Michigan Football Preview 2026: Can Kyle Whittingham Make the Wolverines Elite?

In some ways, it’s easy to see why Michigan chose to make Kyle Whittingham the newest head football coach.

The last two coaching tenures – Jim Harbaugh and Sherrone Moore – were clouded in controversy, and let’s just say the Michigan athletic department is going through a few things as we speak.

Meanwhile, football-wise, Michigan is hanging in the lounge with USC and Penn State watching Ohio State, Oregon, and Indiana blow past the bouncer into the Big Ten’s VIP room.

Whittingham represents a reset.

Michigan Needed a Reset. Kyle Whittingham Is It.

Whittingham is a made man with 177 career wins in his 21 years as the head coach at one school.

He’s the coach you hire when you want instant respect and credibility.

He’s also the coach you hire in, say, 2008, when his team finished 13-0 and finished No. 2 in the country. (Which, by the way, started that season with a 25-23 win over an awful Michigan team that went 3-9.)

Whittingham will turn 67 on the day of the UCLA game, and a week before the Ohio State showdown, but that’s not an issue – he could coach another ten years, easy.

No, the concern is that Utah was in need of a reset, too.

Advertisement

The last bowl game Whittingham won was the 2017 Heart of Dallas, and the last, and only, College Football Playoff-level bowl he won was the 2009 Sugar.

It went 13-12 before last season, and his 10-2 squad that didn’t beat anyone of note. Worse yet, it failed its two big tests against Texas Tech and BYU.

Combine that with a rough run in the portal and a brutal schedule, and …

It’s Kyle Whittingham, and he gets to coach Michigan-level talent. Yeah, let’s give this a shot.

Michigan Quick Hits

Michigan Key 2025 Stats

Offense

Jason Beck is a quarterback-friendly offensive coordinator who helped make current Utah quarterback Devon Dampier a statistical superstar.

The Ute running game was amazing, and before that, Beck’s New Mexico offense ripped apart everyone with its speed and tempo.

Things get tweaked at Michigan, but expect a lot of running, and a lot of …

Advertisement

What’s Working

Bryce Underwood. He’s it. He’s the franchise, at least for this year.

Keeping Underwood in Ann Arbor was the No. 1 job of the coaching staff when it took over, and now the quarterback play should go up a few levels.

Underwood was a huge recruit who helped a miserable Wolverine quarterback situation get better right away,

Criticized for what he wasn’t – consistency was an issue – he threw 11 touchdown passes and nine picks, and ran for 392 yards and six scores, but he was a true freshman. The talent is undeniable – it’s coming.

The staff nailed it on the backup situation. Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi doesn’t run, and he throws picks, but he’s a fantastic passer cranking out close to 7,000 yards at Colorado State.

The running game will be even better. It was great last season, finishing 14th in the nation, averaging 210 yards per game. Utah’s attack ranked second, averaging 266.3 per game.

Justice Haynes left for Georgia Tech, but leading rusher Jordan Marshall is back after running for 932 yards and ten touchdowns.

Five-star recruit Savion Hiter will be used right away in the rotation, and Bryson Kuzdzal is a nice option who finished third among the backs with 326 yards.

The offensive line continuity will matter. The line was a plus considering it was blocking for a young mobile quarterback, and it’ll once again bash away with all five projected starters having enough time logged in to be good right away.

The developed depth is a bit sketchy, but putting together elite offensive fronts is what Whittingham teams do.

Advertisement

What Needs Work

Underwood does have to be a stronger passer. Anything would’ve been an upgrade over the miserable 2024 Michigan passing attack, but for all of the problems, Wolverine quarterbacks completed 61.7% of their throws. Last year, Underwood hit 60.3%. 

Chalk it all up to youth, inexperience, and playing teams like Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas, and USC, but more consistency is a must.

The receiving corps has to be more involved. This is a running team, but it would be nice to have more volume catches and not just crank up the big shots.

JJ Buchanan (Utah) and Jaime Ffrench (Texas) are strong signings, and leading receiver Andrew Marsh is back after making 45 grabs for 651 yards and four scores, but there’s not a lot of depth.

Be better in the red zone. The Wolverines came up with enough empty trips inside the 20 to matter.

Overall, the 78.8% scoring rate was awful, but it was made even worse with touchdowns too hard to come by at times.

Michigan was 66th in the nation in red zone touchdowns, scoring 61.5% of the time. Who was No. 1? 

Utah. It scored touchdowns on 79.7% of its chances inside the 20, and came up with points 91.5% of the time.

Advertisement

Player to Watch

Jordan Marshall, RB Soph.A good recruit for the program, he turned into the main man at times over the second half of the season.

A quick, compact runner, he ran for 110 yards or more in a four-game stretch over the second half of the year, and now he’ll get far more than 150 carries.

Defense

The defense was hardly the killer of the Harbaugh era, but it wasn’t bad.

The Wolverines finished just above the middle of the Big Ten pack in total and scoring defense, and by most standards, allowing 323 yards and 20 points per game isn’t bad.

Defensive coordinator Jay Hill comes over from BYU after a solid few seasons, and now his job is to get Michigan back to the 2024 level.

Advertisement

What’s Working

The run defense. Like last year, everything should be great when the defense is holding up against the run.

The Wolverines were 8-0 when allowing fewer than 138 yards on the ground, and 0-3 when giving up more.

There’s enough up front to hold up well around the massive tackle combination of Trey Pierce, Enow Etta, and Jonah Lea’ea a strong veteran coming over from Utah.

The secondary is loaded at corner. Zeke Berry led the team with ten broken up passes, and Jyaire Hill is back on the other side after breaking up five.

Utah’s Smith Snowden is a playmaking machine who’ll get a freelance role in a nickel spot.

The secondary is also loaded at safety. The position is every bit as good as cornerback if Rod Moore is healthy again.

He made 71 tackles and four picks in a huge sophomore season, and was good in the national championship run before suffering a knee injury that cost him all of 2024 and most of 2025.

Former Memphis Tiger Chris Bracy is coming off an 81-tackle season with 9.5 tackles for loss and an American Conference-leading nine broken up passes.

Advertisement

What Needs Work

The linebacking corps is fine. It’s not quite proven, though, with a slew of last year’s key backups needing to play bigger roles.

The top transfers coming in are good – Max Alford (BYU), Nathaniel Staehling (North Dakota State), and Aisea Moa (Michigan State) – but they’re not quite elite compared to some of the other stars, like …

There’s not a proven pass rush other than the main man from Utah. John Henry Daley is destined to be an All-Big Ten pass rushing star after ripping it up with the Utes, but the returning parts haven’t shown off yet.

The top six Wolverines in sacks last season are done.

The underclassmen have to grow up fast. This isn’t exactly a rebuild, but it’s a year to find as much rising talent as possible.

The upperclassmen dominate the starting 11, but at least 15 freshmen and sophomores will need to play huge roles in the rotation.

Advertisement

Player to Watch

Smith Snowden, CB Sr.Where do you want to play the Utah transfer in the secondary?

He’s 5-10 and 185 pounds, but he packs enough pop to be a roaming safety type with 85 stops over the last two years. More of a corner, he picked off four passes and broke up 17 passes. 

The production will be there no matter what he does.

Keys to the Season

Player Who Needs To Shine

Trey Butkowski, PK Soph.Butkowski didn’t show off a huge leg at Pitt, but he hit 20-of-23 field goals last season – he didn’t miss under 40 yards.

It’s up to him to replace star Dominic Zvada, who hit 38-of-47 field goals in his two years with the Wolverines, highlighted by a dominant 2024.

Michigan didn’t have too many tight games last season with just three decided by five points or fewer, but the kicking game will play a role.

Advertisement

Biggest Concern

Scoring defense. Michigan has been among the best teams in the nation over the last several years in fewest points allowed, but there’s been a problem over the last two seasons when it didn’t shut teams down cold.

This is more of an indictment on the offense not being able to keep up, but since the end of the Harbaugh era, Michigan is 1-7 when allowing more than 24 points.

To go to the absurd, Michigan is 1-19 – going back to 2015 – in its last 20 games (48-42 over Rutgers in 2020 was the aberration) when allowing 30 or more.

Biggest Game

Oklahoma, September 12Of course the Ohio State game is the one that matters, but the Michigan schedule has a slew of other problems before the end of November.

The Wolverines not only can’t afford to give away even one home game if they realistically want to be in the College Football Playoff, but they need a tone-setting home victory over a fantastic Sooner team to get the Whittingham era rolling.

Advertisement

Transfer Portal

Michigan gets graded on a curve here.

Whittingham’s job was to keep as many of the players around as possible rather than find new pieces – the talent level around Ann Arbor was better than just about anyone he could go after.

For example, he only brought five Utah players with him – and they’re all strong. But it’s not like, say, Ute quarterback Devon Dampier was going to beat out Bryce Underwood.

Best Signing

John Henry Daley, DE (Utah)Here’s the portal signing that matters.

It took a few years, but Daley became a Big 12 monster last season for the Utah line, finishing with 48 tackles, 11.5 sacks, and 17.5 tackles for loss.

Turn him loose on the Wolverine outside and watch out.

Advertisement

Biggest Loss

Justice Haynes, RB (Georgia Tech)He’s been a bit more hype than production so far, but that’s not a dig – he was a superstar of superstar recruits for Alabama, and he didn’t take over the world right away.

Good for the Tide, he averaged almost six yards per carry, and last year for Michigan he averaged over seven yards per pop with ten scores.

He would’ve been a wonderful back for Whittingham.

Other Names to Know

CFN Season Prediction

Michigan is finding out what life is like in a huge Big Ten with the best teams in college football at the very, very top.

This will be a very good, very sound, very well-coached team under Whittingham, but it didn’t do enough in the portal to get the talent level up to challenge the elite of the elite.

That doesn’t mean this can’t be a great season.

Advertisement

Just between you and me, let’s be totally honest here – being in the Big Ten Championship race doesn’t really matter as long as you win ten games.

CFN Prediction: 9-3

If you’re Michigan, with this schedule, 10-2 gets you in the College Football Playoff. Unfortunately, that’s a problem with this schedule.

Missing USC and Washington is good, and not having to play Illinois and Wisconsin is nice, but …

At Ohio State, at Oregon, Indiana, Penn State, and throw in Iowa and at Minnesota. Throw in a home date with Oklahoma, and 8-4 is probably more realistic.

However, there’s enough talent in place for a great head coach to potentially put something special together.

It just so happens that Michigan has a future Hall of Famer coaching its team.

Related: Penn State Football Preview 2026: Can Matt Campbell Win the Big Games?