In this era of college football where Power Four programs are preferring experienced athletes through the transfer portal, it is rare for any team to play freshmen this late into the season, let alone
a squad of them.
While the Michigan Wolverines had the No. 29 most experienced returning roster, per ESPN’s preseason rankings, injuries and roster-shuffling have led to the emergence of multiple redshirt and true freshmen who are now playing in crucial moments as they push for a spot in the College Football Playoff.
On offense, Bryce Underwood, Andrew Marsh, Jordan Marshall, Bryson Kuzdzal, Blake Frazier, Jake Guarnera and Andrew Sprague have all played significant roles this year for Michigan. Defensively, Jordan Young posted the third highest PFF grade on Saturday with a 76.9 defensive grade on six snaps, while Jayden Sanders has seen a ton of playing time for the Wolverines. Even edge rusher Nate Marshall has earned more than 20 snaps in a few contests in 2025.
All of this to say, Michigan is going against the grain when it comes to starting young players, and it has been the key to keeping the season afloat despite multiple starters going down.
“I love it — I love the fact that we have these young guys because it really is how you want to build a program, right?” head coach Sherrone Moore said in October. “You want to build it with recruiting, with high school recruits. You want to develop those high school recruits — bring them in, in the culture, and let them see that. And you’re going to use transfers to supplement in different ways. You have to, but I think it’s exciting. It’s exciting for the future.”
The Wolverines are not playing freshmen in garbage time, either. Michigan found itself in a thriller on Saturday, taking a game-winning field goal to walk out of Wrigley Field victorious over Northwestern. That level of trust with freshmen does not just happen overnight or because of a few injuries. It starts in camp, and it grows over an entire season to where the coaches feel comfortable leaning on them with CFP implications on the line.
“No. 1 with me is the trust in the assistant coaches,” defensive coordinator Wink Martindale said on Wednesday. “I think we’ve got a great staff. I always tell you guys that, and those guys have done a tremendous job of building up their room and taking what they have in their room, and we’re reaping the rewards from it. Now later on, towards the end of the season, if they put (freshmen) out there, I’ve got confidence in them because I’ve got confidence in the assistant coaches. And like I said, both the players and the coaches have been outstanding this year.”
Safety TJ Metcalf agrees, as he told reporters on Tuesday: “We had a lot of young guys on the field, too, in those crucial moments. And I just really feel like it was a stepping stone for the Michigan defense. We have a lot of young guys that can come in and step up when we (need) them, and then it’s really an (ode) to the older guys making sure that they are ready for their chance … at a lot of schools, most young guys don’t even get mentioned. Most guys are not even seeing the field. So I really just think that it is a pat on their back for stepping up whenever they are needed, whenever their jersey number is called and are able to get out there and make minimum mistakes.”
Underwood and Marsh connected on 12 passes for 189 yards against Northwestern, including this toe-dragging reception for a third0down conversion to keep the game-winning drive alive.
The defensive drive before, Young had a clutch pass deflection to force a punt to set up the game-winning drive.
It is impossible to say what the outcome would have been if these plays didn’t happen, but with those key plays, Michigan took down a tough team and set up the possibility of sneaking into the CFP.
“When you have a young team, you need them to grow up fast,” FOX analyst Joel Klatt said after the game. “Yes, Michigan is 10 games into the season, but you want to see your young team fight adversity. And that’s what Michigan did on Saturday. The Wolverines might’ve lost the turnover battle, 5-0, and missed two field goals, but this young team battled the rollercoaster and won.
“There’s going to be peaks and there’s going to be valleys. And when you’ve got more youth, if it’s just one freshman on the field, you can kind of weather the storm and you’re not going to ride the roller coaster as much. But when all the players on the field are this young and this inexperienced, you are going to ride the roller coaster, period.”
Michigan will head to Maryland to face another young team in the Terrapins on Saturday before coming home and facing Ohio State. With a lot riding on the season, expectations have only grown in recent weeks — but so has every player on the team, freshman or not.
