The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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84 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2026 FOOTBALL PREVIEW "He's an unbelievable run stopper, con- tinues to grow with pass rush moves. I'm sure with what coach [Larry] Black and [assistant line coach David] Denham will teach him, the sky is the limit for him. "He's extremely strong. I think that's going to help him progress to the next level. He should have a really, really breakout year. The biggest thing is just his ability to hold the point and play with knock-back. He does a great job playing with his hands and leverage. I feel like he got better last year, and I can only imag- ine he's going to progress this year, too, with what they've got going on there." One Last Dance What they've got going on is momen- tum with a new coaching staff that Hill insisted would match up well with any in the country. It starts at the top with Whittingham, who Pierce said on the "In the Trenches" podcast this spring is "all ball." New defensive line coach Larry Black is similar, arriving from Vanderbilt to make an immediate impression. Esposito was one of the Wolverines' better assistants, but Black has kept the momentum going at the position. Both Whittingham and Black have made their impact on the defensive tackle room, Pierce praised. "He says it every time I talk to him — 'I'm family and football,' and he means it," Pierce said of his new head coach. "He moves like that, carries himself that way. I don't think I've met too many people that focused. "[Black] has this thing he says — he's a 'high-care cat.' He's fired up every single day, comes in, brings energy every day. I'm glad he's here, because he's been teaching us some good stuff." Not everyone is convinced, though, that the defensive line will be good enough to compete for championships. Even after Whittingham announced the unit was one of the best groups on the team this spring, detractors took to social media to call it "coach speak" or worse, questioning whether the Wolverines had the horses up front. Depth is still somewhat a question mark given the lack of experience behind Pierce and Etta, but those two could be — probably should be — as good a pair as there is in the Big Ten if they play to their potential. Assistant coaches Black and Denham helped elevate their play this spring, and both should have their best seasons in a Michigan uniform. Pierce is eager to prove the doubters wrong. "I know you're not supposed to do this, but I go online, I go on Twitter and see things like, 'Our interior D-line needs help,'" Pierce admitted. "For me, I take that as a personal slight because I've been here four years. I played all four years, and I see the work we put in behind the scenes. "I think it's just going to make us go harder. We're going to show that we are a strength of this team. We always have been, we always will be at Michigan." The tackles had their moments the last two years, but the consistency wasn't quite where it needed to be. It's probably unfair to compare given the players they followed in All-American Mason Graham and fellow first-round draft pick Kenneth Grant, but with Michigan's "the expecta- tion is for the position" mantra, there's no room for excuses. The seniors, especially, have to set the example, and as one of four spring cap- tains (as voted by his teammates), Pierce takes his duty seriously. When the new Pierce started all 13 games in 2025, earning honorable mention All-Big Ten honors after notching 30 tackles. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL