The Michigan season may be teetering, but the Wolverines still have something NFL evaluators care about: draft-eligible talent trying to steady its stock. With Penn State coming to town Saturday, several of those prospects are at a crossroads, and the bye week only sharpened the questions around a few of them.
Jordan Marshall’s box score from his last outing looks fine enough at first glance - 10 carries, 50 yards and a touchdown. The tape tells a tougher story.
On a crucial third-and-short early against Minnesota, Marshall took a direct snap and went backward. Beyond that one snap, he hasn’t shown the same explosiveness or sure-footed decisiveness that defined his sophomore season, when he piled up 150 carries for 932 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Michigan may not have a better option as its primary runner right now, but through the first part of 2026, Marshall has looked far removed from the player he was a year ago.
On the other side of the ball, John Henry Daley keeps giving Michigan something to hang onto. The Utah transfer backed up his strong start against Minnesota with another productive performance in run defense, helping hold the Golden Gophers to just 3.2 yards per carry.
He also added to his pressure total, which sits at a team-high 12, according to Pro Football Focus. If Michigan is going to claw back into shape in the second half of the season, Daley has to stay that kind of disruptive presence.
Blake Frazier’s season has had more swings, and it stayed that way against Minnesota. Pro Football Focus credited him with one QB hit, but that single snap carried a heavy cost: it helped set up Bryce Underwood’s second interception of the game.
ANOTHER UNDERWOOD INTERCEPTION!@GopherFootball takes it away in back-to-back drives pic.twitter.com/psNaVBOtJm
It’s not fully clear whether the blown assignment belonged to Frazier or tight end Zack Marshall, who was working to the right in the split-zone action. Either way, the breakdown turned into a costly mistake for Michigan.
Jyaire Hill continues to look like one of the defense’s most valuable pieces. Minnesota mostly stayed away from the boundary corner, with Drake Lindsay throwing only two passes in Hill’s direction, including one that was technically behind the line of scrimmage. At 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds, Hill’s size also gives Michigan options beyond cornerback, and he showed that versatility by matching Daley with pressures in Week 5.
In Other News...
Michigan Suddenly Has New Injury Questions Ahead Of Indiana
Michigan is heading into its Week 8 matchup with Indiana carrying a few more health questions than it would like this late in the week. Right tackle Andrew Sprague has already been sidelined since Week 3, and the latest injury report also includes Brady Norton and Blake Frazier as questionable, adding more uncertainty to a position group that has already been juggling availability.
The other new names are Enow Etta and Rod Moore, though Moores issue is not expected to be serious. Even so, the timing is less than ideal for a Michigan team trying to get settled before facing an Indiana squad that enters the week without anyone on its own injury report. For the Wolverines, the bigger concern now is not just who is available, but how many moving parts they can afford to manage. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan's Defensive Front Has A Huge Chance To Flip Indiana Game
Larry Black knows this matchup from both sides of the line. The Michigan defensive tackles coach spent part of his playing career at Indiana, and he still remembers the 2010 meeting when he lined up against his brother Jibreel Black, who was then at Michigan. Now hes helping shape a Wolverines front that could be central to how this one plays out, especially with both teams bringing enough defensive punch to make every possession feel important.
Turnovers may be the biggest swing factor, and Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham has stressed the margin for error there. Black, for his part, sounds eager for the chance to see his group make an imprint against his old program, with the interior defense in position to affect the game in a way that goes beyond the usual box score. For Michigan, the path to controlling Indiana may start with the line of scrimmage, where Blacks background gives this game a little extra edge. [Read more 🡒]
Urban Meyer Sees One Important Thing In Michigan's QB Switch
Michigans quarterback switch at halftime against Penn State was less about making a statement than finding a way to get the offense moving. Bryce Underwood gave way to Tommy Carr after the Wolverines struggled to establish rhythm, and the change gave the staff a fresh look without forcing a wholesale rework of what they wanted to run.
Urban Meyer pointed to one important part of the move: Carrs skill set is close enough to Underwoods that Michigan could keep leaning on the same run-pass menu. That showed up in the second half, when Carr was able to operate the offense on RPOs and quarterback counters and finish a speed option play in the end zone, the kind of continuity coaches hope for when they turn to a backup in the middle of a game. [Read more 🡒]