decision, he added. "I'll have my captains that are in- volved, see what they think, as well," Moore said. "Because I try to involve our players as best as we can in a lot of those decisions." — Chris Balas Second-year head coach Sherrone Moore said he loves the spring game and the competitiveness it brings for the program, though he couldn't guarantee exactly what format the fans would see when they showed up to the Big House April 19. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL