Former Michigan State safety Jaden Mangham announced his commitment to Michigan.
As a transfer portal player, Mangham is a 3-star, the #70 safety, and #718 overall. It's somewhat mind-boggling to me that an Honorable Mention All-Big Ten safety can be the 70th best player at his position and #718 overall, but I guess that tells you the ridiculous number of transfers that have taken place this off-season.
Anyway, Mangham was a 4-star, the #13 athlete, and #311 overall coming out of Franklin (MI) Groves in the class of 2022. He spent two years in East Lansing, making 12 starts and totaling 73 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 4 interceptions, 3 pass breakups, and 1 fumble recovery. Michigan had recruited him out of high school, but the interest was tepid in both directions; that was the same class where Michigan landed Zeke Berry, Keon Sabb, and Will Johnson, so even with some so-so guys mixed in - like Damani Dent, Kody Jones, and Myles Pollard - it was still an outstanding defensive back recruiting haul for the Wolverines.
Mangham is one of four transfer portal defensive backs to pick Michigan in this 2024 cycle, all within the last week; he joins Louisville safety Wesley Walker, Albany cornerback Aamir Hall, and UNLV cornerback Ricky Johnson. With Michigan having lost Sabb to Alabama and Rod Moore to injury, the need at safety was significant. Now there's some great competition to be had between Quinten Johnson, Walker, and Mangham for the safety spot not held by Makari Paige, and Berry might even factor in, though it seems like he'll be playing the nickel corner spot.
Mangham has two years of eligibility remaining and the plan is for him to finish his undergraduate education prior to fall camp, making him a grad transfer who won't have to worry about losing credits in the school switch. Once Paige moves on after 2024, Mangham could be a clear-cut starter going into 2025.
The last Michigan-to-Michigan State transfer was just a few years ago when linebacker Ben Van Sumeren became a Spartan, and a somewhat recent case saw Michigan State linebacker Edward Warinner join the Wolverines as a walk-on for one season in 2020 while his dad Ed Warinner was Michigan's offensive line coach. Warinner the Younger played special teams in just three games during the COVID season.
A big brightside of these late transfers is the potential impact on the 2o25 season, when the defense was expected to lose its power of our championship run
ReplyDelete@Thunder
ReplyDeleteAny early guesses on the starting secondary? Or biggest position battles now that the personnel is (probably) set.
My guess is that the guys with 1 year of eligibility left have a leg up since they probably did not come here to have a bench role.
DeleteIt's interesting because they convinced Quinten Johnson to come back for a sixth year...but I really don't think he's the best safety. To me he's like a #3 guy.
DeleteMy guess as of right now:
FS: Walker
SS: Paige
Ni: Berry
CB: W. Johnson
CB: Hall
The most interesting position battle to me is Hall vs. Hill, because if Hill loses the battle...I could see him transferring. And then you would probably be missing your top three corners going into 2025 (Johnson to the NFL, Hill to a transfer, Hall to graduation/NFL).
One possible solution could be to play Hall at the nickel position, which would probably keep Berry as a backup for now. Berry has been injured a fair amount and might not be ready for full-time duty, anyway. But that could satisfy Hill and keep him around for 2025, and Berry could then at least plan to fill one of the safety spots vacated by Paige/Walker/Johnson in 2025.
So yeah...lots of moving parts.
Yes agree - many moving parts and lots of competition in camp to sort out who goes where.
DeleteTo me - I think you see a return to a more convention 3-man rotation at CB. Hill/Hall each playing a lot regardless of who starts. No more relying on your top 2 CBs to play almost every snap. Hill should have the decks cleared in 2025 even if he's a backup in 2024 so I don't know how much of a flight risk he is.
Nickel is the hardest spot to predict to me. I'm not sure if Berry is really ready. He may have gotten hyped up a bit while there was a vacuum of personnel. He wasn't really a big part of the rotation last year - clearly behind Sabb and McBurrows and unclear if he was ahead of Hillman either.
For now I'm guessing QJo/Walker/Paige all start between the 3 spots of safety and nickel, and Berry is a backup. Definitely just a guess though. Thanks.