Michigan held its annual spring match on Saturday afternoon in Michigan Stadium with the blue team defeating the corn team 17-0.
Here are the biggest dishes to remember from the Michigan spring match.
Bryce Underwood is promising in the beginning
The statistics line is not the best, but Underwood certainly had its moments in a 17-0 victory for the blue team. Underwood was 12 out of 26 for 187 yards with a passing touch and interception. Underwood’s interception seemed to be bad communication on a deep ball, while his passage pass was 88 yards on the last game of the match at Jalen Hoffman during a launch of Fleas-Flee-Fleas.
Underwood had a good stature in his pocket and was aware that it was time for him to avoid the pressure and throw the race. The talent of Underwood’s arm seems to be of high level, but during a windy day in Ann Arbor, it had its share of quasi-rare and balls which were sailing by a wide margin (with more than one handful that came out of the goal area or out of the limits).
Jadyn Davis struggle
Michigan fans were able to see Jadyn Davis L’Eling after he did not appear in a match last year and Redshirt in the first year. Davis played the whole match for the corn team, going 6 out of 17 for 74 yards with two interceptions and four bags. Davis had trouble with precision, missing some short, intermediate and deep players with some of these incompleteness that occurs despite the open receivers. Many Davis difficulties can be attributed to an incoherent leg set (throwing the back, throwing the platform). Davis’ play of legs often looked like that of a short stop that throws out of money instead of keeping its feet and arms in synchronization. Davis also picked up blind bags via the two-handed tactile variety (without tackling the quarter-back in the spring match), where if it was a real match with a real tackle, he would have made a huge blow on the back. The spring game was a small sample of Jadyn Davis in an glorified melee, therefore, this assessment of him is far from final and we wish to the young QB.
First overview of judge Haynes
The ball carrier Justin Haynes was transferred to Michigan via Alabama during the offseason and has a strong chance, with Jordan Marshall, to be the RB1 of Michigan this season. Haynes looked powerful and versatile in a limited spring game action, rushing on 51 yards on six races, which is an impressive clip of 8.5 yards per race. The addition of Haynes could be a big one and it was exciting to see it in action.
Book players shine
Something great in the spring game is to see the reserve players shining. In the Michigan 2025 spring match, maybe no player shines but Jalen Hoffman, the tight wing. Hoffman had seven targets and caught them every seven for 148, including the 88 yards. Hoffman has not yet recorded a reception in two seasons in Michigan, but he clearly has a strong relationship with Bryce Underwood, and it will be interesting to see if Hoffman could be a surprise contributor during the 2025 campaign.
Another reserve player who had a beautiful afternoon was the Ballon Kuzdal ball carrier, who rushed to 105 yards on 14 races for the corn team. Kuzdal was a prospect of two stars in the promotion of 2023 and contributed to special teams in his career in Michigan. Kuzdal ran with physics and good acceleration gusts to have an objectively impressive day. Even if Kuzdal does not receive many races in 2025, he showed that he was a hard athlete who will contribute at the very least to special teams.
Defense plays admirably
Corn and blue defenses have played well. Here are some stars.
- Cole Sullivan had 7 plated (5 solo) for the corn team with a bag
- Rayshaun Benny had a bag for the corn team
- Tevis Metcalf had an interception for the corn team
- Four players had a bag for the blue team (Dominic Nichols, Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng, Chibi Anwunah, Ludgard Edokpayi).
- Jeremiah Lowe had two interceptions for the blue team.
- Shamari Earls had 5 plated for the blue team, which were all solo.
The defenses played with good efforts from start to finish. There were hard plated, battles in the trenches and solid coverage in secondary. In short, the defense looked difficult and played with Hustle. 2025 will be the defensive coordinator of Michigan Wink Martindale, the second year of work, and it seems that his unit has a good understanding of the defensive scheme and the vision.
It’s still April
We are still far from the opening of the Michigan season against the New Mexico on August 30 and seeing two hours of a team in April will not provide the ideas necessary to say what is the floor or the ceiling of a team or will be. Bryce Underwood is only 17 years old, the real first -year students and transfer players are still acclimatized in the Michigan game book, the Michigan’s attacking coordinator, Chip Lindsey, still sets up his program, and players still have months to reach their power and packaging goals before the arrival of the fall camp. There is a lot of work to do, and there is still a lot of time for Michigan to be the best version of itself in 2025 – it is still in April.
