The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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DECEMBER 2025 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 33 ❱ MICHIGAN FOOTBALL Five Best Players 1. Sophomore running back Jordan Marshall: On a streak of four straight games with 100-plus rushing yards, the Cincinnati native has become the heartbeat of the offense with junior Justice Haynes out indefinitely with an injury. The 5-foot-11, 216-pound Marshall totaled 437 yards and 6 touchdowns on the ground over the last three outings, with 285 of those yards coming after contact, forc- ing 12 missed tackles. Marshall's 185 rushing yards against Purdue marked the most by a Wolverine since Donovan Edwards recorded the same number in the 2022 Big Ten championship game victory over the Boilermakers. 2. Senior edge Derrick Moore: The 6-foot-3, 260-pound Baltimore native is putting together a monster season, with 9 tackles for loss, including 8 sacks, along with a team-best 30 pressures. No other Wolverine has more than 17 pressures on the year, so to say he's led the pass-rush efforts would be an understatement. Moore had 2 sacks in each of the wins over Michigan State and Purdue, and combined for 10 pressures over the last three contests. He had a streak going with 2 sacks in each of the wins over Washington, MSU and Purdue — the first time a U-M player has had multiple sacks in three consecutive games since LaMarr Woodley in 2006 — but didn't take down the quarterback against Northwestern. 3. Senior linebacker Jimmy Rolder: The Orland Park, Ill., native's performance against Michigan State was one for the ages — 10 tackles, 1 TFL, a fourth-down pass breakup and a fumble recovery on the first possession of the game. He'll go down in U-M history for that alone, but he's had a stellar season overall. Rolder missed the Purdue game but returned for Northwestern, posting 2 tackles in limited action. 4. Freshman wide receiver Andrew Marsh: Surging into position as Michigan's leading receiver, Marsh is tops on the team with 37 recep- tions for 565 yards and 2 touchdowns. He hauled in 12 for 189 in the victory over Northwestern, after totaling 7 grabs for 79 yards in the prior two outings in which the pass game wasn't very effective. His 189 receiving yards against the Wildcats are the most by a U-M freshman dating back to at least 1979. 5. Junior cornerback Jyaire Hill: A cornerback not getting his name called all that often can be a good thing, and it is in the case of the Kankakee, Ill., native. Against MSU, he shut down standout wide re- ceiver Nick Marsh, holding him to 3 catches for 44 yards on 7 targets when the two were matched up. In the last three contests, Hill has given up 6 catches for 58 yards and no touchdowns on 12 targets. His 77.9 PFF coverage rating in the Northwestern game is a season best and the second highest he's posted in his career. Key Moment Michigan had turned the ball over on three consecutive drives, includ- ing with 2 picks, before the final, game-winning drive of the 24-22 win over Northwestern Nov. 15. The play of the game was from freshman to freshman — Bryce Underwood to Andrew Marsh — along the North- western sideline on third-and-10 from the U-M 37-yard line. Marsh got his feet down as he dove to the ground and came down with the catch, a 21-yard gain If Michigan doesn't pick that up with just under two minutes to go, head coach Sherrone Moore would've had a tough decision on whether to go for it or punt, with all three timeouts remaining. But instead, there was no decision to make. Michigan ran a couple more times, Underwood picked up a third-down conversion with his legs, and the Wolverines were able to set up senior kicker Dominic Zvada for a 31-yard game-winner. Zvada earned a deserved lift from his teammates off the field in an epic moment at Wrigley Field. Best Highlight Michigan was having trouble putting Michigan State away Oct. 25 in East Lansing, but sophomore running back Jordan Marshall delivered the knockout blow with a 56-yard touchdown run that featured two broken tackles as he busted into the open field. That put the Wolverines up 31-13 with 2:48 remaining, continued the matriculation of Spartan fans to the exits and elicited an eruption from the U-M faithful in at- tendance, with reality setting in that the Maize and Blue were going to retain the Paul Bunyan Trophy with a fourth straight victory over their in-state rival. Bold Prediction The Big Ten will get only three teams in the College Football Playoff, after sending four in 2024. Coming out of Week 12, the conference has five teams with a chance — Ohio State, Indiana, Oregon, Michigan and USC. But the Wolverines and Trojans have two losses, and one more would essentially eliminate them. U-M has Maryland and Ohio State left on the schedule, while USC will take on Oregon and USC. We'll predict that both U-M and USC will lose at least one more regular-season game. — Clayton Sayfie Superlatives For Michigan's Three Games From Oct. 25 To Nov. 15 Sophomore Jordan Marshall had a four-game streak of 100-plus rush- ing yards highlighted by explosive plays such as this 56-yard TD run at Michigan State. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL