It was an up and down first season for Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore, who’s program endured a stretch of four losses in five games midway through the year.
However, after wins over Ohio State and Alabama to end the regular season, along with a lot of success on the recruiting trail, On3 college football analyst J.D. PicKell has a simple question.
“Who finished the year better than Michigan, on and off the field?” PicKell asked on a recent episode of his podcast. “Michigan [locked] up a Top 10 class on national signing day, including a flip of the No. 1 quarterback in the class of 2025 from LSU to Michigan in Bryce Underwood. You beat your rival, at their place, for the fourth year in a row. Just belt to behind, physical, gritty brand of ball. You beat Alabama…a team a lot of folks viewed as a College Football Playoff team.
If the wins over Ohio State and Alabama, and the signing of Underwood and a Top 10 high school class weren’t enough, the Wolverines have also quietly put together a strong haul in the transfer portal this offseason.
“In addition to all of that, the cherry on top, you’ve got a Top 3 transfer portal class just hanging out,” PicKell said. “I imagine they will build upon that as well.”
All of these factors combined have PicKell extremely high on the path Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore is taking this program into Year 2 of his tenure.
“The trajectory of what Sherrone Moore is doing right now at Michigan is nothing less than elite. Nothing less than elite,” he said.
PicKell noted that some may look at Michigan’s 7-5 regular season record and only see how far the Wolverines took a step back following three straight Big Ten titles and a national championship. However, PicKell is focusing more on the direction and improvement Michigan showed in-season during Moore’s debut year.
“I don’t know if 7-5 moves me, but trajectory moves me. Ingredients move me. What you have in-house moves me,” PicKell said. “You’re telling me the kitchen is going to be stocked in the future here for Sherrone Moore, based on all the talent I just mentioned that they have coming to Ann Arbor. You don’t expect a good meal? You don’t expect them to do something with that?”
PicKell argues that the formula for winning at Michigan remains the same under Moore as it was under former head coach Jim Harbaugh.
“The thing with Michigan, [that] has always been the secret sauce, it’s always been the fact that, hey, straight up we’re tougher than you. We’re more physical than you. We play better together than you. We’re more complimentary than you. And that’s why we win football games.”
“The secret sauce for Michigan, and why I think they beat Alabama and inarguably why they beat Ohio State, is that they do everything well that has nothing to do with talent. They own all those areas. They own all the margins. Everything that doesn’t require talent, Michigan does at a high level.
“That’s what Michigan has been, quite frankly, under Jim Harbaugh as well. When they won the national championship they had a lot of talent, do not hear me incorrectly. But, they did the other things that are really high level as well.”
The question after transitioning from Harbaugh to Moore was whether Michigan could hold on to that identity without their former head coach. There were always reasons for excitement for Moore’s ability to recruit and acquire talent, but the toughness and physical nature would be harder to duplicate without Harbaugh and former head strength coach Ben Herbert.
“With Sherrone Moore now, when he got that job, one thing we said was, okay now if they can keep that secret sauce and then add some more talent to it, Michigan’s going to be a problem,” PicKell said. “Because, Sherrone Moore got the job and his reputation was, ‘This dude recruits.’ He’s going to place an emphasis on getting top talent to Ann Arbor.
“It’s been less than a year: He’s got a Top 10 recruiting class, No. 1 quarterback, Top 3 portal class. Yeah, ingredients are in-house. So, you pair that with the secret sauce, the development, all the things that Michigan does at a really, really high level [and] what’s the limit for Michigan? What could they be in the future?”
That led to PicKell’s final point, which was, if there was ever a year for Michigan’s rivals in the Big Ten to beat them, it was 2024.
“The thing for me is, this was the most ‘gettable’ Michigan…is going to be over course of the next, I would venture to say, five years under Sherrone Moore. They still beat Ohio State, they still beat Alabama, still landed a Top 10 class.
“Momentum is a dangerous thing. A very, very dangerous thing. Because, you take momentum now, you can take that and acquire more talent…What about in ’26 if they go out and win 10 games and make the College Football Playoff? They what’s happening at Michigan? Then what are you saying if you’re Sherrone Moore, able to go market that to recruits?”
Michigan fell well short of its goals in 2024. An 8-5 record, even with wins over the Buckeyes and Crimson Tide, is a far cry from winning conference and national titles. However, it appears as if Moore has laid the foundation of what this program will be under his leadership, and if they final two games were any indication, more good days are ahead for the Wolverines.
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