Ann Arbor is in a state of unease at the moment. As aftershocks from the 2023 sign-stealing scandal continue to rock Michigan, fans have begun preparing for the worst. HC Sherrone Moore is down with a temporary suspension, and more judgments from the NCAA await. 2025 was looking better when Moore and Co., along with a little nudge from Connor Stalions, scored the recruitment of Bryce Underwood. But imagine the 2025 Michigan team without Underwood in the picture. Scary, right?

The rumor mill is up and running as Michigan flies blindly. Underwood made headlines when he flipped his long-term commitment from LSU to Michigan for the glittering $12 million package. His recruitment had things looking up for the Wolverines, and especially for Sherrone Moore, who somehow managed to finish 2024 respectably at 8-5. But Moore is now facing a two-game suspension for deleting his messages with Stalions. Also, the NCAA Committee on Infractions for this whole scandal will sit for a hearing on June 6-7. That can cause the floodgates to open, which would result in penalties and similar punishments.

Fans have therefore speculated that Underwood might want to jump out of this trouble before it catches him. Insider James Yoder of Michigan Football Report broke down these crazy theories. One of them seems to be about Underwood running back to LSU for some respite, because he and his mom were allegedly on a flight to Baton Rouge. The other was Michigan being unable to pay him his due of $12 million, now that all these administrative actions rain down. Yoder dismissed them all as baseless. “[These] are about as wild and, you know, kind of cherry-picked, insane rumors that you can only get in college football.” He likened the situation to an equally absurd picture. Consider LeBron James signing with the Mavericks because he was seen at a 7/11 in Dallas.

Yoder also brought the Wolverines’ no. 1 rival, the Buckeyes, into the mix, “Ohio State podcasters will go and do an entire segment on whether Michigan can’t get the NIL dollars because they’re putting a pause on it, because of the Connor Stalions and the Sherrone Moore suspension, NCAA sanctions looming come June 6th, June 7th, June 8th. And they’re not paying Bryce Underwood the first instalments they had.” Yoder summarized. “I think it’s crazy,” he added. Champion Circle, Michigan’s NIL collective, has some serious money already in stock to have offered Underwood that package. In fact, the scandal repercussions are unlikely to touch his NIL money, since the two are not related to each other.

Imaginations have no limits, and fans have let theirs run wild. However, there is still the threat of a strong blowback from the NCAA, which doesn’t just stop at Sherrone Moore. The blot made by the sign-stealing scandal seems to now leave a permanent stain on Michigan football.

Bryce Underwood fears aside, Sherrone Moore has more to worry about

Josh Pate was candid about what he thought was headed for Michigan. Jim Harbaugh and Connor Stalions, though fired, still stand a chance of show-cause penalties. Moore being suspended for those two games is just the tip of the iceberg, Pate theorized. “I haven’t called our friends at the NCAA and asked them, but my best guess on this is Michigan understands something harsher than a two-game suspension for Sherrone Moore is coming. […] I’ll admit the storm clouds on the horizon look a lot darker than they did a month or two ago.” Pate said.

The situation is so muddled at Ann Arbor that nobody can really plan the next steps. Pate imagined the following as the likely mood at Michigan. “‘Guys, they’re going to hit us. We should probably self-impose.’ And then someone else says, ‘Okay, but let’s be real, we don’t really know what they’re going to come at us with. So don’t go impose harsher sanctions than they’re going to come at us with. For all we know, they’re not going to come at us with much.’” Pate had also suspected that the NCAA could also think of placing a bowl-game suspension as a result. That’s a dark place for the top brass to be in.

Considering how Michigan’s future can turn out, it won’t be abnormal to see Underwood jumping ship and going back to LSU, or anywhere else. Players can stand to see their careers come to a standstill, for no fault of theirs. Until that first week of June, nobody can truly say what will become of Michigan. But like Pate figured, is the program slated for further downfall?