5 Michigan players to watch against Iowa football in 2023 Big Ten championship game

IOWA CITY — The Michigan football team Iowa will face in Saturday’s Big Ten championship game has some obvious differences from the team Iowa faced two years ago in Indianapolis, including the starting quarterback, top pass-rusher and other personnel.

But the caliber of talent remains high.

“Faces change, players change, but they still, boy, they’re playing really well,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said of the Wolverines, who were ranked No. 3 in last week’s College Football Playoff rankings.

Here are five Michigan players to watch:

QB J.J. McCarthy

Cade McNamara’s successor at Michigan has thrived this season.

J.J. McCarthy, now in his second year as Michigan’s starting quarterback, has completed 74.3 percent of his passes while throwing 19 touchdowns and four interceptions.

His completion percentage is the highest in the Big Ten by a wide margin, and he also leads the conference with his 176.8 passer rating. (The next-best Big Ten quarterback, Ohio State’s Kyle McCord, has a 161.6 passer rating. Iowa’s Deacon Hill has a 91.3 passer rating.)

McCarthy is coming off a 16-of-20 showing against then-No. 2 Ohio State. He had one touchdown and no interceptions in the Big Ten East-clinching win.

McCarthy beat out McNamara for the starting quarterback job early in the 2022 season. The former five-star recruit went on to complete 64.6 percent of his passes and threw 22 touchdowns versus five interceptions last year.

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RB Blake Corum

Another year of playing Michigan also means another year of Iowa’s defense having to figure out how to stop Blake Corum.

Corum has rushed for at least 950 yards in the last three seasons, and has done so at an efficient clip. He averaged 6.6 yards per carry in 2021 and 5.9 yards per carry in 2022.

Corum’s 4.8 yards per carry in 2023 is not quite up to par with his past seasons, but it still ranks 10th in the Big Ten.

He was a unanimous All-American, a finalist for the Doak Walker Award last year and Michigan’s first recipient of the Big Ten’s Ameche-Dayne Running Back of the Year award.

The Marshall, Va., native has fared especially well in his previous two matchups against the Hawkeyes.

Corum burned Iowa’s defense in the 2021 title game with a 67-yard touchdown run that gave the Wolverines an early 7-0 lead.

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DB Mike Sainristil

Mike Sainristil has emerged as a major threat in Michigan’s secondary this season.

After recording one interception in his first four years in Ann Arbor, Sainristil has five interceptions this season. Only four other FBS players have more interceptions than Sainristil.

He returned two of those five interceptions for touchdowns. The pick-6 on Oct. 21 against Michigan State was a 72-yard return, and the one on Sept. 23 against Rutgers was a 71-yard return.

Opposing receivers have completed 52.6 percent of passes when Sainristil is covering them, according to Pro Football Focus.

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DE Jaylen Harrell

Michigan Coach Jim Harbaugh earlier this year said Jaylen Harrell "makes the magic happen when you need to make it happen,” according to a Detroit News article earlier this month.

The numbers back that up. Harrell is tied for the team lead with 6.5 tackles for loss, and his 5.5 sacks are a team high.

He has made other key contributions that do not necessarily show up in the box score, such as his pressure on Purdue’s Hudson Card earlier this year that led to a bad throw and interception.

Harrell was a four-star recruit coming out of high school, according to 247Sports’ composite ratings, with reported offers from Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Ohio State, Penn State and others.

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WR Roman Wilson

Roman Wilson has been a frequent target for McCarthy this season.

Wilson leads the Wolverines’ receiving corps with 40 catches for 648 yards and 11 touchdowns.

With potentially another three games to go — depending on whether Michigan makes the College Football Playoff and if it wins the semifinal game — Wilson already has shattered his previous career-highs of 25 receptions and 420 receiving yards.

His 11 touchdown receptions are more than in his previous three seasons combined.

Wilson brings a big-play threat to Michigan’s offense. He has recorded at least one 20-plus-yard reception in nine of the Wolverines’ 12 games so far.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com