Michigan Football Mailbag: Kick returners, LB depth, Bryce Underwood

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It’s game week as the Michigan Wolverines take on the Western Michigan Broncos on Saturday night at The Big House. We’ve been talking all offseason about what this team could look like, but now we’ll finally watch them with our own eyes in a real game.

Each week we’ll ask you to post your questions on The Feed, so keep an eye out for that post!

I’ll do my best to answer what I can and lean on articles from the rest of the Maize n Brew team to give you thoughts on the upcoming matchup. Here we go:

Brady Boy: Who’s returning kicks?

Let’s start with special teams, because we all know games are won in the margins, as coaches like to say, and special teams is a pretty crucial margin. Trevor Woods put together a nice article on what Kyle Whittingham said about the return unit. He floated out Andrew Marsh and Savion Hiter as players who could field kicks and punts for the Wolverines.

Now, the next question: what about injuries?

Marsh is probably more necessary on the offense than on special teams, wouldn’t you say? On the ground, the Wolverines have Bryce Underwood and his legs, along with Jordan Marshall, to carry the load if Hiter got hurt on a return. It’s hard to see defenses successfully covering Marsh and JJ Buchanan. If Marsh goes down, more responsibility would likely fall on Buchanan and could force Underwood to throw into tighter coverage on more downs.

That being said, it’s hard to deny what Marsh brought to the special teams unit against Texas in the bowl game. He had four returns for 143 yards, including one for 51 yards. If it were me, I’d put Marsh back there and give him a chance to make a play at least a few times per game. Then give it to the freshman to show what he can do. You’ve got to risk it to make the biscuit.

Hitch: Will WR3 be by committee or will we see one player take the lions share of snaps there

Truth12345: Who is WR3 and who is CB5?

In case you missed it, Nick Durand put together a great story on predicting the offensive depth chart. This week, Whittingham said Channing Goodwin would start as Michigan’s WR3. With the other players on the roster, it’s hard not to see the WR3 role looking more like a committee. Even if Goodwin wins the role and takes a majority of snaps, he won’t likely be targeted as often as Marsh and Buchanan. It’ll be worth reassessing after week one, but my guess is Goodwin and the guys behind him, like Jaime Ffrench and Salesi Moa, will have similar numbers by the end of the year.

At CB5, I think that it’ll end up being junior Jo’Ziah Edmond. Ahead of him are Zeke Berry, Jyaire Hill, Smith Snowden and Shamari Earls.

Ryan2288: How deep is the LB room and how will the rotation play out?

I feel better about the depth at linebacker than I did in the spring. Charles Post wrote about Jay Hill’s expectations at the position this week, and Hill said Chase Taylor, Troy Bowles and Nathaniel Staehling will be the starters. The good news is we’re hearing a ton about Staehling. While this time of year you usually get coaches talking up guys, I’m still choosing to be encouraged by the news instead of brushing it off.

Hill also outlined that six players will likely see the field for the Wolverines against WMU, including Aisea Moa, Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng and Max Alford. I’d guess the three starters will be on the field quite a bit, but we’ll see some of those other guys as well as long as Michigan’s starters take care of business early in the game.

M-Weezy: With Oklahoma sitting in the on-deck circle – should we expect Michigan to air it out a bit and work on their (hopefully) improved passing game with the intent of working on chemistry and building up BU’s confidence? Or should we expect Michigan to lean into the talent disparity in the trenches, bully the Broncos and run the ball down their throat all game to a comfortable, controlled win?

With all the years Whittingham has been a coach, he doesn’t strike me as someone who’s going to overthink coaching one game ahead of another. I think the Wolverines might air it out a time or two more to get Underwood comfortable, but I don’t expect the offense to deviate much from what the coordinators hope to run all season. The days of speculating what we’re keeping in our back pocket for the biggest game might be behind us.

SonicsAaron: How much has Bryce Underwood improved over the last year? And how can that be measured?

Comparing Underwood to last year’s stats might be more of an apples-to-oranges deal. The past Michigan coaching staff clearly didn’t feel comfortable risking Underwood’s health by using his legs frequently. Utah ran quarterback Devon Dampier 146 times for 835 yards and 10 touchdowns last year. Meanwhile, Underwood ran 88 times for 392 yards and six touchdowns in 2025. You could probably measure Underwood’s improvement by his usage in the run game.

Underwood’s passing game stats compared to Dampier are really only slightly different in 2025. Underwood completed 202 throws for 2,428 yards, 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Dampier only completed 12 more passes than Underwood last season (212), threw for 2,490 yards, but had 24 (!) touchdowns and only five interceptions. It seems reasonable to believe Underwood can clean up some things this year and find the end zone a few more times, especially given Michigan’s upgrade at wide receiver.

David Lewis 2: We have heard the coach speak on Daley and Moore. Are they really near their real 100% and do you anticipate them logging minutes vs. Western or still on the pitch count?

Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but I expect Rod Moore and John Henry Daley will see playing time against WMU. I don’t think they’ll be on the field the entire game, but they’re both fully cleared and should be on the field quite a bit on Saturday.

With the matchup against Oklahoma looming, the Wolverines will need their best players on the field for that game; that’s just not true against Western, so if all goes well, starters like Daley and Moore should be out of the game sometime late in the game. Michigan fans should have respect for the Broncos and the production they’re bringing back from last year, but the Wolverines should still take care of business on Saturday.

Smashmouth58: We have only heard about three running backs all summer. There’s got to be another one mentioned in case we need a new number three. Is it a mystery or has a name been thrown around that has performed well in fall camp?

Tomas O’Meara will be Michigan’s RB4 to start the year, Whittingham said earlier this week. While there’s not much talk beyond Marshall and Hiter, and occasionally Bryson Kuzdzal, O’Meara has a few games under his belt and had had 11 carries for 83 yards last season. While he’s not necessarily “proven,” Michigan is still pretty deep at the position. Barring injury, I don’t think Michigan will call on RB4 all too often.

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