Sights and sounds from Michigan football spring practice, workouts
Michigan Wolverines football is six days away from holding its annual spring game at The Big House. The Maize and Blue are working in hopes of capturing another Big Ten championship, with plenty of buzz and excitement surrounding the program. The team has posted glimpses into its training on social media, which we’ll break down below.
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Here are some snapshots from Michigan’s Saturday practice in pads (toggle between photos with the arrows in the Instagram embed).
Senior Kalel Mullings is listed as both a linebacker and running back on the spring roster, but he’s played much more on offense. That’s due in part to senior Blake Corum (knee) and junior Donovan Edwards (hand) being out with injuries. Mullings played running back at the end of last season, racking up 31 yards and 3 touchdowns on 14 carries as a short-yardage runner.
In the second shot, sophomore safety Keon Sabb appears to be intercepting a pass. The 6-1, 208-pounder was a four-star, top-100 recruit in 2022 but had a quiet freshman season, playing behind veteran talent at safety. He redshirted, playing in just four games, but is looking to earn more opportunity to play this coming season. He’s a versatile piece who thrives on physicality and can guard both receivers and tight ends. Sophomore safety Zeke Berry and graduate tight end AJ Barner, an Indiana transfer, are also pictured.
Michigan junior center Raheem Anderson, shown snapping to junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy in the photo below, is seizing his opportunity this spring. The Wolverines brought in graduate Drake Nugent from Stanford earlier this offseason, but he’s been limited this spring due to injury. Anderson and classmate Greg Crippen are contending there.
“I’m willing to do anything to help the team. Center, guard … anything to help the team,” Anderson told TheWolverine.com recently.
Senior EDGE Braiden McGregor is one of the Michigan players garnering rave reviews this spring. Plenty of teammates have called him out as one standing out. He’s added weight and feels much more confident this season.
“You’re about to see something crazy this year,” junior linebacker Junior Colson said of McGregor. “He’s about to have a crazy-type year. He’s come into his own, he believes in himself, and you can tell he has all the traits and tools to be great.”
Senior linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green, who missed all of last season with a nagging injury, is in the background of the photo featuring McGregor, as he continues to get back into form. McGregor is shown going against junior offensive lineman Giovanni El-Hadi, who played a key role last season, stepping in for upperclassmen who were injured at different points.
Michigan junior quarterback Davis Warren is in a battle for the backup quarterback job, with the top competition being graduate Jack Tuttle, an Indiana transfer. He’s throwing in the fifth picture.
The last photo features Michigan junior cornerback Ja’Den McBurrows. He, too, has a big opportunity this spring, with one starting cornerback spot vacant and sophomore Will Johnson, who’s cemented as a starter, limited with an injury (he was recently spotted on crutches).
Former Michigan cornerback DJ Turner, an NFL Draft prospect, believes McBurrows can break out this fall.
“He can do it all,” Turner said at Michigan’s pro day. “He can play both corner and nickel, he has really good ball skills, aggressive, can tackle. He’s definitely somebody that I think is going to make a noise going into this year.”
Michigan also shared some photos from earlier in the week, with the caption, “Better today than we were yesterday,” an homage to head coach Jim Harbaugh‘s stated intention to get “one percent better every day.”
The first photo in the set displays sophomore cornerback Myles Pollard — who’s in the same boat as McBurrows — with the ball. Given his teammates’ reactions, it looks like he just created a turnover.
The second shot shows Michigan sophomore running back CJ Stokes scoring a touchdown. He rushed 55 times for 273 yards and 1 score last season. Like Mullings, he has the chance to further impress the coaching staff with Corum and Edwards out this spring.
Junior wide receiver Cristian Dixon, a former four-star recruit, has seen game action just twice in as many years, but he’ll hope to make an impact this season. He’s running a route in the below photo.
Sophomore linebacker Ernest Hausmann is a Nebraska transfer who may be too good to keep off the field. Husker Online’s Sean Callahan called him the ‘Huskers’ top freshman last season — he had his first career sack on McCarthy against Michigan at The Big House in November — and he could be a breakout candidate. He notches an interception as shown below.
Michigan senior wide receiver Roman Wilson catches a pass in the fifth of six photos below. The Hawaiian has been clear about his intentions to become more of a leader on the Michigan offense this year, and with Ronnie Bell no longer on the team, he has the chance to produce at a higher level as well.
In the final photo of the set, graduate linebacker Michael Barrett works in coverage. He debated going to the NFL after the 2022 campaign but has said he’s happy to be back and chase a national title.
“There’s a buzz in the air,” the Michigan football Instagram account posted last Monday. McCarthy is shown throwing off-platform with Harbaugh in the background. McCarthy was extremely efficient while on the move last season, and his teammates playfully call his playmaking ability “J.J. doing J.J. things.”
Freshman wide receiver Semaj Morgan catches a pass in the second snapshot. Our EJ Holland reported that the West Bloomfield (Mich.) High product been “making plays” in spring practice and is being described as “a dog.”
Barrett comes up with the ball in the third photo. He had 2 interceptions last year — with both coming in the same game, at Rutgers.
McBurrows and graduate defensive back Mike Sainristil dap each other up in the next shot. Both could be big parts of the Michigan defensive backfield this fall.
Michigan senior defensive tackle Kris Jenkins works on his pass-rushing ability, going against graduate right tackle Trente Jones, in the last photo of the set. Jones has been repping at right tackle, based on other photos and comments from teammates, and Jenkins is “obsessing over” improving the interior defensive line’s pass rush prowess.
Finally, Michigan posted a video of Jenkins, in front of a fired-up strength coach Ben Herbert and team in the weight room, doing shoulder shrugs and holding the bar for as long as he could.
Graduate left guard Trevor Keegan, not in the frame, was apparently his competition.
