On3 analyst gives outlook for Michigan's 2025 football season

One college football analyst said he believes Michigan will be "dangerous" in 2025, with a chance of making a return to the College Football Playoff a real possibility. J.D. Pickell of On3 broke down the pulse of the Wolverines heading into the season in one of his "Pulse of the Progrum" episodes.

Pickell said he took awhile to unpack the state of the Wolverines heading into Sherrone Moore's second year at the helm, but came to the conclusion Michigan is in a good place overall and potentially ready to take another leap.

"I think if you wake up a Michigan fan today, if you wake up in that building in Ann Arbor, you're feeling dangerous," Pickell said. "You're feeling very, very dangerous. Because Michigan—they've kind of got this Navy Seal psychopath to them as a culture. They don't care about the spread, it's 20-something points against Ohio State—don't matter, go get it done. It doesn't matter if you have a quarterback who struggles to, at times, throw a forward pass. You won the game against Alabama throwing the ball for double digit yards, the game against Ohio State, same thing. Ohio State was the more talented team last year from a roster perspective. Didn't matter, Michigan finds a way to get it done."

Pickell pointed out that the Wolverines won eight games last year despite of their limitations, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. He made the point that if Michigan could pull that off in a year without many weapons at its disposal, their ceiling could now be much greater with upgrades at the quarterback position, a potential playmaker in Donaven McCulley at receiver and what is expected to be another good rushing attack.

"Michigan won a lot of games last year with a pocket knife—against good teams," said Pickell. "Won a lot of games with a pocket knife, and this year (are) playing with a samurai sword. You always felt like you were dangerous, but now you feel like you actually have the proper tools to go get the job done at the highest level. Because you were just gritting it out last year. The phrasing I would use for Michigan fans throughout the course of this entire offseason has been "roster math." You've ben doing roster math, right? Yeah you lose some guys to the league, nature of the beast. But you still feel great about that defense. (You're saying) we still have a lot of draft picks in the future on this defense, we still have the head haunco running the show, Wink Martindale, we're in good shape there. Then, you look at what last year's offense was, and what would you grade the offense a season ago? C+? Passing at times, but it wasn't anything to write home about. It wasn't anything that was the reason you were winning football games necessarily. And now you do the roster math where you upgrade at quarterback, you've got a different kind of offense you're calling in Chip Lindsey, you feel good about your backfield—what else is new? Sure, there are some questions on the offensive line and you want to see your playmakers elevate—but were there any receivers who were breaking the game open for Michigan a year ago? No. So, if you're even just a touch better next season, if you're B- territory, how good can Michigan be?"

Pickell added the way Michigan starts the season and whether they are able to build momentum with true freshmen quarterback Bryce Underwood leading the way will be essential , pointing out the need for the Wolverines to at least split the Oklahoma and Nebraska games early. He added that if Michigan can go into the Ohio State game at no worse than 9-2 with a win over the Buckeyes clinching a berth in the College Football Playoff, he thinks Wolverines fans will take that.

"The pulse at Michigan—they're feeling dangerous, woke up feeling dangerous, will go to sleep feeling dangerous. In 2025, I expect that to be the tempo at which they operate at and I can't wait to watch it," Pickell said.

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