10 too-early Michigan football bold predictions for 2025

Posted by author February 1, 2025 Football

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It’s Feb. 1 and there’s a long way until the 2025 college football season. Spring ball is about a month and a half away and the identity of Team 146 will truly start to be forged on the heels of building things up during winter conditioning.

Last season, Sherrone Moore’s first as the Wolverines’ coach, was something of a mixed bag. The 8-5 record included some substandard losses. But the maize and blue were humming by the end of the season. They closed the season with wins over eventual national champion Ohio State and College Football Playoff hopeful Alabama, a team that was thought to have just missed the cut.

Michigan seems set with what it has via the transfer portal, and it is waiting on 2025 Denton (Texas) Ryan High School four-star offensive tackle Ty Haywood’s decision. However, the spring portal also looms. While there is much we do not know about the composition of the team, we’re making some bold proclamations as to what could happen in 2025.

Here are 10 too-early bold predictions for Michigan football Team 146.

1. Michigan’s passing offense will rise significantly

This may be the biggest “duh” on here and perhaps not so bold, but where we differ is the amount of the rise.

The Wolverines had the No. 131 passing offense in 2024, the fourth-worst in college football. With Bryce Underwood and Mikey Keene in the quarterbacks room with new offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey, expect not just a modicum of improvement, but beyond significant improvement.

In the 2023 national championship season, with J.J. McCarthy at the helm, Michigan had the No. 82 passing offense. It was No. 83 in 2022, a year the Wolverines played in the College Football Playoff. With Cade McNamara leading the charge in 2021, it was No. 68. However, we believe Michigan will eclipse those numbers — not by a wide margin, but with Lindsey striving for more run-pass balance, simplifying some concepts, and emphasizing the pass, with the tools in his arsenal, we believe the Wolverines will finish the 2025 season closer to the 50-60 range passing than below.

Yes, this will still be an outfit that primarily wants to run the ball, but the passing game will take off in a way that it hasn’t in recent memory.

2. That said, one quarterback will not eclipse the single-season record

John Navarre set the record at 3,331 yards, and every year, when we do these bold predictions, we say someone will beat it. After all, several quarterbacks soar past that number every year. But with a likely platoon, at least early in the season, between Mikey Keene and Bryce Underwood, it’s unlikely one quarterback gets there. Also, it will be something of a process for the pass game to get going given that has not been the identity of this team to date.

However, don’t be surprised if the platoon manages to get past that number, especially if Michigan ends up playing 14 or 15 games.

3. Assuming Wink Martindale stays, Michigan will have the No. 1 defense in the country

The NFL coaching carousel has not yet come to a close, so while it appears Martindale will remain in Ann Arbor, it’s not a sure thing just yet. However, it’s likely he remains the Wolverines’ defensive coordinator, and that would be an excellent thing for this next iteration of Michigan football.

The defense was hit-or-miss in 2024, despite being philosophically the same as 2021-23. Key personnel will certainly be missed, but the Michigan roster will still be loaded on the defensive side of the ball — from the line to safety.

With how Michigan finished this past season defensively, especially against Alabama when most of the players in the game were the ones we’ll see in 2025, there are few teams in college football who have the same mixture of roster retention and coaching retention. The additions via the transfer portal to this point (defensive tackles Tré Williams and Damon Payne, along with linebacker Troy Bowles) indicate Michigan will be particularly strong up front, which was the formula for beating Ohio State, 13-10, last season.

There will be some challenges — Nebraska, Washington, USC and OSU — but the Big Ten remains loaded with anemic offenses. Now that Martindale has had one year at the college level and seems to have figured things out, Michigan should be very, very difficult to move the ball on in 2025.

4. But the secondary will have some early lapses

The rest of the defense, the front seven, and even the safety position appear to be solid. Rod Moore is returning and should provide leadership and stability, and there are many options (Brandyn Hillman, Mason Curtis, Jaden Mangham, TJ Metcalf) to play alongside him. Cornerback is less clear.

Michigan could roll with Zeke Berry and Jyaire Hill as the starters, and that may be solid. But the Wolverines aggressively sought another top-tier cornerback in the transfer portal. Will Johnson, who only played about one-third of the 2024 season, will still be missed, and the Wolverines do not have a player of his caliber in the defensive backs room. Shamari Earls, a true freshman, could eventually be a solid replacement there, but it will take time.

The lapses will likely come in Weeks 2 and 4, with a rebuilt Oklahoma offense led by former Washington State quarterback John Mateer at the helm, and a Nebraska team that has standout QB Dylan Raiola and what looks to be a solid offensive line in front of him. Michigan will likely find itself with some moments when those two teams take advantage of some uncertainty on the back end, before it finds another gear in the middle of the season.

5. Justice Haynes and Jordan Marshall combine for 2,000-plus rushing yards

Chip Lindsey has produced multiple offenses that have had 3,000 yards passing and rushing each in a single season, and Michigan, despite the changes, will still be a primarily run-first team. Given the passing game is unproven, opposing defenses will still likely load up on the line, hoping to stop the run, daring Michigan to pass.

Neither Haynes, an Alabama transfer, nor Marshall has been the primary feature back. Marshall was that for one game, against Alabama in the ReliaQuest Bowl, and he showed why he was so highly rated. Haynes has shown flashes in his two years, but he hasn’t carried the load. Regardless, at least one will achieve more than 1,000 yards rushing and the other will either do so or come close. Because we believe the passing game will force defenses to eventually back off and allow some favorable boxes, and both backs have the skill set to take advantage.

The offensive line is a question at this juncture, but it was in the ReliaQuest bowl, and Marshall still managed to get over 100 yards on the day. And Haynes may be more explosive than Marshall. Expect Michigan to look more like it had with thunder and lightning than it did last year.

6. TJ Guy leads the Big Ten in sacks

There are a number of very good edge rushers in the Big Ten, but with Penn State‘s Abdul Carter moving to the NFL along with OSU’s duo of Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau, there’s an opening for a new premier edge rusher.

In 2024, in his first year as a primary reserve, Guy managed 5 1/2 sacks. Now that he’ll likely start in 2025, expect that number to go up. Playing the Josaiah Stewart role opposite returning edge Derrick Moore, Guy will cement himself as the pass rusher who gets home more often even if Moore gets more opportunities

7. One extant wide receiver will lead Michigan in receiving yards

Michigan has brought in two wide receiver transfers thus far: Indiana’s Donaven McCulley and UMass wideout Anthony Simpson. Both have shown more production than any Michigan receiver on the roster. And the Wolverines will likely find someone in the spring portal window who also has a high level of production. Though no current Michigan receiver has necessarily shown the proclivity to be No. 1, we predict someone will step up.

2024 was Fredrick Moore’s second year in college football and he didn’t get much of an opportunity until the ReliaQuest Bowl, in which he showed a great deal of potential. It was also Kendrick Bell’s second year, but it was his first year playing wide receiver. He’s a big body who could really take a drastic step in 2025. Amorion Walker has been something of a positional journeyman, but he struggled with staying healthy. If healthy for a full season, he has the size and speed combo necessary to be a top-flight wide receiver. Semaj Morgan could be target No. 1 out of the slot, but he also struggled with staying healthy last year. Peyton O’Leary, the former walk-on, has made some big plays. He had a much bigger role in 2024, and he could take a big step forward in 2025. Channing Goodwin and I’Marion Stewart enter their second year and should see an increased workload.

There are the transfers as well as true freshmen Andrew Marsh, Jamar Browder and Jacob Washington who could also see early minutes given the need and uncertainty at the position. But one of the aforementioned returning players should be able to finally connect the dots and take a big step forward in Chip Lindsey’s offense.

8. Michigan will have the best linebacking corps in the Big Ten

There have been rumors and innuendo that last year’s starter Jaishawn Barham could switch to edge rusher. While we think he’ll get some snaps there, ultimately, given the way he played down the stretch in 2024, we believe Michigan would miss his production too much to let him make the full-time move. Paired with standout Ernest Hausmann, who started last year for the first time since his freshman season at Nebraska, the Wolverines have an experienced duo who should wreak havoc in the middle of the defense — especially if Wink Martindale returns as expected.

But with Jaydon Hood, Jimmy Rolder, and Cole Sullivan returning, and the addition of former four-star Troy Bowles, who comes to Ann Arbor from Georgia, as well as true freshman Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng, this is a loaded group, with a solid mix of experience and potential, that looks to be unparalleled compared to other schools within the conference.

9. Michigan will go 11-1 in the regular season and play in the Big Ten championship game

Unlike last year, the 2025 Michigan schedule is much more amenable, with very few of the top teams in the conference on the docket. The Wolverines avoid Penn State, Oregon and Indiana in the regular season. They still face Ohio State at season’s end, but the Buckeyes clearly have a Michigan problem at this juncture. We still expect the Wolverines to beat the Buckeyes in 2025 given how the last four years have gone, so that leaves the other options for our one loss.

Also unlike last year, we don’t expect Michigan to lose a game it should clearly win. Road games at Oklahoma, Nebraska and USC loom large, though the Trojans face much more of a rebuild than the other two. Washington could be a problem, but that game is at home, and Michigan should be more focused than it was against the Huskies last year. MSU will want revenge, but the Wolverines are much more talented at this stage.

So our guess is Michigan will drop either the Oklahoma or Nebraska game (our choice at the moment would be Nebraska) but then run the table.

10. Michigan will play in the College Football Playoff, but won’t win it all

We’ll predict it will be either a Michigan vs. Penn State or Oregon Big Ten championship game with the Wolverines losing. With two losses, the maize and blue will still make the College Football Playoff and host a game in the first round. While things will have looked like they have come together, much like in 2021, Michigan will come across another team in the quarterfinal that be better overall and will be ousted.

It will be a step in the right direction, however, and the next play for a national championship will come in 2026, when Bryce Underwood has enough on-field maturity in terms of playing the college game that he can challenge even the toughest defense in the country. But not just yet in 2025.