Michigan Football: 3 Reasons for Optimism, 3 Reasons for Concern After Kyle Whittingham's Presser

After hearing Kyle Whittingham talk on Monday, there are both reasons to believe and for caution moving forward.

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Michigan is 3-2 and coming off its bye week. The Wolverines did some soul searching and they hope to show a lot of improvement this week when Penn State comes to town on Saturday.

Head coach Kyle Whittingham spoke with the media on Monday and there are some reasons you can believe in the Wolverines to finish the 2026 season in a strong way, but there are also some things that he said that might make you have some concerns.

Reasons to believe in Michigan

Feeding Savion Hiter

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After putting up 400-plus yards against Iowa in Week 4, Michigan's offense took a major step backward against Minnesota. The Wolverines need some playmakers to emerge alongside wide receivers JJ Buchanan and Andrew Marsh — running back Savion Hiter could be an answer.

The five-star freshman has struggled for most of the season to get into any sort of groove — as the playcalling hasn't exactly made things easy — and he has 145 yards (3.15 YPC) with two touchdowns. It sounds like the Wolverines are going to try and get more out of Hiter moving forward.

"Offensively, Savion Hiter continues. And we need to do a little better job of trying to get him in a groove and feeding him the ball a little bit more. But he does some really good things in practice," Whittingham said.

Jordan Marshall remains Michigan's starting running back, and he should be. But we are used to seeing the Wolverines have a couple of backs they can rely on. If Michigan uses Hiter the correct way, that could pay some major dividends moving forward.

One big personnel change

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Entering the bye week, Kyle Whittingham said there were going to be some 'tough decisions' to be made. Nobody really knew what that meant, and it turns out that it didn't have much to do with personnel. Bryce Underwood remains the Wolverines' starting quarterback and it doesn't sound like we will see a lot of changes.

But there is one change that Whittingham made known and that's at punt returner.

"Yes. We'll have a different returner back there, and that's due to a couple reasons, not just putting the ball on the ground, but some injury reasons. And so we will have a different returner — I won't say who that is yet — returning punts this week," Whittingham said.

Andrew Marsh has been Michigan's punt returner this season, but he's fumbled the ball a couple of times and he's done little when he has caught the ball. The Wolverines' punt return game ranks No. 123 in the nation, averaging a little over four yards per return.

The Wolverines will make a change and it's hard to believe it won't be for the better. Marsh can fully focus on playing wide receiver and Michigan will look to spark a unit that has struggled mightily for a couple of seasons now.

Canned things that didn't work for the offense

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Kyle Whittingham said the coaching staff had some honest talks and looked in the mirror, while he said it all starts with himself. After doing so, Michigan will make a few adjustments, and most notably on the offensive side of the ball, canning things that didn't help.

While the Wolverines are sticking with the rhino, we might see fewer east-west runs and Michigan could look to go for more of a downhill run game.

"Not only gives you a chance to regroup and get healthy, but look at everything you've done in five games. Pick and choose what's been good to you, what hasn't. Can the things that have not been very good through five weeks and accentuate what has been good. And then introduce a few different elements that we think will help us," said Whittingham.

Michigan's offensive line is built on a physical, downhill attack. That's what the Wolverines' strength is and hopefully Michigan will change what it was doing for the better.

Reasons for concern moving forward

Sticking with the rhino package

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Bryce Underwood hasn't been the only talk of the Michigan offense through five weeks. Jason Beck has felt the heat and some of it stems from his rhino package. The Wolverines have run the set around 20 — or more — times per game.

Fans shouldn't expect it to go anywhere, either. On Monday, Whittingham said Michigan will continue to utilize "most of it".

"Yeah, it gives you an extra big-body blocker in the run game, which should yield dividends in that regard, a better pass protector when you throw the ball. So those are the positives. Negatives: Obviously, it's not really a viable pass receiver so the defense has one less passing threat, although one of these days we'll throw it to them, but it hasn't happened yet. 

"But that's been a big part of Jason's offenses for a lot of years, and you see it more common these days throughout college football. Not in the NFL, but it's showing up at a pretty decent rate in college football," said Whittingham.

Max protection is nice, but it appears the Wolverines are overutilizing it and it does nothing for the passing attack. Having an extra blocker allows the defense to stack the box even more and does little for Underwood in the passing attack.

Maybe it's coach speak, but continuing to utilize this package at the rate Michigan currently is just doesn't seem like a great idea.

Andrew Sprague out for several weeks

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It's been a game of musical chairs for the Michigan offensive line and the Wolverines' starting right tackle Andrew Sprague is still weeks away from returning — if he returns. Sprague was a scratch ahead of the UTEP game with an undisclosed injury and it doesn't sound like Michigan will get one of its top linemen back for a while.

"Andrew [Sprague], I'm not sure. It's way out there if he comes back. It's way out there...I am perplexed, and so is he, I think, because there's a lot that goes into it, several opinions, differing opinions. And I guess now the opinions have maybe dovetailed a little bit and kind of settled in a place where everyone's in agreement. It doesn't change the fact that he's not available or won't be available for several weeks," said Whittingham.

The only good news is that Andrew Babalola is finally back and practicing. If all goes well, he could finally get some playtime and help the Wolverines' offensive line. Whittingham said Michigan would've been down a few linemen this past weekend if the Wolverines had a game.

The health of the line is concerning and not having Sprague is a hard pill to swallow.

Still not figuring out the turnover bug

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This has been a talking point since Week 1 against Western Michigan. The Wolverines have turned the ball over in every game, save for the win over Oklahoma, and entering Week 7, we are still hearing Kyle Whittingham talk about limiting turnovers.

The Wolverines are -4 in the turnover margin and that ranks No. 122 in the nation. Not only is Bryce Underwood throwing interceptions and the Wolverines are putting the ball on the ground, but it's a perplexing issue that nobody can solve.

"The main thing, our big demise, is turnover margin. If you look at it, if we continue to lose the turnover margin, we'll continue to lose, period, cut and dry. And so we have got to get that fixed. We turned the ball over three times against Minnesota. Once was on special teams, but it's a turnover nonetheless. And so it was three turnovers, and you just can't win against opponents that are very capable when you're doing that.

"That's the main takeaway is that, and it doesn't take a genius to figure that out. But we have got to start turning the ball over less and taking it away more, plain and simple. And until that changes, we're going to continue to struggle," Whittingham said.

Saturday marks Michigan's halfway point on the season, and if the Wolverines can't solve their turnover woes by now — coming off a bye — it might not happen all season.

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