Wednesday notebook: WMU, UM OL plans, Week 1 portal era prep, freshmen to look out for
From offensive lines getting set in Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor to Week 1 prep being a disparate challenge now, there's plenty happening around the Mitten.
Editor’s note: Mitten Football is planning to make this Wednesday afternoon/evening notebook a regular installment this season, cleaning up various loose ends from coach press conferences and player availability. Some weeks will be meatier than others, but it’ll be a regular installment to stay on top of various news and notes.
Week 1 is finally at the doorstep, with plenty of news, notes, tidbits and the like flying from coach pressers and play availability across the state.
Mitten Football attempts to hit on some news and notes, and also some interesting but perhaps not story worthy bits and bobs.
Let’s dig in.
Western Michigan’s apparent offensive line plan
Lance Taylor’s praise of Spencer Beckemen and Ben Roebuck on Monday, and their work with the ones throughout camp, especially of late, is a strong indication those two will be filling in the two remaining starting spots to fill out on the offensive line.
Three returning starters — LT Chad Schuster, LG Hunter Whitenack and RG Gavin Dabo are all set to be in the starting lineup. Schuster is making a switch from right tackle to the left side after starting at right tackle in 2025.
“They’ve taken the step in their growth and development, which is exciting to see. And they’ve taken more of a leadership and vocal role in that room and that’s helped elevate the young guys and new guys,” Taylor said of the returners.
Beckeman, a second year player who played high school football at Rochester Hills Stoney Creek, is expected to slide into the starting center role with the revelation on Monday that center Jeremy Schleicher had suffered a setback over the summer that would keep him out for the 2026 season.
Beckeman has appeared in one career game for Western Michigan, against Rhode Island last season. Much like Schleicher against Michigan State last season, Beckeman will get his first start in a season opener at a Big Ten foe.
“He’s been in our program but hasn’t played or started for us,” Taylor said of Beckeman. “It showed up in winter training, he really was a guy that showed how much he worked and improved and we were excited about him then he’s proved it on the field in spring and in training camp.”
Roebuck is making his return to Michigan, where he began his career, on Saturday night. In two seasons at Michigan, Roebuck appeared in two games, both last season, after redshirting in 2025.
Taylor praised Roebuck for his improvements over the offseason, saying he was one of WMU’s most improved player over the summer.
“He was one of our most improved players coming out of summer workouts and summer OTAs and really has competed really hard at our tackle position,” Taylor said.
It’s possible WMU rotates in some other players, like veteran tackle Brandon Smith, but the five of Schuster, Whitenack, Beckeman, Dabo and Roebuck appear to be the starting five for Saturday night.
“As we all know, that’s a position, there’s going to be attrition,” Taylor said, while noting WMU feels good about the depth in the room.
Michigan’s OL appears to set to rotate at guard, at least
Based on what the Wolverines coaches said on Wednesday, it sounds like Michigan has starters set at both tackle spots and at center, with LT Blake Frazier, RT Andrew Sprague and C Jake Guarnera mostly locked in — Frazier might have to battle with Andrew Babalola to hold that job full time when the latter gets fully healthy.
That leaves both guard spots, where Michigan is apparently set to rotate between three guys: Evan Link, Nathan Efobi and Brady Norton.
Michigan is also going to deploy a “rhino,” or sixth offensive lineman in some sets. There are some other lineman that could rotate in for Michigan this Saturday, too.
Andrew Graham
Andrew Graham
Michigan prep meant lots of different film for WMU’s staff to study
As Western Michigan is trying to prep for facing Michigan, the staff is facing a distinct challenge: Which film do we watch?
The answer is several different teams. Taylor said there were four distinct teams the Broncos looked at in studying and prepping for Michigan: BYU, Utah, Cincinnati and Michigan.
“I think these Week 1s always present a challenge that way when you have a new staff,” Taylor said. “Ultimately I’ve told our team, I’ve told our coaches, the focus is on us.”
And the reason for that collection is pretty evident, as Michigan’s head coach, coordinators and players are all covered by that collection of teams:
- BYU: Defensive coordinator Jay Hill
- Utah: Head coach Kyle Whittingham, offensive coordinator Jason Beck
- Cincinnati: Special teams coordinator Kerry Coombs
- Michigan: Returning player personnel
The Utah tape will also cover a handful of players who followed Whittingham and Beck, namely wideout JJ Buchanan and defensive back Smith Snowden, as well as defensive tackle Jonah Lea’ea. LB Max Alford also comes from BYU.
Some other tape might’ve snuck in, as WMU’s staff tries to suss out the deal with some other key players who transferred to Michigan like safety Chris Bracy, but the bulk of it was the aforementioned four schools.
The inward focus of season openers
To run counter to the above note about WMU’s film study, both Taylor and coaches across the state have spoken repeatedly about how openers are more about focusing inward and executing a clean football game, versus out foxing an opponent schematically.
Taylor said for WMU the focus needs to be on their own performance and not the distractions of playing at Michigan Stadium. EMU head coach Chris Creighton said something along similar lines ahead of EMU’s Week 0 win over Sacramento State on Saturday.
And on Wednesday, MSU defensive coordinator Joe Rossi offered up yet another message in that vein.
“They have the same challenges we do,” Rossi said about opponents trying to game plan for unknowns in the transfer portal era. “When you get into those situations it’s more about you than it is the opponent. What do you control, what’s your offense, what’s your defense, what’s your special teams, what’s your culture, how do you play?”
Andrew Graham
Andrew Graham
Freshmen to look out for
Week 1 often comes with a few exciting freshman debuts, or at least a tantalizing taste of their talents.
Here are a few to keep an eye out for over the weekend.
- Savion Hiter, RB, Michigan: He was the top running back recruit in the nation, looks physically mature beyond his years, and the coaching staff has spoken in strong terms about him. Will be splitting the load with Jordan Marshall, but big things are anticipated in Week 1 and beyond.
- Trav Moore, RB, Central Michigan: The CMU staff is very excited about Moore and his versatile upside. He’s primarily a running back, but is adept at catching passes and there might even be designs to build some wildcat-ish offensive packages around in — but that’s for next year, really. He’ll feature as a freshman in some capacity.
- Samson Gash, WR, Michigan State: His spot on the wide receiver depth chart and pecking order is lower down, but Gash is an exciting talent who, due to the new five-in-five rules, can play as much as possible as soon as he’s ready. A summer enrollee, he might have a steeper curve to be ready to play wideout, but his special teams upside could be seen sooner rather than later.
- Samuel Adjin, OL, Eastern Michigan: Adjin got into EMU’s Week 0 opener against Sacramento State in the second half, as left tackle Tyler Brumfield sat out the second half with an injury, forcing Tyler McMillan to flip to the left side and putting Cole Powell and Adjin in at right tackle. Brumfield’s expected to be OK so Adjin might go back to being the sixth or seventh guy, but head coach Chris Creighton is pleased the true freshman got some live action so early — and looked good in the process.
- JaJuan Jones and Colton Benaitis, DBs, Central Michigan: Benaitis is a safety who the Chippewas are very high on. He’s around 6-foot-2 and a big body deep on the defense and has been steadily climbing the depth chart this offseason, as has Jones, who head coach Matt Drinkall said has some do-it-all ability in the secondary. With heavy rotations expected on CMU’s defense, those two could feature notably. Also keep an eye out for true freshman LB Drew Esper.
