The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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NOVEMBER 2026 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 27 Michigan Football Midterm Grades Grading U-M At All Positions After A 4-2 Start BY CHRIS BALAS M ichigan is 4-2 in Kyle Whittingham's first season, and one of the losses was not to Okla- homa, one of the big surprises in the first half of 2026. Yes, the Wolverines are all but out of the Big Ten race after losing their first two conference games, and the offense is the biggest reason why. The defense, meanwhile, has been solid, while special teams need a lot of work. So let's dive in as The Wolverine grades the Wolverines at the midway mark position by position, in all facets. QUARTERBACKS: D+ Michigan sophomore Bryce Under- wood led a 17-10 victory over then-No. 11 Oklahoma the way Alex Orji led the Wolverines to a win against USC a few years ago … only Underwood was more effective as a runner. The sophomore's big touchdown run against the Sooners was the catalyst in victory and he had acceptable games in a loss to Iowa and a win against UTEP. But Underwood was downright bad in a miracle victory over Western Michigan and a Little Brown Jug loss at Minnesota. The U-M coaching staff had a big de- cision to make in the bye week before Penn State: stick with Underwood or give true freshman Tommy Carr a shot. We guessed they would stay with Under- wood against the Nittany Lions until he gave them reason to make a change, but that the leash would be shorter — and that's exactly what happened. Turnovers have plagued Underwood for the second straight season and did against Penn State. Carr replaced Under- wood after the former went 5-for-11 for 43 yards with 2 interceptions in the first half at home against the Nittany Lions. The backup came in and went 5-for-7 for 47 yards and added 4 rushes for 36 yards and a touchdown, leading the Wolverines to 21 second-half points and to a 21-18 victory. "The timing of [the change] … that's a fine line to walk right there. We just felt it, and it really was a decision by the offensive staff, and I supported it," Whittingham said. "I'm not going to say I was against it, but they said, 'Hey, we're thinking about making changes.' Whatever we've got to do. I think that the timing was probably about as good as it could have been." Whittingham wouldn't commit to starting Carr against defending national champion Indiana the following week, but most expected that would be the move. RUNNING BACKS: D+ Before the season, we thought junior Jordan Marshall would be a lock for a 1,000-yard season. Instead, Marshall tallied just 293 yards through six games, and the Wolverines haven't come close to the production from the Marshall/ Justice Haynes tandem last season. Mar- shall's long run was 17 yards in the first half of the season and he averaged only 4.2 yards per carry. The running game overall ranked 100th in the country after five games but moved up to 84th after a 201-yard showing in a 21-18 victory over Penn State. Neither the offense nor offensive co- ordinator Jason Beck's east-west scheme had clicked through five games. Whit- tingham said publicly that U-M needed to do more north-south running, some- thing the Wolverines worked on in the bye week. That showed up more in the victory against Penn State — a triumph in which they had a pair of runs longer than 40 yards. But the backs weren't breaking tack- les, either, and were missing some holes before finally managing some explosive plays and other solid runs against the Nittany Lions. Former walk-on Bryson Kuzdzal's 43-yard touchdown run against Penn State was akin to a glass of water for a man stranded in the desert. So, too, was freshman Savion Hiter's 41-yard scam- per. Still, Hiter was averaging 3.9 yards per carry through six games, and Whit- tingham said to expect more of him going forward. "We need to do a little better job of trying to get [Hiter] in a groove and feed- ing him the ball a little bit more," the first-year Wolverines coach said. "But he does some really good things in practice." OFFENSIVE LINE: D+ Pass protection improved through the Iowa game but nosedived against Min- nesota. Part of the success could be at- tributed to max protecting with an extra lineman, but give credit where it's due — it was better (until the loss to the Go- phers), and that was with the Wolverines down a few players. Right tackle Andrew Sprague hadn't been very good in the games he played before he got hurt — performing without the same level of intensity or toughness — and he's now out indefinitely. Sophomore Andrew Ba- balola and senior Brady Norton have also missed games, while tackle Blake Fra- zier and center Jake Guarnera have been playing through their injuries. Still (and frankly), the entire line looked "soft" too often before the second half of the Penn State game. The Wolver- ines need this group to play with much more intensity in the run game and with a lot more pride if the offense is going to improve enough to hang with the better teams on the schedule. The last two quarters against PSU made for a good start. And to be fair, Whittingham pointed out, the entire unit has been banged up.