What is the story about?
Michigan
Football head coach Sherrone Moore met with the media on Monday morning to preview the game this Saturday at Maryland (4 p.m., BTN). Here is a recap of the key things he had to say.
- The team has everything in front of it still with two games left, but things haven’t looked stellar even though the Wolverines are 8-2 overall. When asked about that, Moore said you always want to play meaningful football in November, but there are still a ton of things to improve upon. Offensively, the turnovers need to be cleaned up, and Moore said they’ve been looking over the film to help them fix their issues.
- Going off that, though, Moore was pleased with some things on offense. He said Bryce Underwood was “heroic” to help set up the game-winning field goal — noting the throw to Andrew Marsh on 3rd-and-10, specifically. He and Marsh had some “outstanding” plays, but reiterated they have things to improve upon moving forward.
- When asked if the game plan was to put more on Underwood’s plate, Moore said he saw some things during the bye week that he was progressing on and that he’d be in great position to succeed against Northwestern.
- As always these days, Moore was asked about numerous players dealing with injuries. Tight end Zack Marshall is “doing good … in good shape, looks like he’ll be fine for the week.”
- As for running back Jordan Marshall, Moore said he is considered day-to-day with the shoulder injury he suffered on Saturday. If he isn’t able to go, Moore is confident in Bryson Kuzdzal, who came in relief and played a huge role in the fourth-quarter comeback.
- Regarding Underwood’s two interceptions, Moore said he moved off the target too quick on the first pick, and the second one was a “heat check” type of throw. During those moments where Underwood makes a critical mistake like that, Moore said he goes over to him to keep him call and tells him they still trust him.
- Before a reporter could even get done with his question about if this is a trap game or not: “This is not a trap game — this is a good team. There is nothing about this game that is a trap game. There is zero trap game on this. This is about a really good team that if you don’t play well, you will get beat.” Loud and clear, coach!
- True freshman wideout Andrew Marsh had a breakout game with 12 receptions for 189 yards. Moore was asked about what he saw in him on the recruiting trail, and he said, “Everything you see — ball skills, ability to separate, how smooth he was, and the ability to go make plays.”
- Moore also said that Marsh will, “Yeah, probably, yeah” be the team’s starting punt returner moving forward instead of Semaj Morgan, who fumbled a return against the Wildcats over the weekend. Morgan had 13 returns this season for just 30 yards (long of 13 yards), one muffed punt and one fumble lost. Marsh, meanwhile, returned one punt over the weekend that went for 12 yards.
- “It ate him up having the fumble,” Moore said of Morgan. “He was trying to do so much for the team. He broke like three tackles, but at the end of the day you gotta know when the journey’s over and you gotta get down and you gotta hold the ball at the end. We’ll still support him. We’re gonna need him.”
- Moore said he is “really proud” of the offensive line this year, especially considering there are three redshirt freshmen starters. “I’m proud of the fight and physicality they continue to have … it’s never perfect, but those guys are putting up a great fight and putting us in great positions to win games.”
- The tight ends have not been featured much in the pass game this season. When asked about that for this past game, Moore said it was more of how the game went and they want to get the tight ends going moving forward. “They’ll be targeted throughout the game” over the next two games, per Moore.
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