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Michigan safety Rod Moore hints at jersey number change

clayton-sayfieby: Clayton Sayfie07/23/25CSayf23
Rod Moore
Michigan Wolverines football safety Rod Moore notched the game-sealing interception in a 30-24 win over Ohio State in 2023. (Photo by Per Kjeldsen / TheWolverine.com)

Michigan Wolverines football graduate safety Rod Moore started his career wearing number 19 (2021-22), before switching to 9 each of the last two seasons (2023-24).

Heading into his fifth and final year with the program, he has teased a change back to No. 19 with multiple posts on Instagram during Michigan’s internal media and photo day.

This spring, linebacker Jason Hewlett was listed at No. 19 on Michigan’s roster, but he transferred out of the program in April. Freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood is also No. 19.

Moore missed the 2024 season with a torn ACL, and is still recovering from having multiple knee surgeries over the last year and a half since going down last March.

He told TheWolverine.com this week that he’s about 80 to 85 percent healthy and hopes to return early in Michigan’s 2025 campaign.

“It’s going pretty good,” Moore said of his recovery on The Wolverine Podcast at the Champions Circle Golf Classic. “I’m probably at about 85 percent — 80, 85 percent. Really, I’ll just know more based off of how camp goes when I’ll be back. Whether that’s the first, second or third game, we don’t know yet.

“It’s going pretty good right now. I’m doing everything — running, cutting, doing a couple of DB drills. It’s just all based on how this month goes.”

Michigan begins fall camp next week, and Moore is already participating in a lot of summer activities.

“Right now, it’s a little bit slower on the rehab side of things, because I’m kinda doing everything, but I have a return-to-play coach that I work with rather than with the group on running days,” the Michigan standout revealed. “I have to come in, stretch, whatever, getting my running in, and then do lifting after that. Either I go do rehab at the facility or I go somewhere else.”

The pain is starting to die down.

“I think I’m gonna have pain for a while; there are different types of pain,” Moore noted. “It’s more like soreness, just because I haven’t done a lot of stuff for about 15 months. That comes with it.”

For his career, Moore has appeared in 37 games with 28 starts. He was a team captain in 2024 and expected to be one again in 2025. He made 48 tackles with 2 interceptions in 2023 and 71 tackles and a team-high 4 picks in 2022.