When news broke minutes before the Orange Bowl that Jabrill Peppers would not be playing, some probably assumed the worst.

“Oh, boy. Another Christian McCaffrey/Leonard Fournette situation.”

Multiple reports indicated that Peppers suffered a hamstring injury in practice that prevented him from playing. He spent the entire game in the press box. After Michigan’s crushing 33-32 Orange Bowl loss — what could’ve been Peppers’ last game for Michigan — he addressed all of those issues.

Had Michigan been playing on Saturday, Peppers said his hamstring would’ve had enough time to heal. But with tears in his eyes, Peppers said he couldn’t run on it:

As for whether or not the injury was the real reason he sat, Peppers referenced his insurance policy (via MLive):

https://twitter.com/RedditCFB/status/815078731127595013

Here’s what Jim Harbaugh had to say about Peppers’ injury:

Many Michigan fans were probably wondering why Peppers wasn’t on the sidelines cheering his teammates on. He said that decision was Harbaugh’s.

Harbaugh said it would be “a spectacle” if Peppers was on the sidelines:

https://twitter.com/chengelis/status/815070094242017280

The big question is when or if Peppers will declare for the NFL draft. As expected, he was asked about that on Friday night.

Also as expected, he didn’t have a definitive answer. Peppers said that he plans on waiting as long as he can to make that decision.

Underclassmen have until Jan. 16 to make that decision. If he leaves Michigan, he’ll leave having never played in a postseason game.

Even though Peppers is projected as a first-round pick, first-round picks have waited on the NFL before. Needless to say, that would be Harbaugh’s biggest verbal pledge yet.