Three of Michigan's five starting linemen are on the Penn State injury report
Jake Guarnera and Brady Norton are Questionable for Penn State, and Andrew Babalola is listed as anything other than Out for the first time this season. In two conference weeks, Michigan's Wednesday Questionable has meant Out by Saturday for three of four offensive linemen and for none of six players at other positions.
Kyle Whittingham said on Monday that some linemen hurt at Minnesota would be questionable, and that the paperwork would arrive Wednesday. It arrived. Michigan filed its first Big Ten availability report for Penn State on Wednesday night, and it reads like a depth chart somebody has been crossing out.
Fourteen Michigan names. Six of them are offensive linemen.
Michigan started five linemen at Minnesota on October 3, by its own box score: Jake Guarnera, Nathan Efobi, Brady Norton, Evan Link and Blake Frazier. Three of the five are on Wednesday's report. Guarnera, the center, is Questionable. Norton is Questionable. Efobi is Probable. Link and Frazier are not listed, and under the conference's rule a player who is not listed is Available.
Behind them, Andrew Sprague and Ace Hamilton are Out. Andrew Babalola is Questionable.
The Babalola line#
That last one is new. Michigan has filed eight availability designations for Babalola this season, four columns in the Iowa week and four in the Minnesota week, and all eight say Out. Wednesday's says Questionable.
The tackle tore an ACL in August 2025, per the Detroit Free Press, was cleared, and had two setbacks. Whittingham said Monday that Babalola would practice that day for the first time in about a month. "We'll gradually ramp him up throughout the week and see if he's ready to contribute this Saturday," he said. He has not played in a game since the fall of 2024. Questionable is the word for "see if he's ready." It is not yet the word for ready.
The Sprague line#
Sprague went the other way, and in a way that tells you something about the form. Michigan listed its starting right tackle as Questionable on the Wednesday of the Iowa week, and he was Out on game day. It listed him Questionable on the Wednesday of the Minnesota week, and he was Out by Friday's update. This Wednesday it listed him Out. Whittingham called his return "way out there" on Monday. The form has stopped being optimistic on his behalf, which is roughly when the coach did.
What Questionable has meant at Michigan#
The rule is new. The Big Ten announced four filings a week on August 28, and Michigan has filed under it for two conference games, Iowa and Minnesota. Two games is a small sample, and it is the whole sample.
Across those two Wednesdays, Michigan put a Questionable next to a player ten times. Here is where all ten finished on game day:
- Out: 3. Sprague against Iowa, Sprague at Minnesota, and Manuel Beigel at Minnesota. All three are offensive linemen.
- Game Time Decision: 1. Houston Ka'aha'aina-Torres at Minnesota. Also an offensive lineman. He is on Michigan's participation list for that game, so he played.
- Available: 6. Dom Nichols twice, Zeke Berry, Logan Forbes, Andrew Marsh and John Henry Daley. None is an offensive lineman.
So the split is clean, and it is small: three of four offensive-line Questionables ended Out, and none of six at other positions did. One player accounts for two of the three Outs, and Sprague's Questionable never turned out to be much of a question.
Strip Sprague out and the line has two cases: Beigel, Out, and Ka'aha'aina-Torres, who played. That is a coin with two flips, and nobody should bet a house on it. What the record does say is narrower. When Michigan has changed its mind about a lineman this season, it has changed it late. Sprague stayed Questionable through Friday's filing against Iowa and went to Out only on game day. At Minnesota, both he and Beigel held at Questionable through Thursday and dropped to Out on Friday night.
Which means Wednesday's report answers less than it appears to. Thursday's update is due at 8 p.m. Eastern tonight. Friday's is due at the same hour. The one that counts goes up two hours before the 3:30 p.m. Eastern kickoff on Saturday.
Who is still standing#
Two names went the right way. Beigel, Out on game day at Minnesota, is off the report entirely, so he is Available. Ka'aha'aina-Torres, the Game Time Decision who played at Minnesota, is not listed either.
That is the inventory. Two starters with no designation. One starter Probable, two Questionable. A tackle who has not played since 2024, one step closer than he has been all year. And two backups who were on the last report and are not on this one. Michigan would like to line up against Penn State with the same five men who started the last game.
The form will say by Saturday afternoon whether it can. It has been slow to say so before.
The call: Jake Guarnera and Brady Norton both appear on Michigan's official participation list for the October 17 game against Penn State. The case for it: both started the last game, the bye gave them two weeks to heal, and Michigan chose Questionable for them on a form where it used Doubtful for a receiver. The case against: three of the four offensive linemen Michigan has listed Questionable on a Wednesday this season were Out by kickoff, and this one needs two players to come through, not one.
Sources: Big Ten Conference, 2026 Football Availability Reports, Michigan's filings for Iowa (September 26), Minnesota (October 3) and Penn State (initial report, October 14), read directly on the conference's report application (app.hdintelligence.com, linked from bigten.org) on October 15, 2026, for every availability designation, including all four columns of the two completed weeks. Michigan Athletics, box score and participation report, Michigan at Minnesota, October 3, 2026, for the five offensive-line starters, the illegal snap on Guarnera, Ka'aha'aina-Torres's participation and the 20-14 final. Michigan Athletics, 2026 football roster, read October 15, for positions. Kyle Whittingham's Monday press conference, October 12, 2026, as reported by Tony Garcia of the Detroit Free Press and Isaiah Hole of Wolverines Wire, for the Babalola and Sprague quotations and the linemen expected to be questionable; the Detroit Free Press for Babalola's August 2025 ACL injury. Big Ten Conference, "Big Ten Announces Changes To Football Availability Reporting Process," August 28, 2026, for the four-report schedule and the default to Available. ESPN, Michigan's 2026 schedule, for the kickoff time.
