Wolverine Digest

Pair of Michigan running backs make prestigious preseason watch list

The Doak Walker Award annually recognizes college football's most outstanding running back
Seth Berry|
Team Blue running back Justice Haynes (22) runs against Team Maize during the first half of the spring game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, April 19, 2025.
Team Blue running back Justice Haynes (22) runs against Team Maize during the first half of the spring game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, April 19, 2025. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Michigan Wolverines

Michigan football's top two running backs have been named to the preseason Doak Walker award Watch List ahead of the 2025 season. The award, which was created in 1989, annually honors college football's most outstanding running back.

Junior Justice Haynes and sophomore Jordan Marshall are the two Wolverines to make the list as each are currently battling it out in camp to see who will earn the starting spot. Regardless of who is considered the No. 1 back by Week 1, both are expected to make significant contributions to the Wolverines offense and provide a 1-2 punch that has the potential to be dangerous.

Last season, Haynes, a transfer from Alabama, appeared in 12 games with the Crimson Tide, making six starts at running back. He carried the ball 79 times with seven touchdowns while also catching 17 passes for 99 yards. Overall, Haynes has racked up 616 yards on the ground in his two-year college career on 104 carries for an average of 5.9 yards per rush. He has found the endzone nine times to this point.

Marshall was behind Kalel Mullings and Donovan Edwards on the depth chart during his freshman season at Michigan, but burst onto the scene in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Alabama, making his first start with the Maize & Blue and racking up 100 rushing yards on 23 carries. The Ohio native received his first carries of the season on Nov. 23 of 2024 against Northwestern, when he totaled 17 rushing yards on seven carries against the Wildcats late in the game in a Michigan victory.

With both Marshall and Haynes in the fold, there is no doubt that the Michigan running game has a chance to be dynamic once again this season and continue off the success of recent Wolverine backfields that played a big part in helping the program win 47 games over the past four seasons.

Marshall
Dec 31, 2024; Tampa, FL, USA; Michigan Wolverines running back Jordan Marshall (23) pushes off on Alabama Crimson Tide linebacker Jeremiah Alexander (35) during the second half at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images | Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

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Seth Berry
SETH BERRY

Seth began writing on Michigan athletics in 2015 and has remained in the U-M media space ever since, which includes stops at Maize N Brew and Rivals before coming onto Michigan On SI in June of 2025. Seth has covered various angles of Michigan football and basketball, including recruiting, overall team coverage and feature/analysis stories relating to the Wolverines. His passion for Michigan sports and desire to tell stories led him to the sports journalism world. He is a 2020 graduate of Western Michigan University and is the former sports editor of the Western Herald, WMU's student newspaper.

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