Joel Klatt believes in Michigan in 2025: 'Wink Martindale figured it out'

Michigan Wolverines football had one of the more interesting seasons in recent program history in 2024. On one hand, the year was disappointing. Coming off a national championship in 2023, the Wolverines lost five regular-season games. But in another respect, the Wolverines still accomplished their goals of winning rivalry games, beating Michigan State and pulling off an epic win over Ohio State in Columbus.

Next comes a pivotal second season for head coach Sherrone Moore, who took over in 2024 following Jim Harbaugh’s departure to the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers.

Expectations are high internally, and Michigan is showing up on ‘way-too-early’ and ‘post-spring’ top 25 rankings by different national voices. Count Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt in the camp of believers. He has the Maize and Blue No. 12 in his post-spring rankings.

Klatt’s optimism with Michigan starts with the defense. Coordinator Wink Martindale is back for a second season, and his group turned a corner in the back half of last year.

“Here’s why I believe in Michigan,” Klatt began on his podcast. “Last year, they beat USC, they beat Ohio State, they beat Alabama. And in those games, you know what their offense did? Virtually nothing. Virtually nothing!

“And specifically in that game against Alabama, remember, all the guys that were going to the draft weren’t playing in that game. So they stopped [quarterback] Jalen Milroe and Alabama basically with the group of guys that are gonna be playing this year.

“Wink Martindale figured it out. I thought early in the year there were growing pains with him coming back to college. He had to dumb it down. He’s too smart. Wink Martindale is too smart of a defensive coordinator, and they, at times, were doing a little too much. They simplified a little bit, he learned the college game a little bit more — the tendencies of it — and that defense took off in the second half of the year.”

Michigan has only six home games this season, meaning it’ll go on the road for six tilts, including at Oklahoma in week two. Moore is expected to be suspended for the Sept. 13 home clash versus Central Michigan and the Sept. 20 road trip at Nebraska, providing some unique challenges, too.

However, the Michigan offense may be improved under first-year coordinator Chip Lindsey, who served in the same role at North Carolina the previous two seasons.

“So because of that, that’s gonna allow their offense to get its footing,” Klatt continued, pointing to the defense. “Now, they’ve got that tough game early in the year against Oklahoma. But think about it, man, they beat Ohio State, they beat Alabama. And in those two games, they had 234 yards and then 190 yards of offense. That’s it! So, they don’t need to be great on the offensive side.

“They bring in Chip Lindsey as their new offensive coordinator, and now it’s gonna be kind of a wait and see of who’s gonna be the quarterback, and that was a lot of what we had last year. And I think we’re gonna have that again next year.

“This is not a ranking that has anything to do with [freshman quarterback] Bryce Underwood. This is defense. This is Sherrone Moore. It’s philosophy.”

The offense is where Michigan’s upside comes in. Underwood was the No. 1 overall recruit for a reason, and he was impressive during the team’s 15 spring practices. He and graduate Mikey Keene — a Fresno State transfer who missed spring practices due to injury — will compete for the starting job.

Michigan lost running back Kalel Mullings and tight end Colston Loveland, its two most productive offensive players a year ago, but improved quarterback play could go a long way.

“We’ll see what the offense actually is,” Klatt noted. “Now, if the offense is good, this is a top-10 team. So, that’s when we get into like, what could they possibly be? Is it Bryce Underwood? Is it Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene there to bridge whatever gap there might be? Keene has started 34 games in his career at UCF and then Fresno. So, is it the talented true freshman, is it the experienced transfer? We’ll wait and see.

“I’ve got my questions about what they have on the outside. But again, the defense is going to be very good. I know they have to replace [defensive tackle] Mason Graham, I know they have to replace [defensive tackle] Kenneth Grant, I know they have to replace [cornerback] Will Johnson. But that defense, even without those players, largely stopped Alabama in that bowl game when they got that win