Kyle Whittingham said Michigan 'Had to Find Out Who's Who' During Physical Spring

The Michigan Wolverines are wrapping up their spring season on Saturday when the Maize and Blue take the field for the annual spring game, which begins at 2 p.m. EST on the Big Ten Network.

Over the last month, Michigan has gone through a number of practices for the coaching staff to get a sense of what the team looks like heading into fall camp, while also getting some on-field time for players to ger used to the schematics with a new staff.

In that, there has been plenty of physical battles with hard hitting taking place throughout the spring.

While some of the hitting has to get toned down closer to the season during fall camp, head coach Kyle Whittingham said in an interview with BTN the staff needed to set the tone and "find out who's who" by letting players go at it at full force.

Cameron Brandt tackles — Michigan defensive end Cameron Brandt (9) tackles Purdue quarterback Ryan Browne (15) during the second half at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, November 1, 2025. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Whittingham on physical play in spring ball

The first-year Michigan head coach admitted there is a level of risk involved when physical play is increased during practices, but views it as something that is necessary ahead of what will be a grind of a season to come.

"We banged pretty good this spring," said Whittingham. "There was a lot of physicality to our practice, which is our standard operational procedure. That's how we've done it for a lot of years with this staff. You've got to scale back a little bit on that in the fall because you're getting ready for games, but we needed to find out who was who here and who the tough guys are, and no other way to do it than to go at it.

"There is an element of risk, but you've got to weigh the pros and cons of what you're doing. But overall, it was a very physical spring. We found out a lot about the guys on this team."

Continuing on the topic of physicality, Whittingham said he believes the team is going to be good at the line of scrimmage, although he believes one side of the ball is ahead of the other so far when it comes to the guys up front.

"We think we're gonna be pretty good at the line of scrimmage," Whittingham said. "I'd say the defensive line is probably a little bit ahead right now. Offensive line still needs some development to occur. We also had a couple of players who are going to be prominent players for us on the o-line in the fall that weren't able to practice this spring. So, that's still a work in progress."

"We think we're gonna be pretty good at the line of scrimmage."

HC Kyle Whittingham talks @UMichFootball’s spring progress 👇#B1GToday pic.twitter.com/M6oJCroxjr
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) April 16, 2026

Add us as a preferred source on Google