The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1545685
W I D E R E C E I V E R S 60 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2026 FOOTBALL PREVIEW BY JOHN BORTON S ophomore receiver Andrew Marsh posted a record-setting rookie sea- son for the Wolverines. He'll no doubt be a top concern for opposing defensive coordinators, but they won't be able to gang up on him too much. That's because the choices for sopho- more quarterback Bryce Underwood or anyone behind center for Michigan in- creased dramatically over the past few months. Sophomore wideout JJ Bu- chanan and elite recruit Salesi Moa fol- lowed Kyle Whittingham out of Utah. Sophomore Jaime Ffrench bolted from the Texas roster to become a Wolver- ine. Add that trio to Marsh and capable returners such as senior Kendrick Bell, sophomore Jamar Browder, junior Chan- ning Goodwin, grad C.J. Charleston and sophomore Jacob Washington, to come up with a receiving roster abounding in both talent and depth. In addition, fresh- men Travis Johnson and Jaylen Pile in- tend to make an impact. "Andrew Marsh is a tremendous tal- ent," Whittingham observed during spring football "That's very evident. Jaime Ffrench, who we brought in from Texas, has done a really nice job. Salesi Moa, our true freshman, has really looked sharp in the workouts along with JJ Bu- chanan, a transfer from Utah. Those are probably the top four. "There's still jockeying for positions in the next four. You typically travel with about eight or seven receivers. We know that those top four are pretty darn good, and we're just trying to sort out that next tier. But those four guys are going to be very good Big Ten receivers, in my opin- ion." Whittingham put a finer point on it following the spring game. In that Blue versus Maize scrimmage at Michigan Stadium, Ffrench and Moa each made 4 catches for 26 yards, Browder 2 for 26 and Bell 1 for 20. Marsh played sparingly (like many of Michigan's known commodities) and didn't have a reception. "Salesi — you saw him make a few nice catches today," Whit- tingham said. "He started off spring really well, hit a little bit of a wall toward mid-spring ball, but then started to progress and take off again toward the end. I think, like [freshman run- ning back] Savion [Hiter] and [freshman quarter- back] Tommy [Carr], his ceiling is very high. He has a bright future. "The pass catchers in general today didn't h ave a l o t o f d ro ps. There might have been o n e o r two t h a t we could've come away with. Overall, the receivers have had a really nice spring. "A n d rew M a rs h i s our wide receiver one. There's no doubt about that. JJ Buchanan is w i d e re ce ive r two. Then, we are trying to figure out who's going to be three, four and five. That's still a work in progress." Michigan football ra- dio analyst and for- mer team captain and All-American Jon Jansen likes ON TARGET AT RECEIVER Retention, Portal Catches And Recruiting Bolster Michigan Wideout Options Andrew Marsh became a starter in the fifth game last season and went on to pile up a team-leading 45 catches for 651 yards and 4 touchdowns en route to earn- ing honorable mention All-Big Ten honors. PHOTO BY TY KORNBLUE