Justice Haynes injury update: Sherrone Moore explains why Michigan RB was sidelined

It wasn’t the Michigan Wolverines‘ night in Los Angeles, as they’d fall to the USC Trojans 31-13. Plenty would go wrong in that effort, but the offense was certainly affected by the loss of running back Justice Haynes, who was knocked out of the game.

After the game, head coach Sherrone Moore shared what he could in an injury update on Justice Haynes. There, he admitted that while the injury didn’t change their gameplan and he could have potentially played through it, they wanted to play it safe with Haynes.

“The gameplan was the same,” Sherrone Moore said. “We did the same things we were going to do with the gameplan. He’ll be okay. So, we’ll just see how he goes as we go through the week.”

Michigan was able to rush for just 109 yards in the loss to USC. That’s down from the 216.33 yards per game that the Wolverines are averaging on the ground. Part of that does stem from Michigan playing from behind and needing to throw the ball. Part of it stemmed from the loss of Haynes.

This season, Haynes has rushed for 705 yards and eight touchdowns. That’s 7.4 yards per carry and 117.5 yards per game by himself. However, against USC, he only carried the ball 10 times for 51 yards before coming out of the game. Jordan Marshall would, primarily, come in and take the bulk of the carries for Michigan in his absence.

“Yeah, just something in his side,” Moore said. “He came out and was working through it. Probably could’ve went. Extra cautious on student athletes when anything happens to them. Going to make sure they’re okay, but the gameplan was the same.”

Justice Haynes came to Michigan as a transfer from Alabama last offseason. He had previously been a four-star recruit in the Class of 2023, having played his high school football at Buford in Georgia. He was also the 33rd-ranked player nationally and the second-ranked running back in that recruiting cycle.

The hope for Moore and Michigan will be that the injury is something that Haynes can bounce back from quickly. Michigan now sits at 4-2 on the season, and the Wolverines will likely need to be close to perfect from this point on if they’re going to make it to the College Football Playoff. Losing Haynes for any significant period of time would potentially be devastating to those hopes.

Next week, Michigan will return home to Ann Arbor. There, the Wolverines will take on the Washington Huskies on their own cross-country trip in Big Ten play.