Four Michigan Football Transfers Who Will Struggle to See Playing Time in 2026

Michigan will begin their 2026 football season in just a few short weeks, where they'll host the Western Michigan Broncos in game one on September 5th. It will be Kyle Whittingham's first game of his first year as the Michigan head coach, and when he came over from Utah, he helped bring in a number of talented transfer players expected to see the field this year.

However, he also brought in some players who they hope will serve as more of depth type options for the Wolverines. Let's dive into which four transfers are not expected to play much at Michigan in 2026 below.

Quarterback: Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi

Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi is a transfer they took in from Colorado State this off-season. He has played quite a few college snaps at the division 1 level. In his career he's thrown for 6,938 yards with a 60.2% completion percentage, tossing 38 TD's and 29 interceptions. While he was productive at times, he's also had some problems with protecting the football.

With Michigan's starting quarterback Bryce Underwood being only a sophomore, Fowler-Nicolosi is not expected to see the field much this fall for Michigan. He is in fact competing with true freshman Tommy Carr for the backup quarterback job, but with how Tommy Carr looked in Michigan's spring game back in April, most people expect Tommy Carr to win the QB2 job eventually. He may still win that backup quarterback job, but either way, he isn't expected to play much this season in an ideal world for Michigan.

Center: Houston Torres-Ka'aha'aina

Houston Torres-Ka'aha'aina is a rising sophomore center transfer whom Michigan took in from Nebraska this off-season. He appeared in just two games at Nebraska last year, mostly in mop-up duty once the games were out of hand.

Michigan's starting center this year is slated to be Jake Guarnera, who is expected to be one of the better centers in the Big Ten this season. That would make Houston Torres-Ka'aha'aina the backup center for this season, but even if Guarnera were to go down, they may move some other offensive lineman around to avoid having to play him this year. Houston Torres-Ka'aha'aina should be viewed as a depth option for Michigan this year, and possibly be competing for the starting center job in 2027.

Linebacker: Aisea Moa

Michigan State's Aisea Moa tackles Boston College's Turbo Richard | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Aisea Moa is perhaps best known for being the older brother of high-profile recruit and Michigan wide receiver Salesi Moa. Aisea started his career at BYU, and then transferred to Michigan State for the 2025 season. In his career he's been mostly a special teams/reserve linebacker, as he's totaled just 29 total tackles in his three seasons of college football so far.

He will likely serve the same role for the Wolverines in 2026, as a special teams player and reserve linebacker option, but he does have some familiarity with new Michigan defensive coordinator Jay Hill from their time together at BYU.

Linebacker: Max Alford

Max Alford is another linebacker with a family connection to the Wolverines. He is the nephew of Michigan's running backs coach Tony Alford. Max Alford is a bit more experienced compared to Aisea Moa, as he's played four seasons of college football already including three at Utah State and another one at BYU in 2025. Like Aisea Moa, he's also played under defensive coordinator Jay Hill before so there should be some scheme familiarity there once again.

However he is still expected to be more of a depth piece this year at linebacker for Michigan, sitting behind Chase Taylor, Troy Bowles, Nathaniel Staehling, and Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng on the depth chart. Both Max Alford and Aisea Moa look to be on the third team at linebacker in Michigan's primarily 4-2-5 defensive scheme, which likely means neither will see the field a whole lot at Michigan in 2026 barring some bad injury luck.

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