The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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34 THE WOLVERINE ❱ SEPTEMBER 2025 ❱ MICHIGAN FOOTBALL all offseason, and that praise continued from Moore. "He comes to work every day, lunch pail, ready to go," Moore said. "Does ev- erything the right way and attacks it the right way. He's a pleasure to be around." Underwood, a Detroit native and Bel- leville (Mich.) High product who ac- counted for 179 total touchdowns dur- ing his four-year prep career, has made one public appearance in the winged helmet, leading the Blue team to a 17-0 victory in the April 19 spring game. Un- derwood completed 12 of 26 pass at- tempts for 187 yards with a touchdown. Underwood and Davis were Michi- gan's only two healthy quarterbacks during spring practices. Davis has played one snap in college, handing the ball off on a touchdown play in the 50-6 victory over North- western on Nov. 23, 2024. "Jadyn — his command, his knowledge of the offense, what he does, how he does it," Moore said of Davis. "He's a football junkie, a guy who loves the game." With Keene's status still unclear, and with a lack of numbers at the position, the Wolverines added graduate Jake Garcia to the competition this summer. The 6-foot-2, 210-pounder has started seven games in college football and is on his fourth school, having also played for Miami (Fla.), Missouri and East Carolina. "Jake Garcia, he's seen it, he's done it and he's got great arm talent, great ability," the Michigan coach stated. "He's been re- ally good for us, really good for the room." Garcia began the 2024 campaign as East Carolina's starter, and he con- nected on 60.2 percent of his passes for 1,426 yards with 8 touchdowns and 12 interceptions before being benched fol- lowing the sixth game. — Clayton Sayfie ESPOSITO HYPES 'THIRD STARTER' IN EDGE GROUP U-M's defensive line will be the en- gine on that side of the ball, which is a tradition in Ann Arbor. Senior Der- rick Moore and graduate TJ Guy are this year's tone setters and potential stars on the edge, and their position coach has seen strides from both this offseason. Lou Esposito spoke to the media dur- ing fall camp, throwing more praise their way and explaining how the group has come together through the offsea- son and first week of fall camp. "Those guys have had a great sum- mer," U-M's second-year defensive line coach told the media. "I think the big- gest thing is you talk about the people you surround yourself with. Those guys work in the way they've worked with Coaches [Pernell] McPhee, [Ty] Mar- tindale, [David] Denham. They've done a great job with those guys in the sum- mer. I think Coach Phee does an unbe- lievable job with those guys and teach- ing them how to watch film and be a pro from having so much experience doing it. So, it's been really, really good. "They've had a good camp so far. We're excited about them. A lot of good, a lot of good guys in that room. And I think com- petition breeds success. Iron sharpens iron. And I think what you're starting to see is you're starting to see competitive active practices, guys getting after each other, helping each other up, getting after each other again, helping each other up, and there's a little bit of back and forth, which has been really good." Moore and Guy sit atop the depth chart, but Michigan feels it has a "third starter" in junior Cameron Brandt, whom defensive coordinator Wink Martindale singled out as a top per- former over the weekend. "Cam is a guy who could line up and play inside if we needed him," Esposito said. "He is physically tough. He's a very underrated athlete. He has an unbeliev- able knack for getting out of his hips and playing with a square, strong stance, great footwork, and he's a student of the game. He just wants to get better consistently. He's always in there watching film. He's always asking questions. I think this will be a big year for him to really take off. It'll be fun. He's like a third starter for us." — Anthony Broome HOLLENBECK IS USING HIS PUNTS TO GIVE BACK Senior Hudson Hollenbeck will han- dle the punts for the football program this year. Now, he plans to use that as a platform. Hollenbeck announced ahead of the 2025 season that he has partnered with U- M's Rogel Cancer Center to donate $50 ev- ery time he hits a punt of 50-plus yards or pins one inside the opposing 20-yard line. Hollenbeck's mother, Gina Hollen- beck, passed away from lung cancer in 2022. That moment is a driving force in his desire to raise money and awareness for cancer. "That's not ever anything easy to deal with," Hollenbeck said during a media availability. "My mom was a really, re- ally hard fighter. She fought until the day she died. She was known for her optimism, just leaving a sparkle be- hind wherever she went. I think that my mom is looking down, helping me out. Moving forward, we want to detach that stigma to lung cancer that says, 'If you have lung cancer, it's because you smoked.' That's not the case. There's a lot of stories out there like my mom's, where it was mutated in a different way." His special teams mate, senior kicker Dominic Zvada, says the selfless act is emblematic of the type of person Hol- lenbeck is. "I think that speaks a lot about his Hollenbeck, who lost his mother to cancer in 2022, announced that he has partnered with U-M's Rogel Cancer Center to donate $50 every time he hits a punt of 50-plus yards or pins one inside the opposing 20-yard line this season. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL