{"id":6250,"date":"2026-09-01T02:49:04","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T02:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/09\/01\/kyle-whittingham-sings-praises-of-michigan-defensive-line\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T02:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T02:49:09","slug":"kyle-whittingham-sings-praises-of-michigan-defensive-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/09\/01\/kyle-whittingham-sings-praises-of-michigan-defensive-line\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Whittingham sings praises of Michigan defensive line"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Michigan football coach Kyle Whittingham has been consistently impressed by his defensive line.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the spring, Whittingham proclaimed his defensive front to be the Wolverines\u2019 strongest position group. And when asked five days before kickoff if the defensive line remained its strongest unit, Whittingham answered in the affirmative.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe still feel that way,\u201d Whittingham said Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whittingham has cited both exterior and interior defensive linemen as camp standouts, ranging from first-year to fifth-year guys. He sees a deep group as well, stating that No. 15 Michigan is \u201cseven or eight\u201d deep off the edge and \u201cfive deep\u201d at defensive tackle. That should enable the Wolverines to frequently rotate and keep guys fresh, making it easier to consistently put pressure on opposing quarterbacks.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 250px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 90px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The most proven producer in that group is senior defensive end John Henry <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/football\/michigan-lands-utah-edge-rusher-john-henry-daley-from-transfer-portal\/\">Daley<\/a>. Last year at Utah, Henry Daley recorded 11.5 sacks in 11 games before tearing his achilles.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, Henry Daley was on a pitch count earlier in training camp after returning from injury. But expectations are still high. ESPN named Henry Daley a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/college-football\/story\/_\/id\/49574647\/espn-2026-preseason-college-football-all-america-team\">second-team<\/a> preseason All-American. And per Whittingham\u2019s account, Henry Daley is moving full speed ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c(He) hasn\u2019t lost a thing,\u201d Whittingham said. \u201cHe\u2019s probably more explosive and quicker than he\u2019s ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And Henry Daley finally has a running mate. A singular name didn\u2019t emerge throughout most of spring practice and fall camp, but that\u2019s since changed. At this point, the renowned Henry Daley has competition for being Michigan\u2019s best pass rusher.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sophomore defensive end Nate Marshall was a <a href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/player\/nate-marshall-46137111\/\">top-100<\/a> recruit but played sparingly last season, recording six total tackles in 11 games. And it wasn\u2019t the prettiest spring for Marshall either.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-2{min-height: 250px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-2{min-height: 90px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMarshall \u2026 had some struggles in the spring, some things that I wasn\u2019t real pleased with off the field,\u201d Whittingham said. \u201c\u2026 The first few months were kind of rocky with Nate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Marshall has since turned a corner. Per Whittingham\u2019s accounts, he\u2019s become more mentally mature, and that\u2019s translated to his play. At a twitchy 6-foot-3 and 248 pounds, Marshall\u2019s step forward is a positive development for the Wolverines\u2019 defensive line. And he and Henry Daley could become a nightmare for opposing offensive lines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe\u2019s one of the best pass rushers on the team, if not the best pure pass rusher,\u201d Whittingham said. \u201cHe\u2019s got a real talent for bending the edge and getting his hips turned and getting to the QB.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s not just the Henry Daley and Marshall show, however. Junior defensive end Dom Nichols and senior defensive end Cam Brandt recorded one-and-a-half and five-and-a-half tackles for loss each last year, respectively. And freshmen defensive ends Carter Meadows and Tariq Boney have drawn praise throughout training camp, with Meadows coming in as the <a href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/player\/carter-meadows-46146853\/\">11th-ranked<\/a> player in his class according to 247 Sports.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The inside of Michigan\u2019s defensive line has impressed as well. Senior defensive tackles Trey Pierce, Enow Etta and Jonah Lea\u2019ea have drawn praise throughout training camp. Pierce in particular has turned heads and was recently named one of the Wolverines\u2019 four captains.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-3{min-height: 250px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-3{min-height: 90px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A strong pass rush can be a calling card for any defense. And if Whittingham is correct, Michigan\u2019s defense will get after opposing quarterbacks all year long.<\/p>\n<aside>\n<div class=\"newspack-popup-container newspack-popup hidden   newspack-inline-popup       \" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#000\" id=\"id_162162\" data-segments=\"\" data-frequency=\"0,0,0,month\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Please consider donating to The Michigan Daily<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michigan football coach Kyle Whittingham has been consistently impressed by his defensive line. In the spring, Whittingham proclaimed his defensive front to be the Wolverines\u2019 strongest position group. And when asked five days before kickoff if the defensive line remained its strongest unit, Whittingham answered in the affirmative.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWe still feel that way,\u201d Whittingham said [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[2534,3975,773,222,4619,5396,3976],"class_list":["post-6250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-defensive","tag-kyle","tag-line","tag-michigan","tag-praises","tag-sings","tag-whittingham"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6250"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6252,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6250\/revisions\/6252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}