Most of the Michigan coverage focuses on Bryce Underwood. But football is a team sport, and there are other emerging stars among the Wolverines. And none among them is bigger than Sherrone Moore’s explosive RB Justice Haynes, whose run game made the Huskers numb last week. He is the nation’s 6th leading rusher, averaging 129.3 yards a game. Interestingly, four weeks into the season, he is topping the conference charts.

He is also leading the Big 10. Moreover, no one else in the rest of the conference is even near Haynes. After turning heads with his performance of 149 rushing yards on 17 carries and a 75-yard touchdown score against Nebraska, Haynes became the Big 10 rushing yards leader. The user Swanky Wolverine shared it on X. “Justice Haynes is your B1G Rushing Yards leader 🔥.” The post has a graphic that shows the next 4 RBs in the list. But no one is close. Haynes’ 537 yards is on an island. He has literally set himself apart from the competition.

Following Haynes, there’s Nebraska’s Emmett Johnson with 391 yards, then Jonah Coleman with 347 yards, Antwan Raymond with 310 yards, and Kaelon Black with 306 yards. Haynes is rushing for 100 yards or more in every game this season, which is the longest streak since Blake Corum had eight consecutive 100-yard rushing games in 2022. There’s no Ohio State player in the top 5.

Compare Hayner’s output with the No. 1 team in the country, and you can see that Ohio State’s running game is still a work in progress. DJ Donaldson, James Peoples, Isaiah West, and Bo Jackson have not stood out in terms of numbers. But that is also because Brian Hartline follows a committee approach where all the backs get to touch the rock. Donaldson and Peoples remain at the top, but surprisingly, Jackson is averaging over 12 yards/carry. On the other hand, Haynes, the Alabama transfer, gets the major share of the workload in the backfield.

Last season, Justice Haynes showed up in 12 games, starting in 6, where he recorded 448 yards with 7 TDs on 79 rushes. And his best game was against Western Kentucky, where he led all the rushers with 102 yards and a touchdown on only 4 carries. Haynes even got to the end zone from 85 yards away, which is Michigan’s 7th-longest touchdown run in program history. “He has good vision, and he has excellent acceleration,” Biff Poggi said. “And as you see, we’ve played at some really good places with good, fast secondary players here and at Oklahoma. He has finishing speed.” But this explosiveness didn’t come overnight.

It’s the result of his constant grind and a vision Haynes carried this offseason. “I’ve always been myself,” Haynes said. “It’s all about the work. It’s all about the how, like Coach (Sherrone) Moore preaches. I worked on my speed a little bit more, and I feel like I also took a step in the mental game as far as reaction stuff. That’s really helped me be able to see things better on the field.” But even with the on-field success, Haynes couldn’t avoid the off-field drama.

Justice Haynes and Bryce Underwood get into a heated argument

Even though Michigan came in shining against the Huskers, their loss against Oklahoma turned real ugly on the sidelines. Bryce Underwood and Justice Haynes got into a fight. It all started when Michigan was trailing behind 7-0 in the first half and had a very important third-and-2 play. But the play failed.

Michigan tried a field goal and did not push ahead for a touchdown. And that became the breaking point for Haynes as he got frustrated because the play wasn’t handled well and even burst in anger, pointing straight at Bryce Underwood. That’s when things got out of control as Underwood fired back at Haynes for his blame game and ran to confront him. Within a blink of an eye their argument turned into a nasty verbal fight.

For that game, Underwood completed 9-for-24 for 142 yards, and Haynes recorded 125 yards on 19 carries. But after this heated argument, social media started criticizing Underwood’s NIL deal. Fans started comparing his $10.5 million NIL deal with his upsetting performance against the Sooners. Underwood did turn things around against the Huskers, but that argument did raise many questions. So, was it really Haynes’ frustration over losing, or did Underwood mess up the play?