There’s plenty of room for improvement on the Michigan offense in 2025. Here are the 3 position groups that can make the biggest leap this fall:
After a major step back offensively in 2024, the Michigan Wolverines are hoping to improve that in a big way this season. With a new offensive coordinator and some new players up and down the roster, the chance of that happening looks pretty good.
Here are three position groups likely to take a major step forward in 2025.
Quarterbacks
This one is a no-brainer, right? The Wolverines have Bryce Underwood and Mikey Keene to replace Davis Warren — who is still with the program but is out with a torn ACL — Alex Orji and Jack Tuttle. Underwood is one of the best recruits Michigan has ever had, and Keene is a dynamic player with experience and could win the starting job, too.
Warren last season had just seven touchdowns to nine interceptions, 1,199 passing yards, and completed 64.1 percent of his passes. In total, the Wolverines only had 1, 678 passing yards, with the quarterbacks (and Donovan Edwards) throwing for 12 touchdowns compared to 13 interceptions. It seems unthinkable the Wolverines won’t improve here.
Keene is expected to be healthy for fall camp. after missing the entire spring He’s coming off a season where he threw for 2,892 yards and 18 touchdowns, and completed more than 70 percent of his passes.
When it comes to Underwood, he’s a proven winner. He went 50-4 in high school and threw for 2,509 yards and 32 touchdowns in his final season at Belleville. While that kind of production seems unlikely as a true freshman, there’s a lot of talent and experience that will improve the quarterback room this fall.
Wide Receivers
The wide receivers will need to step up if Michigan is going to improve on offense. The leading wide receiver last year, Tyler Morris, had just 248 yards and two touchdowns on 23 catches. Now that he is gone, it’s up to others to help elevate the position.
Indiana transfer Donaven McCulley didn’t play much in 2024, only registering two receptions for 21 yards and a touchdown. He had a better season in 2023, catching 48 passes for 644 yards and six touchdowns, averaging more than 13 yards a catch. That’s the kind of production Michigan is expecting this year.
The Wolverines also picked up some recruits who could have an early impact this fall. Four-star Andrew Marsh had some nice plays in the spring game and could be a nice target for whichever quarterback gets named the starter.
Along with that, there’s hope a player like Semaj Morgan will have more opportunities in Chip Lindsey’s system. After looking at Lindsey’s teams and stats, and hearing more about his coaching philosophy, he looks at the talent he has and works it into his system. Morgan has made big plays in his career, so the hope is he can do that more consistently in 2025.
Running backs
Despite being the strongest aspect of Michigan’s 2024 offense, the running backs room could make a huge leap in 2025. There’s no denying the room had a weird dynamic last season — Donovan Edwards getting overshadowed by former linebacker Kalel Mullings was a bit strange to see.
This season, there’s hope that Jordan Marshall and Justice Haynes will complement each other more than Mullings and Edwards. At Alabama, Haynes ran for 448 yards and seven touchdowns in 2024 and averaged 5.7 yards per carry. The Crimson Tide also used him in the pass game, where he had 17 receptions for 99 yards.
Marshall dealt with an injury for a good part of the 2024 season, but we finally saw him as the primary back in the ReliaQuest Bowl, where he had 23 carries for 100 yards, averaging 4.3 yards per carry.
Running back remains one of the deepest positions on the roster. The ability to throw in a few new backs to get a defense off balance could also help the overall offense improve.