Joel Klatt explains why he's high on Michigan football post-spring football

As the spring winds down, Michigan football continues to gain more hype. Most analysts have the Wolverines anywhere from 15-20 in their post-spring top-25 rankings, but Fox Sports' Joel Klatt is even higher on Michigan. Klatt, who announces the Big Noon game on Fox, sees Michigan more than most analysts. In Klatt's post-spring top-25 ranking, he has the Wolverines at No. 12 in the country.

Klatt likes how Michigan finished the season last year beating both Ohio State and Alabama with the offense doing minimal to help. He points at defensive coordinator Wink Martindale and the job he did. With Michigan getting Martindale back, along with veterans on the defense, Klatt thinks Year 2 under Martindale will go well.

“At 12, I'm gonna go Michigan," shared Klatt. "Now, here's why I believe in Michigan. Last year, they beat USC, they beat Ohio State, they beat Alabama. And in those games, you know what their offense did? It's virtually nothing. Virtually nothing.

"And specifically in that game against Alabama, remember all the guys that were going to the draft weren't playing in that game. So they stopped Jalen Milroe and Alabama basically with the group of guys that are going to be playing this year. Wink Martindale figured it out.

“I thought early in the year, there were growing pains with him coming back to college. He had to dumb it down. He's too smart. Wink Martindale is too smart of a defensive coordinator, and they at times were doing a little too much. They simplified a little bit. He learned the college game a little bit more. The tendencies of it, and that defense took off in the second half of the year. So because of that, that's going to allow their offense to get its footing. Now, they've got that tough game early in the year against Oklahoma.

With Martindale leading the charge on the defensive side of the football, Klatt doesn't think the Wolverines' offense has to be great to win games. However, the Michigan offense wasn't very good in 2024, and with a new offensive coordinator, and a new quarterback at the helm -- the offense is likely going to be better.

Klatt believes if either Bryce Underwood or Mikey Keene plays well for Michigan, the Wolverines will be a top-10 team in 2025.

"But think about it, man. They beat Ohio State. They beat Alabama. And in those two games, they had 234 yards and then 190 yards of offense," Klatt said about the Michigan offense. "That's it. So they don't need to be great on the offensive side. They bring in Chip Lindsey as their new offensive coordinator. And now, it's going to be kind of a wait and see of like, who's going to be the quarterback. And that was a lot of what we had last year.

"And I think you're going to have that again next year. This is not a ranking that has anything to do with Bryce Underwood. This again is defense. This is Sherrone Moore. It's philosophy. And we'll see what the offense actually is.

"Now, if the offense is good, this is a top 10 team. And so that's when we get into like, what could they possibly be? Is it Bryce Underwood? Is it Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene? They're to bridge whatever gap there might be. Keene has started 34 games at UCF and then Fresno in his career.

"So is it the talented true freshman? Is it the experienced transfer? We'll wait and see. I've got my questions about what they have on the outside. All right. But again, the defense is going to be very good.

"I know they have to replace Mason Graham. I know they have to replace Kenneth Grant. I know they have to replace Will Johnson. But that defense, even without those players, largely stopped Alabama in that bowl game when they got that win.”

Bryce Underwoo — Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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