Michigan
Six Biggest Questions Facing the Michigan Wolverines Football Spring
Channeling my inner Paul Heyman, the Michigan Wolverines are the reigning, defending, and undisputed national champions! Michigan has not lost a regular season game since Oct. 2021 and has not lost at the Big House with fans in attendance since 2019.
Fresh off a 15-0 campaign and a third-straight Big Ten championship, Michigan is on the heels of the biggest program high of the modern era. But following several coaching and personnel changes this offseason, the page has been abruptly turned and all attention is on the uncertain future.
Michigan is breaking in a new head coach, offensive coordinator/play-caller, defensive coordinator, special teams coordinator, running backs coach, tight ends coach, offensive line coach, tight ends coach, defensive line coach, linebackers coach, secondary coach, and a new head of strength and conditioning. The Wolverines also must replace nine starters on offense, including the best running back and quarterback in program history, and the entire offensive line.
Despite all the new faces, optimism is still high in Schembechler Hall, and as quick as the national media has been to count out the Wolverines as contenders in 2024, Team 145 is champing at the bit to prove everyone wrong.
To do so, the team will need to start finding answers to several questions, and these are six of the biggest ones that could ultimately prove the difference between success and failure this season.
Who will be the starting quarterback?
The most important and influential position in all of sports must be the top priority. According to new offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell, “The pecking order heading into the spring is who is the oldest,” he said. “If it’s the same grade, we’ll go in alphabetical order by last name. That’s how we’ll handle it on day one. We’ll reevaluate that on day two.”
Ladies and gentlemen, Michigan’s current depth chart: Jack Tuttle, Davis Warren, Alex Orji, Jayden Denegal and Jadyn Davis. Campaign groups are already being formed, but let’s examine each option in one sentence.
Tuttle: The experienced veteran with the highest floor of the group, but is his ceiling high enough for a team with a national championship-caliber defense?
Warren: A developmental passer who has demonstrated equal parts competency and frustration.
Orji: The generational athlete who could either be a home run or a strikeout depending on how he improves as a passer.
Denegal: The big-bodied, poised pocket passer who could be the dark horse of the group, but will need more reps to fully understand his capabilities and limitations.
Davis: The complete unknown, but possesses the high school pedigree to get fans excited about his potential.
A transfer could enter the mix, but these will be the guys in the spring with the first opportunity to separate from the pack. We know whoever the starter is will be supported by dynamic outside weapons and a potential All-American running back in Donovan Edwards. But who will be protecting and paving the way for this offense?
What is the status of the offensive line?
The Wolverines lost all five starters from last year’s offensive line plus one more. LaDarius Henderson, Trevor Keegan, Drake Nugent, Zak Zinter, Karsen Barnhart and Trente Jones are all gone to the NFL. So who starts this year? Before the first spring practice, I imagine the starters look something like this.
LT – Myles Hinton/Jeff Persi
LG – Giovanni El-Hadi
C – Greg Crippen
RG – Josh Priebe
RT – Connor Jones/Andrew Gentry
The interior group feels all but established unless a transfer or Raheem Anderson shakes things up, but questions remain at both tackle positions. According to Jon Jansen, all signs are pointing to Myles Hinton moving to left tackle, putting him into direct competition with Jeff Persi, who does have one career start under his belt (Rutgers 2022).
It is all speculative at right tackle, but the echoes are suggesting Connor Jones and Andrew Gentry could be the frontrunners. The quarterback battle will drive clicks, but given Sherrone Moore’s personality, the offensive line battles will be equally important for Team 145’s ambitions. Speaking of Moore…
How will the team’s dynamics change under head coach Sherrone Moore?
Moore wasn’t just handed the keys to a Ferrari and told to keep it between the lines — Moore was handed Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and is expected to keep it at the front of the grid. He has already shown the ability to handle high-pressure situations, but how will he handle the day-to-day responsibilities? The day-in-day-out recruiting grind that retired the greatest college football coach of all time two months ago? Practice schedules? Overall game planning? Will he still insert himself into play-calling?
All these lingering questions will not be properly answered until the fall, but fans will be able to start reading between the lines in the spring.
What will the play-calling balance be under Kirk Campbell?
Keeping with the offense, Campbell will be the primary play-caller in 2024. In Campbell’s only other game as offensive coordinator — the season-opener against East Carolina in 2023 — he was brilliant and struck the perfect balance with 31 passes called compared to 31 runs.
This balance will undoubtedly be the goal for Campbell, but not every opponent is East Carolina. Apologies to the Pirates, but every play-caller has tendencies and go-tos in crunch time and it remains to be seen what Campbell’s will be. The spring will not yield much about this either, but pay attention to the second quarter against Texas.
The first quarter will likely be a heavy dose of scripted plays — plays Campbell knows will be likely successful and will be prepared ahead of time. The second quarter will inevitably require some adjustments and against a high-caliber opponent, these play calls will offer the first glimpses into who Campbell truly is as a battlefield play caller.
Fortunately, Campbell will be supported by an elite defense, but an elite defense that will have a new general.
How different will the defense look under Wink Martindale?
Fans are well aware a this point new defensive coordinator Wink Martindale truly is the “OG” of the defensive system Michigan has been running since 2021. But fans also know how aggressive Martindale is historically and wonder how that will translate at Michigan.
When asked about adapting his game to the collegiate ranks, Martindale offered this:
“I think every year is different. I’m not going to tell Ryan Day or Sark (Steve Sarkisian) what we’re gonna do. I have confidence in these players that they’re going to execute at a high level. I am more aggressive than Jesse (Minter), the proof is in the pudding with Jesse and Mike (Macdonald). If we can get to the quarterback rushing three, we’ll rush three. That’s the way football is — you just gotta see how it changes because people are adjusting to us, too, as well.”
It is refreshing to know the defense will be more diverse than Don Brown’s persistent engage eight, but what will the strategy look like in tight games? Will Wink be able to substitute effectively against a hurry-up? Can he fight off his innate desire to blitz when circumstances call for patience?
This Michigan defense is loaded with talent, but one key position — coupled with Martindale’s decision-making — could determine the overall unit’s success.
Who will be CB #2?
This exact question was asked last year, and Amorion Walker was looking like the favorite to start opposite Will Johnson. But following a spring game embarrassment of Walker at the hands of Peyton O’Leary, Michigan added transfer Josh Wallace, and the rest is history.
With Wallace gone to the NFL and Walker transferring to Ole Miss, the battle for cornerback No. 2 is alive and well again. The Wolverines are loaded with talent at the position, but the talent is MASSIVELY unproven.
Soon-to-be sophomores D.J. Waller and Jyaire Hill have generated some buzz, and so has the possibility of Ja’Den McBurrows moving outside and having Rod Moore take over at nickel.
The spring won’t generate any definitive answers, but it will offer strong suggestions. If none of the mentioned names can stand out, expect Michigan to once again hit the portal to at least add some competition and experience to the room ahead of the fall. This is a need that has to be addressed, otherwise this Achilles heel could be the undoing of a potentially great defense.
A group of residents on Holland Road in Taylor, Michigan, say they are now doing everything they can to keep their neighborhood the way it is after some of them received a letter saying the city is considering rezoning their neighborhood.
“People across the street from me could have warehouse front property instead of woods and nice residential homes,” said Matthew Streicher.
Streicher, whose family has owned property on Holland Road for more than 100 years, says that has been his concern after he received a letter from the city about a proposed rezoning from residential to light industrial directly behind his home near Wick and Holland roads.
“So that’s when I also decided to start knocking on doors around here and saying this is what is going on, we need to speak out and have a voice as to what happens in our backyards, literally,” said Streicher.
Streicher told CBS News Detroit that three of his neighbors received that letter, informing residents that there’s a possibility of a new cold storage warehouse development if this land is rezoned.
“Nothing that belongs in a neighborhood,” said Tim Adkins.
“Heartbreaking, heartbreaking, you know,” said Denise Haggadone.
Many who live on Holland Road say this possibility is even more disturbing because of how long everyone has lived on this quaint road. And these same homeowners say that an industrial facility would only bring in more traffic and take away natural green space, most likely hurting their property value as well.
“It’s nice to see the wildlife, you know, there’s so few places left,” said Adkins.
On Tuesday, CBS News Detroit spoke off-camera with City Council Chairman Charley Johnson, who also lives on Holland Road. Johnson says he understands all of his neighbors’ concerns and agrees with them.
He says the company proposing this rezoning has every right to do so, and that the planning commission will vote on it Wednesday evening.
“It’s sad, I raised my kid here, and he’s planning on having this home after I pass or retire or what have you,” Haggadone said,
The residents hope to see a big turnout at Wednesday’s planning commission meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 3, at Taylor City Hall.
The Sterling Heights City Council is set to consider a resolution Tuesday evening opposing tax policy bills in Lansing that one councilmember contends put every municipality “at risk.”
The Michigan House voted in May to pass several bills that would slash property taxes across the state, but skipped a vote on a bill needed to replace some of the more than $5 billion in lost tax revenue.
At its Tuesday evening meeting, Sterling Heights City Council is slated to consider the adoption of a resolution opposing Michigan House Bills 5872 through 5879 due to “their potential negative impact on local government revenue, financial planning, and administrative operations,” a city document said. Sterling Heights City Manager Mark Vanderpool said the city would lose about $5 million in annual revenue from the bills. He said there’s no “guaranteed replacement” for the lost revenue, and the city would need to cut services, he said.
“So we’re deeply concerned about that,” he said.
The House’s sweeping tax cuts can’t be implemented without the passage of a separate bill levying a loosely defined 6% sales tax on services that has yet to be revealed. Republicans who control the House did not hold a vote on the sales tax hike bill, which remains in committee.
All combined, the four property tax cuts passed by the House are estimated to result in a tax revenue loss that could progress from $5.5 billion to $7.5 billion a year, according to a series of nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency analyses.
Vanderpool, the Sterling Heights city manager, said he wants the state Legislature to work “hand in hand” with cities, townships and villages to come up with a solution for “guaranteed revenue replacement.”
“We are more than willing ― I think our reputation precedes us ― to work with our state legislators hand in hand to come up with viable solutions that … may reform property taxes without harming communities across the state,” he said.
Sterling Heights Councilwoman Barbara Ziarko said the legislation reduces the city’s revenue without a guarantee of what it will be replaced with. She said that in the future, the legislation could prevent the city from maintaining positions that it has promised residents it would maintain, including public safety roles.
“When they put the burden on our local government, they’re actually putting it on the residents of whatever community it is,” she said.
State Rep. Steve Frisbie, a Calhoun County Republican, previously said that Michigan residents need to see tax relief immediately. He noted a ballot proposal collecting signatures last year would have eliminated all property taxes in the state. That citizens’ initiative, known as AxMiTax, fizzled out and won’t be on the ballot this fall.
“They realized that our property taxes are too high and they demand that we take action now,” Frisbie said.
More on the bills
The cuts passed by the House in May would eliminate the 6-mill State Education Tax and eliminate the 0.75% real estate transfer tax assessed on the sale price of real estate.
House Republicans also signed off on eliminating the personal property tax. That bill, largely intended to benefit utility companies, is tied to separate legislation that requires utilities such as Consumers Energy and DTE Energy to pass on personal property tax savings by cutting electric and gas rates for their residential customers. It also requires utilities to freeze rates for two years.
Jennifer Varney, Sterling Heights’ finance and budget director, said the elimination of the personal property tax would result in a $4.3 million annual revenue loss for the city. She said the personal property tax refers to the taxes that businesses pay on their assets, such as their machines and vehicles.
Another tax on the chopping block is the so-called “pop-up tax,” an increase in a property tax bill that occurs when a house transfers from one owner to the next in Michigan, uncapping a constitutional limit on the property tax increase on a home’s taxable value.
Under the state Constitution, a property’s taxable value cannot increase by more than the rate of inflation or 5% each year. But when a property is sold, that cap lifts and is reset at a new, often higher taxable value, resulting in a “pop-up” in property taxes.
Varney said the “pop-up” is the only way cities “recapture” the true value of a home. Michigan also has the Headlee Amendment, a state law that requires local governments to roll back millage rates if taxable property values rise faster than the rate of inflation.
“If you take away the pop-up … and you keep the rollback of the millage, you’re basically limiting any kind of growth in taxable base for municipalities,” she said.
Staff Writer Beth LeBlanc contributed.
asnabes@detroitnews.com
Search for missing Michigan woman Lynette Hooker reopened
The search for missing Lynette Hooker has been reopened. Hooker, who is from Michigan, was with her husband in the Bahamas when he claims she fell off a boat. However, new location data from his cell phone contradicts the story he gave authorities.
(FOX 2) – The search for a missing Michigan in the Bahamas has been reopened after authorities say her husband allegedly gave police false information.
Lynette Hooker and her husband Brian were boating in the Bahamas in early April when, according to her husband, she fell off the boat and was swept to sea. Brian told police he had to paddle to shore after Lynette fell into the water because she had the key.
Brian was taken into custody in the Bahamas after Lynette’s disappearance, but was later released and returned back to Michigan.
Recently, it was revealed that new location data from Brian’s cell phone contradicts the story he gave to authorities, and suggests he may have sent search crews to the wrong area. This new information has led to the U.S. Coast Guard reopening its search for Lynette.
The Source: Previous reporting and information from FOX News were used in this story.
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