WINTER GARDEN, Fla. — It was a bit of a confusing week following Michigan football. In the midst of an impending bowl game with a coaching transition, a lot has been going on, and there wasn’t exactly clarity about who would opt out, who would play in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, and when a new head coach would be hired.
As of Saturday, most all of those questions have been answered.
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The Wolverines officially hired Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham on Friday evening, shortly after the team arrived in Orlando. But some of the confusion with the former issue — what players would be coming down to Florida — had escalated after some comments from interim head coach Biff Poggi on a Texas-based podcast on Tuesday.
Poggi answered a question from WolverinesWire on Monday about any potential player opt-outs for the Citrus Bowl, and he said at that time that there were three — left guard Giovanni El-Hadi, edge rusher Derrick Moore, and outside linebacker Jaishawn Barham. However, on The Stampede Podcast, Poggi made it sound like there was about to be a tsunami of opt-outs and transfers before the Texas game.
“I think there’s a really good chance that we’re going to have many more opt-outs for the game, unfortunately, because we’re in such a state of flux,” Poggi had said “And when they get to this business, the business side of it, they think, ‘Well, we don’t have a coach, or, ‘We’ve had this situation with our former coach. There’s investigations and all these things. I don’t know who’s going to coach me. Why do I want to get playing that game?’ And so I can see some of that happening, too. And I would tell you on the 26th, we’re probably going to have a significantly different roster than we had yesterday when we sent them home.”
However, a team spokesman confirmed on Saturday before Michigan’s practice that aside from the three opt-outs, every other player made or will make the trip.
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Justice Haynes has yet to arrive, but is expected to be in Orlando. It’s unclear whether he will be available to play or not. Rod Moore, as expected, was in street clothes at practice. Max Bredeson, despite having dressed for the Ohio State game, is still in a walking boot and on a scooter.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: No new opt outs for Michigan football before Citrus Bowl
