TRANSCRIPT: Michigan's Jordan Marshall, Steve Casula pre-Citrus Bowl media availability

Opening Statement

CASULA: Hey, everybody, happy to be here. Really excited to be in the state of Florida playing in this game. It’s great to have some warm weather.

It’s been cold in Michigan, so we’re excited to be here, have had a good two and a half, three weeks of bowl prep, pumped for the game, really proud of our players and staff, how they’ve approached this game. Very excited for it.

On the offensive gameplan

CASULA: Sure, so the most important thing is to be mindful of finding a way to play complementary football to win the game. I think what can’t be lost in all of this is that we’re competing for win 1,022 overall. We have an opportunity to win our 10th game, which I believe would make us the 33rd team to do that at the University of Michigan.

So that’s what matters most. So putting that into practice, being in charge of the offense, okay, what are we best at, who’s best at doing what, being mindful of that, showcasing our players, giving them the best chance to be successful. So that’s the only goal, number one, is to win the game.

I think we’ve got good players, I know we do, that have continued to get better. Having a young unit and a young team, having these extra, I think by the time we play it will be almost 15 practices, have been critical. We’ve been really mindful and thoughtful about time on task and feel really good about where we’re at.

On Jordan Marshall’s growth in leadership

MARSHALL: Just getting the younger guys ready to go and play and attack every single day. It’s a long bowl prep and we can’t have days wasted, and that was a big thing we looked at during the three weeks. Just attacking every single day, no matter what’s going to happen at Michigan, it’s football at the end of the day.

So every time we step out there, we come together as a team, we trust in Coach Casullo, we trust in our coaches that are there. We go out there and just put our best out there on the field. That’s what we had to do every single day and attack those 15 days.

On how practice in Orlando was

CASULA: Here, yesterday? Yeah. Oh, it was outstanding. We were running around out there with the sun out. It was not very long, but we had good energy and kids practiced well. It was good.

On whether the players have met Coach Whittingham

MARSHALL: Yeah, we got to talk to him yesterday and good energy. He did what a coach is supposed to say, said the right things and brings intensity for sure.

I really like that about him and definitely is somebody that the team, when I talked to guys, that they were like, this guy seems like he’s going to be good, but he’s supposed to be like that after the first impression. And for me, I’m just going to keep getting to know him, keep getting to know his staff and communicate with him. I want to be at Michigan, and if everything works out, I want to be here.

I love this place, truly.

On what the offense is hoping to show against Texas

MARSHALL: I mean, you saw what Coach Casula did last year, so that’s our plan is to go in and trust him. And when Coach Biff said he was going to be calling the plays, nobody was scared. They know what Casula can do and know how smart and how he puts his players in the best position.

And he did that for me last year, and he’s going to do that for me and the other guys out there on Wednesday.

On what the offense has emphasized to play physical and fast

CASULA: Yeah, so we haven’t spent as much time out there, so it’s been a similar amount of reps but in a condensed time. I think physicality has forever been a big part of the identity of Michigan football, so we’ve been mindful and thoughtful about that. But physicality applies to every position.

It applies to how you run the ball, how you pass, protect, how you run routes. So it’s certainly something that’s been on the forefront of our minds. And I think something that Coach Pogey’s done that’s been outstanding is we’ve spent more time doing, quote, unquote, good on good or what we refer to as Michigan against Michigan, particularly early in bowl prep when we were a little bit further out from the game.

So it really kind of mimicked a mini fall camp or spring ball, those competitive periods where you really don’t have a choice but to be at your best and be the most physical and don’t misunderstand me. What we refer to as our look teams or, you know, scout teams. Some people call them demo teams.

They’re great, and they do an outstanding job. But when your best is going against the defense’s best and vice versa, I think it gets you ready to play the game at a higher level.

On the Texas defense

MARSHALL: I mean, for us, watching film and breaking the game plan down, obviously they have a lot of guys not playing, but, I mean, it’s Texas. They have good players just like we have good players, and some people aren’t playing. It doesn’t matter.

These are two powerhouse schools that are going to be a good game on Wednesday, and it’s just exciting to go against a defense like that with top players and top guys on their team.

CASULA: Obviously there’s a level of familiarity in some regards. You know, we played in week two of 2024. Like anything else, they’ve changed. We’ve changed. Players have changed. There’s been tweaks to the scheme.

But, obviously, Jordan just touched on it. Like, yeah, there’s going to be some players not playing for them, but we were in the same circumstance a year ago. You know, we had some players not play against Alabama, and we still performed pretty well.

So our expectation, they’re a healthy program, a deep program. Texas is no different than ourselves. But great respect for their defense from top to bottom.

They have a very, very special player at defensive end. Coach Nansen has a ton of experience coaching and calling defense. So we know that they’ll be ready to play.

And, you know, when we played them in 2024, forget who the players were or what the schemes were or anything, just in totality, they were one of the most well-coached teams, in my opinion, that we had encountered in my time here at Michigan. So our expectation would be that, you know, we would kind of encounter the same thing on Wednesday.

On the turmoil within the team and whether it’s been hard to focus on football

MARSHALL: I would say no, just because how close we are as a family, as just players. We talk about always being a player-led team. And obviously it sucks to have our leader go out.

But I truly believe everything happens for a reason, and we’re going to get stronger from that moment. And it’s just bringing our players together to accomplish something greater than honestly that I can see. And you truly get to see what type of guys you have in your program when things like that happen.

And to be around Bryce and Marsh and Zach and all these amazing guys to help each other, that’s what football is about. And I’ve loved every single day and getting back to just being myself and playing football. And that’s what everybody does.

When we step out there, like I said, you just go play. It’s the only game that you can’t let everything else affect it. And you only have a certain amount of time to play this game.

So it’s truly a blessing, and just have fun.

On Marshall’s health and the status of his shoulder

MARSHALL: The healthy part is I’m still just trying to get strong on my shoulder, obviously just taking it day by day and excited to go out there and play again.

On operating not knowing what the future holds

CASULA: To answer your question, any time that it’s been tough to think about what’s next, like it doesn’t take much motivation, but to look at the faces of our players, where the guys you’re coaching with, that you’re in it with, and the first opportunity I had to speak to the guys, I touched on that subject. It’s going to be easy to think about what’s next. I stress to them, think about what’s been best about their experience here, how blessed we all are to be here.

And I think at that time this was ten days out from the game, if my memory serves me correct, maybe a little bit more. And I said, let’s just do everything in our power in the next 10, 11, 12 days, whatever it was, to go get that next win, to enjoy our time together. And don’t be focused on what’s next.

Don’t be focused on any of the negative. Be focused and thoughtful. And remember the best moments that you or we or anyone has had here.

So that’s what we’ve tried to do. So I’ve tried to, on a personal level, practice what I preach to the guys. So that’s not to mean that there’s unknown, sure, all that kind of stuff.

But if you get a chance to really know our young people, our players, like it’s not difficult to be motivated to go do your best for them. And, you know, Coach Wink early on said this, you know, we’re professionals as coaches. And the expectation is we’re going to go coach and win the game.

And that’s, you know, that’s certainly the goal. And the human element of it is to reiterate what Jordan said, how close, you know, our players are and feel like we owe it to them to go give them our absolute best.

On young players the program is looking forward to getting an opportunity

CASULA: There will be some guys that get different or new opportunities. I think what’s unique about this bowl game, different than a year ago for us, is, you know, the majority of our guys on offense that have played the kind of the majority of the year are playing in the game. You know, we’ve had one guy opt out to get ready for the NFL draft, which I think was touched on or announced yesterday.

You know, Max Bredeson isn’t going to be able to play. But save for that, you know, we’re kind of rolling. So, I don’t know that it’s going to be necessarily a ton of new faces, perhaps, because we played with so much.

And I mean this as a positive. We had so many new faces play throughout the year. But I can’t wait to watch Bryce Underwood after 15 more practices.

I really can’t wait to watch him. I feel the same way about Andrew Marsh. Bryson Kuzdal has been outstanding.

I can’t wait to watch Donovan McCulley play in his first, you know, college bowl game. That’s something that was really important to him and a goal of his. And he’s really practiced well.

The tight ends, you know, we play a lot of them. So, you know, selfishly I’m always excited for those dudes without a doubt. But, no, I think it’s more it’s different than a year ago where we had a lot of different guys kind of get, I think you said, their first run or, you know, first play.

This is going to be more, you know, it’s almost like I said, like when you get ready for one of these bowl games, and I’ve made this comment before, people that think that, you know, because this is a non-tournament bowl game, like this is so valuable to the development of a college football team and a college football player. Like I can’t wait to watch, you know, 15 more practice Bryce Underwood play or Andrew Marsh, like I said. So, really excited about not just our young players, but some of our veteran players to go out the right way and accomplish some of their goals as well.