Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 12, 2015; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan Wolverines tight end Jake Butt (88) runs the ball in the first quarter against the Oregon State Beavers at Michigan Stadium.
Former Michigan Wolverines star tight end Jake Butt, who won the Mackey Award as the nation’s top tight end in 2016, is none too pleased with the current state of the program.
Meanwhile, Michigan fans are equally displeased with Butt, who acknowledged that the team’s only recent success came down to Jim Harbaugh cheating and stealing signs from opposing teams.
Butt isn’t wrong. But Wolverines fans seemingly feel betrayed by the fact that he’d acknowledge the truth.
Oh no Jake Butt.
Please no. https://t.co/YmcuHvmIf5
— Michigan Metal 〽️ (@Metaleka_) October 9, 2026
Jake Butt Says Michigan Needs To Figure Things Out On The Football Field
Butt recently appeared on a podcast with The Film Guy Network’s Brooks Austin and acknowledged that Michigan’s 2023 national championship comes with an asterisk.
He also pointed out that the program has largely faltered outside of the years when it was stealing signs.
“(It) took two decades for Jim (Harbaugh) to get them to back-to-back-to-back Big Ten champs and a national title. But that has an asterisk on it,” Butt said.
Butt tried to walk back the comment, stating that he meant everyone else placed an asterisk on the national championship. But the damage was done.
Man I really hate defending myself on here bc there’s really no point. This entire point was about program perception and public discourse. The asterisk convo is how other teams discuss those years. You can check me on record how I feel about that (hint- I’ve never wavered that those championships were genuine and earned). This is is about broader discussion and perception which I’m not even sure you would deny?
Yes, the roster is $39M not $50M. Bryce is $3M / yr not $4M. The point is that there are historic expectations for a program like michigan. That is amplified by NIL spend. I know how much it hurts to fall short of those. We got bood in our own stadium in ‘13/ ‘14. That sucked. But we worked harder and made the changes needed to get the program back to a level of national respect and competitiveness.
Right now, that isn’t where the team is. And the pain is amplified by the fact it was just a few years ago, after years and years of challenge, that this was a beast of a program winning 3 straight conference titles and a national title.
I figured this would be easy and clear to understand. Never thought I’d see people question where I stand with the team as a whole outside of my work. Literally gave my body for the team as a player.
— Jake Butt (@Jbooty88) October 9, 2026
He also criticized the current state of the program given its significant spending. Either way, fans were unhappy with Butt’s statement, whether it was true or not, and whether he was speaking for himself or others.