ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Three Michigan football players spoke Friday for the first time since their head coach, Sherrone Moore, was fired and arrested.
Tight end Marlin Klein, linebacker Jimmy Rolder, and defensive back Zeke Berry all spoke Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, ahead of No. 18 Michigan’s Citrus Bowl matchup with No. 13 Texas.
Moore was taken into custody on Dec. 10 after the university fired him for allegedly having an inappropriate relationship with another staff member.
Moore is then accused of going to that staff member’s home and threatening himself or her with kitchen knives. He’s charged with third-degree home invasion, stalking, and “breaking and entering or entering without breaking.”
During Friday’s interviews, all three players faced almost exclusively questions about Moore and how the team has responded to the events of the last nine days.
Here’s what they said:
Marlin Klein
Klein, a team captain, was the first to speak.
“It’s been a difficult time, as everybody knows,” Klein said. “I think the most important thing for us is staying together, sticking together, and really keeping the locker room clean, and really just all sticking together and making sure everyone’s doing good mentally.”
Klein faced several questions about all the controversy that has surrounded the football program during his college career, from the sign stealing saga to Matt Weiss’ arrest to the recent Moore situation.
“I’ve been through it all,” Klein said. “But I wouldn’t change it for anything. I think it’s a part of the journey, being a part of all the stuff that has happened here.
“But I’m not a guy that’s going to focus on the bad part. I’ve also got a bunch of rings sitting in my room, and those are the things that I’m proud of -- beating our rivals, winning the big games, winning the national championship, multiple Big Ten championships. So I’m not going to, when I leave this place, focus on just the bad things that happened here.
“But obviously, while you’re here, you’re going to have to deal with that and overcome it, and I think we have the best people in the building to help us overcome it, and we wouldn’t be able to do it without our brothers in the locker room.”
Klein, who has another year of eligibility, said he would never transfer from Michigan to another college. He said he will either return for another season or enter the NFL draft -- that decision has not yet been made.
“When tough times come around, it’s really, ‘What are you going to rely on?’” Klein said. “For us, it’s been coming to this building, trying to get better every single day, and preparing for Texas. At the end of the day, bad stuff is going to happen to good people. We’re all great people, and bad stuff’s going to happen, and that’s just a part of life. Life is not this beautiful, easy thing. Hard things will come around, and it’s just going to prepare us for our after Michigan, the rest of our life.”
Interim head coach Biff Poggi said this week that Michigan players felt “betrayed” by the situation with Moore. Klein was asked if that’s the case.
“I can’t speak on all the other guys and how they felt,” Klein said. “What I can speak on is Coach Moore was the person that gave me the chance to change my life forever and change my family’s life. Coming here to Michigan, offering me in 10th grade and really then ending up being the head coach here. I think a lot of guys got recruited by him that are on this team right now, and it’s a hard time seeing a guy like that, when stuff like that happens. You feel for him and you pray for him and his family, but for me right now, it’s really just I’m not focused on myself, I’m going to focus on the stuff that’s going on with Coach Moore outside of this building. I’m just focused on helping my brothers out and making sure they’re all good.
“I don’t think I’ve really been able to process it myself. I think for me right now it’s just been trying to figure out how to help all these other guys, how to help these younger guys. They have all the other things going on. Everybody’s in their ear -- family members, friends, ‘Oh, you should transfer, you should do this,’ you know? At the end of the day, it’s Michigan. You don’t come here for one coach. You don’t come here for one staff member, for one quarterback, linebacker, whatever it is. You come here for the brand. The Block M. That’s why I chose to come here, and that’s what paid off over the past four years.”
He was asked what the players’ reactions were on Dec. 10, when the entire situation unfolded.
“Yeah, it was a tough time,” Klein said. “It was tough because everybody got recruited by Coach Moore. Everybody had a relationship with him on and off the field for multiple years. We’ve known that guy for five or six years now, and everybody kind of has a bond to him where he’s the head coach, your position coach, the offensive coordinator, whatever it was at that time. You have a relationship with him and it’s hard to see him be in that situation and his family. But for me right now, it’s just trying to get over it as soon as possible so that I can be the best version of myself for the guys in the locker room.”
He was asked if he thinks the Block M still represents what it did when he got to Michigan.
“Absolutely. The Block M, Michigan means everything to me,” Klein said. “It means everything to my family. It gave me the chance to change my life forever and I think all the stuff that has happened has happened for a reason. I believe that everything happens for a reason, and I don’t think two, three, four, five people can take down what the Block M means.
“It’s been tough for a certain amount of time for the last four years, but in the long run, people are going to look at the good things, and not just the bad things.”
Jimmy Rolder
Rolder faced many of the same questions as Klein about his reaction to what’s happened with his head coach.
“It was just a little bit of a shocking experience, but it happened and we’ve just got to move on from it,” Rolder said. “The whole program’s got to move on from it. It’s in the past now.”
Rolder said he was shocked and blindsided when the news broke.
“Everyone’s just really rallying together,” Rolder said. “You can feel that brotherhood just coming together and just building. Everyone’s got each other’s back. If anyone needs to talk, it’s an open environment for everyone and anyone. Everyone’s just there for each other.”
Rolder said he has not reached out to Moore and he didn’t pay attention to the national coverage of what was going on, such as the arraignment.
“When it happened, obviously, no one really knew how to react or what to do, but we really just rallied around Coach Biff, and at the end of the day, it’s about the players here, and he’s been voicing that a bunch to us, so we just come in and put in the work every single day because we’ve got a big game coming up on New Year’s Eve, so that’s all we’re really focused on,” Rolder said. “The players just rally around Coach Biff because we love him, he’s done a great job, and we care for him, and he cares about us a lot, so it hasn’t been too hard shifting gears, getting back into bowl prep.
“Despite everything that’s been going on, it’s still a program of utmost respect and the blue collar mentality.”
Zeke Berry
Berry, the final player to speak, was also asked about whether players feel betrayed.
“I guess you could say that, yeah,” Berry said. “It’s probably different for different people, but I feel like that’s a good thing that, like, for most people that do feel like that.
“I just feel let down by the decisions that were made.”
He said he agrees with Rolder’s description of being blindsided and shocked.
“I feel like it’s definitely changed a lot of the players’ focus,” Berry said. “Being that that happened, a lot of players were down, but something that he said was, ‘Don’t let someone else’s decisions affect your emotions,’ and that’s something that’s stuck with me, and I’ve been trying to think about it every day to keep pressing on.”
All three players said they have not reached out to Moore since his firing and arrest.