Michigan football lands elite EDGE John Henry Daley in transfer portal

Michigan football fans have been a little uneasy about the transfer portal, having lost a bunch of players (before getting most of the top players back) while not really adding many.

The Wolverines opened up by getting three special teams specialists -- longsnapper Nico Crawford, punter Cameron Brown, and kicker Trey Butkowski. They followed those up with a surprise running back commit, as Oklahoma's Taylor Tatum, the No. 1 RB in the 2024 class, ended up signing with the maize and blue on Thursday.

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But the visits to Ann Arbor really started to pick up steam starting on Wednesday, and among those who made it to campus was former Utah edge rusher John Henry Daley. Daley is one of the top EDGEs in the portal and obviously has familiarity, having been coached by Kyle Whittingham and now-Michigan edge rusher coach Lewis Powell. He originally played at BYU before transferring to Utah, so he also has familiarity with Jay Hill through his time in Provo.

Though he had made a bevy of visits (to LSU and Notre Dame), he opted to come to the Wolverines, making his commitment official.

According to PFF, Daley had the second-best grade of consistently playing edge rushers in all of 2025. He had a 93.7 grade and finished with 11.5 sacks and a win rate of 24.1% -- good for sixth in the country.

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The Utah native has two years of eligibility remaining and should be a productive pickup for the maize and blue straight out of the gates. That is pending a lower-leg injury he sustained at the end of his career with the Utes.

This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan football lands elite EDGE John Henry Daley in transfer portal