The Michigan Wolverines brought a nearly full squad to Orlando for the Citrus Bowl against Texas on Dec. 31, with the program confirming Saturday that all but three members of the 2025 team – EDGEs Derrick Moore and Jaishawn Barham and offensive lineman Giovanni El-Hadi – made the trip.
Michigan arrived in Orlando on Friday evening for the bowl game with questions surrounding who would make the trip after comments interim head coach Biff Poggi made to a Texas podcast on Tuesday. On the show, he insinuated that as many as 25 players would not be back, but it was unclear whether that meant for the game or to the program.
”We will play hard,” Poggi said. “We’re coming, we will play hard. I don’t know how many we’ll come with quite frankly, and I don’t know how well we’ll play, but we’ll play hard. I want them to be able to say the rest of their lives that we went and we played really hard against the great opponent and we gave it our all when lesser men would’ve maybe not and probably will not be there on the 31st.”
Regardless, everyone was present and accounted for at practice on Saturday, per those on the scene in Orlando.
The focus for the players and interim staff is on the bowl game under Poggi, but Michigan’s hiring of Kyle Whittingham as its head coach is now official and the focus turns to retaining the roster and building a staff for the 2026 season and beyond.
Whittingham, who was officially announced by Michigan on Friday, is expected to land in Orlando on Saturday to begin meeting with the team. He will be introduced on Sunday at 11 a.m. in Orlando with the Michigan beat and other interested media entities already down there to cover the bowl game.
“We are honored to lead the outstanding student-athletes, coaches, and staff who represent Michigan Football each day,” Whittingham said in a release on Friday night. “Michigan is synonymous with tradition and excellence—both on the field and beyond—and our entire program is committed to upholding those values while striving for greatness together. My family and I are thrilled to join the University of Michigan community, and we look forward to helping our players grow, develop, and reach their highest potential—on the gridiron, in the classroom, and as leaders. It’s a privilege to be part of something that inspires pride in every Wolverine fan. Go Blue!”
Whittingham, 66, is 177-88 all-time at Utah with three conference championships with AFCA Coach fo the Year and Bear Bryant Award nods in 2008 after a 13-0 season. He won the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year award in 2019, and won Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors in 2019 and 2021, respectively.
Whittingham, a BYU alum, got his starting in coaching as a grad assistant in 1985-86 before moving to Eastern Utah as its DC in 1987. In 1988, he moved to Idaho State as its special teams coordinator and linebackers caoch before being promoted to defensive coordinator in 1992-93. He joined Utah as a defensive line coach in 1994, moving to defensive coordinator coaching safeties and linebackers in alternating stints, including under Urban Meyer in 2003-04 before replacing him as the head coach in 2005.