Kyle Whittingham sets lofty goals for Michigan football in 1st year

After months of what is almost an entirely new staff getting to know its new-look roster, and players lifting weights during winter conditioning and changing diets to prepare for the upcoming season, time for football has arrived.

Michigan football kicked off its 2026 spring practice window on Tuesday, March 17, as coach Kyle Whittingham addressed media in Ann Arbor for the first time since he was hired in late December.

U-M hasn’t put on pads yet − that’s not permitted by NCAA rules until the third practice of spring − but that doesn’t mean the new staff isn’t setting expectations for its first year in Ann Arbor.

GET READY: 5 burning questions for Michigan football as spring practice begins

“Michigan should challenge for the Big Ten title every single year, that should be a given,” Whittingham said. “Playoffs, obviously, is a lofty goal but you can’t get there most likely unless you do well in the Big Ten, so you’ve got to take things a step at a time.

“But Michigan, I would say, if you’re not thinking Big Ten championship every year, there’s something wrong.”

There are 171 days between Whittingham’s press conference and U-M’s first game on Sept. 5 (against Western Michigan at Michigan Stadium). Over that time, the Wolverines will need to learn new schemes on both sides of the ball, the top goal of spring ball.

“We’ve got a lot ahead of us as far as what we’ve got to get accomplished,” Whittingham said. “Players, they have to learn scheme and be able to assimilate that, so there’s a lot of things we need to find out this spring.

It’s why Whittingham said that about three or four years ago at Utah, he and the staff made a “concerted effort to simplify” the scheme. With rapid roster turnover brought about by NIL and frequent transfers, he said, teams “don’t have that luxury” to have a scheme that takes a full year or two to learn.

One of the major appeals of the offense run by new offensive coordinator Jason Beck, Whittingham added, is that “the learning curve is not steep” but the attack remains effective.

On defense, he said, he and coordinator Jay Hill have “modified things” to make it more “simplistic” – easy enough to learn where it can be “plug and play” for those who don’t arrive until summer, but whom Michigan is “counting on” this fall.

As for the players, Whittingham didn’t offer a top-to-bottom assessment of the roster, while noting that Beck “does a masterful job of utilizing the players at his disposal … what they do well and tailoring the scheme to that.” But he did single out a few for praise:

• Quarterback Bryce Underwood is “QB1 without a doubt.”
• Running Jordan Marshall is a “really good running back.”
• Incoming freshman running back Savion Hiter will be “special.”
• And wide receiver Andrew Marsh is “a tremendous talent.”

The wideout group was perhaps where he was most specific, saying that in addition to Marsh, transfers JJ Buchanan (Utah) and Jaime Ffrench Jr. (Texas) round out the top three, while incoming recruit Salesi Moa, a top-50 recruit who flipped to from Utah to U-M is fourth on the depth chart.

If it sounds like there aren’t a ton of answers right now, it’s because, well, there aren’t. There are nearly 50 new Wolverines, counting transfers and freshmen. For the first time in years, there’s not even a semblance of continuity from the previous regime.

Still, for a team that wants to be defined as tough before anything else, the early impression is that could be this group’s top identity.

“You do get a little bit of a flavor for what kind of athlete you’re dealing with and what they’re about … [but] you don’t get as good a read in the winter conditioning as you will in spring football,” Whittingham said.

“We’re pretty athletic. We have guys that move really well. We’ve got good length on the football team, which is something that is important. As I mentioned, the strength levels are getting to where they need to be. And I’ll tell you what, these guys are very willing and very hungry to work. That’s been very evident so far.”

Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Kyle Whittingham aims to hit ground running with Michigan football