TRANSFERS
Jeffery Johnson - DT - Tulane: Johnson is a 6'3", 312 lb. grad transfer from Tulane. He's originally from Brookhaven (MS) Brookhaven and was a 3-star, the #39 defensive tackle, and #547 overall when he came out of high school in 2018. He made 44 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, and 2.5 sacks for the Green Wave in 2021. UPDATE: Johnson is no longer visiting since he committed to Oklahoma.
2022
Xavier Chaplin - OT - Seabrook (SC) Whale Branch: Chaplin is a 6'6", 350-pounder who has been committed to Virginia Tech since last July. He also has offers from Georgia State, Louisville, and Michigan. He's a 3-star, the #118 offensive tackle, and #1221 overall. UPDATE: Chaplin is postponing his visit to next weekend due to a family illness.
Andrew Paul - RB - Dallas (TX) Parish Episcopal: Paul is a 5'11", 220 lb. prospect with offers from Clemson, Colorado, Michigan, and Michigan State, among others. He's a 3-star, the #89 running back, and #1211 overall. He took an official to Colorado in December, and this is an official visit to Ann Arbor.
2023
Cole Cabana - RB - Dexter (MI) Dexter: Cabana is a 6'0", 180 lb. prospect with offers from Cincinnati, Louisville, Michigan State, and West Virginia, among others. He's a 3-star, the #21 running back, and #362 overall. Michigan has yet to offer. I would expect Michigan to take at least two running backs in 2023, especially if they don't land another in 2022, so Cabana might be a decent option for a second back.
Hit the jump for more.
Kendrick Gilbert - DT - Indianapolis (IN) Cathedral: Gilbert is a 6'5", 360 lb. prospect with offers from Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Penn State, among others. He's a 4-star, the #47 defensive lineman, and #312 overall.
Cayden Green - OT - Lee's Summit (MO) North: Green is a 6'5", 310-pounder with offers from Florida, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame, and others. He's a 4-star, the #7 offensive tackle, and #68 overall.
Jyaire Hill - CB - Kankakee (IL) Kankakee: Hill is a 6'3", 180 lb. prospect with offers from Illinois, Michigan, and Michigan State, among others. He's a 3-star, the #28 athlete, and #376 overall. Steve Lorenz has put in the lone crystal ball, and it's in favor of the Wolverines.
Derrick LeBlanc - DT - Kissimmee (FL) Osceola: LeBlanc is a 6'4", 250-pounder with offers from Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Miami, and Michigan, among others. He's a 4-star, the #13 defensive lineman, and #84 overall.
Sydir Mitchell - DT - Oradell (NJ) Bergen Catholic: Mitchell is a 6'5", 324 lb. prospect with offers from Michigan, Penn State, Texas A&M, and USC, among others. He's a 4-star, the #38 defensive lineman, and #229 overall. He attends the alma mater of Michigan safety Jordan Morant.
Luke Montgomery - OT - Findlay (OH) Findlay: Montgomery is a 6'5", 260 lb. prospect with offers from Clemson, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and USC, among others. He's a 4-star, the #6 offensive tackle, and #63 overall. He also has a younger brother with a Michigan offer, 2025 quarterback Ryan Montgomery.
Semaj Morgan - WR - West Bloomfield (MI) West Bloomfield: Morgan is committed to Michigan (LINK).
Antonio Tripp, Jr. - OG - Owings Mills (MD) McDonogh: Tripp is a 6'3", 300 lb. prospect with offers from Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, and Penn State, among others. He's a 4-star, the #19 interior offensive lineman, and #310 overall. All three crystal ball picks are for Penn State. UPDATE: Tripp is no longer planning to visit Michigan this weekend.
John Walker - DT - Kissimmee (FL) Osceola: A teammate of LeBlanc's (see above), Walker is a 6'4", 280 lb. prospect with offers from Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State, among others. He's a 4-star, the #17 defensive lineman, and #99 overall.
Derek Williams, Jr. - S - New Iberia (LA) Westgate: Williams is a 6'2", 185-pounder with offers from Alabama, Florida, LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M, among others. He's a 4-star, the #3 safety, and #51 overall.
2024
Jacob Oden - S - Harper Woods (MI) Harper Woods: Oden is a 6'0", 175 lb. prospect with offers from Michigan, Notre Dame, and Oklahoma, among others.
It makes sense to take 2 RBs in 2023. I'm usually against taking multiple RBs in a class but with high chance of attrition (especially with what look like a couple of potential early NFL guys) it makes sense.
ReplyDeleteThree would be foolish IMO.
Michigan needs 1 running back to get back to 5 (Corum, Edwards, Dunlap, Stokes, 2023 Kid). Michigan needs 2 running backs to get back to 5 if Corums leaves for the NFL (Edwards, Dunlap, Stokes, 2023 Kid 1, 2023 Kid 2). Michigan might need 3 running backs to get back to 5 if Corum leaves for the NFL and if Dunlap or Stokes isn't happy (Edwards, Dunlap/Stokes, 2023 Kid 1, 2023 Kid 2, 2023 Kid 3).
DeleteThey don't need to get back to 5. They had 4 this year (HH, Corum, Edwards, Dunlap) and it worked out great. Ditto 2018.*
DeleteI think it's smart to anticipate attrition (via NFL or transfer) but if they load up with 6 or 7 guys just to ensure they have 5 no matter what - that would be a mistake.
Taking 3 RBs in one class guarantees attrition and it means they waste scholarships developing guys who will end up elsewhere. At best I can see a case for a 3rd potential RB if they have positional flexibility (ATH/WR/RB) or maybe a Ben Mason type.
* If you don't count Giles Jackson or Mason as RBs then they also had 4 in 2019 (Charbonnet, Turner, HH, Wilson*). Wilson was a walk-on. Ben Van Sumeran was briefly listed at RB but he was a FB recruit who mostly played FB before ending up at LB.
Sorry I meant 2019. In 2018 they had 5 on scholarship (Higdon, Evans, Haskins, Turner, Samuels). Wilson the walk-on played more than most of them.
DeleteLatest in "RBs don't matter".
ReplyDeleteRemember back when Derrick Henry was supposed to be proof they did?
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/dont-tell-derrick-henry-that-running-backs-dont-matter/
Remember when his injury, a "monstrous loss", was supposed to derail the Titans season?
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/02/sports/football/derrick-henry-injury.html
"There's no player in the league that means more to his football team than Derrick Henry," ESPN NFL analyst Rex Ryan said. "This is the biggest loss you can have. It takes them from being in the one or two best teams in the AFC. They ain't going nowhere without him."
Well, after Henry went down at nearly the exact middle of the season the 6-2 Titans went...6-3.
Maybe that's just noise, since wins are certainly about a lot more than one position. Team game and all that. So let's look at everyone's favorite and most insightful statistic for running backs - yards per carry.
Henry was producing 4.3 ypc when healthy and with him out of the way and replaced by nobodies the ypc plummeted all the way down to...4.3 ypc.
The highest paid RB in the league replaced by a guys they got off waivers and no observable impact in outcomes whatsoever. It's almost as if these guys don't...well, I already said it I guess.
In college it's different though right? Not like Michigan would replace one of their primary backs, a stud averaging 6.6 ypc, with a freshman backup who falls over a blade of grass and get 180 yard game out of him and then go on to beat OSU, Iowa, and watch said freshman take the bulk of snaps in the playoff game. That would never happen. Unless...
Good story. Christian McCaffrey averaged 4.5 yards/carry this year, and his backups averaged 3.6 (Chuba Hubbard), 3.1 (Ameer Abdullah), and 3.7 (Royce Freeman).
DeleteThe Panthers were 4-3 when he played, and they were 1-9 when he didn't.
Uh, Henry played in less than half the season and still gained more yards than the next two RBs combined. He had more TDs than all other RBs combined
ReplyDeleteI mean, what do vrabel & downing say? They want Henry healthy & back. Why? They feel the same as Harbaugh, Gattis & Hart
Nobody wants to hope for "good luck"
Come on, je93. Coaches don't know what they're talking about. Unless Lank agrees with them, in which case they're always right.
DeleteIt's amazing that coaches and GMs target these high profile running backs and can't wait for them to come back, when they could just sign Larry Bartender off the street and have the team perform just as well.
This UM coaching staff has halved the scholarships going into the backfield.
DeleteAt the NFL level, where there is a salary cap, has seen a reverse correlation between teams that win big and teams that spend big at RB. How GM's spend their money is foundational to my hypothesis. RB salaries have been plummeting compared to 30 years ago.
I was hoping M could get Jeffery Johnson. But I had a feeling from the beginning it was not going to happen.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Paul! He looks like a Mike Hart back! He is not just big, and very strong, and can run, but he has finishing speed.
I also was not expecting much from the Jeffery Johnson courtship. A guy from Mississippi who played at Tulane? That's probably just not going to be a great fit.
DeleteIs Dexter High a Class B school? Cole Cabana had so many huge holes to run through, and so many tackles on him were missed.
ReplyDeleteDexter is a Class A school. But they have at least three FBS recruits, so they're out-classing several teams. Honestly, they should be better than they were. They went 5-5 with three FBS recruits against a bunch of teams that don't have any or only have one.
DeleteTry again.
ReplyDeleteCabana looks to be pretty fast and is pretty shifty as well. But he doesn't look stout enough to me for BIG running back prospect ... but maybe.
At 5 mins a kid wearing #2 on a black jersey runs Cabana down from behind like he was tethered to the ground. I hope we're all over that kid, whoever he is.
I don't think Michigan would be after him as an RB, just strictly as a slot receiver. I don't know of any P5 that could make him a full time RB. But maybe he'll have a growing spurt. I wouldn't bet on it myself. I wouldn't look at him as an RB. There's Michigan is getting RBs like Zach Charbonnet, Blake Corum, and Donovan Edwards. They will continue to get RBs like that, maybe even better.
DeleteBut with his quickness he could make a great slot route runner. He would be a match up problem for defenses.
If Mich St is promising him he'll be an RB then good bye. But I doubt they are either.
That #2 is Amari Spicer from Battle Creek (MI) Lakeview. He's going to Davenport, which is a DII school.
DeleteWhoa ... you're good.
DeleteKid's got some wheels. If he's going to the GR campus, they have a really cool stadium set up there. The field is sunk, and you can watch the games up close, inside, from their student activities center.
I thought they were NAIA, as a coach one of my kids played for moved there and won a National championship by recruiting Africa and Europe kids in their early 20's. They dominated.
Davenport was NAIA until a few years ago, so you're not too far off. I've never been there for a football game, but I'm a sucker for sunken football fields. We played at one this past season, and it's just a different atmosphere.
Delete