The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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62 THE WOLVERINE ❱ OCTOBER 2025 T he Michigan offense was largely ineffective and looked similar to last year's group in the 24-13 loss at Oklahoma Sept. 6 — despite all the new pieces, including freshman Bryce Underwood at quarterback and junior Justice Haynes at tailback. But that was only Week 2, and the Wolverines' staff — new offensive co- ordinator Chip Lindsey included — was still learning his players. It's a process. A key pivot point ensued, on a week where head coach Sherrone Moore was still around the team before having to serve an eight-day suspension. The Wolverines made some philosophical changes to adapt to their personnel, de- ciding on that approach after leaning on the run game and playing conservatively against the Sooners. "We thought at Oklahoma we would take the air out of the ball, because they are an air-raid offense. And we're not taking the air out of the ball ever again. Not with this guy taking snaps," associ- ate head coach Biff Poggi said following a 63-3 win over Central Michigan Sept. 13. The Wolverines have let Underwood cook ever since, with both his arm and his legs freed from the proverbial shackles. The 6-foot-4, 228-pounder accounted for 349 total yards and 3 touchdowns versus the Chippewas, be- fore rushing for a 37-yard score included among his 61 yards rushing and going 12-of-22 for 105 yards passing in a 30-27 triumph at Nebraska Sept. 27. There was nothing wrong with easing Underwood into the season, so long as Michigan learned its lessons and is bet- ter for it — and that certainly appears to be the case. The Wolverines are finding their fa- vorite personnel groupings (while also navigating injuries, particularly at tight end), formations and plays that fit this current group. "Coach Lindsey and the staff are just doing an unbelievable job formation- ally and organizing things to how this team fits — not how the teams in the past have fit, but what this team is going to be successful at," Moore said. "You can see we've molded it and shaped it to a differ- ent style. It's not always going to be the 13 personnel, extra lineman 12 personnel. Sometimes, it's going to be a little bit more 11 personnel runs, and that's OK." It's also going to be a bit more zone blocking on run plays. The Wolverines have used zone runs over gap scheme 48 percent of the time this season compared to 39.4 a year ago. A key difference is the utilization of outside zone, which has produced big plays and productive runs throughout the course of the first four games. Both of Michigan's long touchdown runs at Nebraska — a 75-yarder by Haynes and 54-yarder from sophomore Jordan Mar- shall — came on that concept. Michigan is averaging 9.3 yards per carry on 33 outside zone plays this sea- son, per Sports Info Solutions, with 11 first downs and 3 touchdowns. For con- text, Michigan ran outside zone only 16 times in 13 games last year, averaging 3.6 yards per attempt. "We've run it here a little bit, but it hasn't been a major staple of what we've done," Moore said. "That doesn't mean you can't always do it. That's a great ex- ample of a change. We started to do that when Chip got here because he had com- fort and familiarity with it." Adapt or die. HOW MANY FRESHMEN WILL BURN REDSHIRTS? The current NCAA rule states college football players can appear in four reg- ular-season games and still retain their redshirt season. That may be changed in the future, with a proposal on the table to allow everyone five years to play five seasons, but hasn't been yet. Currently, Michigan has at least six freshmen whom we'd deem to be on the verge of burning their redshirt through four outings: quarterback Bryce Un- derwood, wide receiver Andrew Marsh, cornerback Jayden Sanders, cornerback Elijah Dotson, edge Nate Marshall and defensive tackle Benny Patterson. All six have either been in the rotation on of- fense or defense or, in the case of Pat- terson, been a significant contributor on special teams, totaling 18 snaps on kick coverage in three contests. There are some other candidates who could play in five-plus games, too, in- cluding cornerback Shamari Earls, who missed the first two with injury but has played versus CMU and Nebraska, in- cluding on critical downs in the fourth quarter against the Cornhuskers. The Wolverines are on pace to have a year similar to 2021, when six freshmen burned their redshirts (QB J.J. McCarthy, RB Donovan Edwards, LB Junior Col- son, DB Rod Moore, WR Andrel Anthony and OL Greg Crippen), though 2022 saw the most first-year players earn big roles among recent seasons, with 11. Here are the amount of U-M freshman players who burned their redshirts dur- ing the last four years: 2021: 6 2022: 11 2023: 7 2024: 4 ❑ SAYFIE BLITZ ❱ CLAYTON SAYFIE Adapt Or Die Offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey is utilizing outside zone-blocking concepts with great success through four games this season. Michigan is averaging 9.3 yards per carr y on 33 outside zone plays, per Sports Info Solutions, with 11 first downs and 3 touch- downs. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN Staff writer Clayton Sayfie has covered Michigan athletics for The Wolverine since 2019. Contact him at Clayton.Sayfie @on3.com and follow him on X (Twitter) @CSayf23.