The Michigan Wolverines suffer their first loss since naming Kyle Whittingham as the program’s next head coach 

We just saw the first loss of the Kyle Whittingham era for the Michigan Wolverines.

Ryan Roberts — National College Football Writer
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Sep 27, 2025; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; Utah Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham celebrates with fans after defeating the West Virginia Mountaineers at Milan Puskar Stadium.
Ben Queen-Imagn Images

After the fallout from the Sherrone Moore firing, the Michigan Wolverines finally found their next head coach. The hiring process was far from perfect, and really flawed at times, but the program managed to recover well after hiring former Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham. Known as a program builder and genuinely good person, Whittingham feels like the perfect coach to try and regain footing for Wolverines. 

Even with a good head coach now in the fold, the Wolverines are going to have more roster turnover. In the world of NIL and the transfer portal, that movement is nearly inevitable. The program lost their first player since the Whittingham announcement came when 2026 wide receiver signee Brady Marchese asked to be released from his letter of intent. 

It will be interesting to see if even more incoming recruits choose a similar path as Marchese. Seeing who was going to be the next head coach was a very mature process. It’s a shame that it didn’t work out for Marchese in Ann Arbor, but he’s a talented kid worth tracking closely. 

Losing that type of speed at wide receiver for starting quarterback Bryce Underwood is a tough blow. The Whittingham era has a chance to be good in Ann Arbor but the next few weeks will be dedicated to see who wants to be a part of it.

Brady Marchese’s recruiting background 

The recruiting rankings for Marchese were a little all over the place coming out of Cartersville (Ga.) High School. Despite 247 Sports only ranking the Georgia native as a three-star player, the Georgia native was still ranked as a high four-star recruit on the Composite ranking. He ended up rated as the No. 134 overall player, the No. 20 wide receiver, and the No. 15 player in the state of Georgia for the 2026 recruiting class. 

Marchese was originally committed to Georgia but flipped earlier in December to the Wolverines. The 6-1, 185-pound pass catcher was not short of options as a recruit. Some of his top offers included the Wolverines, the Bulldogs, Penn State, Ole Miss, Florida, Florida State, Nebraska, South Carolina, Indiana, Auburn, Virginia Tech, Kansas State, Kentucky, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Arizona State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Minnesota, Virginia, Cincinnati, UCF, Duke, UCLA, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Wake Forest, among others. 

As a senior in 2025, Machese had an outstanding season for Cartersville. In 11 games played, he managed to haul in 41 receptions for 981 yards and 15 touchdowns, an average of 23.9 yards per reception. Marchese is an outstanding deep threat who has a propensity to make big plays. 

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