Tamani Carter, Ex-Wolverine

Tamani Carter at the spring game

Head coach Brady Hoke announced at Media Day that redshirt freshman defensive back Tamani Carter has left the team.  No reason was given, and no future destination is known at this point.

Carter committed to Michigan in January 2011, the first guy to commit to Michigan after Hoke was hired.  He came from Pickerington (OH) Central, the same program that will send defensive end Taco Charlton to the Wolverines in the class of 2013.  Carter was a somewhat low-level recruit that Michigan stole from the Minnesota Gophers.  ESPN had him ranked as a 2-star, a designation that seems to be given less and less in the last year or two.  I gave him a TTB Rating of 62 when he was recruited and I ranked him #78 in the 2012 Season Countdown, so not much was expected of him.

Carter redshirted last season and missed a chunk of spring practice because he was involved with Josh Furman's legal issues.  Carter was unlikely to play much (or at all) this season.  Both starters at safety return, and a couple highly touted recruits are waiting in the wings (Furman and Marvin Robinson).  Michigan also brought in three freshman safeties, one of whom (Jarrod Wilson) leapfrogged Carter on the depth chart in the spring.

Michigan now has 22 scholarships to give for the class of 2013, though the class is expected to reach a size of 24 or more.  By the way, Carter was the player I alluded to when I mentioned in a mailbag post that an underclassman might leave the team.  He is the sixth member of the 20-person class of 2011 to leave the team after Chris Barnett, Greg Brown, Kellen Jones, Tony Posada, and Chris Rock.