Orlando notebook: Jordan Marshall wants 'to be at Michigan,' Wink Martindale 'emotional' about past month at U-M

Michigan Wolverines football sophomore running back Jordan Marshall is 68 yards away from a 1,000-yard rushing season, one of the stellar players on a Maize and Blue team that will cap off a trying 2025 season with a Dec. 31 Citrus Bowl clash against Texas.

The Wolverines have undergone a lot of change over the last three weeks, with head coach Sherrone Moore fired with cause for an inappropriate relationship with a staff member, and interim head coach Biff Poggi taking over in the interim. On Dec. 26, former Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham was hired as the program’s 22nd leader, and he joined the team Saturday in Orlando, making his introduction in a meeting. Marshall was impressed with that he heard.

“I talked to him yesterday,” Marshall said. “Good energy. Said what a coach is supposed to say, said the right things. Brings intensity, for sure. I really like that about him. Definitely is somebody that the team — when I talked to guys — that they’re like, ‘This guy seems like he’s going to be good,’ but it’s supposed to be like that after the first impression.”

Marshall was asked if he plans to be at Michigan next season.

“For me, I’m just going to keep getting to know him, keep getting to know his staff and communicate with him,” the Michigan standout said. “I want to be at Michigan, and if everything works out, I want to be here. I love this place, truly.”

While Marshall isn’t eligible to enter the 2026 NFL Draft, the transfer portal will open for U-M players Dec. 31, five days after the hire was made official, per NCAA rules.

Marshall is an underclassman but one of the top leaders on the Michigan team, and he’s had a big voice over the last month.

“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,” he said. “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, no matter … It’s football at the end of the day. Every time we step out there, we come together as a team. 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 have to do every single day, and attack those 15 days.”

Wink Martindale emotional about situation at Michigan

Michigan defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, like the rest of the Wolverines’ staff from the Moore era, has an uncertain future. He was asked about how tough the last few weeks at Michigan has been and delivered an answer that showed he’s more concerned about others than himself.

“I don’t know if you ‘handle it,’ is the right word,” the Michigan coach said. “It’s a tough situation. It’s a tough situation because … first of all, I know what we signed up for in coaching, in the profession itself. Moving … my wife has moved enough.

“It was tough. It’s hard, because of not only the relationships you have, [but] we’ve become family because we actually spend more time — as far as the coaches themselves, the assistants — more time together than we do with our families.

“I’m to the point where I want to look out for them. I want to get them a job and whatever else comes for from it. But they’re professionals. They’ve prepared the same way for this game as they have every other game.

“I was talking to [senior linebacker] Jimmy [Rolder] about it, the Twitter and everything else, it’s entertainment for people to see all of this, but — I’m getting emotional talking about it — it’s real life. There are little ones that have to be uprooted from school and things like that. It sucks.