Greg McElroy identifies Michigan's biggest needs in transfer portal

Michigan has high hopes heading into its second season under head coach Sherrone Moore. ESPN analyst Greg McElroy doesn’t believe those hopes are unfounded, but he also thinks the Wolverines have room for improvement.

“I actually like Michigan this year quite a bit,” McElroy said. “Now, I think there’s positions of concern, but I do think that there’s a chance that Michigan could be one of those quiet teams going into next year that might actually overachieve. But, in order to reach their potential, they might end up with a true freshman quarterback that’s all-world, but it’s hard for a true freshman quarterback to be at his best if the offensive line isn’t playing great.

“If you look at this offensive line, that’s a position that they might try to fortify here in the spring portal window. They added tackle Brady Norton from Cal Poly. They also added interior offensive lineman Lawrence Hattar from Ferris State. That was during the winter window.

“But there’s, for the most part, a lot of youth, and there’s a lot of inexperience heading into ’25 that would keep me up at night when knowing that I have a young offensive line and potentially a young quarterback.”

Michigan only allowed 17 sacks last season, tying for the 24th-least in the nation. However, the Wolverines are only returning two players who will be seniors next season:  Greg Crippen and Giovanni El-Hadi.

The Wolverines haven’t added any offensive lineman during the spring transfer portal window, either. Michigan will be forced to rely on transfers Norton and Hatter while trusting players such sophomore Andrew Sprague, who saw limited action last season.

The offensive line isn’t the only place McElroy believes Michigan could use some depth. He also would like to see the Wolverines beef up their receiver corps.

“It’d be beneficial to add a piece or two at wide receiver,” McElroy said. “You have Donaven McCulley. That’s a pretty good starting point, but the struggles last year at wide receiver makes me believe that McCulley could end up being one of the top options on the perimeter. And I don’t know at this point if I feel great about his ability to handle that type of load in the passing attack.

“Now you got Semaj Morgan. You got Fred Moore. I think you look at that group, I’m hoping that Morgan and Moore take a step, but I don’t know for sure. So having a productive wide receiver, a proven wide receiver for Chip Lindsey, the new offensive coordinator, would be huge for Michigan moving forward if they want to be a real contender this upcoming season.”