Offensive report card for Michigan through nine games

Quarterback: B-

Bryce Underwood has had an up and down true Freshman season thus far for Michigan. He is an 18 year-old true freshman, and that's important to remember here for his grade. Among Big Ten quarterbacks, Bryce ranks 10th in QBR and 11th in EPA(total expected points added). Among all Division 1 quarterbacks he ranks 80th in pass efficiency. In pass efficiency, he ranks just behind notable quarterbacks Aidan Chiles and Garrett Nussmeier. He ranks just ahead of Lanoris Sellers in the same metric. All of these quarterbacks ranked among him are older than he is, but they're also all known to be having disappointing seasons compared to preseason expectations. I think the same could be said of Bryce Underwood. He's extremely talented and you see flashes of that in every game, it just hasn't come out as consistently as you'd expect for someone who was rated as highly as he was coming out of high school. All that being said, progress isn't always linear and there's a chance it all clicks for him down the home stretch of this season yet for Michigan.

Running backs: A

I see no reason to grade these guys any lower than an A. Justice Haynes looked like a potential Heisman contender until he got hurt a few weeks ago and since then Jordan Marshall has stepped up and played really well himself. Both of those two are future pros and All-Big Ten caliber players. They're both actually up there for tops in the Big Ten Conference in rushing yards, with Justice Haynes currently at 2nd despite missing two full games, and Jordan Marshall at 4th despite only starting two games for Michigan. They're both just so good and its unfortunate we might not get to see them both share the backfield again with Justice Haynes' injury and possibly being able to go pro after this season. Jordan Marshall has already proven he's very capable of leading this backfield and will have to continue doing so for the foreseeable future for the Wolverines.

Wide receivers and tight ends: C

This position group was one of Michigan's weaker groups on paper entering 2025 and so far, through nine games, that has held true. True Freshman Andrew Marsh has emerged these last few games and really cemented himself as Michigan's #1 wide receiver but outside of him, this group has been really lacking. Donaven McCulley entered the year with some hype as a transfer portal player from Indiana but he's disappointed though nine games, especially recently against Michigan State and Purdue. Semaj Morgan has been probably the most disappointing from this group as he's up near the tops in the entire country in dropped passes. Channing Goodwin as a redshirt freshman started the year as a starting wide receiver for Michigan but has had his own issues with dropped passes. Nobody else behind those guys looks ready to contribute to this offense either which is its own issue. This group just hasn't been good for Michigan in 2025 outside of Andrew Marsh and he's the only reason the grade isn't even lower.

Offensive line: B

The offensive line has been pretty good for Michigan this season in my opinion. They're near-elite at running the football and its a very young offensive line with three players currently starting for Michigan in redshirt Freshman Blake Frazier at Left Tackle, Jake Guarnera at Right Guard and Andrew Sprague at Right Tackle. Those three have each given Michigan lots of hope for the future of this position group with how well they're playing already as underclassmen. The've had their growing pains, most notably looking outmatched on the road against Oklahoma but that Oklahoma defense has also proven to be one of the nation's best in the front seven.

The pass protection for Michigan's offensive line could still use improvement and that's why I graded them at a B and not higher, as they still too often get confused by stunts and twists but like I said, it's such a young group so that's just part of playing so many young players at what's typically a more experienced position group on good football teams. There's still time for them to continue to improve this season even as they're all so light on experience and time on task playing together. The team will likely go as far as this offensive line can take it so it'll be very interesting to see if they can take another step or two forward as a unit as this season wraps up.

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