The Michigan Insider

On this week's edition of The Michigan Recruiting Insider, Sam Webb, Steve Lorenz, and Brice Marich discuss some of the top targets on Michigan's initial 2027 recruiting board, including Diesel Dart, Sam Ngata, Peryton Higginson, and Dakota Guerrant. They also highlight the Wolverines' newest commit, Ernest Nunley.

On the latest episode of Steady Droppin Dimes (recorded 1/16/26), Sam Webb, Tyrone Wheatley, and Daniel Horton focused on the transfer portal's impact on college sports, particularly Michigan football and basketball. Wheatley and Webb highlighted the challenges coaches face, including retaining players and managing the portal window. They debated possible fixes, including moving the portal window down or keeping it where it is to force coaches to adapt. The possibility of moving the college football season up two weeks was another remedy discussed. The conversation then shifted to Michigan basketball's recent loss to Wisconsin, emphasizing the need for improved perimeter defense and competitive spirit. From there, the discussion moved to a media controversy over a positive postgame message from Jacksonville Free Press reporter Lynn Jones to Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen, with debate over the media's role in sports. The crew explored the nuances of sports media criticism, emphasizing the place for constructive criticism without personal attacks. Webb highlighted his approach to offering respectful, fact-based criticism, which enables open dialogue with athletes and coaches when they disagree it. Wheatley stressed the need for athletes to view criticism from different perspectives and to focus on their performance rather than media scrutiny. The conversation concluded by discussing the evolving role of media in sports and how the gatekeeping effort that mainstream media should prioritize is protecting the high standard for truth and accuracy in reporting.

On this week's edition of The Michigan Recruiting Insider, Sam Webb, Steve Lorenz, and Brice Marich discussed the latest developments for the Wolverines in the transfer portal. The Michigan recruiting insider discussed the impact of the transfer portal on Michigan's roster. Key points included the retention of major players such as Andrew Marsh and Jordan Young, and the acquisition of top talent such as Jamie Ffrench and Smith Snowden. However, the panel highlighted the challenges of attracting top talent from the portal at linebacker and defensive tackle. To address these gaps, the program has focused on developing young players, including Alister Vallejo, Deyvid Palepale, Jamarion Vincent, Shamari Earls, and Travis Moten. The discussion also covered strategic decisions for the portal, including the loss of Justice Haynes to Georgia Tech and the acquisition of Taylor Tatum. Additionally, Lorenz noted the challenges of Michigan's admissions process, which often deters transfers. The conversation concluded with a promotion of the Michigan Insider's transfer portal special, offering a 50% discount on annual subscriptions.

In this week's episode, Tim McCormick and Sam Webb react to Michigan's first loss of the season to Wisconsin. They also discuss how the Wolverines have been tested in other early conference games and what improvements are needed moving forward.

On the latest episode of Steady Droppin Dimes, Sam Webb, Tyrone Wheatley, and Daniel Horton are joined by Bryce Underwood's longtime quarterback coach, Donovan Dooley. The Quarterback University founder sheds light on his star pupil's decision to remain at Michigan, his early impressions of new Michigan headman Kyle Whittingham, the next steps in Underwood's development, and more. Before diving into the Underwood conversation, the show begins with a discussion of Michigan basketball being tested in recent Big Ten matchups and the areas the team needs to improve to maintain its standing, as some believe is the best team in the country.

On this week's edition of The Michigan Recruiting Insider, Sam Webb, Steve Lorenz, and Brice Marich discussed the challenges of roster retention following a coaching change, emphasizing the importance of retaining key players such as Bryce Underwood, Andrew Marsh, and Blake Frazier. Despite losing Cole Sullivan to Oklahoma, the team has retained most of the top names. The conversation highlighted the financial pressures of overpaying players to retain them. The retention efforts involving Enow Etta, Trey Pierce, Jyaire Hill, and Shamari Earls are covered in detail. Turning to future prospects, the team also discussed potential recruits and portal targets, including Bodie Sparrow, JJ Buchanan, and Quincy Porter, and noted the strategic importance of balancing production and potential in recruiting decisions. Porter's talent and star potential were highlighted, while Buchanan's familiarity with the offensive system and chance to make an immediate impact were emphasized. Finally, the conversation also covered receiver Dakota Guerrant's decision-making process and the importance of securing top in-state talent.

In this episode, Zach Shaw and Alejandro Zuniga break down Kyle Whittingham's introductory press conference as Michigan's 22nd head football coach, and react to his hiring at large.

They open with a reflection on Whittingham's introductory press conference. They discuss his comments, demeanor and outlook on the job. They look at his takes on roster retention, Bryce Underwood, the team's identity and other takeaways from his meeting with the media.

They also look at Whittingham's fit with the Wolverines, why the hire made a lot of sense, question marks in Whittingham's resume and observations from the team so far in Orlando.

In this episode, Zach Shaw and Steve Lorenz break down the Michigan head-coaching search so far, including the key storylines, candidates and factors to watch just under two weeks in.

They open with a look at the search so far, and what it says about the Wolverines. They discuss Michigan going all-in on Kalen DeBoer before Alabama's College Football Playoff win, why it made sense, and the Wolverines' top candidates after DeBoer's playoff run with the Crimson Tide got extended. They discuss Jeff Brohm, Adam Stenavich, Kyle Whittingham and others, as well as the level of appeal of the Michigan job, and why timing isn't on their side.

In the second half of the episode, they break down less heralded candidates, including Biff Poggi, Glenn Schumann, Jay Harbaugh, Tony Annese and others. They also look at the timeline of the hire, what the next week might look like, the roster retention side of things and more.

On the latest episode of Steady Droppin Dimes, Tyrone Wheatley shares his view of the football program from the perspective of a former player and coach. He then gives his in-depth analysis of each candidate.

On this week's edition of The Michigan Recruiting Insider, Sam Webb, Steve Lorenz, and Brice Marich discussed the unexpected firing of Sherrone Moore, its impact on recruiting, and how the coaches Michigan is targeting to replace him would affect recruiting moving forward. The team emphasized the importance of hiring a new coach quickly, ideally by next week, to stabilize the class. Potential candidates discussed include Alabama's Kalen DeBoer and his dynamic general manager, Courtney Morgan; Arizona State's Kenny Dillingham; Louisville's Jeff Brohm and his impact general manager, Vince Marrow; Washington's Jedd Fisch; Vanderbilt's Clark Lea; and Missouri's Eli Drinkwitz.