Jake Moody is Michigan Football’s secret X-Factor

When you think of the most important player on the team, your mind might race immediately to a quarterback and you’d be right to assume something like that. However, this season the true X-factor that Michigan football has deep in its arsenal of weapons is Jake Moody.

Moody saved the season multiple times this year and unequivocally has been the unsung hero for the Michigan Wolverines. However, this is not a case like the offensive line where they got absolutely no credit, it’s quite the inverse.

Moody took away a plethora of awards and honors this year. Some of those awards include the Bakken-Andersen Big Ten Kicker of the Year award, which makes it the first time a Michigan Kicker won it, the Lou Groza Award which is the award for the Nationals best kicker, also another first for the Wolverines to take home.

To put the cherry on top of a historic season for Moody, he was named a consensus All-American.

Here are three instances in which Moody stepped up and saved the day for the Wolverines.

at Nebraska, October 9th

Jake Moody to me, is honestly the key reason Michigan football is where it is at right now. Let’s rewind to that cold early October game in Lincoln Nebraska.

Michigan struggled offensively for a lot of the game, most specifically in the red zone. Moody did not shy away from the spotlight, instead, he shined going 4/4 hitting two field goals late in the 4th Quarter, one eventually being the game-winning field goal.

An all-time performance from Money Moody catapulted Michigan into serious playoff conversations. Moody went into Lincoln Nebraska unnerved and came out adding four more field goals to his resume. You can’t teach clutch, you have to have it, and Moody has it.

at Michigan State, October 30th

On an even colder afternoon in East Lansing, Jake Moody was not playing around hitting 4/4 on the day and putting up 15 points single-handedly. This was during a time when Michigan’s offense was not getting it done in the red zone. For Jake to consistently perform at this high of a level on stages as big as the ones he has been on, is mind-boggling.

Even though the result was not exactly what the Wolverines wanted, Moody did his job to the best of his ability and put Michigan football in position to win the game by putting points up on the board.

Moody was single-handedly responsible for nearly half of the Wolverines points against Michigan State which is unbelievable.

Moody’s legacy in Ann Arbor

Moody’s performance this year was nothing short of iconic. The unranked, 5’11, 170lb Kicker from Pinckney, MI stained himself in the record books in Ann Arbor and will forever be immortalized as one of the best Kickers of all time in Ann Arbor.

Word’s do not do justice to how important Moody’s role has been this season, and while he’s not had to do much work lately, because the offense is finally clicking, it’s great to know Michigan football has such a versatile weapon they can use to get points when needed.

Key Accolades at Michigan (via mgoblue.com)

• Consensus All-American (2021)
• Bakken-Andersen Big Ten Kicker of the Year (2021), the first in Michigan history
• All-Big Ten performer (first team, coaches; third team, media, 2021)
• U-M’s first-ever Lou Groza Award winner (2021)
• Recipient of the 2018 Team Rookie of the Year Award (Special Teams)
• In his first game place kicking (Indiana, Nov. 17, 2018), set Michigan records for single-game kick scoring (19 points) and most made field goals in a game (6)
• Currently extending program records for single-season PATs (56) and single-season points by a kicker (123) during the 2021 season
• Lou Groza Award Star of the Week (Nov. 1, 2021) following his 15-point game at Michigan State