ANN ARBOR who is Michigan's defensive end position might be even deeper than Kyle Whittingham thought. First-year head coach Day was high on the group for 2023 then and is more so after Saturday's rout.

Freshman Tariq Boney notched a quarterback hurry on his lone snap of the season opener at Oklahoma in Week 2, and he followed it up Saturday. The 6-foot-1, 243-pound former three-star recruit played 16 snaps and finished with four tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack. 

"Tariq Boney did some things in that game, you just go, 'How in the world did he do that?'" Whittingham said on Monday night's "Inside Michigan Football" radio show. " That's including freshman Carter Meadows, who made his first appearance Saturday after sitting out the first two games with an injury," he said.

One of Michigan's top-rated players in the 2026 class played 16 snaps and recorded one of the four sacks for the team, per Pro Football Focus.

"Carter's a little different style of play," Whittingham said. "He's 6-7 and got that long frame and wingspan that can really get on you when he's rushing the passer.

"Those two guys are the future of Michigan football and they got very, very bright futures."

The newcomers have set themselves up to have a bigger role in the future, and the they will be part of the rotation with Daley, Nichols, senior Cam Brandt and sophomore Nate Marshall. The group has 7.5 sacks through Michigan's 3-0 start.

“Reps are hard to come by at that position but 'it might be the most talented edge group in the country,” Whittingham said. 'I haven't seen everybody obviously but you'd have a hard time finding a team that has more guys that they can go to on the edge.'

Boney added Saturday that he is anxious to start the journey with Meadows, a relationship that go back to their days at neighboring high schools in D.C.

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Lakshya