There are a bit of mixed feelings regarding Michigan football entering the 2024 season — or the springtime time at least. The Wolverines are coming off of a magical campaign in which they won the Big Ten for the third-straight year and defeated Washington to win the national title.
But Michigan did lose all but one starter from the offensive unit and the defense took a punch by losing guys like Kris Jenkins, Junior Colson, Michael Barrett, Josh Wallace, and Mike Sainristil. However, the maize and blue return plenty of key pieces from the national championship team. Guys like Donovan Edwards, Colston Loveland, Tyler Morris, Kenneth Grant, Mason Graham, Ernest Hausmann, and Will Johnson, among others, are all back.
The key question mark regarding the Wolverines in the fall will be what kind of quarterback play do they get? As of now, Michigan hasn’t swooped anyone up from the portal so the Wolverines plan on rolling with Alex Orji, Davis Warren, or Jack Tuttle — presumingly.
Because of that question mark, Tom Fornelli with CBS Sports couldn’t rank Michigan No. 1 in his post-spring Big Ten power rankings. Instead, Fornelli has Michigan dropping a tiny bit and slotting the Wolverines at No. 3 in the Big Ten.
It may seem unfair to have the reigning national champions ranked third only a few months removed from the parade, but a lot has changed since then. Jim Harbaugh and a large chunk of the coaching staff are gone, as are J.J. McCarthy, Blake Corum and nearly every offensive lineman in the 734 area code. Still, there’s plenty of talent on the roster entering Sherrone Moore’s first season as the full-time head coach, and the Wolverines were able to hold onto a few huge defensive pieces whom some speculated could leave in the portal. There may not be a repeat national title in the cards, but a fourth straight Big Ten title is more likely than many believe.
It’s hard to argue with Fornelli’s assessment. He has Ohio State and Oregon both ahead of the Wolverines and that’s perfectly fair for the time being. OSU loaded up in the portal and returned a ton of stars. Oregon also loaded up in the transfer portal and returned plenty of stars.
Here are the top five from CBS Sports:
- Ohio State
- Oregon
- Michigan
- Penn State
- USC
