Kyle Whittingham Defends Zack Marshall After Leaked Texts

Michigan Wolverines head coach Kyle Whittingham met with reporters Monday and made clear that quarterback Bryce Underwood and offensive coordinator Jason Beck are both staying put coming out of the bye week. He also addressed the story that hung over the program for the past week: tight end Zack Marshall criticized the coaching staff in a group chat, and screenshots of those text messages were released online.

Marshall apologized on X on Tuesday, Oct. 6, after the Wolverines' loss to Minnesota. "This game is won and lost as a team, and I pointed fingers instead of taking accountability," he wrote . It was the biggest story about the Michigan football program during the bye week.

Kyle Whittingham Defends Zack Marshall At Monday Press Conference

Whittingham did not distance the program from Marshall. "Zack Marshall's a great young man. He's a team guy. It was just a lapse in judgment or an error in judgment. And he apologized profusely to myself and the team," Whittingham said , per Wolverines Wire.

He was not willing to write the whole thing off, either. "Yeah, people get frustrated. Yeah, you get frustrated. You lose a couple games. People get frustrated," Whittingham said. "It doesn't matter if it was in a small group chat. It was in a small, close circle. That's beside the point. The point is you've got to protect the team. And it wasn't protecting the team."

The leaked messages called Beck a problem, and a week later he is still the one calling the Michigan offense . "Jason is calling plays and Bryce is our guy," Whittingham said of the two decisions fans wanted an answer on. The Wolverines sit at 3-2 after back-to-back losses to Iowa and Minnesota, and the only personnel change Whittingham announced was a new punt returner.

Zack Marshall Still Has No Catches This Season

Marshall has not recorded a single catch this season for Michigan. The tight ends have not been used much in the Wolverines offense this season. If the Wolverines offense does not change for the better against the Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday, then maybe Marshall's comments were justified.