There is one thing that Kyle Whittingham wanted to learn about the Michigan football team this spring: Who the tough guys were.
That's at least what Whittingham said on Thursday, talking to the Big Ten Network ahead of the Michigan football spring game on Saturday.
The first-year head coach there was one objective in mind with a physical set of practices this spring: to determine the toughest players on the roster.
“We banged pretty good this spring,” Whittingham told the Big Ten Network. “There was a lot of physicality to our practice, which is our standard operating procedure. That’s how we’ve done it for a lot of years, this staff.
“You’ve got to scale back on that a little bit in the fall, because you have to get ready for games. But we had to find out who’s who here and who the tough guys are. No other way to do it than to go at it. There is an element of risk, but you’ve got to weigh the pros and cons of what you’re doing.”
Michigan football's head coach has more encouraging words
That sounds like something Jim Harbaugh would say. Michigan has always been known for toughness. So have Whittingham's Utah teams, but it feels like the Wolverines will get back to being the kind of physical, fundamentally sound team they were under Harbaugh.
"We think we're gonna be pretty good at the line of scrimmage."
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) April 16, 2026
HC Kyle Whittingham talks @UMichFootball’s spring progress 👇#B1GToday pic.twitter.com/M6oJCroxjr
Whittingham offered another nugget that fans will like, saying about Michigan, "We think we're gonna be pretty good at the line of scrimmage."
When you hear about the development of Bryce Underwood, all the skill guys, the wide receivers and running backs, and you hear about the physicality, too, it feels like the perfect combination to get this Michigan program back to competing for championships, something it didn't do the past two seasons.
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