• Fourteen (14) players have made their first career starts this fall: wide receiver Kendrick Bell, center Greg Crippen, tackle Andrew Gentry, center Dominick Giudice, tight end Marlin Klein, right tackle Evan Link, wide receivers Fredrick Moore and Peyton O’Leary, quarterback Alex Orji, quarterback Davis Warren on offense; defensive back Zeke Berry, edge TJ Guy, defensive back Jyaire Hill, and edge Derrick Moore on defense.
• Another eight players have made their first career starts as Wolverines after earning starting assignments at their previous institutions: C.J. Charleston (wide receiver), Josh Priebe (offensive line), Jack Tuttle (quarterback), Jaishawn Barham (linebacker), Aamir Hall (cornerback) Ernest Hausmann (linebacker), Josaiah Stewart (edge), and Dominic Zvada (kicker).
• Seventeen (17) Wolverines have made collegiate debuts this season: Chibi Anwunah (edge), Manuel Beigel (defensive line), Mason Curtis (defensive back), Jo’Ziah Edmond (defensive back), Jake Guarnera (offensive line), Channing Goodwin (wide receiver), Hogan Hansen (tight end), Jason Hewlett (linebacker), Breeon Ishmail (edge), Ike Iwunnah (defensive line), Dominic Nichols (edge), Jacob Oden (defensive back), Bryson Kuzdzal (running back), Evan Link (offensive line), Jordan Marshall (running back), Andrew Sprague (offensive line), and Cole Sullivan (linebacker).
• Pro Football Focus (PFF) grades U-M well in the following categories: overall (25th, 90.3), rushing offense (36th, 84.0), defense (tied-fifth, 92.7), rushing defense (fourth, 92.3), pass rush (first, 91.4), and special teams (28th, 81.9).
• Entering the season, Kalel Mullings had a career-long run of 23 yards (at Minnesota, 2023). So far this season he has five runs of at least 30 yards: 30 (touchdown), 30, 38, 53 (touchdown), and 63 yards.
• Mullings has seven rushing touchdowns this season. He is tied as Pro Football Focus’ No. 14-graded rusher (88.2), averaging 3.83 yards after contact per attempt. He’s lost only 11 yards on 123 attempts this year.
• Both Mullings (5.64) and Donovan Edwards (4.66) have productive yards-per-carry numbers. Mullings ranks 30th overall with 694 rushing yards.
• Edwards is also just 34 yards shy of setting the career receiving yards record by a running back at Michigan, currently held by Anthony Thomas (810 yards). He’s currently tied with B.J. Askew (777 yards) for second place.
• According to the Big Ten Network, Edwards is the only Big Ten running back this century with multiple touchdown rushes, receptions, and passes.
• Tight end Colston Loveland has been the leader or co-leader in receptions for U-M in every game he has played this season (seven), with 42 total catches. Loveland’s 60 total targets are third in the nation among FBS tight ends.
• Loveland remains highly efficient, averaging 2.74 yards per route run according to PFF. That figure is seventh in the country among FBS tight ends (minimum 24 targets) and second among Big Ten tight ends.
• Loveland moved into third place all-time in touchdowns among U-M tight ends with his ninth and tenth career scores against Michigan State (next: Jake Butt, 11). Both of his two-score games in his career have come against the Spartans. Loveland’s six touchdowns this season place him second all-time in the single-season tight end category at U-M.
• With six catches for 67 yards last weekend, Loveland posted his 11th career game over 50 receiving yards. Among U-M tight ends, only Jake Butt (12, 2013-16) had more in his career.
• Loveland is at 103 career receptions, third all-time among U-M tight ends. He is fourth among tight ends in program history with 1,295 receiving yards (next: Jim Mandich, 119 catches, 1,508). Loveland is the 28th player in program history with 100-plus catches in his career and just the third tight end.
• After his first pass resulted in an incompletion, quarterback Davis Warren completed 10 consecutive attempts to end the first half against MSU with 79 yards, including the 10-yard touchdown pass to Loveland.
• Loveland also caught a two-point conversion from Edwards. It was the fourth pass of Edwards’ career; he is now four-for-four passing for 136 yards with two touchdowns.
• U-M posted 6.0 tackles for loss and 3.0 sacks against the Spartans. The Wolverines have had at least six TFL in all five Big Ten games, totaling 37 tackles for loss and 17 sacks. Both of those figures lead the league in conference play.
• Opponents have struggled to run the ball effectively on the Wolverines, averaging 3.4 yards per carry against the 15th-ranked unit (101 yards per game).
• USC’s Woody Marks reached exactly 100 rushing yards on 13 carries against U-M. He and MSU’s Nate Carter (118 yards on 19 carries) are the lone 100-yard rushers U-M has suffered this season.
• The Wolverines rank 25th nationally in sacks (2.63 per game), led by Josaiah Stewart‘s 6.5. Stewart ranks ninth in the country in sacks and in league play, his 5.5 sacks rank second in the Big Ten with one fewer game played; Graham ranks tied-fifth (3.5).
• Stewart has at least a share of a sack in four consecutive games (2.0 vs. USC, 1.0 vs. Washington, 0.5 vs. Illinois, 1.0 vs. Michigan State). His win rate of 27.5 percent is No. 2 in the nation (minimum 70 pass rush snaps). Derrick Moore (23.2, fifth) and TJ Guy (21.9, seventh) are also among the nation’s best in pass rush win rate.
• U-M co-leads the Big Ten outright in sacks (17) and tackles for loss (37.0) in conference play, with at least six tackles for loss in all five league games so far.
• Kenneth Grant (two fumble recoveries), Zeke Berry (one interception, one fumble forced/recovered) and Will Johnson (two interceptions) are tied for the team lead in turnovers. Six different players are responsible for U-M’s nine total turnovers (three fumble recoveries, six interceptions).
• Sixteen (16) different players have broken up passes for the defense this year including six different defensive linemen/edge rushers. Jyaire Hill leads the team with eight (including one interception) and Kenneth Grant leads all defensive linemen with has four. Hill has at least one pass breakup in seven of the team’s eight games.
• Grant has been active in this area throughout his career; he had six breakups in 2023, giving him 10 for his career, the highest total among any U-M defensive linemen in history. Across 2023 and 2024 combined, the defensive line has been responsible for more than a quarter (25.4 percent) of the team’s total pass breakups (10-of-41 in 2024; 18-of-69 in 2023).
• Among FBS interior defensive linemen, Mason Graham is credited with the sixth-most pressures (23; sacks, hits, hurries), and the most among Big Ten DL. He’s the league’s top-graded run defender (90.9), third in the nation overall, and ranks tied-fourth in run stops (20).
• Ernest Hausmann leads the U-M defense with 56 tackles, 10 clear of the next-highest total. Hausmann set a Michigan career-high with 12 tackles at Washington, matching his best career total at Nebraska, and registered nine solos against Minnesota, also a Michigan-best. He has nine-plus tackles in three of the last four games.
• Tommy Doman is the tied-14th-graded punter in the nation by PFF (77.3) among those with at least 20 attempts. The 19 fair catches he’s forced are two off the national lead and two off the Big Ten lead.
• Doman is also a weapon on kickoffs, with 23 touchbacks on 37 kickoffs (62.2 percent). U-M is 13th in the nation in kick return defense (15.75 yards per return, on average).
• Doman, whose pro-style approach meshes hangtime with distance to give U-M effective coverage units, ranks eighth in the country and second in the Big Ten in average hangtime (4.22 seconds) among punters with 20-plus attempts.
• Dominic Zvada is 9-for-10 this year (one blocked). He is tied for the U-M career record with four made field goals at 50-plus yards and is the first U-M kicker with four field goals of 50-plus yards in the same season.
• Zvada is one of six kickers with four or more conversions at 50-plus yards, but only one of three (FSU’s Ryan Fitzgerald, Pittsburgh’s Ben Sauls) who has gone four-for-four on such kicks.
