Michigan Wolverines football has a new staff under head coach Kyle Whittingham, who spent the previous 21 seasons in charge of the Utah program, but there’s a similar vibe inside Schembechler Hall.

Whittingham, of course, said last week that his coaching style is similar to legendary former head coach Bo Schembechler, who passed away in 2006. Former Michigan head man Jim Harbaugh (2015-23) was an All-American quarterback for Schembechler in the 1980s and kept many of the tenants of the program intact, too, and two players that have been under Harbaugh, Sherrone Moore (2024-25) and now Whittingham said that there are similarities between what they’re experiencing now and what it was like two regimes ago.

“I would say it’s kind of a similarity to Coach Harbaugh’s regimen,” graduate safety Rod Moore said. “It’s a lot more strict than the past two years, and the weight room has kind of been a night and day difference than the past two years. We feel a lot stronger, a lot more progress.

“Defensively, I would say it’s similar to the defense that we ran, but he had his own little tweaks and differences, and the offense seems like it’s more explosive than we’ve seen and had in the past.”

With more stability and accountability,

“Something new that we have now is that whenever we start meetings, there’s like a loud air horn that goes off throughout the whole building. We’ve already started our meetings. The past two years, we would start the meeting at 2:30, but now we start the meeting at 2:25, even though it’s a 2:30 meeting. Just everyone being five minutes early. The coaches are holding everyone accountable in the meetings, going to class. There’s a lot more accountability of going to class.

“Just the little things that makes a team great, not just the big, broad things that everyone sees.”

Senior defensive tackle Trey Pierce, who was a freshman on the national championship Michigan team under Harbaugh in 2023, agrees.

“It’s the little things,” Pierce said. “Guys being late for lifts, guys not being where they’re supposed to be, whether it’s [missing] class. Just enforcing that a little bit heavier, that type of thing.”

Pierce also sees the similarities to when Harbaugh was running the show at Michigan.

“Yeah, I would say it’s very similar in attention to detail,” the Michigan starter said. “Attention to detail, for sure. That’s the big thing.”

The offseason training program is much more difficult under Whittingham and strength coach Doug Elisaia, and the players are reaping the rewards of it.

“The schedule is way different,” Pierce noted. “We have more days off, but we also have more lifts. A lot more morning workouts — waking up a lot earlier.

“It introduces that factor of toughness, like we’ve been through this at 6 a.m., 6:15 a.m., all these days in the grind together. It improves team bonding, and puts you in the headspace of we’ve done harder stuff than this, and nothing can break us.”

And, just like Harbaugh, Whittingham works out with the Michigan players.

“He does some stuff I don’t think I can do,” Pierce said with a smile. “I see him in the weight room, he’s a beast in there.”