Heading into the 2025 season, do the Michigan Wolverines have the experience necessary to make a run at the College Football Playoff? We take a closer look:
The Michigan Wolverines made it to the College Football Playoff for the first time in 2021 after beating Ohio State and winning the Big Ten Championship. Since then, expectations for the program continued to rise, even after the team lost highly experienced players to the NFL and Jim Harbaugh to the Los Angeles Chargers after the National Championship.
Experience is just one factor that helps teams get to the postseason. Players who know what to expect from road environments, big games and the postseason atmosphere, and coaches who have the right game plan each week.
Can Michigan make a run in the College Football Playoff in 2025 based on the team’s experience level? Let’s take a look.
Offense
The offense heading into 2025 doesn’t come with a whole lot of experience. You have wide receivers, tight ends and running backs who will be making their first starts for the program when they kickoff for the first time in August. The Wolverines will need young skill players like running backs Justice Haynes and Jordan Marshall, and tight end Hogan Hansen, to name a few, to make a major impact.
There is some good news in this department, as fullback Max Bredeson is back for another season. His experience on championship-winning teams cannot be understated, and his leadership will be relied on time and time again offensively.
Perhaps most importantly, two newcomers are battling for the starting quarterback job — Bryce Underwood and Mikey Keene. Keene brings in a lot of experience having already played four seasons of college football. Meanwhile, Underwood has no experience at the college level, and the same can essentially be said about redshirt freshman Jadyn Davis. The question that Sherrone Moore and company will be asking themselves while debating who will be the starter this fall is “Do we go with the guy with higher upside, or the guy with the most experience?”
Defense
Once again, the defense will have to shine if this team is going to make it back to the CFP. Fifth-year TJ Guy and senior Derrick Moore returning at the edge is huge, as is senior linebackers Ernest Hausmann and Jaishawn Barham. Along with that, fifth-year Rayshaun Benny will anchor the interior alongside veteran transfers in Tre Williams and Damon Payne Jr. While defensive coordinator Wink Martindale shared some discouraging news about Rod Moore this week, he will be a difference-maker in the experience department whenever he is able to suit back up.
Unlike the offense, the young guys on defense got thrown into the fire in 2024 and ended up proving themselves by the end of the season. Very few of Michigan’s starters played in the bowl game against Alabama, yet they dominated on the defensive side of the ball. This should be another season where we see how valuable that experience was in solidifying the strength of the team in 2025.
Coaching
Michigan has some young coaches, but head coach Sherrone Moore managed to hire staff members around him that have extensive experience. Offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey has a lot experience as a head coach and as a coordinator, so he should be able to bring out the best in the offense. Additionally, bringing back Biff Poggi as the associate head coach of the program was an underrated move this offseason that should immediately help this program.
There was no defensive coaching staff turnover this offseason, which is fantastic news for a group of guys that are hungry to prove themselves this season.
If the Wolverines are to make a CFP run this fall, it’ll likely be more than just experience that gets them there. While the coaching staff and defense can win this team games, we saw last year how important it is to have an offense that compliments a strong defense. Michigan’s offense doesn’t bring the same kind of experience to the table as the defense does, so the team will need to rely on some of its other strengths in 2025 if they are to make a postseason run.
What do you think about Michigan’s experience? Does this team have what it takes to make a playoff run? Let us know in the comments!