One of Michigan’s youngest position coaches on its new staff will have his work cut out for him as Alex Whittingham seeks to develop the Wolverine linebacker room.
Perhaps no position on Michigan’s roster faced more attrition this offseason than its off-ball linebackers, with Ernest Hausmann, Jimmy Rolder, and Jaishawn Barham all looking to land on NFL rosters this spring, while 2025 breakout Cole Sullivan took his talents to Oklahoma via the transfer portal this offseason.
It’s understandable that
the fan base could have some apprehension about the position group heading into the 2026 season with so many names to replace, especially when you consider that Whittingham, the son of new head coach Kyle Whittingham, has yet to coach a position group at the college ranks. However, the younger Whittingham hasn’t exactly been sitting around since his playing days at Utah ended in 2017.
Whittingham quickly joined the coaching staff with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2018 and has served a variety of roles under Steve Spagnuolo, one of the best defensive coordinators in the NFL. He spent the most time as a quality control coach with the linebackers from 2020-23 and was a part of three Super Bowl runs with the Chiefs.
Now overseeing Michigan’s linebackers, he’s relying on some of his professional experience to teach a brand new group of linebackers at the college level.
“We watch a lot of (Kansas City) Chiefs tape because that’s where (Alex Whittingham) came from. Just looking at guys like Nick Bolton and Drue Tranquill,” said junior linebacker Troy Bowles on Monday.
Bolton, a former second-round pick out of Missouri, has blossomed into a big part of the Chiefs’ defensive success over the last five seasons, while Tranquill has been in Kansas City for the last three seasons. Both are particularly excellent in coverage, an area where Michigan showed some inconsistency last season. Furthermore, Michigan has had its fair share of success plucking coaches from the professional ranks to work on its defenses, so hopefully Whittingham’s experience with quality players like Bolton and Tranquill can have a similar effect on a group that’s talented yet lacking in experience.
In 2026, Michigan will be hoping that its new-look linebacking corps can hold things down in the middle to take some pressure off the secondary, which will likely be the star of the show from a personnel and schematics standpoint in Jay Hill’s new scheme. Bowles commented that this is a contrast from last year’s scheme under Wink Martindale, where the linebackers were being asked to make more plays.
“I feel like (Hill’s scheme) definitely frees up the linebackers, but I also feel like we’re getting a bit with the perimeter to so the safeties and the corners can make a lot more plays too with this defense,” Bowles said. However, Bowles also believes that there will be plenty of opportunities for him and the rest of the linebackers to make their share of plays throughout the year.
Bowles, in particular, will likely be relied on heavily for Michigan this year, especially in the early going, as it hopes to bring along sophomores Chase Taylor and Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng. Bowles is the most experienced of the returning linebackers on Michigan’s roster this season, having played 12 games on defense in 2025.
