The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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26 THE WOLVERINE ❱ AUGUST 2026 R oster upheaval is always possible when coaching changes occur, but Mike Boynton Jr. and the Wolverines avoided that in the wake of Dusty May's departure. Of the 14 scholarship players signed to the 2026-27 roster, only guard LJ Cason declared his intention to enter the transfer portal. Everyone else, including the three transfers and six freshman signees, has opted back in. Sophomore guard Trey McKenney was among the first to do so, hours after May left, and he opened up about the offseason and the coaching transition on the "Go Blue Hoops!" pod- cast with host and Michigan alum Tim McCormick on July 14. "I knew coming back, I was going to have more of an expanded role with this new team we have here," McKenney told McCormick. "I just wanted to play it out for one more year and see what could happen. I know in an expanded role I could definitely show different parts of my game that I sometimes wasn't able to show last year. So I think it'll be really good for me to get one more summer just to develop and seek things out and try to be more of a vocal leader on this team. I think that's going to be a big thing for me this year, so I'm definitely looking forward to it." McKenney and senior point guard Elliot Cadeau, who earned Most Out- standing Player honors at the Final Four, emerged as key leaders and voices on the team in the days and weeks after winning the national championship. Those roles have gotten even bigger this summer fol- lowing May's departure for the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. "Elliot had kind of a different spring and summer than me," McKenney said. "He tested out in the draft a little bit, and he did some workouts and got some good feedback for himself. He wanted to see what it was like to go through those workouts, so that was really good for him. After [LJ Cason] got hurt and I had to play a bigger role, I was obviously on the court more with Elliot, and I could just kind of feel that we were connect- ing more and getting more cohesive with each other. Our chemistry was definitely starting to grow. "I think that's something that, toward the end of the season, we were looking toward being some of the focal points on the team coming up this year. I'm really excited to be able to show that we can be one of the more talented backcourts in the country." LSU transfer Jalen Reed, who is rehab- bing from an Achilles injury that cost him most of last season, has taken notice of the unity and buy-in from his new teammates within the program. "I've just been really impressed with how much guys are in the gym and how much guys really believe in each other and believe in this team. It [could have been] easy when Dusty left for everybody to kind of split and splinter, but every- body said, 'When we woke up this morn- ing, before the news broke, we thought we were a championship team — and nothing has really changed but Dusty's left,'" Reed said on the "Defend The Block" podcast with host Brian Boesch. "Just to see the guys continue to be- lieve in each other and us and come out on the court every day and make those early deposits — whether it's 6 a.m. or 7 p.m. — it's really inspiring to see, espe- cially all of the young guys really hungry and wanting to work and wanting to suc- ceed and wanting this team to succeed." Tennessee transfer J.P. Estrella, who was May and Michigan's priority out of the portal, took some time, but ulti- mately decided that the program he had Guard Trey McKinney was one of the first players to announce his return to the Michigan program in the wake of Dusty May's departure as head coach in June. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL ❱ MICHIGAN BASKETBALL Wolverines Mostly Stick Together Through Transition