There are very few people who don’t believe that Michigan football won’t improve in 2026, but, at the same time, very few are giving the Wolverines much of a shot to do anything of note this season. However, not everyone believes that. And among those who think that the Wolverines are being overlooked is On3 analyst JD PicKell.
PicKell did a video on Michigan on Friday and shared his overall outlook on the maize and blue, first starting with his questions and concerns entering the season. Of course, though PicKell has been as high on Bryce Underwood as anyone, his first question is what does he look like in year two with a new staff leading the charge?
“Biggest question for me — I don’t mean to be on the nose here, I don’t mean to be like super just obvious, but like Bryce Underwood getting better is a big question for us,” PicKell said. “Him getting better than last season. I think a question within that, that is maybe a little bit more productive to be asking, is how much better can Jason Beck help Bryce Underwood be? Because again, whatever Eric Weddle says — he’s entitled to his own opinion — I think Bryce Underwood’s pretty freaking talented. I think every school in America wanted him for a reason. I think his skill set was a big reason why people wanted him.
“The goal of Jason Beck’s offense, to distill it down to two main factors: one, we want to give Bryce Underwood options any given play. I think you will see a lot of RPOs. I think there’ll be an option, majority of these plays for Bryce to hand it, keep it, pitch it out in the perimeter, or push the football downfield. I think there’ll be a lot of those available to him. Second thing we’re doing in this offense, we’re allowing Bryce Underwood to play instinctual football. That’s not saying that we’re just making it super simple and don’t have him think too much. No, we’re just, we’re making sure that there is a clear message, a clear goal. We’re playing to his skill set. ‘Hey Bryce, do what you do best. We’ll let you play a little bit here, brother.'”
While Underwood will need to take a step forward for the team to be successful, there are other elements of the Wolverines that PicKell especially likes. And one major thing is that Kyle Whittingham’s style of play matches the roster that he’s inheriting.
In that it could look awfully similar to the 2021-23 run, where Michigan won three straight Big Ten titles and won a national championship. It was a style of play that Minnesota coach PJ Fleck and Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt had dubbed ‘the boa constrictor.’ And given that most teams aren’t built his way, it could set the maize and blue apart.
“What I feel good about with Michigan, feel really confident that the Wolverines will look and feel like those Michigan teams that played in the College Football Playoff, won Big Ten championships. You know what I mean?” PicKell said. “Like line it up, run the ball. Don’t beat themselves nasty in the fourth quarter. You see them in the fourth quarter. You’re like, OK, here we freaking go. We are in the deep water right now. We’re going to find out who can tread water the best, but, uh, it’s going to be Michigan spoiler alert. Like those Jim Harbaugh teams. They made their money in the fourth quarter. You check all the numbers from those 2023, 2022 seasons. They were elite in the fourth quarter. I think that Michigan team this year under Kyle Whittingham will be cut from the exact same cloth in terms of how they’re going to run the football.”
Ultimately, PicKell thinks that the Wolverines are being overlooked, and though it makes some sense due to the difficulty of the schedule, he could see a scenario where Michigan enters the season as the bully and doesn’t look back. Given that it’s a younger team, but not as young as last year, and one that should be solid in the trenches, PicKell insists that the maize and blue could be much, much better than advertised.
“So Michigan as a whole,” PicKell said, “now here’s where I’m at with them: remember like those middle school basketball teams you were on. And, usually, there was some dude who was just taller than everybody else. Like he was 6-foot-4, had a mustache in the eighth grade. Good for that guy, but just sort of, sort of awkward. Wasn’t really all the way coordinated. Hadn’t grown into his body. Well, then you go home for the summer, and you come back, and you’re playing school ball. And this guy’s out here between the legs, dribbling. He’s able now to go track a rebound off the backboard at a really high level. Like, for whatever reason, the upside this guy had, he has now realized and grown into, I think that could be Michigan here in 2026.
“The roster talent has been there in some respects. I think they’ve upped that roster talent via the transfer portal, but Kyle Whittingham and his culture and the scheme they’re going to install here, I think going to allow Michigan to potentially now realize all that they have the opportunity to be here in 26. I’m saying there’s so much upside there. I think that Michigan’s kind of being overlooked right now. I think that’s a mistake.”
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Is Michigan football is being overlooked in 2026?
Reporting by Isaiah Hole, Wolverines Wire / Wolverines Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Isaiah Hole, Wolverines Wire | USA TODAY Network
