Michigan football will look for special teams help from NCAA transfer portal this spring
The spring NCAA transfer portal window has treated the Michigan Wolverines football special teams unit well in recent years. The Maize and Blue added place kickers James Turner (2023) and Dominic Zvada (2024) in back-to-back springs and are on the hunt for more specialists in 2025. The transfer portal opens April 16, but players around the country are already announcing their intentions to transfer as semesters wrap up.
Michigan senior punter Hudson Hollenbeck started the bowl game after Tommy Doman transferred to Florida in December. He attempted 6 punts with a 69-yard long but only had a 3.52-second average hangtime.
Special teams coordinator J.B. Brown has Hollenbeck penciled in as the starter but is looking to add to the room through the portal.
“I feel great with Hudson,” Brown said Monday. “I feel like he’s had a really good spring. I think he’s matured a lot, especially from the game against Alabama, where he did have some good punts that we thought could help us win a ball game, obviously. He had the big 69-yard one and then he pinned them a couple of times.
“I think his confidence has gone above and beyond now. I think he feels like a starter.”
But Michigan still needs depth, at the very least.
“We want to try to get around six guys in the room — two at each spot — so looking for someone else to bring in to create that competition, but he’s done a great job this spring so far. We truly trust him,” Brown said.
That competition is key since, at least for now, the punter behind him is senior tight end Marlin Klein, a projected starter on the Michigan offense. Klein, a Germany native with a soccer background, has served as an emergency punter in the past but hasn’t been called into games.
“As of right now, it would probably be Marlin Klein,” Brown said of the backup spot. “And that’s great for fakes, too. We love that. Not bad to have a great tight end back there able to punt. He’s done it in practice and in pregame quite often, and he did it in high school as well.
“Obviously, we’re going to go look for another one to bring into the room through this next cycle. But he’s done a pretty good job this spring.”
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Michigan will add depth to the kickoff position when Texas State transfer Beckham Sunderland joins the program this summer. Sunderland, a former professional soccer player, has kicked off 8 times and made 1 extra point in his career.
“Beckham Sunderland is coming in,” Brown noted. “Excited to see what he does. He has a very strong leg. Extremely good ball contact — you saw it at Texas State. Excited to see what he does.”
Michigan will have a new starting long snapper this season, with William Wagner off to the NFL. A familiar face — graduate Greg Tarr — is the favorite to replace him. Tarr stepped in back in 2022 when Wagner went down with a season-ending knee injury and snapped 90 times that season. He’s logged 98 special teams snaps in his career. UCLA transfer Trent Middleton will also join the team this summer.
“Greg Tarr, and then we’ve got Trent Middleton coming in, as well,” Brown said. “Greg’s had an outstanding spring. Love his consistency, love what he brings to the room. Like Dom, he’s a leader of that room.
“The beauty of it is that he’s already played a year already when Wags was out with that ACL injury. Greg stepped in, and we didn’t miss a beat.”
