Tag: 2025 season countdown

2025 Season Countdown: #19 Brandyn Hillman

Name: Brandyn Hillman
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 200 lbs.
High school: Portsmouth (VA) Churchland
Position: Safety
Class: Junior
Jersey number: #6
Last year: I ranked Hillman #49 and said he would be a backup nickel (LINK). He played in twelve games and made 21 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 1 sack, and 2 pass breakups.
TTB Rating: 83

Hillman seemed to slide into some serious time last season after playing a minor role in 2023, albeit burning his redshirt during the national championship season. He played over 300 snaps in 2024 and turned into a ferocious hitter, perhaps Michigan’s most exciting hitter at safety since Ernest Shazor. A former high school quarterback – a trait I love in defensive players – he should move into an even more prominent role in 2025 now that Makari Paige and Quinten Johnson have moved on.

Michigan has a deep safety group, and Hillman should be in a battle with the likes of Jaden Mangham, T.J. Metcalf, and Rod Moore to start. Moore’s health is a question mark (thus his placement at #20 in the countdown), and Metcalf seems a likely pick for the nickel spot. That could leave the trio of Hillman, Mangham, and Moore playing safety – keeping a third starter-level player available to be insurance for Moore – and Metcalf as a chess piece who can be moved around a little bit.

Prediction: Starting safety

2025 Season Countdown: #20 Rod Moore

Name: Rod Moore
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 198 lbs.
High school: Clayton (OH) Northmont
Position: Safety
Class: Fifth year senior
Jersey number: #19
Last year: I did not rank Moore. He missed the season with a knee injury.
TTB Rating: 72

Rod Moore has been a mainstay in Michigan’s lineup since 2021. He has been a captain and has been named All-Big Ten in the past. Altogether, he has 141 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 0.5 sacks, 6 interceptions, and 7 pass breakups in his career.

So why is he ranked at #20?

Well, unfortunately, Moore was bitten by the injury bug in the spring of 2024 and has really struggled to recover since then. He missed the 2024 season and has had multiple setbacks, causing him to miss spring practices this year, too. His status for 2025 is an unknown at this point, and even if he plays, will he be back to his previous form?

Other players are saying he’s like another coach on the field, but will he even be on the field this fall? And how much, if at all?

Due to the uncertainty, I’m ranking him at #20. With the numerous setbacks, I’m guessing he will not be available for the full season and will probably be a step slower than he used to be. I’m hoping that’s not the case, but Michigan does have a pretty deep safety group with Brandyn Hillman, Jaden Mangham, T.J. Metcalf, and several others available to step in if needed.

Prediction: Starting safety (if healthy)

2025 Season Countdown: #21 Justice Haynes

Name: Justice Haynes
Height: 5’11″
Weight: 210 lbs.
High school: Buford (GA) Buford
Position: Running back
Class: Junior
Jersey number: #22
Last year: Haynes played for Alabama. He started six games and ran 79 times for 448 yards and 7 touchdowns; he also caught 17 passes for 99 yards.
TTB Rating: N/A

A second straight transfer in the countdown, Haynes started half the games last year for the Alabama Crimson Tide and would have played against Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl if not for entering the transfer portal. Despite starting six games, his only 100+ yard performance came against Western Kentucky in the season opener when he ran 4 times for 102 yards and 1 score, including an 85-yard touchdown. Otherwise, his rushing output never topped 79 yards. He did reel off four straight games with a touchdown score, including three against ranked teams. So while the overall totals weren’t great, there was some steady production. (Quarterback Jalen Milroe and running back Jam Miller led the team with 168 and 145 rushing attempts, respectively.)

With Kalel Mullings and Donovan Edwards off to the NFL, Michigan needed someone else to step in at running back. Cole Cabana transferred to Western Michigan after the season, and Ben Hall transferred to North Carolina after spending the spring trying to duke it out with Haynes for a role in the 1-2 combo with Jordan Marshall. Haynes and Marshall seem like very similar running backs, guys who have some power, some speed, and some vision, and Michigan’s offense should roll smoothly with those two guys in the backfield. But after Haynes, there is a major question mark, because the remaining backs are totally unproven at the FBS level. Massachusetts transfer C.J. Hester already re-entered the transfer portal, and Princeton transfer John Volker will fight with Micah Ka’apana and a couple freshmen for the #3 job. That means Marshall and Haynes are both pretty valuable commodities.

Over the last five full seasons (not counting the 2020 COVID season), Michigan’s #2 running back has never had fewer than 119 carries and has averaged about 130 carries per year. If that trickles over into 2025, Haynes should be touching the ball about 135-140 times once you factor in a few receptions. Haynes has a chance to be an integral part of an offense that intends to beat up opposing defenses.

Prediction: Backup running back

2025 Season Countdown: #22 Tre Williams

Name: Tre Williams
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 320 lbs.
High school: Washington (DC) St. John’s
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Sixth year senior
Jersey number: #0
Last year: Williams played for Clemson. He started three games and made 14 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and 2 pass breakups over fourteen contests.
TTB Rating: N/A

Williams comes to Michigan from Clemson, and I’m going out on a little bit of a limb ranking him up here at #22 but there’s a reason. Williams’s performance in Death Valley has not been outstanding over the years, but when I watch the film, I see a guy that I think has some good potential. He’s a little on the short side and can get swallowed up by offensive linemen once in a while, but his quickness is intriguing and I think he’s the defensive tackle (outside of Rayshaun Benny) most likely to create a pass rush. That would be a big deal for a defensive tackle group that lost Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant.

When I watched Williams at Clemson, I really think there are a couple small changes he can make to improve, and they mostly have to do with leverage and hand placement. If defensive line coach Lou Esposito can get Williams to play a little bit lower “with his hands above his eyeballs,” I think he’s going to generate some push on the interior that will make it very difficult for opposing quarterbacks to escape since they’ll be hemmed in by some quality pass rushers on the edge. Alabama transfer Damon Payne may be a better run stopper, but Williams has the potential to get in the backfield and make some splashier plays.

Prediction: Starting defensive tackle

2025 Season Countdown: #23 Greg Tarr

Name: Greg Tarr
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 220 lbs.
High school: Washington (MI) Romeo
Position: Long snapper
Class: Sixth year senior
Jersey number: #45
Last year: I ranked Tarr #51 and said he would be a backup long snapper (LINK). He played in two games.
TTB Rating: N/A

For two seasons in a row, I can basically write the same thing:

Last year I predicted Tarr to be the backup long snapper, and he played in two games.

Rinse, wash, repeat.

It seems like Tarr has been in Ann Arbor forever, and in fact, his career started in 2020.

That’s so far in the past that a guy named Donald Trump was president of the United States when Tarr first set foot on campus.

Crazy, right?

What in the name of Grover Cleveland is going on here?!?!?!

Anyway, Tarr stepped in for an injured Will Wagner all the way back in 2022 and started nine games. He did a mighty fine job, and yet he has barely played the past two years.

It seems the 2025 season is everything Tarr has been waiting for since Cade McNamara yoinked the starting quarterback job from Joe Milton.

I assume Tarr is still good, because he was good and also Michigan’s long snappers have been good. As others have said for a long time, the only time you really hear a long snapper’s name is when something goes wrong, so let this be the last time you hear Tarr’s name until the 6th round of the NFL Draft in 2026.

Prediction: Starting long snapper