One of the best offseason moves Sherrone Moore made in the lead-up to the 2025 Michigan football season was the hire of Juan Castillo, the long-time NFL offensive line coach.
The offensive line was an issue during the first season under Moore. The Wolverines took a step back with Grant Newsome as the position coach. It was his first season, and he was young, moving over from tight ends coach like Moore once did.
MORE BREAKING: Syracuse is set to hire Juan Castillo as its new offensive line coach according to ESPN. Castillo is a veteran coach with more than 40 years of experience, including more than a decade with the Philadelphia Eagles. More details ⬇️ https://t.co/SrxWk5yCj2
— Mike McAllister (@McAllisterMike1) December 6, 2025
Yet, Moore's unit won the Joe Moore Award in his first season as the offensive line coach. Things didn't go as well for Newsome. That's the veteran coach was added. However, according to Mike McCallister of Syracuse's 247 Sports site, the Orange have hired Castillo away from the Wolverines to be their offensive line coach.
What it means for Michigan football
Castillo wasn't the offensive line coach. He served in the role of analyst this past season, but analysts are allowed to work with players now, when they were not allowed to before. So you can have more than one offensive line coach.
It's hard to say how big a role Castillo played behind the scenes, but the offensive line was much better this season for Michigan football. Despite having three redshirt freshmen starting, the Wolverines had a top-20 rushing offense nationally. They rushed for at least 100 yards in every game this season.
Michigan even had success against Ohio State. Jordan Marshall ran four times for 61 yards before leaving with a shoulder injury. Now, Castillo will be the O-line coach for Syracuse. We'll see if Moore makes a move, but this is a bigger loss than it seems.