{"id":2785,"date":"2025-09-18T18:49:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T18:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/09\/18\/michigan-eager-for-rod-moores-potential-return\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T18:49:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T18:49:15","slug":"michigan-eager-for-rod-moores-potential-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/09\/18\/michigan-eager-for-rod-moores-potential-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan eager for Rod Moore&#8217;s potential return"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>LaMar Morgan, the No. 21 Michigan football team\u2019s defensive backs coach, has four children. When his mother comes home to visit, he admitted Wednesday, there\u2019s a short adjustment period.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Rod Moore, the Wolverines\u2019 senior defensive back, hasn\u2019t played football in 618 days. When he returns, Morgan expects something similar.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mom hasn\u2019t had a baby for a long time, so it\u2019s a little rusty when she gets to the house,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cBut now we have four of them, and she\u2019s over all the time, she\u2019s right back in it, right? Rod, you have a little rust here and there, but once the ball snaps and he gets in there, it\u2019ll be just like the mother\u2019s intuition of coming back out there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moore stood on the sidelines through the first three games this season, more than a year removed from a torn ACL and meniscus he sustained back in March 2024, waiting for a certain feeling.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 250px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 90px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not really like any strength thing or speed, nothing like that,\u201d Moore said Aug. 21. \u201cIt\u2019s just trusting my leg, like knowing, \u2018OK, if they throw a deep ball, I don\u2019t have to second guess on if I gotta jump or if I gotta turn a different direction.\u2019 \u2026 I don\u2019t want to put any bad tape out there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moore felt a sense of that two weeks ago in Norman. Yet after the game versus <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/football\/no-15-michigan-folds-under-pressure-and-falls-to-no-18-oklahoma-24-13\/\">Oklahoma<\/a>, Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said that Rod\u2019s desire to return was overruled by the coaching staff\u2019s best judgement. Last week against Central Michigan, Rod dressed and warmed up with the defense for the second consecutive week before not playing a snap in the Wolverines\u2019 lopsided <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/football\/bryce-underwood-displays-all-dimensions-in-no-23-michigans-63-3-win-over-central-michigan\/\">win<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, Michigan interim coach Biff Poggi said Rod could\u2019ve played against the Chippewas, and that he\u2019s confident \u201cyou\u2019ll see Rod this week at Nebraska.\u201d Whether or not it\u2019s in Lincoln, Rod will be returning to a room full of defensive backs younger than him.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Due to junior Zeke Berry\u2019s injury, freshman Jayden Sanders filled in at corner last Saturday. Junior Jyaire Hill and junior Brandyn Hillman both saw significant snaps. In the second half, freshman Elijah Dotson caught his first career interception. Without Rod or Berry,\u00a0this is a group experiencing some growing pains.<\/p>\n<p>There have been missed tackles, spotty coverage and miscommunication. This is a room that is learning as it goes. Morgan knows that.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-2{min-height: 250px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-2{min-height: 90px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s going to be hiccups here and there,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to be perfect, but I do think the effort is there. The care factor is high. We got to execute. \u2026 Our mistakes are glaring. There are things that we just continue to work on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More than just being who he has shown he can be on the field, Rod\u2019s return addresses an additional, intangible void. Even throughout his rehabilitation, Rod has led as a captain. It\u2019s not on any stat sheet, but the comfort that teammates feel when a veteran anchors the defense is significant.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a calming factor,\u201d Morgan said. \u201c\u2026 Guys like to be on the field with you, because they know you know what\u2019s going on, and the communication. He\u2019s like a coach on the field. \u2026 You get a leader and a role model.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no saying how Rod will look upon his return, or if that return will come Saturday. But as the Wolverines see it, getting Rod back means more than just a return of production on the field.<\/p>\n<aside>\n<div class=\"newspack-popup-container newspack-popup hidden  newspack-inline-popup      \" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#000\" id=\"id_162162\" data-segments=\"\" data-frequency=\"0,0,0,month\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Please consider donating to The Michigan Daily<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LaMar Morgan, the No. 21 Michigan football team\u2019s defensive backs coach, has four children. When his mother comes home to visit, he admitted Wednesday, there\u2019s a short adjustment period.\u00a0 Rod Moore, the Wolverines\u2019 senior defensive back, hasn\u2019t played football in 618 days. When he returns, Morgan expects something similar. \u201cMy mom hasn\u2019t had a baby [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[2948,222,2767,71,954,2949],"class_list":{"0":"post-2785","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-eager","9":"tag-michigan","10":"tag-moores","11":"tag-potential","12":"tag-return","13":"tag-rod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2785"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2787,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2785\/revisions\/2787"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}