Michigan HC Sherrone Moore recaps spring ball heading into final week: 'Fun environment'

The Michigan Wolverines will play the second spring game of the Sherrone Moore era on Saturday in Ann Arbor, capping off this year’s practice circuit that began this winter.

The way Michigan ended the 2024 season was a springboard into what has been a fruitful offseason thus far. Head coach Sherrone Moore spoke to Big Ten Network this week as the spring cycle rounds third base after setting a tone for what this fall might provide.

 ”Just the team feel,” Moore said about what he has liked the most. “I feel like we have a really close team of young men who abide by our motto, ‘team over me.’ Everybody’s done everything right. Everybody has attacked the process. So it’s been fun, man, having great coordinators, great coaches, and even better players. They just made it a fun environment. It’s great to be out on a football field and not sitting in an office and really going to battle.

“It’s been an awesome spring so far.”

The spring has had no shortage of standouts for the Michigan program. The headliners have been on a deeper defensive line.

“The first one I would say is Derrick Moore, our edge rusher, number eight,” Moore said. “He’s been unbelievable. Done a really good job of putting pressure on the quarterbacks and stopping the run. He and TJ Guy, that edge duo. Those guys have been awesome. Not far behind are Cam Brandt and Dom Nichols, so I’m really excited about our D-line as a whole. Tre Williams, the transfer from Clemson, has been awesome. Rayshaun Benny‘s been great.

“On the offensive side of the ball, both quarterbacks have been really good. Jadyn Davis, Bryce Underwood… Mikey Keene has been working through something, and he’s actually throwing here this week, so I feel pretty good about him. Those guys have been taking the bulk of the reps and they’ve been great, and feel like we got an improved receiver core, O-line is building, and doing a great job. So it’s hard to shine it on one guy or two guys.”

Michigan has watched its wide receiver take steps forward, too, namely with the addition of Indiana transfer Donaven McCulley.

“ It feels like a little deeper than years of the past, I feel like we’ve had a good 1-2 or [1-2-3] punch and it feels like there are four or five or six guys who can go make a play,” Moore said. “The impact that our new transfer from Indiana, Donaven McCulley has had on our team has been great. He’s been awesome. Feels like he’s really taken the reins and as a leader in that room.

“But guys like Semaj Morgan, Fred Moore, Channing Goodwin… all those guys have really stepped up, along with I’marion Stewart. And then the young guys like Andrew Marsh and Jamar Browder have really shown up. So it’s gonna be a great group to watch and an exciting group to watch.”

The wideouts figue to have a larger role in the new offense helmed by coordinator Chip Lindsey. The tenants of what Michigan has been will remain with twists and alterations on what has come before.

 ”We’re always gonna have the style, the mentality to run the football and be physical in the run game and in the passing game,” Moore said. “But doing things a little bit differently at times, whether it be movement-wise or past concepts that we’re doing a little bit differently. He’s brought a cool little twist to what we’ve done here before to make it even better.

“I always say that growth and comfort don’t coexist. So you gotta be uncomfortable sometimes and sometimes. I think it’s can look a little different to me in my eyes and the way we’ve done things. So but I’m excited to see how it looks in the future.”

Lindsey has been a shot in the arm for the program and Michigan players have taken to the coordinator, who has been a bit of a fish out of water as a guy with roots in the south.

 He has done an outstanding job and the players love him,” Moore said. “Part of it is his southern accent. They just love messing with him, but he’s very knowledgeable in the game and understands it. Can dissect it very well and bring such a different background of football, being a high school coach and being a spread coach for so long and being a part of a program at Troy and in Auburn. That’s where he really learned to run the football and do different things.

“And then going to North Carolina, he was an offensive coordinator at Arizona State. He’s been a head coach, so he’s got so much experience. That also has helped me to grow a little bit more in my role.”