Michigan football announces start time for annual spring game

The official start time is set for coach Kyle Whittingham’s maize-and-blue debut at Michigan Stadium.

The Michigan football program announced Monday, March 9, that its spring game will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 18. That’s just more than one month after U-M begins its spring practice window – featuring 15 scheduled practices –on March 17.

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The spring game, which will be open to fans, will follow the usual “Maize vs. Blue” format. Under previous coaches Jim Harbaugh and Sherrone Moore, the winners received steak dinners while the losers received hot dogs; it’s unknown whether that tradition will continue.

The Wolverines are in the middle of their winter conditioning program under new strength and conditioning coach Doug Elisaia and will finally don pads next week.

Whittingham, 66, was hired in December after Moore was fired. The former Utah coach has hired almost an entirely new staff, with only three holdovers when he set the staff in January: running backs coach Tony Alford, special teams coordinator Kerry Coombs and defensive line coach Lou Esposito. (Esposito has since left for the same job with the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens.)

Coombs could almost count as a new hire, as his tenure at U-M consists of just one game: the Wolverines’ Citrus Bowl loss to Texas, against whom his unit excelled.

Over the offseason, Michigan prioritized keeping players from its 2025 roster. The Wolverines lost running back Justice Haynes (Georgia Tech) and linebacker Cole Sullivan (Oklahoma) to the transfer portal, but they added several potential stars, including All-Big 12 performers John Henry-Daley and Smith Snowden (both from Utah), wide receivers JJ Buchanan (Utah) and Jaime Ffrench Jr. (Texas) and potential two-way player Salesi Moa (Utah).

The staff also selected captains for the spring, all returning players – quarterback Bryce Underwood, running back Jordan Marshall, safety Rod Moore and defensive tackle Trey Pierce – in addition to naming another 11 players to the “leadership council.”

Michigan’s 2026 season begins on Saturday, Sept. 5, against Western Michigan at the Big House.

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: Michigan football announces start time for spring ‘Maize vs Blue’ game