The Michigan Wolverines are coming off a huge upset victory over the Oklahoma Sooners and are now preparing for the non-conference finale vs UTEP this Saturday (3:30 p.m., BTN). Head coach Kyle Whittingham met with the media on Monday morning to preview the game and give his final thoughts on the Oklahoma matchup.
Here are some key points he made:
A pair of major injury updates
The Wolverines have been without a couple five-star trench players so far this year in offensive lineman Andrew Babalola and edge rusher Carter Meadows.
Whittingham revealed that while Meadows should be able to make his collegiate debut this weekend vs UTEP, Babalola has suffered a setback and will “not be available for the near future, unfortunately.”
Babalola was a highly touted recruit coming out of high school in the 2025 class. He suffered a torn ACL in fall camp last year and missed the entire 2025 season because of that. He recovered from that injury, but appears to have suffered a different injury back in fall camp last month.
It’s great to hear that Meadows is set to return in the very near future, but it’s really unfortunate to hear about Babalola’s setback. The Michigan offensive line has been mediocre so far this year, and having a guy like Babalola in the rotation would certainly help smooth things out a bit. Hopefully he is able to return shortly after the bye week and finally make his long-awaited Michigan debut.
Read more about this news from our own Charles Post here.
The OL rotation
Evan Link missed the game this past weekend due to injury, but it sounds like he is set to return this week. Whittingham spoke about how the Wolverines may go back to a rotation at the guard spots due to Link’s probable return, similar to what they did against Western Michigan in Week 1, but that is “to be determined.”
Meanwhile, Whittingham also mentioned how he thought the offensive line was “markedly better” against Oklahoma than it was against WMU in regards to the effort level, passion and energy. He also singled out Nate Efobi as doing a “nice job” at left guard filling in for Link.
It’s a ‘process’ to cut down on all the penalties
The Wolverines have been penalized 19 times for 170 penalty yards, the most through the first two games of their season since at least 2000, per the Associated Press. When asked about what it’s going to take to cut down on the penalties, Whittingham said it’s a “process” and that they need to improve in this area because penalties can be costly. He called them “drive killers” on offense and “drive extenders” on defense, as Michigan had both of those on Saturday against the Sooners.
“We’ve gotta get that corrected, it’ll cost us somewhere down the line,” Whittingham said. “Players got to understand there’s consequences with penalties. … So we have got to get that reduced and under control.”
Read more from our own Charles Post on this story here.
Quick hitters
- Whittingham is proud of the work that edge rusher Nate Marshall has put in on the field and off the field. He closed out the game against the Sooners with a sack on quarterback John Mateer.
- The linebackers have had “two pretty good weeks,” per Whittingham. He said that Chase Taylor “shows flashes of greatness,” and Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng “did some good things on Saturday.” So far, the linebackers have been “a positive for us.”
- The quarterback run game with Bryce Underwood was “very vital on Saturday” to beat Oklahoma, Whittingham said, when asked about how vital Underwood’s legs will be for the offense moving forward. Whittingham also said “you can’t go too crazy with it,” but the quarterback run game will “always be a part” of what they do offensively.
- Despite how the first two weeks have gone for him, Jordan Marshall remains “the lead guy,” Whittingham said. He also said he expects Marshall to be more productive as the season goes on. It sounds like the coaches are going to try and get him “more into a groove,” so hopefully that translates starting this weekend.
- “We need to get him involved more,” Whittingham said of wide receiver Andrew Marsh. He also mentioned that Marsh is “a guy that made a lot of plays for them last year” and they want him to be more involved on offense moving forward.
- The “Do More” mantra that the Wolverines had last week came from Whittingham. When asked if they did more, Whittingham said he upped his hours working from 90 to 100 last week in preparation for the Oklahoma game, which drew cheerful laughter from the media.
- When asked about what’s holding the pass attack back, Whittingham admitted they have not made a big commitment to it yet based on how the first two games have gone and that they want to get Underwood’s completion percentage up. “Where we are as an offense, we seem to be more suited to be a little more heavy run, but that could change” as the year continues.
- Finally, Whittingham said they need to get more production out of the tight end room. Jalen Hoffman has taken most of the snaps, but freshman Mason Bonner is someone Whittingham said has “major upside” and a player he expects to continue progressing and get more involved.
