The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1543210
MARCH 2026 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 23 2026 FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE would have led the country in sacks if an injury hadn't cut his season short. The new Wolverine pass rusher was already pacing his peers with 11.5 sacks that fall. Michigan beat out Notre Dame, LSU and others to land his pledge. "He has an incredible motor," Whit- tingham said. "He plays every snap like it was his last. He is a tremendously tal- ented young man. … He's just a relentless, throwback type of defensive end. He's just physical, but he's got great pass-rush ability." Michigan only took a handful of trans- fers from Utah, and the head coach pushed back on the suggestion that the Wolver- ines recruited "a bunch" of Utes to follow Whittingham. "At Iowa State, when they went to Penn State, they took like 30 guys," Whitting- ham said. "Relatively speaking, it was not a big number, but what we did here at Michi- gan, just like every other school, we waited to see who jumped in the portal. Those guys who did jump in the portal, the ones that were a good fit, are the ones we pur- sued, and we feel like we came away with five really, really good players from that university." At the end of the day, Whittingham and his staff kept Michigan's 2026 class to- gether while also retaining a bunch of key starters. In total, the Wolverines will bring in 44 newcomers for the upcoming season — 25 signees plus 19 transfers. Whitting- ham's first overall class of newcomers in Ann Arbor welcomes plenty of new faces to Schembechler Hall. Michigan is already looking ahead and recruiting prospects that everyone in the country would like in its next class. Whit- tingham recently visited 2027 five-star safety Honor Fa'alave-Johnson, Top 100 defensive lineman Marcus Fakatou and Top 100 wide receiver Dakota Guerrant in January. The competition is stiff, the head coach emphasized, but he's swinging for the fences in the next cycle. ❑ MICHIGAN'S 2026 TRANSFER PORTAL CLASS Name Rating* Cl. Pos. Ht. Wt. Last School Max Alford HHH Gr. LB 6-1 230 BYU Christopher Bracy HHH Sr. S 6-1 195 Memphis Cam Brown HHH So. P 6-2 185 UNLV JJ Buchanan HHHH So. WR 6-3 225 Utah Trey Butkowski HHH So. K 6-0 170 Pittsburgh Nico Crawford HHH Gr. LS 6-2 235 Pittsburgh John Henry Daley HHHH Sr. EDGE 6-4 230 Utah Jaime Ffrench HHH So. WR 6-1 185 Texas Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi HHH Gr. QB 6-2 200 Colorado State Colin Hurley HHH Jr. QB 6-1 218 LSU Houston Kaahaaina-Torres HHH So. OL 6-3 300 Nebraska Jonah Lea'ea HHH Sr. DL 6-5 285 Utah Gavin Magorien HHH So. LS 6-0 202 Marshall Aisea Moa HHH Gr. LB 6-2 235 Michigan State Salesi Moa HHHH Fr. ATH 6-2 175 Utah Christian Pierce HHH So. LB 6-0 235 Western Illinois Smith Snowden HHHH Sr. DB 5-10 185 Utah Nathaniel Staehling HHH Gr. LB 6-2 238 North Dakota State Taylor Tatum HHH Jr. DB 5-10 212 Oklahoma * On3 Transfer Portal Ranking as of Feb. 5 2026 MICHIGAN FOOTBALL SIGNEES Name Rating* Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown High School Jacob Baggett HHH K 6-0 170 Charlotte, N.C. Providence Day McHale Blade HHH DL 6-4 245 Country Club Hills, Ill. Simeon Tariq Boney HHHH EDGE 6-2 245 Washington, D.C. St. John's College Mason Bonner HHH TE 6-7 225 Lakewood, Colo. Mullen Jonathan Brown HHH RB 6-2 200 Westerville, Ohio St. Francis DeSales Tommy Carr HHHH QB 6-4 185 Saline, Mich. Saline Kaden Catchings HHH LB 6-1 220 Jackson, Miss. Hartfield Markel Dabney HHH LB 6-1 225 Chesterfield, Va. Huguenot Titan Davis HHHH DL 6-4 275 Overland, Mo. De Smet Jesuit Jordan Deck HHHH DB 6-2 190 Little Elm, Texas Lone Star Ndi Etta HHH DE 6-2 215 Keller, Texas Liberty Christian Tommy Fraumann HHH OL 6-8 265 Wilmette, Ill. Loyola Adrian "Ace" Hamilton HHH OL 6-3 295 Clinton, Md. St. John's College Savion Hiter HHHHH RB 6-0 210 Louisa, Va. Louisa County Travis Johnson HHHH WR 6-2 185 Chesapeake, Va. Oscar Smith Malakai Lee HHHH OL 6-7 350 Kaneohe, Hawai'i Kamehameha Secondary Carter Meadows HHHHH EDGE 6-6 235 Bethesda, Md. Gonzaga Ernest Nunley HHH DB 6-0 165 Anaheim, Calif. Western Jaylen Pile HHH WR 6-0 195 Grapevine, Texas Parish Episcopal Aden Reeder HHH LB 6-2 215 Monroe, Ohio St. Xavier Brady Smigiel HHH QB 6-5 215 Thousand Oaks, Calif. Newbury Park Jack Treutelaar N/R LS 6-1 220 Libertyville, Ill. Libertyville Alister Vallejo HHHH DL 6-3 310 Liberty Hill, Texas Liberty Hill Jamarion Vincent HHHH DB 6-2 170 Waco, Texas Connally Marky Walbridge HHHH OL 6-6 285 Hanover, Mass. St. Sebastian's * Rivals Industry Ranking as of Feb. 5