Pending any last second additions, the dust has settled on Michigan’s roster for the 2026 college football season. With a brand new coaching staff in place, we can now shift our attention elsewhere.
Today’s Friday Discussion question — what are reasonable expectations for Kyle Whittingham during his first year in Ann Arbor?
Michigan fans may begin to get restless if the Wolverines miss out on the College Football Playoff (CFP) for a third consecutive year. However, grace may be shown to Whittingham,
who inherited a program in relative disarray. He also had to assemble a roster under incredibly tight timelines.
There’s no doubt this staff should be a large upgrade over what Michigan had during the two-year Sherrone Moore era. There is significantly more experience on both sides of the ball and a sense of stability with Whittingham at the helm.
Going position by position, Michigan should see an uptick at quarterback, as sophomore Bryce Underwood should take a major step forward with a dedicated quarterbacks coach. The Wolverines should get similar production out of the running backs, but dramatically more out of the wide receivers; the trio Andrew Marsh, Jaime Ffrench and JJ Buchanan appears to be leaps and bounds better than Marsh, Semaj Morgan and Donaven McCulley last season.
Tight end is a relative question mark with Marlin Klein off to the NFL. The rest of last year’s production returns and looks to take another step forward. Finally on offense, the offensive line should see a major increase in production with three returning starters. The new staff did an excellent job retaining talent at this position specifically.
Defensively, there are question marks along the defensive line since the Wolverines are losing Derrick Moore, Jaishawn Barham, Rayshaun Benny, Damon Payne Jr. and Tre Williams. Michigan will hope Utah transfer edge rusher John Henry Daley will be healthy by the start of the season. If so, he’ll pair up nicely with guys like Nate Marshall, Cameron Brandt, Trey Pierce and others.
At linebacker, the loss of Cole Sullivan to Oklahoma and Jimmy Rolder to the NFL certainly hurt. However, there are highly-touted youngsters in Troy Bowles and Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng that appear ready for the limelight, along with North Dakota State transfer Nathaniel Staehling. It will be a brand new linebacker group this fall.
In the secondary, Michigan returns both starting cornerbacks in Jyaire Hill and Zeke Berry. Rod Moore also returns at safety, but time will tell if he will ever be the player he was pre-knee injury. Transfers Taylor Tatum and Chris Bracy, and returners Jordan Young and Mason Curtis will be competing here as well. All in, I would expect about a wash when it comes to the secondary compared to last season.
Special teams are always impossible to predict. Michigan loses Dominic Zvada to graduation, but the coaching change from J.B. Brown to Kerry Coombs should pay huge dividends.
In summary, I see a much-improved offense and a somewhat slightly regressed defense on the docket. However, the coaching staff changes can’t be emphasized enough.
When assessing expectations for the 2026, you have to factor in the schedule as well. Michigan hosts a CFP contender in Oklahoma in Week 2 before facing a much more difficult conference schedule than last year. It’s possible improvement may be made by the program without seeing that reflected in the standings.
My expectation for 2026 is to make the CFP, and anything on top of that would be the cherry on the cake. What are your expectations for Michigan this fall? Would you be happy with 8-4 and a rivalry win? Are you expecting Michigan to make a deep postseason run? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
