After more than five years in Russian captivity, Michigan’s Paul Whelan is back in the United States.

The wheels of a sleek, silver jet with a single red stripe touched down at 11:37 p.m. Thursday at Joint Base Andrews near Washington D.C., carrying Whelan, 54, of Novi, along with Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who also had been held by Russia.

It slowed to a stop at 11:43 p.m., and President Joe Biden, who personally intervened in the long months it took to negotiate a multi-country prisoner swap involving some two dozen people, walked side by side with Vice President Kamala Harris to greet the passengers.

Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth, followed directly behind them, trailed by Gershkovich’s parents and Kurmasheva’s family.

More: Michigan leaders react to release of Paul Whelan

More: Tiny Michigan village filled with ‘pure joy’ as Paul Whelan is released from Russia

Whelan was the first to step off the aircraft, meeting applause.

He shook Biden’s hand and gave him a hug, asking, “How you doing, sir?” and then did the same with Harris before walking toward his sister, Elizabeth Whelan, for a long embrace.

“It feels wonderful,” Biden told reporters who asked how he felt a short time later, standing nearby as the families hugged and mingled. “It was a long time coming.”

“I meant what I said (earlier in the day), alliances make a difference, [allies] stepped up and took a chance for us.” Biden’s negotiators worked with a team of other countries, including Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Turkey to arrange a swap of some two dozen prisoners, including the three Americans.

It was considered the biggest, most complicated prisoner swap since the end of the Cold War.

Speaking to reporters briefly after being greeted by Biden and Harris, Whelan said, “thank you very much,” to all the people who played a part in his release.

And when asked how he managed to cope during his more than five years and seven months in Russian detention, Whelan said: “I’m resilient. It’s my Irish background. You have to be a little tenacious with these people, but you do it day by day. Every day, I sung the national anthems of my four countries. I did it one step at a time.”

Whelan, who was born in Ottawa, Ontario, holds passports in the U.S., Canada, Britain and Ireland. His parents, Edward and Rosemary Whelan, immigrated to Canada from Britain. The family moved to Ann Arbor when Whelan was a small child, and he graduated in Huron High School’s class of 1988. He got Irish citizenship from his grandparents.

Whelan is a former Marine and was the head of global security for BorgWarner before his arrest in December 2018 in Moscow. He was charged with espionage while visiting Russia for a friend’s wedding. His family and the U.S. government have maintained the charges were false.

Next off the plane after Whelan on Thursday night was Gershkovich, who had been detained in Russia since March 2023 and who waved to the crowd gathered to greet him as he came down the steps. He hugged Biden and Harris before he trained his eyes on his waiting parents.

He lifted his mother into the air as they hugged for the first time in more than a year.

Last off the plane was Kurmasheva, a journalist for U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, who holds both U.S. and Russian citizenship. She had been detained since October of last year.

She held the hands of the president and vice president, speaking with them for a few minutes before running into the arms of her daughters and husband.

One of her daughters, Miriam, will be 13 years old on Friday. On the tarmac, as Biden wished her happy birthday, Miriam ran to her mother, crying, saying, “I love you so much, I can’t believe you’re here.”

After the other reunions, Whelan returned to Biden, who spoke with him a little longer before taking off the American flag pin on his lapel and giving it to Whelan, who swiftly put it on the collar of his shirt.

Kurmasheva’s husband wore a USA t-shirt and an enormous smile. He lifted his arms into the air, posing for the cameras with his newly reunited family.

Biden felt so invigorated by the event he jogged over to other reporters to answer some more questions. 

Whelan said he felt pretty good — even after the long day of travel from Russia to Turkey and then to the U.S. He wasn’t ready to celebrate his freedom, he said, until the plane had reached British airspace, where he finally felt safe.

It was not immediately known when Whelan would return to Michigan. His parents live in Manchester, southwest of Ann Arbor. He said only that he was headed next to Texas.

And now that he’s back on American soil, Whelan said one of the first things he’d like to do is get a steak.

Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @tsspangler.

We have a delicate weather situation over southern Michigan tonight and Friday. Slow moving thunderstorms with copious moisture to tap into could bring some very heavy rains.

This heavy rain situation I’m talking about isn’t going to flood everyone. We can use Wisconsin right now as an example of what should be over southern Lower Michigan late tonight and Friday. Wisconsin has had very heavy rainfall in patches of thunderstorms today. Currently this evening there are three flash flood warnings in central Wisconsin due to rain amounts of two to five inches in a short time.

Here is the always updated radar.

The area of thunderstorms in Wisconsin is going to drift southeast into southwest Michigan tonight and then east into the Ann Arbor area and Detroit area tonight and Friday.

Remember this won’t be a rain that all of us get into. It will be a rain that has some pockets of very heavy rainfall. If the heavy rain falls on poor draining intersections of southern Michigan you could have flooded roads.

The radar forecast shows patches of heavy rain in thunderstorms somewhere in southern and southeastern Michigan overnight.

I’m letting you know some abnormal heavy rain is possible. If you have a building project that would be affected by heavy rain do whatever you need to protect your project. Your drive to work Friday morning could be affected in southern and southeastern Michigan.

Here is the rainfall forecast from a model that seems to be doing a good job with this situation.

The red areas you see could have spotty three to five inch rains. Again this won’t be everywhere. We also don’t know exactly where the heaviest rain will be, but some of us will have a lot of rain in our rain gauge by this time Friday. The heaviest rain seems most likely from the Lansing area to Ann Arbor area to the Detroit area.

So don’t be surprise by very heavy rain. Also know the humidity will be very high after these rains.

We are in a tropical air environment right now. This is the type of weather some Michiganders wish for in January.

With practice underway in Ann Arbor, Michigan football has unveiled its official roster for the 2024 season.

You can see the roster in its entirety here, but there have been some notable changes from spring up and down the board. We take a look at jersey swaps, position changes, weight fluctuations, the new transfers and recently enrolled freshmen.

Jersey changes

• WR Semaj Morgan — from 82 to 0

• EDGE Enow Etta — from 96 to No. 17

• TE Brady Prieskorn — from 22 to No. 86

• LB Joel Metzger — from 54 to No. 56

• TE Hogan Hansen — from 81 to No. 80

• LB Cole Sullivan — from 18 to No. 23

Morgan ditching the No. 82 for 0 is the biggest change here, and something he revealed over the summer. Edge rusher Enow Etta moving from No 96 to 17 is also notable.

Position changes

• Cameron Brandt — DL to EDGE

Just one change to report from spring. Brandt, a sophomore defensive lineman, apparently made the move outside — evident by his weight loss noted below. He played in 14 games for the Wolverines last season, including six along the defensive line, and could provide some help on the edge this fall.

More: Six Michigan position battles to watch as preseason camp gets underway

Weight gains (10+ lbs.)

Weight gains are always a topic of conversation every offseason. Some come naturally, while others come at the request of Michigan’s strength and conditioning staff. Many players use it to their advantage on the field, helping them withstand the regular contact and rigors of a long season.

While many players saw smaller gains, we picked out those who added 10 pounds or more:

• OL Nathan Efobi — from 285 to 307 pounds (+22)

• DL Brooks Bahr — from 298 to 319 pounds (+21)

• OL Evan Link — from 307 to 328 pounds (+21)

• DL Trey Pierce — from 300 to 315 pounds (+15)

• EDGE Enow Etta — from 295 to 308 pounds (+13)

• TE Brandon Mann — from 231 to 244 pounds (+13)

• LB Micah Pollard — 221 to 234 pounds (+13)

• WR Kendrick Bell — 180 to 191 pounds (+11)

• EDGE Chibi Anwunah — from 268 to 278 pounds (+10)

• OL Blake Frazier — from 275 to 285 pounds (+10)

• TE Jalen Hoffman — from 225 to 235 pounds (+10)

• EDGE Dominic Nichols — from 251 to 261 (+10)

• K Adam Samaha — from 185 to 195 pounds (+10)

• LB Cole Sullivan — 215 to 225 pounds (+10)

• LS Greg Tarr — from 205 to 215 pounds (+10)

You may not recognize many of those names, and that’s OK. Some of them are players still working their way up the depth chart while others might be in their first or second year in the program. Weight gain can be common among freshmen entering their first season.

Weight loss (10+ lbs.)

• DL Alessandro Lorenzetti — from 301 to 285 pounds (-16)

• TE Deakon Tonielli — from 251 to 238 pounds (-13)

• DL Cameron Brandt — from 277 to 265 pounds (-12)

• DB Jacob Oden — 206 to 196 pounds (-10)

• OL Jeffrey Persi — from 320 to 310 pounds (-10)

• LS William Wagner — from 255 to 245 pounds (-10)

Jeff Persi might be the most notable name there, and his 10-pound weight loss makes sense in his bid for the starting right-tackle role. Longsnapper Will Wagner also lost 10 pounds.

More coverage: Honeymoon year? Sherrone Moore wants to win now at Michigan

Recent transfers

Michigan added seven players from the transfer portal between the end of spring practice and start of camp, all of whom we’ve written about and documented. All of them have enrolled in school and reported for camp. Here are official positions (no surprises there), jersey numbers and official height-weight listings for each:

• WR Amorion Walker (Ole Miss), No. 1, 6-3, 182 pounds

• DB Jaden Mangham (Michigan State), No. 3, 6-2, 185 pounds

• WR C.J. Charleston (Youngstown State), No. 5, 6-0, 190 pounds

• DB Aamir Hall (Albany), No. 12, 6-1, 201 pounds

• DB Wesley Walker (Tennessee), No. 13, 6-1, 200 pounds

• DB Ricky Johnson (UNLV), No. 22, 6-1, 180 pounds

• K Dominic Zvada (Arkansas State), No. 96, 6-3, 180 pounds

Summer freshmen class

And finally, the remaining members of Michigan’s 2024 freshmen recruiting class. While 10 enrolled early and joined the program for spring practice (one, Jeremiah Beasley, has since transferred out), another 18 waited until summer.

Here are their official position designators, jersey numbers and height-weight listing:

• WR Channing Goodwin (Charlotte, N.C.), No. 14, 6-1, 185 pounds

• DB Jo’Ziah Edmond (Indianapolis, Ind.), No. 16, 6-1, 180 pounds

• RB Jordan Marshall (West Chester, Ohio), No. 23, 5-11, 210 pounds

• LB Cole Sullivan (Pittsburgh, Pa.), No. 23, 6-3, 225 pounds

• DB Mason Curtis (Nashville, Tenn.), No. 25, 6-5, 200 pounds

• RB Micah Ka’apana (Waianae, Hawaii), No. 25, 5-11, 190 pounds

• DB Jeremiah Lowe (Lexington, Ky.), No. 32, 5-11, 177 pounds

• LB Zach Ludwig (South Park, Pa.), No. 43, 6-2, 217 pounds

• OL Luke Hamilton (Avon, Ohio), No. 50, 6-5, 315 pounds

• DL Deyvid Palepale (Anchorage, Alaska), No. 54, 6-2, 335 pounds

• OL Andrew Sprague (Kansas City, Mo.), No. 54, 6-8, 305 pounds

• OL Ben Roebuck (Youngstown, Ohio), No. 73, 6-7, 305 pounds

• DL Manuel Beigel (Frankfurt, Germany), No. 76, 6-5, 300 pounds

• EDGE Devon Baxter (Clinton, Md.), No. 82, 6-6, 240 pounds

• WR I’Marion Stewart (Chicago, Ill.), No. 82, 5-11, 180 pounds

• DL Ted Hammond (Cincinnati, Ohio), No. 85, 6-5, 282 pounds

• EDGE Lugard Edokpayi (Bowie, Md.), No. 88, 6-7, 232 pounds

• DL Owen Wafle (Middletown, N.J.), No. 99, 6-2, 298 pounds