The transfer portal window has officially closed, meaning the roster gymnastics for the Michigan Wolverines will likely end soon. While there will still be announcements being made over the next few days due to schools still having a short window of time to officially input names into the portal, no more players (with the exception of Indiana and Miami) can enter the portal at this point.

Overall, head coach Kyle Whittingham did an excellent job given the limited amount of time he had. The Wolverines retained a majority of their foundational pieces while also acquiring more talent. 247Sports claims the Wolverines have the No. 16 overall portal class, and given where the program was a month ago, this seems like a massive success.

At the same time, there were some big names Michigan had a chance with that it missed out on. Each of these five losses had a tie to the Wolverines, and some even visited and committed elsewhere. Let’s take a look at five of the biggest swings and misses.

Michigan earned a few predictions for former Cal linebacker Cade Uluave, who reportedly had some admissions problems that got in the way of moving to Ann Arbor. Instead, he committed to BYU.

With departures from Cole Sullivan, Jaishawn Barham, Ernest Hausmann, Jimmy Rolder and Jaydon Hood, the linebacker room took a major shot in the transition from Sherrone Moore to Whittingham. Uluave would have added some much-needed experience. It would have been a plug-and-play situation for Uluave, and the fact the Wolverines were on the doorstep makes this one even tougher to swallow.

A day before Uluave committed to BYU, Rasheem Biles, the No. 1 linebacker and No. 12 overall player in the portal, chose Texas over Michigan. That was coming off a visit to Ann Arbor that, on all accounts, went well.

At Pitt last season, Biles had 101 tackles, 4.5 sacks, two interceptions (one being a pick-six), and two blocked punts. Like Uluave, he would have been a difference maker for the Wolverines in 2026, and the fact they missed on both could haunt a unit that just might be the weakest link on the defense as of now.

A former five-star recruit in the 2025 recruiting class, Porter had Michigan as one of his finalists before eventually committing to Ohio State. 247Sports linked the Wolverines back to Porter when he announced he was entering the portal.

After a period of silence on this front, Porter committed to Notre Dame last week. While he played limited snaps as a true freshman, he had 38 career touchdowns in high school while accumulating 2,624 yards.

Michigan’s secondary took a major shot this winter, as six players — including starting-caliber guys like Brandyn Hillman, TJ Metcalf and Jayden Sanders — entered the portal. Tao Johnson was one of the departures from Utah that many expected to join Whittingham at Michigan. Instead, he never visited and decided on another Big Ten program in UCLA.

Johnson’s versatility and athleticism would have been really nice for Michigan. He has started 34 games in his career, including 10 with the Utes in 2025. But they used him out deep and even over the slot during his tenure, and he started his time at Utah as a wide receiver.

Michigan shored up the secondary by getting Zeke Berry to stick around after initially entering the portal, along with getting former Utah cornerback Smith Snowden to transfer in. The Wolverines also brought in former Memphis safety Chris Bracy, who is expected to compete for a starting role in 2026.

Marsh is a Detroit native and was the top receiver in the state of Michigan in the 2024 class. He committed to Michigan State, where he was the team’s No. 1 receiver for two seasons. In 23 games, he had 1,311 yards and nine touchdowns — that was with offenses that struggled mightily at the quarterback position.

Pairing Marsh with Andrew Marsh and Bryce Underwood could have been electric, making them one of the best tandems in the country. The Wolverines filled the receiver gap nicely with Jaime Ffrench and JJ Buchanan, but the Michigan State transfer may have been even more impactful in 2026. Instead, he’ll be catching passes from Josh Hoover at Indiana in 2026.