The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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SPECIALISTS THE WOLVERINE 2026 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 113 coach himself, made it clear in his first press conference in Ann Arbor that he had high expectations for the group. Coombs would say this spring it's one of the rea- sons he and Whittingham connected so quickly and were able to bounce ideas off each other — the new coach knew the im- portance. "Hopefully they're disciplined, play smart football, avoid sloppy, ignorant pen- alties, play the game the way it's sup- posed to be played, a n d we ' re go o d on special teams," Whittingham said when asked about expectations for his first year. "There are some telltale signs that you can look for to determine how well coached you are and how you're doing in that regard." Only a month later, just before Michi- gan's spring game, he'd seen enough to believe they were in good hands on "the teams." "He's an energetic guy," Whittingham said of Coombs. "He's a terrific addition for our staff and he has got a lot of juice, a lot of passion for what he's doing. I've got no doubt that we'll be very solid on special teams with him running the show." Kicking Game Features New Faces, Opportunities Coombs' first point of business is to im- prove both the kicking and punting games. There's only so much you can do without a kicking coach when a guy like Zvada strug- gles, and it seemed pretty clear the Wol- verines needed an upgrade at punter, where they brought in UNLV transfer Cameron Brown. Brown, a January commitment, didn't join the team until post-spring, but much will be expected of the Australian who spent his only collegiate season last year with the Rebels. A "rollout-style" kicker, the 6-2, 185-pounder made the most of his one and only season to date in averag- ing 43.8 yards per attempt (41.2 net) on 46 punts (long of 71), showing off a big leg and outstanding accuracy. Of Brown's 46 kicks, 17 were downed inside the opponent's 20-yard line. UNLV finished 26th nationally in punt return de- fense, allowing only 4.77 yards per run- back, and was 41st in net punting. A native of Coolangatta, Queensland, Brown participated in Australian Rules Football and won multiple championships at the high school level in his home country. "The punting game will improve," said former Michigan kicker Brandon Kornblue, who runs the well-respected Kornblue Kicking School and has a beat on kicking around the country. "The last two years were rough. It has to get better. "The benefit of those guys in the college game is most of them, especially if it's Australia, have been practicing kick- ing a ball out of their hands. Soccer is dif- ferent. Australian rules and rugby, that's a different skill, and they've been doing it since they were young. They've done it so long, it's more natural to them." They're also consistent at hitting the ball to a certain area, and it's an advantage to the coverage team knowing where it's go- ing, he added. If there's a defender in the punt returner's face, it makes it difficult for any return at all, even if it's an end-over- end kick. "It's going to be a 40- to 50-yard net almost every time," Kornblue said. At kicker, Pitt transfer Trey Butkowski (6-0, 170) was a Lou Groza Award semi- finalist after walking on and making 19 of 22 field goals and 41 of 42 extra points. Though his long was only 47 yards, he showed off his big leg on social media this spring in booting a 72-yarder in practice. "He comes in with great expectations and accolades, but as we've seen the last few years, just because you have one good year, it doesn't mean you're going to have a second," Kornblue said. "You have to have the right things in place with the snap and hold operation, and the coaching has to be there to manage the guys working, their schedule." There will be elevated pressure at Michi- gan, too, he added. Time will tell if he can handle life on the big stage. "But he has the tools to be really, really good," Kornblue said. "It's just a question of the intangibles. How does he handle success and being able to repeat that? He'll be under a little more of a microscope." STARTERS ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ Michigan picked up senior portal transfer Trey Butkowski after the frosh left Pitt fol- lowing a season in which he made 19 of 22 field goals, an impressive 86.4 percent. His long was only 47, but he's shown off a bigger leg. UNLV transfer Cam Brown will be an up- grade at punter, Aussie-style, after averag- ing 43.8 yards per kick last year. The long snappers are proven and there's confidence they'll be solid, and there are more than enough athletes for coverage and return teams, especially with sophomore Andrew Marsh running kicks and punts back. DEPTH ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ We'll get to the point here — the starters need to stay healthy, though walk-on kicker Stuart Blake does have a big leg and kicked well in the spring. Senior Hudson Hollen- beck returns at punter behind Brown, but he struggled a year ago. There seem to be decent options at long snapper. OVERALL ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ We suspect the kicking game will be fine under Butkowski, who by all accounts had a very good spring. He missed a short kick in the spring game, but he was solid in practices and even showed off a big leg in posting a 72-yard boot on Instagram in the offseason. Brown has precision accuracy, and coordinator Kerry Coombs will tailor the punt game to his style. Marsh could and should be a weapon in the return game. PRESEASON ANALYSIS QUICK FACTS Position Coach: Kerry Coombs (1st year at U-M) Returning Starter: P Hudson Hollenbeck Departing Starters: K Dominic Zvada, LS Greg Tarr Projected New Starters: K Trey Butkowski, LS Nico Crawford Top Reserves: P Cam Brown, LS Gavin Ma- gorien Wait Until 2025: K Jacob Baggett Newcomers: Butkowski, Brown, Baggett, Crawford, Magorien, Jack Treuletaar Rookie Impact: None Most Improved Player: Hollenbeck Best Pro Prospect: Butkowski THEY SAID IT "Special teams coordinator Kerry Coombs has done a great job so far. I love sitting in his meetings. A lot of energy, a lot of juice, and his schemes are really good." — Head coach Kyle Whittingham