Michigan returns home this weekend to take on Michigan State (7:30 p.m., Peacock), with in-state bragging rights and bowl eligibility on the line for the Wolverines and … just in-state bragging rights for the Spartans.
Head coach Kyle Whittingham met with the media on Monday for his weekly press conference to preview the upcoming game. Here are some key things he had to say:
Some key injury updates
After being listed as questionable all of last week, edge rushers John Henry Daley and Dom Nichols both missed the game at Rutgers
over the weekend. Fortunately, it sounds like both those guys will be returning this weekend to take on Michigan State.
“We expect them to play this week,” Whittingham said bluntly.
Elsewhere on the injury front, offensive lineman Andrew Sprague has not played since the Oklahoma game in Week 2. Whittingham did not have an update on him Monday morning, but he did say that they hope to learn more later today.
Finally, sophomore offensive lineman Andrew Babalola is healthy, Whittingham confirmed, but he is still not up to speed yet and is “not ready to crack the starting lineup just yet.”
Tommy Carr will be the starting QB moving forward
Not that this is any sort of surprise, but Whittingham did confirm that freshman Tommy Carr will continue to be the team’s starting quarterback.
“Tommy will start this week and for the foreseeable future unless something changes,” Whittingham said. “He’s played so well it’s pretty much a given (that the team knows). We haven’t had a conversation with the team since the game, but we’ll cover a lot of that this morning.”
QB competition: Over
Quick hitters
- Whittingham acknowledged he has learned more about the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry, calling it “intense” and there being “a lot of nastiness,” specifically pointing to the fight in the tunnel a few years ago. Whittingham also said he plans on bringing in former players to talk with the team about it.
- There is a new position battle going on, and it probably won’t come as a surprise. The Wolverines are opening up the competition at the kicker spot, with sophomore Trey Butkowski missing four field goals the last two games. Butkowski will compete with Stuart Blake and Jacob Baggett for the starting role, and whoever performs best in practice this week will be the kicker on Saturday.
- Defensive back Jeremiah Earby, who was recently added to the team and played for Boise State last year, played some snaps over the weekend at Rutgers. Whittingham said it’s “great” to have him in the program and that he’s “got a lot of savvy” for the position. “And that’s a position that we’re fairly thin at, so that really gives us a boost there.” Whittingham also said the process to get Earby in the program has been going on since August.
- Whittingham thought the run game was better this past weekend at Rutgers, but still not where it needs to be. He credited freshman Savion Hiter for handling the increased workload well, but “we haven’t run the ball as well as we need to this year.” He noted they need to be more physical and more efficient up front to help spring the run game even more. We have made progress — the offensive line play I think has gotten better incrementally throughout the year,” but still isn’t where they need to be at yet.
- Before the season started, Whittingham said that if the team was playing meaningful football in November, it would have been a pretty successful season. Outside of rivalry games always being “meaningful,” Michigan will not be playing in any of those games this year. Whittingham said that they would have liked to be in a better position, but they still want to be competitive, and prepare and play as hard as they can.
- When asked about how important he thinks this month will be for the future of the program — given the fact they have two rivalry games, a tough road game and another ranked opponent in UCLA to play against this month — Whittingham said every game, every month and every season is important, but he also believes the team is still on an “upward trajectory” to finish the year strong. “We’re working hard … we wanna put a great product out there for our fans, and so far this year hasn’t been as good as we should have been.”
- Finally, Whittingham was asked if Hiter got all the carries he did on Saturday in part because of an injury to Jordan Marshall. Whittingham said that Hiter got more carries because the team was riding the hot hand at the position. “This is the first game really that I thought that there was some separation from the backs, and that Savion was definitely the guy that was being more effective in this game.” So to be clear, Marshall is not dealing with an injury right now.
