Coming off a bye week, Michigan was surprisingly more short-handed than the Wolverines were expected to be, especially with a week off. The biggest question mark on Michigan's final injury report was tight end Zach Marshall, who didn't pop up as OUT until that last report.
The last anyone had heard about Marshall was the days after the Minnesota loss, when some of his private messages on social media were leaked, painting him in a bad light. Marshall was frustrated with the state of the offense, especially after the loss to the Golden Gophers, and blamed offensive coordinator Jason Beck for a lot of the problems.
Marshall ended up apologizing via social media, but it looks like Whittingham might have given him a punishment for what he said. In his Monday presser, Whittingham said that Marshall missed the Penn State game due to a non-injury situation, but did not elaborate further on what that situation was.
#Michigan HC Kyle Whittingham says TE Zack Marshall was out for a non-injury situation this past game.
— Brice Marich (@BriceMarich) October 19, 2026
Now, this is total speculation on whether or not Marshall's absence was due to a punishment from Whittingham, but it makes the most sense when you think about it.
Zack Marshall's comments weren't a good look, but he wasn't completely wrong
After the Minnesota loss, everyone was frustrated with Michigan's offense both inside the facilities and outside of them. Nothing was going right for the offense, and the frustration clearly boiled over for Marshall. Unfortunately for him, messages that he believed would remain private were leaked, putting him in the spotlight for the wrong reasons.
While what Marshall said may not have been the best look, he wasn't completely wrong in what he was getting at. Beck has not been the best offensive coordinator at times this season. There has been some questionable playcalling at times from Beck, especially when it came to helping Bryce Underwood, who Marshall said was a really good QB, and Beck was the problem.
Marshall didn't exactly say things in the nicest manner about Beck, but he wasn't completely wrong in terms of Beck possibly being the problem. Sure, some might say that when Underwood got benched against Penn State and Tommy Carr came into the game, it was clear that Underwood was the problem because the offense finally got going under Carr.
However, it's not like Beck opened up the playbook for Carr either. Beck continued to call a very conservative game instead of trusting his quarterback. Underwood has shown he just might not have it to be the starter, but if Michigan wants the offense to take a step forward with Carr, Beck needs to trust the guy under center.
So, sure, Marshall maybe didn't go about things the right way with what he said about the offense and Beck, but he wasn't fully wrong. If Whittingham did sit him for the leaked texts, hopefully it was just a one-game suspension, and Marshall can be back on the field for the Wolverines against Indiana, where they will need all the help they can get against the Hoosiers.
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