Sixth-year Michigan safety Rod Moore met with the media on Wednesday afternoon to discuss a variety of topics, but most importantly, to provide an injury update.
Moore suffered a severe knee injury in the spring of 2024 and has scarcely played since. After missing all of 2024, he returned against Nebraska in 2025 and registered his first defensive snap since the National Championship Game against Washington. A week later against Wisconsin, he appeared to be back to his old ways by making a key tackle
in space and securing his first interception since “calling game” against Ohio State in 2023.
However, there was more to the story.
“Last year I came back against Nebraska and was still feeling pain or whatever. Before the Wisconsin game, I got, I want to say it was a cortisone injection, two days before the game,” Moore said. “I didn’t practice that whole week and then I came in Saturday and I was like, ‘I don’t feel anything.’ That’s why I played like that (against Wisconsin). But then Sunday morning, everything just felt the same.”
The following week against USC, Moore tried to gut through it. He registered a season-high in tackles (four), but the Wolverines were blown out by the Trojans, 31-13, and Moore knew his season was over.
Some assumed it would be the last we ever saw of him in a Michigan uniform. However, the two-time team captain was granted a sixth year of eligibility in January and received another knee surgery — his third total — that finally gave him hope of returning to 100 percent.
“I think now — I had a clean-up surgery in January,” Moore said. “We was cleaning up scar tissue that was really bothering my knee, all the clicking and stuff, and that’s gone. And right now, I’m really back and returning to play. I’m about to be back in practice here soon. I probably felt the best that I’ve felt ever since I tore my ACL.”
Despite a secondary overflowing with talent and experience, any room with Moore in it is better. Moore has as many interceptions in his career as Zeke Berry, Jyaire Hill and Mason Curtis combined. It’s hard to find a player on par with his football IQ, and as the defense transitions to a new scheme, he becomes even more invaluable with his rare ability to process and communicate.
Moore returns to Ann Arbor for his final collegiate season with 147 career tackles and seven interceptions to his name. He is also likely to become the only three-time team captain in Michigan history. And if Moore is truly back to pre-injury form, he will have an opportunity to be the best safety in the Big Ten, if not the country.
