The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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38 THE WOLVERINE ❱ OCTOBER 2025 ❱ MICHIGAN FOOTBALL 'Why don't you come up and join the staff?' I said, 'Well, I'm running this high school program in Baltimore. He said, 'Yeah, yeah. But why don't you come up and join the staff?'" Poggi had interest in working with Harbaugh, who was in his first season at Michigan, and agreed to meet with him during the Wolverines' bowl trip to Orlando. "I met him at the bowl game, that was the Citrus Bowl where we beat the brakes off of Florida," Poggi said. "We met at his hotel room, and we were demonstrating offensive line blocking techniques on a dresser that was in his hotel room, and then it was kinda love ever after that." The dresser, Poggi said, "took a beat- ing." Poggi was an analyst at Michigan dur- ing the 2016 season, but left, heading to Baltimore, after that. He left to become the head coach at Saint Frances in Baltimore from 2017-20, before coming back to Ann Arbor. "[Harbaugh] called me at the end of 2020 and said, 'I'd really like you to come back.' So, I came back, and that was kind of it," Poggi noted. Poggi was happy to return, helping as Harbaugh's right-hand man while the Wolverines won back-to-back Big Ten championships in 2021 and '22. He left again following the 2022 sea- son, though, to become the head coach of the Charlotte 49ers in the American Athletic Conference. The 49ers went 6-16 under Poggi, and he was fired late in the 2024 campaign. That next week, Moore dialed up Poggi and told him to visit for Michigan's senior day game against Northwestern, a 50-6 win. "Sherrone gave me a call and said, 'Come up for the Northwestern game.' I said, 'OK,'" Poggi explained. "I came up, and then we spoke and he asked me to come back and do this. So, I wanted to do it." — Clayton Sayfie ROD MOORE'S LONG-AWAITED RETURN SHOULD HELP PASS DEFENSE The Michigan defense has been good through four games, not great, but it continues to improve. The Wolverines ranked 59th in the NCAA in pass effi- ciency defense and 75th in passing yards allowed per game (213.8) through four weeks, and there have been several blown coverages or holes in zones that need to be patched up for the rest of Big Ten sea- son and beyond. Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola threw for 308 yards and 3 touchdowns against the Wolverines in a 30-27 loss, while Oklahoma's John Mateer put up 270 and a score in a 24-13 win. The expectation is that the defense will continue to improve while the young guys in the secondary mature, and with Rod Moore's return. The veteran safety played 21 plays in his return to action Sept. 20 at Nebraska following a spring 2024 knee injury, and the Wolverines were successful on many of them. Until then, it had been 623 days since he last took the field in game action. "He came up and gave me a huge hug before the game was over, by the way, which was a bit annoying because we still had to kneel it out," interim coach Biff Poggi said after the Nebraska game. "But he said, 'I'm so happy that my first game back is a Big Ten game … a Big Ten win.' I'm very happy for that young guy." Michigan assistant wide receivers OFFENSE Pos. No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. QB 19 Bryce Underwood 6-4 228 Fr./4 2 Jadyn Davis 6-1 207 So./4 RB 22 Justice Haynes 5-11 210 Jr./2 23 Jordan Marshall 5-11 216 So./4 WR 9 Channing Goodwin 6-1 197 So./4 3 Fredrick Moore 6-1 191 Jr./2 WR 1 Donaven McCulley 6-5 215 Gr./1 10 Kendrick Bell 6-2 205 Jr./3 or 4 Andrew Marsh 6-0 190 Fr./4 Slot 0 Semaj Morgan 5-10 174 Jr./2 5 Anthony Simpson 5-11 186 Gr./1 TE 17 Marlin Klein 6-6 250 Sr./2 80 Hogan Hansen 6-5 240 So./3 Full 44 Max Bredeson 6-2 250 Gr./1 42 Jalen Hoffman 6-3 245 Jr./3 LT 71 Evan Link 6-6 324 Jr./3 77 Blake Frazier 6-6 295 So./4 LG 58 Giovanni El-Hadi 6-5 315 Gr./1 55 Nathan Efobi 6-3 312 Jr./3 C 51 Greg Crippen 6-4 309 Gr./1 53 Jake Guarnera 6-4 311 So./4 RG 70 Brady Norton 6-4 312 Jr./3 53 Jake Guarnera 6-4 311 So./4 RT 54 Andrew Sprague 6-8 315 So./4 77 Blake Frazier 6-6 295 So./4 DEFENSE Pos. No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. Edge 4 TJ Guy 6-4 250 Gr./1 33 Dominic Nichols 6-5 255 So./4 Edge 8 Derrick Moore 6-3 260 Sr./1 9 Cameron Brandt 6-4 270 Jr./2 Nose 95 Trey Pierce 6-2 310 Jr./2 0 Tré Williams 6-2 320 Gr./1 DT 26 Rayshaun Benny 6-4 305 Gr./1 44 Damon Payne Jr. 6-4 311 Gr./1 Mike 15 Ernest Hausmann 6-2 235 Sr./1 30 Jimmy Rolder 6-2 240 Sr./2 Will 1 Jaishawn Barham 6-3 243 Sr./1 23 Cole Sullivan 6-3 230 So./3 Nickel 7 TJ Metcalf 6-1 200 Jr./2 25 Mason Curtis 6-5 211 So./3 CB 10 Zeke Berry 5-11 196 Sr./2 27 Jayden Sanders 6-1 193 Fr./4 CB 20 Jyaire Hill 6-2 190 Jr./3 22 Elijah Dotson 6-1 192 Fr./4 or 2 Shamari Earls 6-2 205 Fr./4 SS 6 Brandyn Hillman 6-0 200 Jr./2 25 Mason Curtis 6-5 211 So./3 FS 3 Jaden Mangham 6-2 195 Sr./2 19 Rod Moore 6-0 198 Gr./1 SPECIAL TEAMS Pos. No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. K 96 Dominic Zvada 6-3 187 Sr./1 92 Beckham Sunderland 6-1 216 Sr./2 P 90 Hudson Hollenbeck 6-2 206 Sr./2 93 Hunter Robertson 6-4 205 Jr./2 LS 45 Greg Tarr 6-2 220 Gr./1 67 Trent Middleton 6-2 225 Jr./3 KR 4 Andrew Marsh 6-0 190 Fr./4 0 Semaj Morgan 5-10 174 Jr./2 PR 0 Semaj Morgan 5-10 174 Jr./2 39 Joe Taylor 5-10 190 Gr./1 The Wolverine's Projected Michigan Depth Chart 2025 U-M FOOTBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent Time (TV) Aug. 30 NEW MEXICO W, 34-17 Sept. 6 at Oklahoma L, 24-13 Sept. 13 CENTRAL MICHIGAN W, 63-3 Sept. 20 at Nebraska W, 30-27 Oct. 4 WISCONSIN Noon (FOX) Oct. 11 at USC TBA Oct. 18 WASHINGTON TBA Oct. 25 at Michigan State TBA Nov. 1 PURDUE TBA Nov. 15 vs. Northwestern* TBA Nov. 22 at Maryland TBA Nov. 29 OHIO STATE Noon (FOX) * at Wrigley Field in Chicago