The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1545685
SPECIALISTS 112 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2026 FOOTBALL PREVIEW BY CHRIS BALAS I t wasn't much of a shock to anyone last December when Sherrone Moore re- lieved J.B. Brown of his duties as Michi- gan's special teams coach. The Wolver- ines finished 87th nationally in net punting (38.43 yards per kick), struggling for the second consecutive year w i t h H u d s o n H o l - lenbeck handling du- ties. They finished 51st in punt return defense (7.0 yards allowed per return). Even the usually reliable Dominic Zvada was inconsistent on field goals. The 2024 All-Big Ten selec- tion was nearly automatic in his first year with the program, but he made only 17 of 25 kicks last season. The surprises would come several days later, starting when Moore tabbed former Ohio State assistant Kerry Coombs to re- place Brown, and then four days later when athletics director Warde Manuel abruptly fired Moore for cause. Perhaps nobody was more shocked than Coombs, who had just started working with the Michigan players when word came down. But when new coach Kyle Whitting- ham was hired a few weeks later and mentioned there could be a couple hold- overs from Moore's staff, many assumed Coombs would be one of them. Both had ties to former Buckeyes head man Urban Meyer — Whittingham as Meyer's defen- sive coordina- tor at Utah, and Coombs with two stints as an assistant at OSU. Each still had a good relationship with the former Ohio State head coach. Still, it was a nerve-wracking few weeks for the 64-year-old while waiting to see if he still had a job. "It was an odd time, to say the least, and someday when I write my book, it'll have a couple of chapters," Coombs said at a func- tion in Detroit during the spring. "We had made the decision to come up here, and we were excited about that. In a span of 72 hours, our world got turned upside down, and we had no idea what we were going to do." In early January, though, he was introduced with many of Whitting- ham's other assistants at a home basketball game. Michigan sports information confirmed his retention with little fanfare, and Coombs con- tinued the job he'd held for three weeks in preparing the Wolver- ines for the Citrus Bowl game with Texas. That game alone featured some obvious im- provement in the third phase, which couldn't have hurt the coach's chances to stick around. I n m i d - M a r c h , Whittingham, a for- mer special teams SPECIALISTS — Jacob Baggett, (6-0, 170), Fr., K — Cam Brown (6-2, 185), So., P 99 Trey Butkowski (6-0, 170), So., K 49 Nico Crawford (6-2, 235), Gr., LS 90 Hudson Hollenbeck (6-2, 206), Gr., P 46 Gavin Magorien (6-0, 202), So., LS 67 Trent Middleton (6-2, 225), Sr., LS 93 Hunter Robertson (6-4, 205), Sr., P — Jack Treutelaar (6-1, 220), Fr., LS NEW BEGINNINGS Coordinator Kerry Coombs Provides A Fresh Start For Special Teams FIELD GOALS Year Player Made Att. Long 2025 Dominic Zvada 17 25 56 2024 Dominic Zvada 21 22 56 2023 James Turner 18 21 50 2022 Jake Moody 29 35 59 2021 Jake Moody 23 25 52 2020* Quinn Nordin 2 5 46 2019 Quinn Nordin 10 13 57 2018 Quinn Nordin 11 16 50 2017 Quinn Nordin 19 24 55 2016 Kenny Allen 19 23 51 PUNTING Year Player Made Att. Long 2025 Hudson Hollenbeck 40 43.2 67 2024 Tommy Doman 49 42.6 68 2023 Tommy Doman 53 44.3 71 2022 Brad Robbins 43 42.3 64 2021 Brad Robbins 45 46.3 65 2020* Brad Robbins 23 45.3 66 2019 Will Hart 51 44.2 61 2018 Will Hart 43 47.0 65 2017 Brad Robbins 64 40.4 58 2016 Kenny Allen 54 43.3 67 Season-By-Season Kicking Leaders *Only played six games due to the COVID-19 pandemic Graduate Hudson Hollenbeck (above) averaged 43.2 yards per punt last year and was the holder for field goals and PATs. He will be challenged for the top punt- ing job by UNLV transfer Cameron Brown. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL