Michigan football must attack these three positions in transfer portal
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ORLANDO, FL — Michigan football has already had a busy offseason.
Less than 24 hours after the 2025 season ended with a 41-27 loss to Texas in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on Wednesday, Dec. 31, new coach Kyle Whittingham made half a dozen coaching staff additions, including former Utah offensive coordinator Jason Beck, former BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill, Freddie Whittingham (Utah TE coach, Kyle’s brother), Micah Simon (Utah WR coach) and Koy Detmer Jr. (Utah QB coach/analyst). U-M is also retaining running backs coach Tony Alford.
The staff will continue to take shape quickly in large part because the transfer portal officially opened on Jan. 2.
The Wolverines need to have leaders in place to make sure they can capitalize on desirable players once they hit the open market. The portal is open until Jan. 16; players must enter the portal before then to be eligible next season, though they don’t need to enroll at their new school then.
There are a few groups that the Wolverines particularly need to replenish though transfers. These are the three positions Michigan must focus on entering a pivotal 15-day stretch.
Defensive line
U-M is set to lose multiple defensive linemen, both from the edges and interior.
EDGE Derrick Moore, the team’s leader in sacks in 2025, has declared for the 2026 NFL Draft, as has EDGE/linebacker Jaishawn Barham. The defensive tackle trio of Tré Williams, Damon Payne and Rayshaun Benny have also all run out of eligibility, as has edge TJ Guy. That’s U-M’s top six defensive linemen. Ike Iwunnah, a graduate student, is also out of eligibility unless he’s able to seek a retroactive medical redshirt for one of his first three seasons, when he did not play.
There are promising young players in the fold, such as Nate Marshall, Lugard Edogpayi, Deyvid Palepale and Benny Patterson among others – Michigan also has some promising signees in five-star recruit Carter Meadows and Under Armour All-American Tariq Boney – but experience is often key on the D-line.
Don’t be surprised if some BYU players end up following their defensive coordinator. One specific star to keep an eye on comes from Utah: John Henry Daley. The 6-foot-4, 247-pound EDGE just finished his sophomore season and led Utah with 11½ sacks, though he suffered a lower body injury late in the season which kept him out of the final few games.
Wide receiver
Michigan has now gone 13 consecutive seasons without producing a 1,000-yard wideout and has just one such season in the past 18 years.
If Andrew Marsh returns next season, he would seem likely to break that streak, after a freshman season in which he didn’t start until October and still led the team in receptions (45), receiving yards (651) and touchdowns (four). Then again, he won’t have running mate, Donaven McCulley, an Indiana grad transfer who had the second-best year of his career with 39 catches for 588 yards and three touchdowns; he’s off to try and find a spot in the NFL.
The only other wideout to catch a touchdown in the regular season was Semaj Morgan, who struggled with drops and in the return game in 2025 – he finished with 20 catches for 223 yards and one score. Channing Goodwin, who opened the year strong, had just five catches for 33 yards after September.
Quarterback Bryce Underwood needs premiere targets to target, making this arguably among the new staff’s top priorities.
Quarterback
Underwood needs a backup, too, with Davis Warren and Jadyn Davis both set to enter the portal. That is, if U-M can keep him. It appears likely to do so after he met with Whittingham for 45 minutes in Orlando during bowl prep week.
Graduate student Mikey Keene, who could seek a medical redshirt, may return to fight for the backup role. That said, with one year of eligibility left, the Former UCF and Fresno State may want to give it another go with a starting job at another Group of Five program. Jake Garcia, who came in from East Carolina as a graduate transfer, has run out of eligibility.
That leaves U-M’s quarterbacks for next season as Underwood, redshirt freshman Chase Herbstreit and a pair of incoming high school prospects – four-star Brady Smigiel and three-star Tommy Carr (the Saline standout who is the brother of Notre Dame starter CJ Carr and the grandson of former U-M coach Lloyd Carr).
Underwood is Plan A. But Michigan needs a Plan B, too, in case of injury or rest, and will want a proven player in that role.
Devon Dampier, the Big 12 newcomer of the year, played for U-M’s new OC the past two seasons, both at New Mexico and Utah, but departing Salt Lake City to be a backup seems unlikely.
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 transfer portal needs: Defensive line looks depleted
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