Sherrone Moore on flag planting, Rod Moore's future, 'big' receivers, and more

Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore had a great month, beating Ohio State, landing the nation’s No. 1 player and quarterback, and signing a great recruiting class. The Wolverines planted the flag at midfield in Ohio Stadium for a second time after the victory, but Moore said that tradition might come to an end.

OSU players responded poorly, accosting the U-M players during their celebration and starting a fight. After the game, Moore said he talked to his team and noted everyone had to be better … Wednesday, he said his team would find a different way to celebrate a victory on someone else’s turf.

“I told the team yesterday, we’re not going to plant any[more] flags,” Moore said. “We’re going to go celebrate with the team.”

Someone pointed to the last flag planted and the mural of pictures from the 2022 game in the lobby of Schembechler Hall right in front of Moore and asked if this year’s flag would accompany it.

“But yeah … put it right there,” he said with a chuckle, pointing to the side opposite the 2022 flag.

It was an up and down first season for the first-year Michigan coach, a 7-5 campaign that featured wins over the rivals but three ugly road losses. He’ll continue to learn, understanding his role is “non-stop” when it comes to running the program.

“It’s constant, and it used to just be with the offensive players,” Moore said. “Now, it’s the offensive and defensive and special teams players and their parents, their families. It’s nothing that it’s taught me but more so, like, ‘yeah — you’ve got to turn it on.’ And really, you’ve got to sometimes initiate that. Turn it on, and do it yourself a little bit more than you think you do.

“They’re not always calling you, because they’ve got other people calling you. So, sometimes you’ve got to do the calling. Sometimes you’ve got to reach out more so than you ever have. And you learn as the head coach when you call them. It means a little bit more than when the coordinator calls them, so, I try to do that as much as I can.”

Moore and his G.M., Sean Magee, and other staffers are working on the 2025 roster, having to pare it. We asked specifically if grads Rod Moore and Max Bredeson would be among the returnees, two captains who could be instrumental in next year’s leadership.

“We’ll see. We’re having conversations,” Moore said of Moore. “We’ll have an answer to that soon.” And he responded, “we’ll see … we’ll see” when asked about Bredeson. It seems clear, though, that both are options at this point.

Michigan looking for “big” receivers going forward

Michigan junior Tyler Morris entered the transfer portal, and the Wolverines will need to restock the room next year. They’re looking for bigger bodies, Moore said, and will go that route going forward.

“That was an emphasis for me. I really wanted to add size and length,” he said. “We eally haven’t had a big 6-5 guy since Nico Collins. I’ve had really good players that have played here — Roman Wilson, CJ, all those guys, but we wanted some big guys.

“Just your room, your margin for error for a quarterback … it’s just easier, right?” Moore said. “You throw to Colston Loveland and AJ Barner last year. You throw high to a 6-6 guy, it’s different than throwing high to a 5-11 guy. I wanted to have that variance in our receiving room and felt like we got that with Jamar Browder and Jacob Washington. And Andrew Marsh is the runt, but he’s 6-1 and he’s dynamic with the ball in his hands.”

Marsh was one of the best prep receivers he saw, Moore added.

“I got to watch him live. He’s as good as there is in the country in the wide receiver position,” Moore said. “Jamar was very under-recruited. I’m kind of happy that he was, because we watched his tape. I don’t know what his rating was. I don’t really care. But he’s an elite player. And then Jacob, as well. We had Jacob in camp. Great ball skills. Great [route] detail. Great kid. So, I feel like we got really good in that room.”