Wolverine Digest

Michigan safety Rod Moore updates injury status ahead of season

The Wolverines will hope their star safety will be 100% by Week 1
Seth Berry|
Sep 3, 2022; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; Michigan Wolverines defensive back Rod Moore (19) celebrates after he makes an interception in the first half against the Colorado State Rams at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images
Sep 3, 2022; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; Michigan Wolverines defensive back Rod Moore (19) celebrates after he makes an interception in the first half against the Colorado State Rams at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

Michigan football's defense was forced to play the entire 2024 season without one of its standout players in the back end as safety Rod Moore suffered an ACL tear last spring. As fall camp approaches, while Moore has rehabbed to return to the field and has made significant progress, he is still recovering from the injury.

While speaking to the Wolverine at the 3rd Annual Champions Circle Golf Classic on Monday, Moore updated his injury status and said he isn't quite sure if he will be ready for Michigan's Week 1 opener on Sept. 30 against New Mexico.

"I'm going pretty good," Moore said. "I'm probably at about 80-85%. Really, I'll just know more based off how camp goes on when I'll be back, whether that's the first, second or third game, we don't know yet. But it's going pretty good right now—I'm doing everything, running, cutting, doing a couple DB drills. It's all based off how this (next) month goes."

Moore admitted he still has some soreness that he is working through in the knee but that he is expecting that to be the case for awhile.

"I think I'm going to have pain for awhile," said Moore. "It's different types of pain—it's more like soreness, just because I didn't do a lot of stuff for about 15 months. So, that comes with it and I'm kind of used to it already."

Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale will hope to get Moore's services back sooner rather than later to help a defense that is expected to be one of the conference's top performers in 2025. For his career, Moore has 141 tackles and six interceptions in three seasons played in a Maize and Blue uniform.

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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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