The Michigan Wolverines not only left Los Angeles with a loss over the weekend, but they were also down one of their top players on the team.
Running back Justice Haynes suffered a mid-section injury in the second quarter against USC on Saturday night. Even though he was deemed probable to return to the game — per the radio and TV broadcasts — Haynes never went back in. The Wolverines sure could have used him, as they lost, 31-13, to the Trojans and had very little juice offensively after he left
the game.
Speaking to reporters on Monday morning, head coach Sherrone Moore gave an encouraging update on Haynes’ status heading into this weekend’s game at the Big House against Washington.
“Good. He was there yesterday, so we’ll see how the week goes, but feel good about it,” Moore said.
Haynes has been Michigan’s offensive catalyst this season and is among the top running backs in the entire country. He has 705 yards (No. 5 in the country) and eight touchdowns on 95 attempts (7.4 yards per carry), and ran for more than 100 yards in each of the first five games prior to getting hurt at USC. He was on pace to go above the century mark again on Saturday, as he had 51 yards on 10 carries before his injury.
With Haynes out, the Wolverines relied on Jordan Marshall to carry the load at the running back position against the Trojans. He posted modest numbers — 14 carries for 68 yards (4.9 yards per carry). He is a quality player in his own right, but he doesn’t provide the explosiveness on the ground that Haynes does. Haynes has five runs of 40 or more yards this year and is capable of breaking off a long run at any moment. Marshall has some speed to his game, too, but we haven’t seen him break off long runs consistently like we have with Haynes.
Getting Haynes back for this upcoming weekend is paramount. The Huskies boast the No. 8 rush defense in the country and limit their opponents to 83.2 rushing yards per game. Two weeks ago, the Wolverines faced the No. 1 rush defense at the time in the Wisconsin Badgers and ran for 175 yards; Haynes had 117 of those yards, so it would be really nice to get him back for this matchup.
Michigan vs Washington is set for a noon kickoff this Saturday on FOX.
