Michigan football’s freshman class is already making noise, and the early signs point to real roles for several newcomers this season.
The headliner is Savion Hiter, who has been talked about plenty already after showing off a long touchdown run during Saturday’s scrimmage. He doesn’t need to chase down Jordan Marshall, but the two backs should both be involved.
Michigan learned last season, and really over the past few years, how quickly a running back can get worn down in the Big Ten. Justice Haynes made it half the season.
That’s why this backfield looks built for a true 1A/1B setup, and as Whittingham said, this might be the best running back room in college football.
Carter Meadows is another freshman who should factor in before long. The five-star EDGE is Michigan’s highest-rated recruit in the 2026 class and No. 9 overall, with Hiter sitting at No.
- Meadows got to campus as a summer arrival, which slowed his timeline some, but he showed up for fall camp at 6-foot-7 and 252 pounds.
Some around the program say he’s closer to 270. Either way, he looks nothing like a typical freshman.
The ability is obvious, and the ceiling is huge. It may be asking too much for him to start right away, but Michigan should find him pass-rush chances as the season goes on.
Titan Davis has also started turning heads. The 6-foot-4, 286-pound defensive tackle was a top-100 signee and won a recruiting battle over Alabama and others.
On Monday, Michigan D-line coach Larry Black said the stock on Davis was up, and that he and Alister Vallejo have continued to improve. Trey Pierce, Enow Etta, and Jonah Lea'ea are the clear starters, but after that the door is open.
Davis looks like one of the next men in line.
Vallejo is in that same mix. Like Davis and Meadows, he arrived in the summer, which makes immediate playing time tougher, but he has kept impressing.
At 6-foot-4 and 303 pounds, he’s drawn comparisons to Mason Graham. Vallejo had five sacks last season as a high school senior, and by the end of the year he looks like another defensive tackle who should carve out a rotation spot.
Three veterans, along with players such as Deyvid Palepale, will handle plenty of snaps, but Davis and Vallejo seem likely to get their chances too.
Travis Johnson has been one of the most noticeable freshmen in fall camp. He’s been a steady feature in the highlight clips, flashing with contested catches and working as a big target at 6-foot-3.
Ranked No. 125 overall by the 247 Sports composite rankings, Johnson enters a receiver room led by Andrew Marsh and J.J. Buchanan, with Jaime Ffrench also off to a strong camp.
Ffrench could open as No. 3, but Johnson’s size and his ability on jump balls make him a player to watch early.
Salesi Moa rounds out the group. Though technically part of the transfer class after withdrawing his letter of intent with Utah, he belongs in this conversation because of the kind of impact he could make.
The 6-foot-2 receiver was a top-100 signee and posted 226 catches for 3,757 yards and 44 touchdowns in high school. Michigan wide receivers coach Micah Simon said there was a "very realistic" chance that Moa and Johnson would see meaningful snaps this season.
In Other News...
Michigans New Defense Already Has One Major Camp Tension
Michigans emphasis this fall is familiar enough: keep the running game sturdy, let the defense set the tone and sort out the new pieces before the season kicks in. On offense, Jordan Marshall is part of the return to physical, downhill football, while newcomers like Savion Hiter and Bryce Underwood add intrigue to the depth chart. On the other side, linebacker remains a real area of concern after departures, even as transfers have begun to give the staff some reasons to feel better about the front.
The pass rush, in particular, has started to take shape during camp, and that matters because Michigan needs more pressure from the edge if the rest of the defense is going to settle in quickly. John Henry Daley has drawn attention while working his way back from a torn Achilles, and the coaches are being careful with his workload as competition heats up around him. Meanwhile, Dominic Nichols has been making enough noise to turn the spot opposite Daley into one of the more interesting battles on the roster, with the kind of camp momentum that can change how a defense looks by opening night. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Is About To Make A Hire That Could Shape Athletics
Michigan is on the verge of a major leadership change, and the ripple effects figure to reach well beyond academics. C. Cybele Raver, who has built a career in psychology and human development and has led significant initiatives at Vanderbilt, is expected to become the universitys next president, a move that would put her at the center of a campus dealing with plenty of high-profile pressure points.
For athletics, the timing matters. Michigan has faced recent challenges in its athletic department, and with more leadership changes ahead, Raver is anticipated to have a hand in steadying the programs direction. For a school where sports and institutional identity are so closely linked, her arrival could end up shaping how the athletic department navigates its next chapter. [Read more 🡒]
J.J. McCarthys NFL Future Suddenly Feels Far More Complicated
J.J. McCarthys pro path has already gotten a lot more interesting, and not in the simple, linear way Michigan fans might have imagined when he left Ann Arbor. The conversation around his NFL future has picked up again because the situation in Minnesota has changed, and suddenly there is a lot more noise around where he fits, how soon he fits, and what kind of ceiling he still has after an uneven start to his career.
Even with the early struggles, there is still a long list of quarterbacks who needed time before finding their footing, and McCarthy remains in that kind of conversation for now. The bigger question is whether he gets the runway to grow into the player people thought he could be, or whether the next phase of his career becomes defined by the pressure of having to prove it quickly. [Read more 🡒]