The quarterback picture for Michigan has been fluid in recent weeks, with two of the QB’s announcing they’d be entering the transfer portal. One of those quarterbacks to enter was Alex Orji. During his three year career in Ann Arbor, Orji appeared in 20 games at quarterback and made three starts during the 2024 season. But with Orji entering the portal, along with veteran QB Jack Tuttle announcing his retirement from the game during the season, there were real questions about Michigan’s QB depth heading into the Reliaquest Bowl against Alabama.

With the team now in Tampa to prepare for the matchup, a team spokesman confirmed to MLive that Orji did travel with the team and still intends on playing in the bowl game. Having Orji available is huge for a Michigan team that doesn’t have much depth or experience at the position at this point in the season.

Although he’ll participate in the bowl game, the expectation is that Orji will still transfer in the near future. And given Michigan’s activity at that position in recent weeks (the signing of Bryce Underwood and landing veteran Mikey Keene out of the portal), it’s hard to see a scenario where Orji could make a meaningful impact at the position moving forward. There was some speculation that he may be open to making a position change, but any position he’d be moving to (tight end, linebacker, or even running back) already has guys who are well-established at the position.

But regardless of what happens in the future, there’s no question that having Orji available for the Reliaquest Bowl is huge for the Michigan Wolverines.

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Michigan State men’s basketball seems to be back.

For the past few years, the Spartans seemed to have fallen behind in the Big Ten, scrapping and clawing just to keep their tournament streak alive when the regular season began winding down.

It wasn’t the standard that had so long been in place for Michigan State basketball, a team that had regularly been competing for the conference title year in and year out.

Finally, it seems the Spartans may have gotten back to that point. Michigan State is currently tied for first place in the Big Ten and will likely head into 2025 11-2.

On this episode of the Michigan State Insider Podcast, our Aidan Champion and host Bryan Anthony Davis discuss whether the Spartans truly are conference contenders again.

You can watch the episode below:

Below is a partial transcript from Michigan State coach Tom Izzo’s opening statement from his press conference that followed the Spartans’ win over Florida Atlantic last Saturday:

Izzo: “Man, nothing’s easy. I really like that team. We said it on film. We actually did a pretty good job on a couple guys. [Baba] Miller, one. The big kid inside got in some foul trouble, did a decent job with him. I thought Jeremy [Fears Jr. ] did a hell of a job on [Leland] Walker. I really like Walker, too. But Miller is a good player. We did not do a good job on [Tre] Carroll. He was really good. And I think he is really good. I think that team has a chance to win a lot of games. This will probably be a good test for us. It wasn’t good when you’re going home for Christmas, because there was a couple sleepless nights on these guys. I told some of you I thought they were good. And yet, we started out the second half 4-of-17. Missed a gazillion layups — putbacks for Szymon [Zapala] and Jax [Jaxon Kohler], of all people. And they really — 4-of-17, I don’t know how we. I’m trying to figure out how we scored 86 points. But again, we shot pretty well from the free throw line. We offensive rebounded, we didn’t turn it over too much. I mean, it was a good win for us; I didn’t like the way it was played at all the time. I thought we got stagnant with the ball. But I was really impressed with Jeremy. And Coen [Carr] will probably never shoot another 3, so he can lead the history of Michigan State — it will be 100%. … I appreciate our fans appreciating him. And you saw our players. Last time I saw an eruption like that was when Steven [Izzo] hit a shot. That was pretty cool. I think that tells you a lot about how they feel about each other. And that was really important to me and, I think, to our coaching staff. So, Coen, no doubt, was the star of the game. Jaden came around the second half and did some good things.”

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Michigan has added an analyst to its staff with decades of experience in the NFL and NCAA. Michigan has hired Juan Castillo, who served as UCLA’s offensive line coach in 2024.

Castillo, 65, was with the Philadelphia Eagles from 1995-2012, where Andy Reid was head coach for the majority of those seasons. Castillo served as offensive line coach during a stretch of the Reid era when the Eagles made the NFC Championship Game five times. Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh was also on the Eagles staff from 1998-2007, Castillo’s relationship with Harbaugh led to him joining the Ravens staff from 2013-16, first as run game coordinator (2013) and then as offensive line coach (2014-16) before heading to the Buffalo Bills in 2017-18 as offensive line coach and run game coordinator.

John Harbaugh isn’t the only Harbaugh Castillo has worked for. Castillo was also on former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh’s staff at Michigan in 2019 as an offensive analyst. After Castillo’s lone season at Michigan he went on to be the Chicago Bears offensive line coach in 2020 and 2021, then the Washington Commanders in 2022 and 2023 as offensive line coach and run game coordinator, with his most current stop being offensive line coach at UCLA in 2024.

While Castillo has coached a variety of positions in his career, his bread and butter is clearly coaching the offensive line. Castillo, 65, will likely be working closely with Michigan offensive line coach Grant Newsome. In June of 2024, the NCAA made a big rule change, lifting restrictions on football analysts and allowing any staff member to provide “technical and tactical instruction” to student-athletes. In short, Castillo will be able to provide on-field instruction and coaching at practices. Castillo’s presence should be beneficial to Michigan’s offensive line and to Grant Newsome, who’s considered an ascending coach at 27 years old.