Post-portal roster, analysis: Youth, former Utes headline Kyle Whittingham’s inaugural Michigan team
Whittingham has brought in a distinct Utah flavor to the Wolverines while retaining a core from the 2025 team.
Note: This is the fifth of five stories digging into the makeup and changes of the rosters of the five FBS teams in Michigan. The publicly posted rosters — if available — are largely accurate but incomplete, and this series will compile from those, signing and transfer class announcements, and other available info to put together a fairly comprehensive breakdown for each team.
Read about Western Michigan here, Eastern Michigan here and Central Michigan here. And you can read about Michigan State here.
It’s not just a new regime, but a new ethos in Ann Arbor, as Michigan has moved on from all that is Harbaugh, be it the genuine article or his successor.
And in new head coach Kyle Whittingham, Michigan might look similar on the field in terms of being physical, playing stalwart defense and winning at the line of scrimmage, but will have a different vibe off the field, bringing in a former BYU star and the longtime, successful head coach of the Utah Utes.
And with him, along with a staff full of BYU and Utah familiars, Whittingham brought a crop of new players via the transfer portal from his previous stop, as well as a few other places, to help compliment the core of the returning roster he’s taking over.
A lot of the same players from 2025 remain in Ann Arbor, notably at quarterback, but there’s a distinct Wasatch Range vibe to this team for 2026.
The team
Quarterback (6): It is Bryce Underwood’s show, and he’ll need to build on a 2025 campaign that featured flashes of brilliance and showed his immense physical capabilities, but one in which he never felt like he turned a corner from some of the more “freshman” aspects to his game, namely turnovers. With a better development plan and coaching stability around him, Underwood has the capabilities to make a big leap in 2026. Michigan brought in a pair of transfers to infuse some veteran presence in Colorado State’s Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi and LSU’s Colin Hurley. Michigan also returns Chase Herbstreit as a backup and signed two freshmen, including Tommy Carr, Lloyd Carr’s grandson and younger brother to Notre Dame starter CJ Carr.
Running back (7): The Jordan Marshall-Savion Hiter one-two punch is something Michigan fans are already imagining with great enjoyment. The return of Marshall is big, as he showed in 2025 that he can be the sort of carry-eating, engine-room-of-the-offense back that has worked well at Michigan through coaching regimes stretching back to the aforementioned Carr (and frankly prior). Bryson Kuzdzal flirted with the portal but returned, particularly with Justice Haynes leaving for Georgia Tech after an explosive but injury-plagued year. Micah Ka’apana has some juice. Taylor Tatum transferred in from Oklahoma but is reportedly flipping to play defensive back/safety.
Wide receiver (11): This goes to 12 if Utah signee transfer Salesi Moa ends up playing wideout. But for now he’s listed as an athlete so time will tell. The biggest name back for Michigan is Andrew Marsh, who showed great rapport with Underwood as the true freshmen formed the nucleus of Michigan’s passing offense. Channing Goodwin, Jamar Browder, Kendrick Bell and I’Marion Stewart are all returning wideouts with good chances to be in the rotation. Texas transfer Jaime Ffrench didn’t crack the lineups at Texas as a true freshman but oozes talent. And JJ Buchanan, who caught more than 400 yards as a freshman tight end at Utah in 2025, is listed as a wideout for Michigan in 2026, bringing a big body to work outside the numbers and across the middle. Michigan also signed two freshmen.
Tight end (7): Michigan actually held firm at tight end, relatively speaking, as Whittingham and Co. are largely rolling with the returners from 2025: Hogan Hansen, Zack Marshall, Deakon Tonielli and Jalen Hoffman, among a few others. Michigan signed just one freshman at tight end with signee Moose Ludwig — now at Texas Tech — getting released from his NLI after Sherrone Moore’s firing.
Offensive line (16): Some of the biggest “gets” for Michigan ended up being two players who entered the portal and withdrew in Jake Guarnera and Andrew Sprague, the starting right guard and tackle for Michigan in 2025, respectively. Michigan needs to replace a center and left guard, but Blake Frazier looked good at left tackle following Evan Link’s injury and they’ll compete, along with a healthy Andrew Babalola, to be in the starting lineup. Nathan Efobi and Brady Norton also returned having made starts and played notable snaps in 2025 on the interior. Younger reserves such as Avery Gach and Luke Hamilton will also push to be starters. Michigan added Nebraska transfer Houston Ka'aha'aina-Torres and signed four freshmen, too.
Defensive line (13): Pulling Enow Etta out of the portal provides some more depth and continuity to a position that felt the loss of two Top 15 draft picks in 2025. Trey Pierce also returns on the interior, where Michigan is seemingly banking on some younger players like Ted Hammond, Manuel Beigel and Travis Moten to start contributing. Utah transfer Jonah Lea’ea may turn out to be an important stopgap on the defensive interior, the lone transfer Michigan signed for the defensive line room. Michigan also signed a trio of freshmen.
Edge (8): Michigan returns some promising potential breakout players, but the arrival of transfer John Henry Daley — who may have led the country in sacks in 2025 if not for a late-season injury — from Utah is a major coup. He’ll be the star sack getter alongside returners Nate Marshall, Dominic Nichols and Cameron Brandt. Michigan also signed a pair of true freshmen, including five-star Carter Meadows. Much like Hiter on offense, Meadows is a juicy prospect who has “make the quarterback regret leaving bed that day” upside, but he’ll need to be strong enough to hold up against Big Ten fronts.
Read more coverage from Mitten Football
Andrew Graham
Andrew Graham
Linebacker (12): Losing Cole Sullivan to Oklahoma via the transfer portal hurts, as he seemed to be a rising star and would’ve been the main attraction among Michigan’s linebacker corps this year. Instead, someone will need to step up. Names like Chase Taylor and Nathaniel Owosu-Boateng have come up as returners who are next in line. Troy Bowles played significantly on special teams in 2025, too, and could expand his role. And three transfers might make the difference, be it Max Alford, Christian Pierce (younger brother of Trey Pierce) or Aisea Moa (older brother of Salesi Moa). Michigan also signed three freshmen linebackers.
Defensive back (17): This covers safeties, nickels and cornerbacks so it’s fairly expansive. Zeke Berry came back out of the portal, a big win, and will start in the secondary as will Jyaire Hill. Utah transfer Smith Snowden is the likely candidate to play starting snaps, and between him, Berry and Hill, the Wolverines have options to sort out the outside cornerback and nickel positions. Nickel might be eased by Jordan Young coming back out of the portal, as he played there some late in 2025. Jo’Ziah Edmond, Mason Curtis, Shamari Earls and a few other young defensive backs will likely play bigger snap shares in 2026. And at safety, Michigan got good news with veteran Rod Moore being granted another year of eligibility as he’s been largely kept off the field with knee injuries the last two seasons. Michigan also signed three freshmen at defensive back.
Specialists (9): Michigan will have a new kicker in 2026, replacing Dominic Zvada and will be picking between returner Stuart Blake, transfer Trey Butkowski and freshman Jacob Baggett. At long snapper it’s a similar story, as returner Trent Middleton will compete against transfers Nico Crawford and Gavin Magorien. At punter, Hudson Hollenbeck appears to be back for the 2026 season, as is Hunter Robertson. Michigan also added transfer punter Cam Brown.
Superlatives
Top returner: WR Andrew Marsh
A true freshmen coming off nearly 700 yards, four touchdowns, all without being a full-time starter until after a month of the season had gone by, Marsh checked a lot of boxes for future stardom in Year 1. His connection with his quarterback is evident. He surely had suitors trying to get him to pack up and leave Ann Arbor for somewhere else, but he’s back for a sophomore campaign and expected to build on his breakout freshman year.
- HM: RT Andrew Sprague
Top addition: Edge John Henry Daley
One of the top edge defenders in the country and a player that lots of schools wanted to sign, Daley followed his former coach to Ann Arbor and is now poised to take the lead on Michigan’s efforts to make life hell for opposing quarterbacks. And Daley comes in the type of frame that will make him a capable-to-good run defender while juicing up the pass rush. He’d make any defensive front better, and will certainly do so at Michigan.
- HM: TE/WR JJ Buchanan
Instant impact transfer: DL Jonah Lea’ea
Michigan needs experienced play in the middle of the defensive line and Lea’ea brings that. He was an effective run stuffer and pocket pusher for the Utes who will come play for his head coach in new digs. He might not end up making the biggest or flashiest impact, but someone who can hold up the point of attack, gum up an offense and create one-on-ones for edge rushers is a force multiplier on any defensive line.
- HM: CB Smith Snowden
Up transfer ready to shine: ATH Salesi Moa
This is, in a way, cheating on this category since Moa is transferring from Utah. But he was also a 2025 signee, so he spent about a month there. In effect, this is like signing a transfer who last played football at his high school. But Moa was a highly-coveted prospect when he signed with Whittingham at Utah for a reason, and has a chance to get to Ann Arbor and make a quick impact, be it on offense, defense or special teams.
- HM: LB Christian Pierce
