While PFF grades certainly aren’t the end-all-be-all, they do offer a useful snapshot of which players consistently performed at a high level the year before.

Here are the 10 highest-graded returning Michigan Wolverines entering the 2026 college football season.

Michigan’s offensive line has plenty of questions heading into 2026, but Jake Guarnera isn’t one of them. After taking over as the starting right guard last season, he quickly established himself as one of the better interior linemen in the Big Ten. PFF recently ranked him the No. 7 returning guard in college football, citing both his run blocking and overall value metrics. There’s still room to improve in pass protection, but he looks like one of the safest bets along Michigan’s offensive front.

9. Dominic Nichols (72.2)

Dominic Nichols continues to feel like one of Michigan’s more underrated defensive players. Despite logging less than 200 defensive snaps in 2025, he still finished among the Wolverines’ highest-graded defenders. His 85.2 tackling grade ranked among the team’s best, while his overall consistency drew praise from coaches throughout spring practice. With Derrick Moore and T.J. Guy both gone, Nichols should finally receive the uptick in usage that’s been coming his way.

Michigan has been extremely high on Andrew Sprague for quite some time, and PFF appears to agree.

Sprague recently cracked PFF’s list of the nation’s top returning offensive tackles after allowing just one sack across 383 pass-blocking snaps during his career. More impressively, he graded above 70 as both a run blocker and pass blocker, something only a handful of Big Ten tackles accomplished. As Michigan continues searching for the best combination along the offensive line, Sprague looks like one of the building blocks.

No returning Wolverine graded better against the run than Trey Pierce. His 80.5 run-defense grade illustrates exactly why Michigan continues to believe the interior defensive line will remain a strength despite losing Rayshaun Benny, Damon Payne Jr. and Tre Williams. Areas of improvement feel obvious, as his pass-rushing left plenty to be desired. If Pierce can become more disruptive collapsing the pocket, he could have the best season of his career.

Andrew Marsh’s freshman season just feels ridiculous in retrospect. After seeing his role expand around the midway point of the season, Marsh emerged as one of the most productive receivers anywhere in the conference. From Week 6 on, only Rutgers’ KJ Duff produced more receiving yards among Big Ten receivers.

Perhaps even more impressive? Marsh finished the season without a single drop on 60 targets. That’s elite production from any receiver, let alone a true freshman.

Mason Curtis’ grades were remarkably balanced across the board in 2025, finishing above 74 in tackling, coverage and run defense. He even earned the highest defensive grade of any safety in Week 10 last year.

With things being somewhat unclear with the safety position heading into fall camp, Michigan needs someone to emerge in the secondary, and Curtis could very well be ready to snatch that opportunity if PFF is any indication.

Jyaire Hill might be Michigan’s most fascinating player entering 2026. On one hand, his overall body of work was impressive enough to earn one of the highest grades on the roster. He posted quality marks against the run, in coverage and as a blitzer while allowing just 230 receiving yards all season. On the other hand, the inconsistency showed up against some of Michigan’s biggest opponents. Texas, Maryland and USC each exposed different areas of Hill’s game, particularly as a tackler, where his season-long grade dipped to 45.2.

The encouraging part is that talent has never been the question with Hill. If he is able to become more consistent in marquee matchups, he has every opportunity to develop into one of the conference’s premier cornerbacks.

3. Nathaniel Staehling (79.0)

Nathaniel Staehling’s ranking comes with perhaps the biggest asterisk. The North Dakota State transfer posted outstanding grades against the run and as a tackler while playing more than 650 snaps last season, but much of that production came against FCS competition. That doesn’t mean it should be ignored, as experience still matters, and Staehling arrives in Ann Arbor with more than 800 career defensive snaps under his belt. While Troy Bowles, Chase Taylor and Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng appear to have the inside track entering fall camp, it’s difficult to imagine a veteran with Staehling’s résumé not carving out a role somewhere in the rotation.

2. Jordan Marshall (87.8)

Jordan Marshall wasn’t just Michigan’s best running back last season. According to PFF, he was the Wolverines’ highest-graded offensive player. Despite receiving just 38.2 percent of Michigan’s running back carries, Marshall rushed for 932 yards, forced 33 missed tackles and averaged an impressive 6.2 yards per carry. During a four-game stretch in the middle of the season, he eclipsed 100 rushing yards every week while scoring seven times. A late-season injury prevented him from finishing the year the way he wanted, but all signs point toward him becoming the centerpiece of Michigan’s offense.

1. John Henry Daley (92.0)

John Henry Daley enters 2026 with the highest PFF grade on Michigan’s roster after posting an elite 92.0 overall mark and a ridiculous 93.4 pass-rushing grade last season at Utah. The only real question surrounding Daley has been his recovery from an Achilles injury, but every indication suggests he’s progressing as expected. Daley doesn’t necessarily need to duplicate his 11.5-sack campaign from last seasonto transform Michigan’s pass rush. If he’s anywhere close to the player he was a season ago, the Wolverines may have replaced one All-Big Ten edge rusher with another.