“Don’t let a speed bump become a roadblock.” Sherrone Moore reflected on Michigan’s rocky start in 2024 and how the Wolverines rallied to finish strong — with their sights now set on bigger goals in 2025:
After starting the 2024 season with a blowout loss to Texas, followed by a couple quarterback changes and a few more losses thrown in there, things could have went sideways quickly for the Michigan Wolverines . However, the team stayed the course and ended on a high note with wins over Ohio State and Alabama to close out the campaign.
Speaking at Big Ten Media Days on Thursday, head coach Sherrone Moore discussed those early-season struggles and how they didn’t let things derail any further.
“We have this theory — don’t let a speed bump become a roadblock. Last year, we hit a couple speed bumps, but didn’t allow those to become roadblocks,” Moore said. “We overcame a lot of adversity and had a successful end to the year. But we’re not going to live on that. We know that’s past us, and our jobs now are to write a new story.”
Despite all the struggles for most of the 2024 season, Moore kept the locker room focused on moving in the right direction. The Wolverines were able to find a rhythm later in the season, culminating in those signature wins over Ohio State and Alabama .
“Everything we’ve done is for the team.”
️ Sherrone Moore on @UMichFootball ‘s mindset this offseason#B1GFootball pic.twitter.com/kb5C6JbHS1
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) July 24, 2025
It’s always important to have perseverance and put losses in the rearview mirror, so it was a good sign Michigan was able to move on from the frustrating start and finish Moore’s first year with momentum. As he enters his second season as head coach, Moore reflected on the ups and downs of 2024 and expressed optimism about the road ahead.
“We push ourselves and hold ourselves to a high standard, and we’ll continue to do that. Our athletes have done that at an elite rate,” Moore said. “We’re thrilled to be in the phase we are now with our student athletes ending summer conditioning (Friday) morning. They’ve all done a tremendous job changing their bodies and building a true team this offseason.”
The last part of that last sentence — building a true team this offseason — appears to be pretty key. Senior edge rusher Derrick Moore was also asked about the issues the Wolverines had in 2024 and what the main lessons were. He admitted that he felt like the group wasn’t a true “team” but now they are heading into 2025.
“I feel like the lesson for us — we wasn’t too much of a team yet,” he said.” I feel like we didn’t have that team chemistry yet, we didn’t have an identity yet. But I feel like it’s there now. I feel like coach Moore and the rest of the staff did a good job of helping us find our identity and always putting the team first.”
A key part of Sherrone Moore’s optimism entering the new season is an emphasis on team-first values. Since college football is evolving rapidly every year these days, he is doubling down on the importance of selflessness. With a focus on avoiding speed bumps and roadblocks altogether, the Wolverines have their sights set high for 2025.
“Everything we have done is for the team,” Moore said. “The world we live in with NIL, revenue sharing, transfer portal and recruiting, it’s easy to look and think about yourself, but I think about the team. Bo (Schembechler) said it best, ‘The team, the team, the team.’ We’ve really exemplified that in everything we’ve done this offseason, and the work that our student athletes put in.”