Top 25 college football team suffers season-ending injury

Michigan’s running game lost its clearest star on Saturday: Justice Haynes, the Wolverines’ leading rusher, is expected to miss the remainder of the 2025 season after undergoing foot surgery.

Haynes suffered the injury after the Michigan State game in Week 9, missing the contest against Purdue and then Saturday's win over Northwestern.

Haynes entered Saturday as the team's leading rusher with 857 rushing yards on 121 carries and 10 rushing touchdowns, averaging 7.1 yards per carry, which put him among the nation’s most efficient backs this year.

While the Wolverines may have won the game, defeating the Wildcats 24-22, they will now be without arguably their most impactful offensive player for the team’s most critical stretch of the college football season.

Gus Johnson just said on FOX broadcast that Michigan RB Justice Haynes is done for the season.

He underwent foot surgery and there was previously some hope for a return against Ohio State. https://t.co/3dIZAMcJYT pic.twitter.com/yGScMu5Ft3
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos) November 15, 2025

Michigan walks away from Saturday’s matchup at 8-2 and ranked in the top 20, short of preseason projections, yet still alive in the College Football Playoff race.

The Wolverines may sit inside the CFP conversation, but with a reduced margin for error, they have to go to Maryland (Nov. 22) before a massive rivalry date with No. 1 Ohio State (Nov. 29) to keep playoff hopes alive.

Michigan running back Justice Haynes. — Michigan running back Justice Haynes (22) watches warm up ahead of the Purdue game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor- | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Alpharetta, Georgia native (and son of former NFL back Verron Haynes) emerged as one of the 2023 cycle’s top recruits (the No. 3 running back and the No. 2 player in the state of Georgia) and quickly translated that billing into production at Michigan.

After putting up efficient work with minimal opportunities in his first two years at Michigan, he evolved this season into the team's most consistent big-play runner and early-down workhorse.

Losing Haynes immediately shifts carries to sophomore Jordan Marshall for the remainder of the season, who rushed for 142 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries vs. Northwestern.

For now, the Wolverines control their own destiny; beat Maryland and Ohio State, and the CFP berth is theirs to claim.

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