'Leader in every respect': RB Jordan Marshall set to carry Michigan
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Change is already underway for Michigan football.
Quarterback Bryce Underwood held a youth football camp in Saline, Michigan, in June and said one of the biggest developments so far has been more demand.
Yes, from the coaches, but also from the "player-led team."
There were a plethora of changes to the Wolverines' roster this past season, with more than two dozen transfers leaving, more than a dozen players leaving for the NFL or running out of eligibility and then 16 transfers coming in to go along with 24 new freshmen.
On top of the player turnover, the Wolverines replaced every coach but one from last year's regular season staff as part of a new era of U-M football. With all attrition, the onus has fallen on the players who were already at Michigan to set the tone.
That goes even further for junior running back Jordan Marshall.
"To lead," running backs coach Tony Alford told the Free Press last month of his expectation for the expected starting tailback. "Be a great leader, help enforce accountability amongst the football team, which means he's got to be accountable to himself first. The expectations are for him to forge a path that this is how you practice, this is how you go about your daily business, and to be a pros pro.
"That's my expectation, and I believe if he does those things, then the stuff that he so desires individually will come along with it."
Marshall found himself as the No. 2 in the rotation early on last season after Justice Haynes had an early breakout, but when Haynes suffered some mid-season injuries − one to his midsection, then a season-ending broken foot − the Cincinnati native took on a much bigger role.
He had a four-game stretch where he ran for at least 110 yards and one touchdown in every game, but his season was also cut short when he suffered a shoulder injury in the fourth quarter against Northwestern in mid-November.
Marshall sat out the following week to try and heal for Ohio State, but after just eight carries (which went for an efficient 61 yards, including a 36-yarder on the opening drive) Marshall had to shut it down in an eventual 27-9 loss to the Buckeyes.
Marshall finished his first year as a key fixture in the backfield with 150 carries, 932 yards and 10 touchdowns − all of which led the team or tied for the lead. A returning running back in Ann Arbor is rarely overlooked, but Alford believes Marshall is.
Yes, for what he does for U-M on the field, but even more for what he does for the room behind the scenes.
"I think he's a phenomenal football player," Alford said. "He's a great leader. He's a tough guy. He's a man's man. He stands when he stands on what he says.
"That's why I have so much respect for him, and so I don't have a problem putting him out front in our room [to set the tone] … [But] if there's something's going on I don't like amongst the room, then I'll turn to him, say 'yeah, well, I'm pissed at you, because you're letting it go on.'"
New coach Kyle Whittingham said to the Free Press earlier in the summer that there will no longer be a rule about needing to be a senior to be a captain or represent the Wolverines at Big Ten Media Days. Not only is the face of the program, Bryce Underwood, one of the first players who will lead that shift, but set to join him in Chicago at the end of this month for the unofficial start to football season will be Marshall.
Whittingham raved about the way Marshall handled the coaching transition and how even though five-star Savion Hiter is coming into the fold and potentially threatening the rising junior's playing time, he has taken him under his wing.
"Favorite part of Jordan for me is who he is as a person," Whittingham said. "He's a great person, he's a leader in every respect. He is a guy that − the supreme function of a leader is to set the bar and then demand everyone live up to that. That's him, that's Jordan to a T. He is a guy that leads by example. He's constantly encouraging teammates, everything that you would expect from a leader you get from Jordan Marshall.
"Now, on top of that, he's a really good football player, he's got the body for a running back … he's a proven commodity. Had a really good year last year, nearly 1,000 yards and so we're gonna lean on him and Savion very heavily this year."
Tony Garcia is the Michigan beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 'Leader in every respect': RB Jordan Marshall set to carry Michigan
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