{"id":686908,"date":"2026-01-18T18:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T18:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/686908\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T18:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T18:18:13","slug":"north-dakota-state-transfer-lb-nathaniel-staehling-commits-to-michigan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/686908\/","title":{"rendered":"North Dakota State transfer LB Nathaniel Staehling commits to Michigan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Good news for Michigan fans on a snowy Sunday \u2014 North Dakota State linebacker Nathaniel Staehling has committed to the Wolverines via the transfer portal for his final year of eligibility, he announced on social media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/college\/north-dakota-state\/article\/bison-lose-starting-mike-linebacker-to-portal-271208339\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Staehling entered the portal <\/a>on the last day it was open (Friday, Jan. 16), so I doubt he had time to get in a visit to Ann Arbor this weekend. But the inroads new linebackers coach Alex Whittingham made must have paid off.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">He thrived in a starting role in 2025 for the Bison, making 75 total tackles (second-most on the team), six tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, three interceptions, two quarterback hits and a fumble recovery, earning an All-Missouri Valley Football Conference honorable mention. He earned a 78.7 overall defensive grade on Pro Football Focus, as well as a 80.8 run defense grade and a 78.2 tackling grade. He also graded out favorably against the pass (70.8 coverage grade) and as a pass rusher (66.1 grade).<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Notably, two of Staehling\u2019s three interceptions were against Illinois State in the second round of the FCS Championship, both of which were returned for a touchdown.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Staehling redshirted in 2022, was a backup in 2023, and only played in five games in 2024 while dealing with a shoulder injury. <a href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/college\/north-dakota-state\/article\/bison-lose-starting-mike-linebacker-to-portal-271208339\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Blake Engebretson with 247Sports\u2019 Bison Report<\/a> said he was the eighth starter NDSU lost in the portal this winter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Linebacker has been perhaps the biggest position of need for the Wolverines, as Jimmy Rolder and Jaishawn Barham declared for the NFL Draft, Ernest Hausmann retired from the sport, and Cole Sullivan entered the portal and committed to Oklahoma. It\u2019s unclear what Staehling\u2019s role will be with the Wolverines, but he\u2019s got plenty of experience and can hopefully lean on that as he navigates the complications of Big Ten defense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Staehling will have one year of eligibility left.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good news for Michigan fans on a snowy Sunday \u2014 North Dakota State linebacker Nathaniel Staehling has committed&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,580,52888,52889,49,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-686908","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-michigan-football","10":"tag-michigan-football-news","11":"tag-michigan-football-transfer-portal","12":"tag-ncaa","13":"tag-ncaa-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115917482244588465","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686908","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=686908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}