Michigan RBs coach praises Jordan Marshall's role: 'He's very, very selfless'

The Michigan Wolverines came into the season expecting to run out a tailback tandem that saw Justice Haynes and Jordan Marshall get almost equal run. Haynes has since pulled away after a strong and historic start to the season as the first U-M player to run for 100 or more yards in his first five games.

Haynes has 654 yards and 8 touchdowns on 85 carries thus far, while Marshall has taken more of a support role with 45 carries for 233 yards and 3 scores. Despite the change in dynamic, Michigan running backs coach Tony Alford has praised Marshall’s attitude through the early part of the season.

“Jordan’s been great,” Alford said on Wednesday. “He’s done a great job. He’s very, very selfless and just an unselfish player. He came in with all these people talking high accolades as far as what the expectations were, and he’s met those expectations as far as we go within the building. He’s a great teammate.

“Is he giving up some carries for the betterment of the team? Obviously, Justice is taking those carries, and he hasn’t complained one bit. He’s been great. He’s been great in the meeting room. He’s a leader. I’m not displeased with the way he’s playing because any opportunities he gets, he does well. And so it’s been working so far.”

Haynes has been one of the best running backs in the country early this season and a potential Heisman Trophy sleeper. Michigan figures as long as he is rolling that he will continue to get the first crack.

“Yeah, “I think that Justice so far, through five games, has done exceptionally well,” Alford said. “We kind of like to say we go with the hot hand, and he’s, in some regard, had the hot hand, if you will. And so we’ve gone with it, and that can flip and change at any moment, as we know. So I feel like we have two guys that can really go in and play as starters. We still believe that and hold true to that. And one guy’s got more opportunities right now, as we’ve said so far.”

Alford admitted he thought going into the season it would be more of a 50-50 dynamic, but Haynes has earned the opportunity to be Michigan’s bellcow moving forward.

“I’ve got to be honest, I hadn’t really given a ton of thought to it until we really started going,” Alford said. “But originally, I would have thought it would have been more 50-50. But as the season has progressed, it’s kind of flipped a little bit. And slanted [Haynes’] way a little bit. And, again, that’s not to say that someone hasn’t done a good job. I think it’s really attributed to the success that he’s had.

“[Haynes has] excelled in some areas. And like anything else, if somebody’s doing well, you continue to give them those opportunities. Obviously, he’s shown some big play potential in every game. Every game is some big run. And he’s shown the ability to be able to take one to the house pretty much at any given time.

“We’ve got to continue to work on some other things. But he’s done a good job holistically within our offense.”

Michigan and its run game will look to keep its strong start to the season going when it heads to USC on Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff on NBC.