{"id":648348,"date":"2026-01-02T15:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T15:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/648348\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T15:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T15:06:12","slug":"friday-discussion-what-are-michigan-footballs-transfer-portal-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/648348\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday Discussion: What are Michigan Football\u2019s transfer portal needs?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago, we opened up this exact same topic<\/a> for discussion. The comments were all over the place when it came to Michigan\u2019s transfer portal needs, and we tried our best to answer our own question<\/a> a few days later. Now that a new head coach is in place and the transfer portal is open for the next two weeks, the picture is much cleaner now.<\/p>\n

So we ask again this question \u2014 what are Michigan\u2019s transfer portal needs this winter?<\/p>\n

The identity of previous Kyle Whittingham teams is not all that different from the Jim Harbaugh era teams. He likes to play smash mouth football, run the ball and suffocate opponents with defense. However, there are subtle differences \u2014 he will run his quarterback quite a bit more than Michigan ever has historically, and the Raven\u2019s style of defense will likely fall by the wayside.<\/p>\n

With all that in mind, the needs don\u2019t change all that much in my opinion. Wide receiver continues to be a spot of severe need. Freshman wideout Andrew Marsh proved to be a revelation this year, but they need more than just one guy. The depth was not great, and losing a wide receiver recruit in four-star Brady Marchese due to Sherrone Moore\u2019s exit didn\u2019t help either.<\/p>\n

The defensive interior is another place that seems to be a position of need to me. With Rayshaun Benny out of eligibility and both of last year\u2019s incoming transfers out of eligibility, there is playing time to be had at that spot. The edge is also a bit of a concern with Derrick Moore (who is off to the NFL) proving to be the only Wolverine capable of putting any pressure on opposing quarterbacks.<\/p>\n

Linebacker is a bit up the air depending on a handful of stay-or-go decisions that have yet to be made. Ernest Hausmann\u2019s career is over, as is Jaishawn Barham\u2019s. Jimmy Rolder and Cole Sullivan could return to form a dynamic duo at linebacker, but neither are locks just yet. After that, the depth gets a bit shaky with guys like Chase Taylor, Troy Bowles and Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng all playing sparingly this year.<\/p>\n

There are certainly other positions that could be mentioned here, but we want to hear from you. What positions do you see as vital needs in this portal window? Is wide receiver still the biggest concern? Should Michigan pick up a backup quarterback now that Jadyn Davis and Davis Warren have hit the portal?<\/p>\n

Let us know your thoughts and priorities in the comments below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A few weeks ago, we opened up this exact same topic for discussion. The comments were all over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":648349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7,580,52591],"class_list":{"0":"post-648348","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-michigan-football","10":"tag-michigan-football-opinion"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115826130285549621","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}