When Michigan edge rusher John Henry Daley needed a beam of inspiration, during his grueling, seven-month march back from the Achilles injury he sustained in Nov. 2025 while playing for Utah, he looked for it outside football.
“You definitely get encouraged from stories like Jayson Tatum, right?” Daley said. “He’s come back after all that, and got Tyrese Haliburton who’s just coming back into place. There’s a lot of pro guys who’ve gone through the same thing, and being able to see them come back and do all that definitely gives you some hope.”
Tatum and Haliburton — of the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers, respectively — are two of the NBA’s most prominent stars, both serving as the focal points of teams that made the NBA Finals in 2024 and 2025, with Tatum helping lead the Celtics to a championship in 2024. The two were also the most high-profile casualties of the 2025 playoffs, both suffering Achilles tears in the postseason.
An Achilles tear is one of the most debilitating injuries an athlete can suffer. Yet, Tatum and Haliburton have shown proof it might not be a death knell for your career. Tatum’s recovery was a particularly pleasant surprise for the sporting world, as he needed just 10 months to make the turnaround, returning to action in March 2026. Haliburton needed a full season on the sidelines, but he’s healthy and suited up for the Pacers now. And those are both good omens for Daley — who’s actually one-upped their timeline and needed just seven months to return to football activities.
When Daley was injured at the end of the 2025 season, it was a bittersweet capstone to a season to remember. He’d enjoyed a breakout year as one of the Big 12’s most prolific pass rushers, logging a stellar 48 solo tackles and 11.5 sacks in 11 games before tearing his Achilles against Kansas State.
But this didn’t hurt his stock as a vaunted transfer portal target, or stop him from following Kyle Whittingham to Ann Arbor as the crown jewel in the Wolverines’ portal class. And before he could suit up, he spent the first half of 2026 nursing himself back to health, with the help of his surgeon and rehabilitation specialists. And it’s paid dividends so far.
“I’m great, more and more confident every single game.” Daley said. “I feel like I’ve been able to personally get better, and happy about the progress so far. And still got ways to go, but confident.”
Daley’s first game at Michigan was quiet, to the tune of just three tackles. But he’s come to life since, recording a sack in each of the next four games he’s played. He is now up to 19 tackles and four sacks through five games, having only been sidelined for the Minnesota game by an ankle injury.
Daley may not be at full force yet. He has struggled at times to fully stamp his impact on games — usually restricting his influence to a handful of truly impressive plays — and the underlying metrics on his pass rushes suggest he could still maximize his output. But the fact he’s managed to register an impact at all so soon after a serious injury is a sign of what he’s capable of.
“Obviously you have some growing pains whenever you come back from a major injury, especially with the surgery,” Daley said. “...You haven’t played football in so long. You got a rest factor. Also, coming off an injury you’ve never had before, there’s some challenges with that. But just got to attack every day and win every day.”
If Daley had sat out the first few games of the season, no one would be particularly shocked, given the severity of his injury. But he’s back, and he’s already contributing. And perhaps Big Ten quarterbacks should be a tad grateful he’s not 100 percent — because if a pass rusher with four sacks in five games isn’t performing at his peak level, they’re REALLY not going to like what they get when he’s back to full strength.
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