Michigan football takes the first steps toward the 2026 season Tuesday with the start of spring practice. 

The Wolverines will conduct 15 practices, culminating with the April 18 Spring Game at the Big House, as they begin Year 1 under Kyle Whittingham in Ann Arbor. And the new head coach met with the media on Tuesday morning to discuss his expectations for the following weeks and the team as a whole. 

“They’ve been asked to do some pretty difficult things this winter conditioning,” Whittingham said of his team. “They’ve answered the bell to everything we’ve asked. Really have a lot of toughness, and that’s a good thing.” 

Here are the biggest takeaways from Kyle Whittingham’s pre-spring practice press conference: 

Bryce Underwood is QB1, and the guardrails are off 

No surprise here, but the rising sophomore — who started every game for the Wolverines as an 18-year-old true freshman — is QB1 for Michigan this fall. 

“Bryce is our clear number one. He’s QB1 without a doubt,” Whittingham said. “He has performed very well in workouts — not only with his athleticism, but leadership-wise he’s voted one of our team captains.

“So he’s a guy that everyone looks to. And the top 10% of the football team is critical because if they’re hard workers and doing things right, everyone else seems to follow along and they set the pace. And so Bryce has done a nice job of setting the pace.” 

Under Whittingham, Underwood now has a dedicated quarterbacks coach to help his development. But the former five-star prospect also has the ability to create off-script plays, and that’s something Whittingham values. He noted Utah took advantage Devon Dampier’s running ability in 2025 as part of developing an elite running game and hinted at a similar plan for Underwood and the Wolverines this fall.

“We don’t want to take that away from him,” he said. “And last year I thought he got a pretty good start relative to his circumstances in college football. He had barely turned 18, he’s a starting quarterback for a major Power Four the football team. So he can handle it fairly well. A lot of room for improvement, he knows that, we know that. And he now has some dedicated guys, quarterback-wise, that are working directly with him and we’ll see what kind of progress we can make in these next 15 practices.” 

Injury updates: John Henry Daley, Andrew Babalola, Rod Moore 

Whittingham offered injury updates for three potential Michigan starters: Edge rusher John Henry Daley, who is recovering from an achilles injury; offensive lineman Andrew Babalola, who missed his true freshman season with a knee injury; and veteran safety Rod Moore, who largely been sidelined since March 2024 with knee injuries.

All three are expected to miss spring practice, Whittingham said. 

“They probably will not be available for spring,” he said. “Maybe limited. One or two might have some limited action, but very limited. We’re just trying to get them to the season healthy. That’s the critical thing. 

“They’re proven commodities, and we know what they can do, and so we’ve got to make sure that we do what we have to do to ensure that we don’t have any setbacks.” 

ESPN’s Heather Dinich reports Henry Daley is targeting a June 1 return to full participation. He suffered the achilles injury in November 2025. 

Unprompted praise for Michigan RB Savion Hiter 

When speaking to the differences in recruiting at Michigan and Utah, Whittingham offered unprompted praise for freshman running back Savion Hiter. 

“Here, these guys are more ready-made. I can tell you that,” Whittingham said, in comparison to the development needed at Utah. “The freshman class that came in … a lot of those guys are going to help out right away. The tailback, Savion Hiter, is special.

“I think he’s going to be a special player. There’s a handful of guys that we think, in that freshman class, are going to be real contributors, major contributors for us right away. We didn’t have that luxury in Utah very often.” 

Hiter was the No. 1 running back recruit in the class of 2026, per the 247Sports Composite. 

Michigan’s wide receiver depth chart 

Kyle Whittingham named Michigan’s top four receivers at the beginning of spring practice: Andrew Marsh, Jaime Ffrench, Salesi Moa and J.J. Buchanan. 

“Andrew Marsh, he’s a tremendous talent. That’s very evident,” Whittingham said. 

“Jamie French, we brought him from Texas, has done a really nice job. Salesi Moa, a true freshman, really looks sharp in the workouts. J.J. Buchanan, a transfer from Utah. Those are probably the top four. Still jockeying for position for the next four. We typically travel, about eight receivers — seven, eight receivers. And so we know that those top four are pretty darn good, and we’re just trying to sort out the next tier.

“But those four guys are going to be very good Big Ten receivers, in my opinion.”