Three Michigan Players About to Break Out in Fall Camp

Michigan is set to open fall camp this week and officially begin their 2026 football season. It will be the first fall camp at Michigan for Kyle Whittingham, and all the players will have to go out and re-earn their playing time. Michigan has a lot of talent on this roster, and there's a number of players who could be ready to break out for the first time during fall camp. Let's dive into three players about to break out in fall camp below.

Andrew Babalola

I'll start with perhaps my boldest prediction, picking Andrew Babalola. On pure talent, Babalola might be the most talented player on Michigan's entire roster. He was a 5-star recruit in the class of 2025, and was rated 10th in the country overall by 247 sports. At 6'-6" and now listed at 315 lbs. Babalola is a huge human being, but the most impressive part about him is how well he moves for being that size. He's very nimble on his feet, and has great reactive athleticism to go along with his great length.

Andrew Babalola was in the mix to start las fall camp at left tackle for Michigan as a true freshman but ended up tearing his ACL before fall camp even finished and lost his entire freshman season. Now that he's back to full health, he's set to break out and compete for the starting left tackle job again. Don't be surprised if he ends up winning the left tackle job, and beating out more experienced players on his way to doing so.

Kyle Whittingham recently gave him very high praise at Big Ten media days: "He's a big-time prospect," Whittingham said. "He's 6-6, about 320, 315, and just has great feet, great balance. And he was not there in spring, but Jim's excited about him. Looks like he's going to be in the in the hunt for that left tackle spot."

"I think he's a natural tackle, and his upside is really high," Whittingham said. "We just had, like I mentioned, two first rounders [from Utah], and he reminds me exactly of those guys."

If Jim Harding and Kyle Whittingham are that excited about him before they've ever even seen him practice at 100%, it gives me a lot of confidence and belief that he's going to be a great player for Michigan sooner rather than later.

Dominic Nichols

Dominic Nichols is a guy I've been excited about for a while now. He's shown flashes of being a really good edge player in his limited playing time but hasn't really had a chance to go out and win a starting job yet. That changes for him this fall, as this will be his best chance to start that he's had.

He had a pretty good 2025 playing a rotational role, and PFF ranked him as a top 10 returner for Michigan in 2026 coming in at #7. He only ended up finishing with 19 total tackles and 1 sack last fall, but this fall I'm expecting a big jump from him.

Kyle Whittingahm had good things to say about him at Big Ten media days as well: "Dom Nichols had a great spring and really is coming into his own."

That's certainly good to hear, that he's coming into his own now as a player. Michigan will need someone to emerge opposite John Henry Daley on Michigan's defensive line, and I'm betting it'll be Dominic Nichols who's set for a breakout in fall camp for Michigan.

Bryce Underwood

This is certainly the most buzz worthy name in Michigan's program, and I'm one the more optimistic side of the Bryce Underwood discussions. I believe this fall camp he's set to really break out for Michigan.

As a former 5-star recruit, he was being compared to Vince Young and Cam Newton with his impressive physical traits at 6'-4" and 205 lbs. entering college. He came in and started for Michigan right away, throwing for 2,428 yards while completing 60.3% of his passes with 11 TD's and 9 INT's. He also added 392 yards and 6 TD's on the ground. It wasn't everything Michigan fans hoped in his debut season, but it's very rare for true freshman to start at a big-time program like Michigan right away.

Dante Moore started in his true freshman season at UCLA and put up similar numbers to what Underwood did at Michigan last season. Moore threw for 1,610 yards while completing 53.5% of his passes and accounted for 11 TD's through the air with 9 INT's. Compared to what Dante Moore did at UCLA, Bryce Underwood was actually significantly better.

Everyone nationally seems to have forgotten about Dante Moore's rough start to his college career because he went on to transfer to Oregon and his career took off from there. Bryce Underwood will have the same opportunity to make everyone forget about his debut season with his performance the next two seasons.

That's not even to mention that he had no dedicated position coach last season, and this new offense he'll play in under the coordination of Jason Beck is a better fit for his skill set. In Beck's offense last season, Devon Dampier threw for 2,490 yards while completing 63.5% of his passes with 24 TD's and 9 INT's. He also added 835 yards and 10 TD's on the ground.

Like Underwood, Dampier is a very mobile quarterback and Jason Beck was not afraid to use him like one. He'll do the same for Bryce Underwood this fall and I belive it'll help him showcase his true talent level. Make no doubt about it, Bryce Underwood still has all the physical tools to be one of the better players in all of college football and I believe he'll break out this fall camp for Michigan and remind everyone why he was so highly rated as a recruit.

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