The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1534644
20 THE WOLVERINE ❱ MAY 2025 elite running back this year. He can be working out with the skill players, but no, he decided to come and work out with the big skill [guys] and try to do the same weight that we do. He doesn't look at it and question it. He just goes right in and does it. He's an animal, for real. It's going to be crazy this year, with him and Jordan back there in the backfield. It's going to be exciting, for sure." No worries on the transition, either, Moore observed. "Justice comes from a great program, Alabama," Moore added. "I've heard a lot of good things about their program. It is a different program here. Every- thing we do, from the way we set up our shoes, set up our lockers. Some people don't adjust to it well, but a guy like him, he comes and he doesn't say much, just does what he's told, does all the little things right. If you're dialed in to all the little things, you'll have a great career here." WORKING TOGETHER FOR GREATNESS Haynes well remembers one of the greatest moments for several of the Mich- igan defenders. It also involved a Mich- igan-Alabama showdown, this one as a national semifinal in the Rose Bowl, for the right to advance to the College Foot- ball Playoff championship game. Just a freshman at Alabama, Haynes rushed four times in that game for 31 yards, wit- nessing Michigan prevail, 27-20, on a dra- matic fourth-down stop of 'Bama quar- terback Jalen Milroe. Michigan's defensive flex in the penul- timate contest of a 15-0, national cham- pionship season will never be forgotten by fans who witnessed it, or players who fought to the final stop. Haynes numbers among them, and the memory is seared onto his consciousness. "Tremendous amount of respect," Haynes acknowledged. "I'm on the of- fensive side of the ball, so the defense they had, that D-line was special. I remember getting ready for them — Mason [Gra- ham], Kenneth [Grant] and them boys, D- Moore, Josaiah [Stewart] — all of those boys that were playing out there. That was a special D-line group, as we saw in that game. That whole defense was spe- cial. They had a special team. You could tell that they play a physical brand of football, and they're all about the broth- erhood. You could tell they really go out there and play for each other." The physicality attracted him, delivered by Michigan on both sides of the ball. The Wolverines will certainly be able to throw the football, given the influx of quarter- backing talent and OC Lindsey's desire As a sophomore at Alabama last season, Haynes rushed for 448 yards and 7 touchdowns on 79 attempts (5.7 yards per carry), while adding 17 recep- tions for 99 more yards. PHOTO COURTESY ALABAMA ATHLETICS