Michigan Friday: Jesse Knows Talented Coaches

Jesse Minter the new head coach of the Baltimore Ravens knows defensive coaching talent when he sees it.  He sees it in Michigan's DL coach Lou Esposito and hired him yesterday.  Ironically, the day his son commits to Michigan to play for his dad.  

This is a big loss for the Wolverines and maybe the best hire Sherrone ever made.  After a couple of guys he hired flamed out in a matter of days.  

Coach Lou just signed maybe the top DL class in the country, was rated as one of the best recruiters in the country, and clearly could develop NFL talent.   Now he is in the NFL and the hope is the guys he just recruited will be there in 3 or 4 years.   

Coach Whitt has some options now, he can move Lewis Powell who is the DE and Run Game Coordinator to cover the DL or go out and hire another coach.  My best guess is Lewis is the guy for the job.   Coach Lou will be missed! 

Michigan Basketball finally got out to a lead and had fun again on the court while blowing out a limited Penn State team last night.  If you remember, Michigan got out of Happy Valley a few weeks ago with a 2 point win.  Last night was a different story as the Wolverines put up a 110 - 69 victory in front of Fab 5 member Jimmy King and a sold out Crisler Center.  Nimari Burnett had a career night putting up 31 points shooting 7/10 from 3.   Michigan has the short plane ride to Columbus on Sunday for a tip against the Buckeyes at 1:00 on CBS.  Michigan Basketball always seems to be the pre-game show on Super Bowl Sunday.

• Enjoy the Super Bowl.  As I have said a few times, Seattle plays Michigan Football.  I'm rooting for Coach Mac to win but I expect a low scoring defensive game.  Seahawks 23 NE 17

Michigan Thursday: How Did The 2026 Recruiting Class Finish?

Michigan signed a kicker, a DE/LB who is the brother of the starting DE, and a long snapper yesterday.  This was after Michigan signed a very nice class in early December, then all hell broke loose, and now Michigan has a completely new coaching staff and was able to secure most of the class. 

Rankings per 24/7:

5 Stars: 2 Meadows and Hiter

4 Stars: 9
3 Stars: 10
Not Rated: 3

National Rankings per Service:

24/7: 12 

Composite: 12 

On3/Rivals: 12 

ESPN: 11 

It seems all of the services just have Michigan's class right outside the top 10.  Please note, these rankings do not include true freshman Salesi Moa who is a 5 star on some services.  He is offically a transfer.  

Michigan might have the best DL class in the country highlighted by Carter Meadows and a great RB with Savion Hiter. 

With the program completely exploding days after the early signing period.  I'm happy with this result. 

Wolverine Wednesday: A Boring National Signing Day

This used to be one of the best days on the calendar, now it sort of sucks.  Players were flipping and signing their LOI's, now with the early signing period in December,  this day as become a bad bowl game.  

Michigan will have a few players join the team offically. 

One guy is already in:

• Kicker Jacob Baggett appropriately signs during breakfast! 
• Ndi Etta signs with Michigan today, he is listed as a DE coming in.  He was a LB in high school. Also the brother of Enow who is currently on the roster. 

These are the only 2 players I expect to sign with Michigan today. 

On a side note, the cold handshake between Dusty and Izzo is way overblown.   Let's move on. 

• Who placed a bet that former Michigan Basketball player Adrien Nunez would be participating in NBA All Star Weekend? He is playing in the celebrity game.

• Michigan incoming Freshman DE Tariq Boney just became a 4 star to 24/7!

• Michigan will also announce Captains and a Leadership Council for the Fall as well.

• Future Michigan Basketball commit PF Quinn Costello is a McDonalds All American.

• If you follow EJ Holland for Michigan recruiting news, he is moving jobs to cover Miami, FL now.

Michigan Tuesday: Names Spring Captains

Michigan Football has much needed new leadership this year and they have new policy and procedures.  The newest procedure is naming Spring Captains, which makes sense as there are lots of new players on the roster from the portal, Utah, and true freshman. 

The 2026 Spring Captains are Rod Moore, Trey Pierce, Jordan Marshall and Bryce Underwood. There is also a leadership counsel made up of 15 players from each position group.

• There was a outstanding question on why there wasn't announcement about Marsh staying?  They were waiting for his birthday and we got it yesterday! 

• Sounds like Brian Jean-Mary is heading to ND at a LB coach.

• Dusty was at the Pistons Nets game to see Danny Wolf and Juwan Howard.

• Vlad got the gameball for the Heat last night!

• Gus Malzahn is retiring from coaching.