After enduring a season that delivered a mixed bag for the fan base — albeit ending on a truly unforgettable note of glory — Michigan entered the offseason with room to grow, but knowing the job ahead of them.
Better yet, the program believed that they had the biggest key to fixing what was a sputtering offense last year already in the building, and affirmed as much this week when they announced that freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood, the nation’s top recruit at the position in 2024, will lead the offense for the Wolverines this season.
The adjustments to the offense don’t stop at Underwood.
Offense under new management
Michigan parted ways with offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell quickly after the conclusion of last year’s regular season. Campbell, who won the job after serving as an analyst and quickly rising to the position of quarterbacks coach under Jim Harbaugh, would not see the same success trying to get the most out of a Wolverines attack helmed by the likes of Davis Warren and Alex Orji as he did a season prior with JJ McCarthy. In his stead, Michigan hired Chip Lindsey, who previously oversaw the offense for the likes of UCF and North Carolina in recent years, less than two weeks after relieving Campbell.
It’s not often that you see an OC get handed their walking papers after just one season — especially when said season ends with claiming a fourth consecutive victory over Ohio State in ‘The Game’. But it goes without saying that most programs aren’t Michigan.
And while the specter of Harbaugh, Team 144 and all the ignominious headlines that came in the many months after still loom, the program has embraced a new ‘Michigan Man’ as its heir apparent to lead the Maize & Blue into its next chapter. Entering his second season as head coach, there can be little doubt that Sherrone Moore has fully assumed ownership of his place as the leader of the Wolverines.
Moore’s leadership
Moore, who served as offensive coordinator under Harbaugh, is both a spiritual and literal successor in many ways.
The patriarchal, emotive undercurrent that Jim developed with his players as Michigan transitioned from being a franchise with middling championship prospects — even in the confines of their own conference — into an indomitable goliath that walked through the Big Ten year after year, and eventually culminating in an undefeated national championship season, well, that passion for the young men who play for the program is still alive and well under Moore, who spent many of those years right beside Harbaugh as the team’s OC.
This intrinsic quality has allowed Coach Moore to act as a galvanizing force for Michigan, which, in addition to the departure of Harbaugh, has also been challenged with compensating for a massive drain of player talent to the NFL Draft over the last few seasons.
And that leads us to where Moore has shown himself to be an asset rivaling, if not besting, his old mentor in a relatively short amount of time: on the recruiting trail.
In addition to landing Underwood in last year’s recruiting class, Moore secured a highly touted trove of commits, including two five-star offensive linemen in Andrew Babalola and Ty Haywood. The bittersweet news for Wolverines fans is that Babalola suffered a season-ending knee injury in practice leading up to the start of the season. While the freshman wasn’t assured to claim the starting left tackle job in year one, his absence means that Michigan will need the reported development of Evan Link, who had his ups and downs as a second-year player last season, to show up in a big way this season.
Primetime
Starting their 2025 campaign under the bright lights of primetime against a New Mexico squad with a chip on their shoulder, Michigan looks to be a team ready to establish where their floor is much sooner than we can expect to see the ceiling. Moore has done an admirable job of forging a path to develop the program’s future, but the Wolverines’ youthfulness in talent abounds, and that’s not a bad thing.
Lobos head coach Jason Eck offered some playful trash talk in the build-up to their road matchup, saying, “Tom Brady’s not playing on Saturday.”
Fittingly, Eck’s roots to the Big Ten trace back to when he was an offensive lineman for Wisconsin, at the same time Brady played for Michigan. His comments, admittedly true, serve as a fantastic reminder that in college football, old wounds never heal.
The Tom Brady days have long since passed, but Michigan remains. And while questions abound about where the program presently stands against the college football elite in a post-Harbaugh world, one thing is now certain: the Bryce Underwood show is about to take the stage.
Michigan hosts New Mexico this Saturday, August 30 — kickoff at 7:30 pm EST.
