{"id":756492,"date":"2026-02-16T18:28:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T18:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/756492\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T18:28:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T18:28:23","slug":"ohio-states-rival-michigan-faces-roster-turnover-entering-2026-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/756492\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohio State’s rival Michigan faces roster turnover entering 2026 season"},"content":{"rendered":"

COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014 Ohio State<\/a> football left Michigan Stadium in November feeling much better about its trajectory than rival Michigan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Buckeyes had a proven, championship-winning coach in Ryan Day<\/a> at the helm. They had a Heisman finalist under center in Julian Sayin<\/a>. They had a 12-0 regular season in hand, fresh off the thrill of winning a national title the prior season. They had a win against the Wolverines, snapping a four-game skid in the series.<\/p>\n

Michigan was in a different spot.<\/p>\n

The Wolverines had an unproven \u2014 and later exposed as problematic \u2014 coach leading the way in Sherrone Moore<\/a>. They had a promising young quarterback in Bryce Underwood<\/a>, whose development in Year 1 felt underwhelming. They had a 9-3 record, ensuring a second consecutive season without a College Football Playoff<\/a> bid for one of the sport\u2019s blue bloods.<\/p>\n

The change that followed that snowy afternoon in Ann Arbor, Michigan, reflected the respective state of each program.<\/p>\n

Michigan will look much different entering the 2026 campaign after an offseason filled with coaching changes and roster movement. <\/p>\n

What should Buckeyes know about their rival? Here\u2019s a round-up of the most important information to come from Michigan\u2019s offseason.<\/p>\n

From Sherrone Moore to Kyle Whittingham<\/p>\n

Michigan fired Moore in December after the university believed it had evidence of the coach engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. Former Utah coach Kyle Whittingham<\/a> was hired as Moore\u2019s replacement approximately two weeks later.<\/p>\n

Whittingham spent 21 seasons at the helm for the Utes, overseeing moves from the Mountain West to the Pac-12 and then the Big 12. He went 177-88 with three conference titles.<\/p>\n

Along with hiring Whittingham, Michigan added these former Utah assistants to his staff: <\/p>\n

Jason Beck (offensive coordinator) Jim Harding (offensive line)Micah Simon (receivers)Freddie Whittingham (tight ends)Koy Detmer (quarterbacks)Lewis Powell (defensive ends)<\/p>\n

Kyle Whittingham retained running backs coach Tony Alford<\/a> and defensive line coach Lou Esposito. He hired former BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill to the same position while also adding former Cougars assistant Jernaro Gilford as cornerbacks coach.<\/p>\n

\"OhioFormer Ohio State assistant Tony Alford is coaching running backs at Michigan.Icon Sportswire via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Alex Whittingham, who previously worked with the Kansas City Chiefs, was hired as linebackers coach. Former Boise State assistant Tyler Stockton will coach the safeties. <\/p>\n

Kerry Coombs<\/a>, who coached cornerbacks at Ohio State before serving as special teams coordinator and defensive coordinator, will coach special teams at Michigan. <\/p>\n

Bryce Underwood is back<\/p>\n

Kyle Whittingham made Underwood a top priority upon his hiring at Michigan. As a result, the former five-star quarterback will be under center for the Wolverines as a sophomore.<\/p>\n

Underwood threw for 2,428 yards, 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions while starting all 13 games for Michigan as a true freshman last year. <\/p>\n

Underwood showed promise as a first-time starter, helping lead the program to nine wins. However, it seemed his development stalled \u2014 an issue that could have been the result of Moore\u2019s usage of the quarterback. <\/p>\n

Biff Poggi served as Michigan\u2019s interim head coach for three games last season \u2014 wins against Central Michigan and Nebraska along with a loss to Texas in the Citrus Bowl. Across the three games with Poggi at the helm, Underwood collected 294 of his 392 rushing yards. <\/p>\n

Those contests accounted for three of the six games in which Michigan scored at least 27 points. <\/p>\n

\"CitrusMichigan will have quarterback Bryce Underwood back for the 2026 season.APMichigan\u2019s 2026 offense<\/p>\n

Along with Underwood, Michigan will have key contributors at running back (Jordan Marshall) and receiver (Andrew Marsh). The Wolverines will also have plenty back along the offensive line, though they lost left guard Giovanni El-Hadi and center Greg Crippen to exhausted eligibility.<\/p>\n

Many expected Michigan to lose star running back Justice Haynes, but instead of pursuing the NFL, he transferred to Georgia Tech. UM did lose receiver Donaven McCulley to the NFL along with tight end Marlin Klein.<\/p>\n

The Wolverines leaned on the portal to address needs, adding receivers Jaime Ffrench (Texas) and Salesi Moa (Utah signee). They also added former Utah tight end JJ Buchanan \u2014 a threat in the slot \u2014 to bolster the position alongside a returning Hogan Hansen.<\/p>\n

\"USCMichigan head coach Kyle Whittingham. APMichigan\u2019s 2026 defense<\/p>\n

Like Day at Ohio State, Whittingham was promoted to head coach at Utah after working under Urban Meyer. However, he worked on the defensive side while Day worked alongside Meyer on offense.<\/p>\n

Whittingham\u2019s defensive mentality was evident throughout his time with the Utes, and that reputation should follow him to Michigan \u2014 another program known for quality production on defense.<\/p>\n

The Wolverines lost defensive ends Derrick Moore and Jaishawn Barham and defensive tackles Rayshaun Benny, Tre\u0301 Williams and Damon Payne to exhausted eligibility or the NFL Draft this offseason. <\/p>\n

They addressed those losses by signing edge rusher John Henry Daley and defensive tackle Jonah Lea\u2019ea \u2014 a pair of Utah transfers. Returning players such as tackles Enow Etta and Trey Pierce and edge rushers Cameron Brandt, Dominic Nichols and Nathaniel Marshall should compete for starting spots alongside the newcomers. <\/p>\n

Michigan will likely lean on its portal class at linebacker, led by Nathaniel Staehling \u2014 a former North Dakota State standout entering his fifth collegiate season. <\/p>\n

In its secondary, UM will marry a mixture of returning production with portal additions.<\/p>\n

Michigan returns starting cornerbacks Jyaire Hill and Zeke Berry for the 2026 season along with sixth-year safety Rod Moore. Transfers Smith Snowden (Utah) and Chris Bracy (Memphis) will likely fill needs at safety and nickel. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014 Ohio State football left Michigan Stadium in November feeling much better about its trajectory than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":756493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,49,48,51806],"class_list":{"0":"post-756492","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ohio-state-football-2024"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116081730944620848","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756492","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=756492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/756493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}