Michigan HC Kyle Whittingham talks Savion Hiter, Carter Meadows, transfer class

Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham returned home to Ann Arbor this week after a busy couple of weeks on the recruiting trail. He traveled the country, met with five-star prospects and started to build relationships for the 2027 class and beyond. 

The Wolverines’ new leader hit the road in January only after battling to retain the core of the 2025 roster and the 2026 recruiting class. He brought a few stars from Utah in from the transfer portal and reinforced the roster for his first run in the Maize and Blue. 

During an interview on B1G Live Wednesday afternoon, Whittingham said recruiting to U-M isn’t all that different compared to Utah. It doesn’t matter where you are in the country, he explained, it’s all the same once you sit down with a coach or an athlete. 

“Now, one thing at Michigan, obviously, is we’re coast to coast, casting a very wide net for our recruiting,” Whittingham said. “There’s nowhere we don’t go.”

The competition is stiff, the head coach emphasized. Michigan is recruiting prospects that everyone in the country would like in their class. Whittingham visited five-star safety Honor Fa’alave-Johnson, Top 100 defensive lineman Marcus Fakatou and Top 100 wide receiver Dakota Guerrant last week. 

During his first few days running the Michigan program, he called each class of 2026 signee and started to establish a connection. Whittingham is putting in the work necessary to establish connections with the next wave of Wolverines.

“They were all excited about, not necessarily the coaching change, but to continue to be a Michigan man and play for Michigan,” Whittingham said. 

Michigan kept the majority of its No. 11-ranked recruiting class together. Whittingham said he thought the recruiting cycle ended up in “a pretty good place when all is said and done.” More than half of that group has now moved to Ann Arbor, including five-star running back Savion Hiter. 

“He’s doing a great job during the workouts,” Whittingham said. “He’s doing very well, and [I am] really excited to see what he can do in spring ball.”

Whittingham also praised the potential of five-star edge rusher Carter Meadows, the No. 11 recruit nationally and the top-ranked prospect in Washington D.C. out of Gonzaga Prep. Michigan battled Ohio State, Penn State and many others to land him. 

“Big, good looking young man,” Whittingham “Six-foot-seven, one of the top defensive ends in the country, if not the top, a tremendous athlete. The length, as I mentioned, is a big positive for him. I had some good conversations with Carter, the young man out of Maryland, and we’re excited to get him here in June.”

The Wolverines have now brought in six five-star recruits over the past two recruiting cycles. Whittingham recruited Rivals five-star athlete Salesi Moa as a short term signee transfer from Utah to team up with Meadows and Hiter.

He’s the No. 31 recruit in the country and the top-ranked ATH nationally. Moa could play either side of the ball at the college level. Whittingham recruited him to play both receiver and defensive back at utah.

The dynamic playmaker out of Ogden (Utah) Fremont High previously expressed a desire to play receiver in college. If he starts out on that side of the ball, he would line up alongside standout Utah transfer JJ Bucahnan. Whittingham raved about his big-play skill set.

“He was almost a tight end-sized young man, but we kept him at wide receiver,” Whittingham said. “He was about 215, 220 pounds but tremendously athletic— a 40-inch vertical jump— and that really comes in handy when you look at the contested balls up the field. That’s where he really excels, at the contestant ball.”

Whittingham believes that Utah transfer edge rusher John Henry Daley, the No. 9 transfer portal prospect nationally, likely would have led the country in sacks if an injury didn’t cut his season short. The new Wolverine pass rusher was already pacing his peers with 11.5 sacks that fall. Michigan beat out Notre Dame, LSU and others to land his pledge. 

“He’s a guy that has an incredible motor,” Whittingham said. “He plays every snap, like it was his last, a tremendously talented young man…He’s just a relentless, throwback type of defensive end. He’s just physical, but he’s got great pass rush ability.”

Michigan only took a handful of transfers from Utah, and the head pushed back on the suggestion that the Wolverines recruited “a bunch” of Utes to follow Whittingham. 

“At Iowa State, when they went to Penn State, they took like 30 guys,” Whittingham said.

 “So relatively speaking, it was not a big number, but, what we did here at Michigan, just like every other school, we waited to see who jumped in the portal. Those guys who did jump in the portal, the ones that were a good fit, are the ones we pursued, and we feel like we came away with five really, really good players from that university.”