The reigning National Champions of college football, the Michigan Wolverines, play their nationally-televised spring game tomorrow. It will begin at noon EST and will be broadcast on Fox, just as Ohio State's was a week ago. As always, the spring game is a first glimpse of the upcoming season's team, a small "pulling back the curtain" moment of sorts that offers small clues into the progress of spring practice and the depth chart. The score outcome of the game is irrelevant so for this preview we've got seven storylines to watch for tomorrow, as we've detailed each of the last two spring games: 

1.) Do we have a viable QB?

Far and away the #1 storyline going into the spring game is the question that has dominated offseason discussions since the moment JJ McCarthy put his name in the NFL Draft in mid-January... who is Michigan's quarterback in 2024? We probably won't get the decisive answer in the spring game, but we'll get a much better idea of what's going on based on how the respective QBs perform. The clubhouse leader at this point in time seems to be Alex Orji, but reports of his spring practice have been somewhat up and down. We've seldom seen Orji throw the ball in his time at Michigan, so that alone will be of much interest. How does his accuracy look? Can he avoid the "big mistake" throw? 

Beyond that, the other QBs are a jumble. Jack Tuttle has been out this spring, but Jayden Denegal, Davis Warren, and true freshman Jadyn Davis will be on display. Denegal seemed to get off to a slow start to spring but may have improved recently, though the sense is that Orji is still ahead. Warren has been a spring game staple for a couple seasons now but his flashes in this event haven't really translated to regulation game garbage time action. As for Davis, it doesn't seem like he will be the starter in 2024 due to his age/lack of experience (for good reason), but this will be our first chance to see the prized recruit in action. 

The performance of the QBs will inevitably elicit hot takes because that's the way it goes, but the biggest focus should be on whether any of the candidates seem like viable B1G starters. If they don't, then Michigan should go to the portal and look to find an acceptable option. In other words, if Alex Orji wants to be The Guy for Michigan this season, a strong, confident performance in the spring game would go a long way to calming our nerves and shoring things up with the coaching staff. 

[Patrick Barron]

2.) The wide receiver situation 

Another point of conversation in spring practice is the status of the receiver room. Cristian Dixon hit the portal this week (though he may have been playing defense recently), continuing an offseason of attrition at the WR and TE positions. Roman Wilson and Cornelius Johnson declared for the NFL Draft, while Dixon, Eamon Dennis, Karmello English, and Darrius Clemons hit the portal at the WR position. When you factor in the previous offseason's exit of Andrel Anthony to the portal, there's nothing left at the position from the 2021 recruiting class or earlier. 

That means the WR room is pretty thin, Semaj Morgan and Tyler Morris being somewhat known commodities as the starters and then Fred Moore the next in line. Peyton O'Leary is still hanging around, but after that... *crickets* before you get into the true freshmen. The problems here are two-fold, unproven starters (Morris and Morgan are still pretty green) and a complete lack of depth. Michigan is almost certainly going to look in the portal for WR help after spring practice, given that they were looking aggressively in the winter portal (just didn't land anyone), but there's a big difference between going into the portal looking for a star and looking for depth. They'll definitely go into the portal for the latter, but if Morgan and Morris have good showings and Moore balls out in the spring game, maybe you feel more like there's a need to shore up depth rather than a plug-and-play starter. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: Five more storylines]

[Patrick Barron]

3.) Is Marlin Klein a big fish? 

The Intriguing Spring Practice Hype name of 2024 on offense is TE Marlin Klein, who has not done much on the field over his first two seasons in Ann Arbor. Of course, that's completely understandable given that Michigan has been loaded at TE over the past couple seasons. Klein sat behind Luke Schoonmaker and Colston Loveland in 2022 and AJ Barner and Loveland last season, waiting his turn. Well, Barner is out the door and Matt Hibner hit the portal, meaning that Klein now has a clearer path to playing time in his third season. Is the German ready for liftoff? 

The Klein hype sorta falls in that gray area range, because on one hand, given the state of the depth chart he is somewhat in that "they needed to hype him because he's going to play" bucket. On the other hand, with a surefire star like Loveland, you don't have to hype Klein up. I don't think this hype is probably 100% real but it's also probably not 100% fake. At the very least, we get to see Klein in action on Saturday and get a better glimpse of it. Through two seasons, Klein has mostly played on special teams, with one career catch to his name, so this will be as much of Klein as we've ever seen. 

I'm also interested in the other depth TEs beneath Klein. Loveland is a known commodity star, but who will play as the 2nd TE (not counting Bredeson as the fullback-shaped TE) if Klein is unavailable is also pretty up in the air. It doesn't sound like the true freshmen are ready to go (Brady Prieskorn and Hogan Hansen) and we haven't heard much from the 2023 TEs who redshirted last year, Deakon Tonielli and Zack Marshall. Do we see anything from these guys in the spring game that moves the needle? If we don't could Michigan have to go to the portal for TE depth? Questions to chew on. 

[Patrick Barron]

4.) What's going on with the OL? 

One of Michigan's strengths over the past couple seasons has been its mighty OL. That element of the team is now seeing a reload, after losing six of the seven OL they used last season to the NFL Draft. It's a full hockey style line change in the offensive trenches and thankfully the Wolverines have been stockpiling depth at that position group. Now we get a first peek at what that depth holds for the 2024 season. 

We should note that there are apparently injuries along the OL, so it's unclear who will be available for Saturday. Seth reported in football bits that Greg Crippen, Gio El-Hadi, and Myles Hinton were all said to be injured recently, which would be a bummer if they can't go. That said, we have a decent ballpark on what El-Hadi is and the same for Hinton, even if I'd like to see Hinton play LT in the spring game. Crippen we haven't seen as much of, but if he can't go that would give more of a run to Raheem Anderson, an IOL candidate to get playing time after marinating for years on the depth chart. Also on the interior is transfer Josh Priebe from Northwestern, who we know more about since he's been a B1G starter, but it would be a first look at Priebe in the Maize & Blue. 

Out at tackle, the RT job is reported to be the most up-in-the-air positional battle on the OL. With Hinton rather safe at LT, there's been a battle between Andrew Gentry and Jeffrey Persi that may be the most interesting thing to watch in the spring game. Persi has gotten some snaps over the past couple seasons, including a 2022 start against Rutgers, while Gentry is a player we've heard good things about since Michigan flipped him from UVA near signing day in December 2021. Both are talented players with tackle bodies who've had years of training and now are getting their crack at it. Tristan Bounds and Evan Link are also at tackle and I assume we'll get to see them too (especially if Hinton isn't out) but the Gentry vs. Persi battle is the biggest storyline at OL. 

[David Wilcomes]

5.) Is TJ Guy a guy? 

The Marlin Klein of the defense in terms of spring hype may be EDGE TJ Guy, who is not in line for an immediate starting job with Josaiah Stewart and Derrick Moore still around. Michigan rotated the EDGE position heavily last season and while they may not do that again because the depth isn't as plum as last season (and they have a new DC), you can always use productive bodies. TJ Guy could provide the Wolverines with that and the buzz in spring seems to be that Guy is poised to do that. 

The Mansfield, Massachusetts, native was one of Don Brown's last New England EDGE terrors who enrolled at Michigan for the 2021 season, redshirting that campaign. Since then we haven't seen a ton of Guy given the wealth of talent at the EDGE position but optimsitcally for Guy, we've heard a decent bit about him. He was getting positive buzz last spring, when there was no reason for him to get such buzz, which is generally a good indicator for a player's future. The 2024 season would be the first where we could realistically see Guy in action and if he is going to be a major part of this team's defense, perhaps Saturday will be the first glimpse of that. 

I'd also like to toss a little recognition to Enow Etta, another EDGE who is getting some hype, although in the most recent football bits he appears to be playing DT. Now in his second season, Etta was a talented recruit and so this is roughly the year when you'd expect to start hearing about and seeing some of Etta. He's not a top flight name to watch, but I am going to keep my eye on Etta and hope to see a few flashes. Whether that is on the inside or the outside of the DL, it doesn't matter, because he could only be an injury or two away from needing to be a legitimate contibutor for the Wolverines in 2024. 

[Paul Sherman]

6.) UNLEASH THE JAISHAWN BARHAM!!! 

Outside of Guy, the other big recipient of spring hype on the defensive side of the football is LB Jaishawn Barham, the Maryland transfer. Barham is a known commodity in B1G football (your author has scouted him each of the last two years), so it's not like we have no idea how he'll translate. But the manner in which the coaches are raving about Barham and the sort of comparisons they're using (that there could be no drop-off from Colson) raises legitimate eyebrows. Supposedly Barham has been a menace in spring practice and I for one would like to see that borne out on the field in the spring game. 

Michigan's linebacker position is turning over with the departure of two star players in Junior Colson and Michael Barrett and if Barham can be an impact performer right away, that helps project this Michigan defense to be one of the best in the country. The depth situation after Barham opposie Ernest Hausmann is also a little sketchy, especially with Jimmy Rolder continuing to be a bit dinged up. Jaydon Hood has been around and has been seen here and there, but I haven't heard much of him this spring. And after that, you're down to the young and completely unknown linebackers. Michigan could really use a Barham who has a seamless transition from Maryland and is immediately a stud. Let's see if he looks like it on the field Saturday. 

[Patrick Barron]

7.) The young DBs 

The bad break of the spring was the serious injury of Rod Moore, who damaged his knee and is likely out for the season. It's a brutal turn of luck for the team and Moore and it escalates the need for young defensive backs to step up. Especially with the vacancies at corner/nickel, where Josh Wallace and Mike Sainristil moved on to professional endeavors. Will Johnson at corner and Makari Paige are still around as verified Dudes, but the rest of the depth chart is a bit fuzzy and the spring game should help it come into focus. 

The safety spot opened up by Moore's injury is logically going to filled by Quinten Johnson, who we do know quite a bit about but what happens if there's another injury at some point during the campaign? Second year player Brandyn Hillman thus becomes someone to watch closely at the safety position. The same thing could be said about Zeke Berry, who could play a role at safety or play a role at nickel. Also competing for the nickel job is Ja'Den McBurrows, who we've seen bits and pieces off but is finally going to have his opportunity to follow up practice hype with results on the field. 

At outside corner there's been an ongoing battle between Jyaire Hill and DJ Waller, which could be a storyline in and of itself. Waller played more than Hill last season but the recruiting pedigree suggests Hill may have the higher ceiling. Michigan has a ton of young bodies in the DB room who are going to get their crack at it in 2024 after so much veteran production exits due to the NFL (or injury) and the spring game provides us an opportunity to greatly overreact to small morsels of information (as we do).