⚡ CFB Dashboard

Friday evening, in accordance with the Big Ten's new policy, the Michigan football team released its third availability report of the week, coming the night before the Wolverines' upcoming game against Iowa. The report from Michigan was the same as it was the prior two days. Players listed as OUT for the Wolverines include offensive lineman Andrew Babalola, wide receiver Braydon Alford, running back Micah Ka'apana, running back Jonathan Brown, defensive end Julius Holly and offensive lineman Ace Hamilton. Of the group, only Babalola was believed to be competing for playing time this season.  Offensive lineman Manuel Beigel, who has played 96 snaps this season as Michigan's "RHINO" sixth offensive lineman, was listed as DOUBTFUL for the game.  Players listed as QUESTIONABLE include starting edge Dominic Nichols, starting cornerback Zeke Berry, starting right tackle Andrew Sprague and reserve wide receiver Logan Forbes.  Last week, Sprague and Berry missed the Wolverines' 52-17 win over UTEP. After the game, Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham said that Berry "had something that was nagging at him during the week." "Had we had to have him today, probably could have played him," Whittingham said. "The safer course of action was to try to sit him and get him completely healthy for next week and let Shamari Earls take over and get some reps there. So I believe that was the right decision. He should be good to go for next week." Michigan defensive coordinator Jay Hill confirmed that Berry is practicing this week, indicating that the fifth-year senior cornerback could be closer to "probable" than "questionable." "Yes, we expect Zeke back," Hill said Wednesday. "He practiced yesterday. He'll practice today." Sprague's situation, according to Whittingham, could be more complicated. The Wolverines' starting right tackle missed last week's game with something that occurred in the final 24 hours before Michigan's win over the Miners — after the team's walkthrough. Michigan is comfortable with backup offensive tackles Blake Frazier and Evan Link, as both have plenty of starting experience at tackle, but Sprague was viewed as Michjgan's best tackle both last season and this fall.  "Andrew Sprague, gosh, that's a tough question," Whittingham said. "I think, you know, it could be anywhere from this week to several weeks, and so we just don't know." It is unclear what Nichols is questionable for, or what his timeline might look like, but the junior is off to a great start to the season with 2.0 sacks and a team-leading 11 quarterback pressures. Through three games, he ranks third out of 181 FBS edge rushers in Pro Football Focus's pass-rushing production rate, and 20th in PFF's pass-rushing win rate.  The good news for Michigan is, if Nichols can't play or is limited, the Wolverines' backup edge rushers already have 10 pressures and 5.5 sacks on the season. "We've talked about that group all year," Hill said. "There's a lot of really good players in that group. I think Coach Powell's done a phenomenal job. Just continue and develop the whole group, not just the top guys. We have a lot of trust and confidence in a lot of guys in that room, and I think you'll see that throughout the rest of the year we're going to need all those guys, and we need them to continue to make plays like they did the other day." On Iowa's side, Hawkeyes defensive back Kyler Gerardy is listed as OUT, while starting tight end DJ Vannahme and starting running back Kamari Moulton are listed as PROBABLE, with running back Brevin Doll. Though it's the same three players, those players have evidently been upgraded from QUESTIONABLE. Michigan and Iowa will release one final availability report this week Saturday afternoon, two hours before the two teams kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET (CBS).