The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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THE WOLVERINE 2026 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 53 give Justice credit for helping me with that," Marshall said of a college football season, especially in the Big Ten. "Not only helping me balance the carries, but also showing me how to treat my body and how to prepare for games and get my body right. It's a different type of ball here in the Big Ten. Seeing how he prepared really helped me and made me realize I needed to prepare better. For me, every single day, it's treatment, hours, just trying to be the best I can for this team and making sure I can start every game and help lead this team to a national championship. "It can be a lot. It's a physical game, and I love it. That's my favorite part of the game, being physical. Justice defi- nitely helped me realize how to prepare my body and become better so I can play longer and be more efficient. "That's something I'm trying to do, coaching [Hiter] to be the best player. Also, how to treat his body, and anything that ails or hurts you, take care of it right away. That's something you have to learn. This is a physical game, and it's going to take its toll, especially at the running back position. It's something I definitely want to teach him and make sure that he has in his arsenal, so when he's getting ready to play at the next level or whatever he wants to do, that he's able to do that at a high level." Leading And Succeeding Marshall takes the captain's mantle very seriously. He's embracing the pres- ent opportunity like he'd grip the football inside the 5-yard line. "One thing that I love is that every- body is aligned, from recruiting, from coaching, from players, people coming in and out of this building," he assured. "That's what you want to see. Everybody is on that straight path and following the same road. "It's been great. It's been good to see how much leadership, how much peo- ple trust not only in me, but in the other guys. It's important to have the leadership council but also captains. The leadership council is built from starters to guys that work their butts off at practice. That's a respect you have for guys on the team. It doesn't matter if you're a starter or if you're on the scout team. It matters how you treat everyone and how you prepare every single day to help this team win." They're planning to win, all right. They won nine games last year, despite a sim- mering dysfunction that could have com- pletely derailed some programs. That's all behind them now, and Marshall can't wait to see what lies ahead. "I want to go win it all," he stressed. "That's why I came back here. That's the expectation here — beat all your ri- vals, win the Big Ten and win the natty. That will always be the expectation here. Nothing less. We shouldn't lose a game. That's the expectation here at the Uni- versity of Michigan. If you think other- wise, you shouldn't be here. I truly think we have guys on this team that want to go win it all, and are willing to do what- ever it takes to go win it all. We've got to keep coming together to do stuff for this university and put this university back on the map — competing at the high- est level, and competing for the national championship every single year." ❑ Marshall said he's excited about the high-octane offense Michigan's new coordinator Jason Beck has brought to the program. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL