Wolverine Digest

Michigan Football: Sherrone Moore defends Kalel Mullings amidst calls for suspension

The Wolverines' head coach said Mullings "was trying to be a superhero" during the postgame altercation with Michigan State...

Matt Lounsberry

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As has often been the case in recent years, the annual Michigan-Michigan State rivalry game has sparked debate among the two fanbases, and local reporters of both programs, surrounding an incident that occurred outside of the 60 minutes played on the field.

There has been pregame altercations before, like when the Spartans marched arm-in-arm across the field with Wolverine players stretching and warming up, which ultimately resulted in Michigan linebacker Devin Bush cleating MSU's logo at midfield.

There have also been prior postgame altercations, like the one which occurred two years ago in the Michigan Stadium tunnel when eight Michigan State players were suspended for assaulting U-M defensive backs Jaden McBurrows and Gemon Green after something sparked a conflict in the tunnel moments after the game.

The latest such example came after Michigan State defensive end Anthony Jones and Michigan tight end Colston Loveland sparked, and were at the center of, a postgame skirmish between both teams following the Wolverines' 24-17 win in Ann Arbor on Saturday.

In the wake of that skirmish, Michigan running back Kalel Mullings has been accused of "stomping" on someone associated with MSU, either a staff member or player, during the altercation. As a result, a vocal portion of the Spartan fanbase and Lansing State Journal columnist Graham Couch called for Mullings to be suspended by either the University of Michigan or the Big Ten Conference.

In an appearance on "Costa and Jansen with Heater" on WXYT-FM (97.1) this week, Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore defended Mullings from the accusations, and said the fifth-year senior was one of the Wolverines who were trying to separate the two teams.

"We’ve looked at the film, looked at everything, had our discussions internally," Moore said. "We saw a lot of our guys being positive. I think there’s things out there about Kalel Mullings, he was one of the guys who was trying to be a superhero. He was trying to pull everybody apart. I think our guys were doing the right thing.”

The Big Ten has since stated that "no further action would be taken" after the conference's review of video footage of the incident was deemed "inconclusive", and after the league had discussed the incident with both universities.

Following the postgame skirmish, Loveland was interviewed by Big Ten Network's Brooke Fletcher and asked about the incident.

"Yea, I mean, lil bro stay doing lil bro things, you know." Loveland said. "So, MSU, they're little bro. They can do whatever they want. We know it's going to get chippy, but everything within the confines of the game we do right. And then after, if they wanna get busy, we'll get busy."

During Moore's radio interview this week, the head coach called Loveland's statement "an emotional choice of words."

 “We don’t really want to give bulletin-board material, but we also know the history of the rivalry and what it is," Moore said. "I don’t want the kids to play emotionless, but also we’ve got to be smart with the things we say. He apologized to me about just that, and even talking to the other guys. But a guy that plays with that much passion and emotion, you don’t want to take that way, but we have to be smart with how we handle things.”

Michigan has defeated Michigan State in football for three consecutive seasons for the first time since a six-game winning streak for the Maize and Blue from 2002-07. The Wolverines now turn their attention to a matchup with No. 1 Oregon this coming Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET / CBS).

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Matt Lounsberry
MATT LOUNSBERRY

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