Michigan tight end Erick All announced today that he was moving on from Michigan. The fourth-year player from Fairfield (OH) Fairfield had been a starter at tight end for 12 games and played in 35 overall, but he suffered a back injury earlier this season and missed most of the year while recovering.
I gave All a TTB Rating of 75 when he committed to Michigan (LINK). It's funny that when I went back to read my scouting report on him in his commitment post, I said this:
"He seems to be at his best running crossing routes, which is great, because that’s where Michigan will have its most success with the tight ends."
And the one play that stands out most for him in a Michigan uniform was the game-winning crossing route against Penn State:
Erick All has entered the transfer portal. Couldn’t have done it in 2021 without him pic.twitter.com/uCGKpvxfLn
— Barstool Blue (@BarstoolUofM) December 5, 2022
Overall, All made 54 catches for 565 yards and 2 touchdowns in his career. (For a reference point, Michigan just played Purdue, whose tight end Payne Durham has 56 catches for 560 yards and 8 touchdowns in 2022 alone.) All was Honorable Mention All-Big Ten in 2021, his best season, when he made 38 catches for 437 yards and 2 scores.
With All (and Louis Hansen) entering the transfer portal, Luke Schoonmaker making a run at the NFL, and Joel Honigford running out of eligibility, Michigan will go from a very proven tight end room in 2022 to a questionable depth chart in 2023. It's always a strong tight end room at Michigan, but here's the depth chart headed into next season with the player's career reception total alongside:
- Colston Loveland (So.): 12
- Max Bredeson (RS Jr.): 5
- Matt Hibner (RS Jr.): 2
- Marlin Klein (RS Fr.): 0
- Zack Marshall (Fr.): 0
- Deakon Tonielli (Fr.): 0
The odds-on favorite to land All appears to be Iowa, where former Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara is headed.
Am I offbase for being mad at Cade over this? I understand him leaving for his own sake but now he's recruiting starters away from our program to go with him?
ReplyDeleteIt's all fair game I guess but these are 2 captains of the team bouncing to another program in the same conference. I don't like it!
I'm very bummed about this. I think All was a true impact player. Loveland is having an awesome freshman year but to look All, Schoonmacher, Honigford all in one offseason stinks for a team that relies heavily on TEs.
That TE depth is lacking for 2023. I expect Michigan will be active in the Portal and they'll have one helluva sales pitch to make to somebody.
Cade McNamara is going to Iowa. He's the enemy now. It's perfectly okay to be mad at him, especially if he recruits All to play with him. But I think All is leaving for a different reason, not because McNamara is poaching him. But if you're both leaving anyway, it kinda makes sense to go somewhere together and keep the chemistry going.
DeleteI don't usually think about it this way with grad transfers who put in 3 or 4 seasons worth and leave on good terms. Or even guys who get beat out and are just looking for playing time. Somebody like Mike Cox or Shane Morris (or many many more) I really don't hold it against them anymore than somebody leaving for the NFL -- it's just the next logical step for them. Many of these guys are proud alumni, even if they get a grad education (and play) elsewhere.
DeleteBut yeah - if you leave without so much as a "thanks" when you're a team captain and then (maybe/probably) recruit other guys - I'm in full agreement.
The remaining players seem to love Cade so I'll stick with the "Thank You for 2021 vibes" but I hate the way All is going out. Even if it's something legitimate I don't like the backhanded vague insults towards the program, especially from a captain.
If it's a St.Juste/Pipkins situation - which would not surprise me - he can just speak to that problem/disagreement like they did.
So now I'm reading there is a degree of revenge by both these guys going to Iowa. And there is a possibility that 1 or 2 more players from Michigan may going there with them. So those rumors that McNamara was taking players with him is turning out to be true.
ReplyDeleteSomething is going on that the public doesn't know about.
I don't think it's super deep. There are departures every off-season. We've been through this song and dance before with Ondre Pipkins (health issues), Benjamin St-Juste (health issues), Wilton Speight (lost his job), etc.
DeleteBenjamin St-Juste was given VERY BAD medical advice by Michigan. Apparently Erik All is in the same boat. At least that is what we will find out when he is at Iowa. All was definitely going to be drafted. I even read at one draft web site that he was projected to be drafted higher than Alabama's TE Cameron Latu.
DeleteI can only scoff at all the chatter around the internet that All lost his starting job to Colston Loveland. There's also the absurd talk that JIm Harbaugh told him there's no scholarship for him next season.
Something I am not scoffing both he and McNamara going to Iowa. Iowa is great with TE's. If Iowa wants him, that says something very good about All and his physical state. Apparently Michigan doctors told All there is no chance for a successful recovery from his injury, like they did with Benjamin St-Juste, and his career may be over. So he went outside of Michigan to get the operation, as Benjamin St-Juste did, and also apparently, Cade McNamara had to do. I think the decision by McNamara to go outside Michigan doctors was slightly different.
Apparently there some kind of issue with Tyler Morris and Darrius Clemons too. Morris may be leaving too.
But I'm saying all this without actually being there first hand. So I can't be 100 percent about it all. But it is clear there is something very wrong when McNamara and All leave before the season is done, and when there is a real chance Michigan could win the National Championship. Why would 2 team captains do that? It's actually disconcerting to see this happening.
This type of thing happens all the time. Nick Bosa quit on OSU a few years ago because if a minor injury and wanted to prepare for the NFL. Jaxon Smith-Njigba had a hamstring injury that mysteriously kept him out for the entire year this year. Guys opt out of bowl games. Etc.
DeleteI think what you're missing right now is that the transfer portal is open. Guys are committing and taking spots. If McNamara, All, etc. don't enter the transfer portal and/or commit right now, they risk losing their spot. Who's to say that Iowa doesn't fill their QB spot with Devin Leary or Hudson Card or someone else before McNamara can claim it?
It's just like the regular recruiting cycle. You can wait until "National Signing Day" to commit, but that doesn't mean the school you like most will still want you.
Attrition happens all the time for various reasons but I don't think we can say this specific type of attrition (related to injury management / medical advice) is commonplace at programs. Michigan told Pipkins and St Juste they should end their football careers and they went on to play without issue. In St Juste's case - at the NFL level.
DeleteI don't know what happened with All but I've seen some rumors that he disagreed with the medical staff and did his own thing. Given the recent history, not to mention the Robert Anderson stuff, I think one can be justified in doubting them. I'm an Ann Arbor guy - I went to UM, my parents, brother, and wife went to UM - I love the University of Michigan - but there are legitimate beefs here with athletic department, injury management, and health care in general. At least that's how it seems from the outside. In my view it's a Harbaugh Achilles heel. Obviously he's a Bo guy so make that connection or not.
As for the Iowa thing - I think it's too big of a coincidence that All and Cade end up at the same place to not see this as a disgruntled "we'll show them" situation. I don't know anything - some are saying it's totally unrelated - but it seems hostile and negative in a way that most departures are not. And that seems to happen more often when there are injuries involved than when it's just NFL stuff or depth chart stuff.
Cade and All both had season ending injuries and surgeries and then bounced out without a lot of celebration/appreciation that sometimes comes with departures. There's smoke.
'disconcerting' to see two players leave the program that were passed up on the depth chart? Why are we supposed to be concerned? This is a complete nothing-burger.
DeleteOur projected top backup QB and 1 of (typically 2) starting TEs will be walk-ons unless there are further additions. That may not be disconcerting but it is concerning.
DeleteAll wasn't passed on the depth chart - he's a better blocker and (arguably) a better receiver than Loveland. He was a starter and projected to be a starter next year.
Not just players but captains.
Not just leaving - but going to another school in the conference to play together.
Not leaving on good terms but with loud silence (from McNamara) and sour grapes (from All).
Bosa and Njigba left for VERY different reasons
Delete@Lank - and you still feel this way given what has transpired over the past couple days with Cade and All? They are certainly both bitter, and their reasons are... dubious
DeleteWell I wrote a bunch of stuff so I'm not sure which part would have changed specifically. But yeah - it does seem to be antagonistic towards Michigan and that makes me like them both less.
DeleteHansen is gone too? Did not know about that
ReplyDeleteThis obviously isn't good. All was a big time asset in 2021, blocking as a TE, FB and catching some passes ... still, we did just fine without him this year, and even when Schoon went down, a TrFR from Idaho stepped up.
One could argue that TEs don't matter, but I think this is more about the Harbaugh program identifying & developing the position
Best of luck to Erik All
Harbaugh can definitely develop solid tight ends, but he has yet to recruit real superstar/difference maker tight ends at Michigan. Maybe Loveland will be the one. I still think the best TE he recruited so far was Devin Asiasi, and Asiasi only played one season at Michigan.
DeleteOne would think that there's a backup tight end on the roster (Hibner, Klein, Hansen, etc.) who could have beaten out Max Bredeson this season. I'm pretty surprised that Bredeson has seen so much playing time.
Superstar TE is almost an oxymoron. (Handful of exceptions but it's rare.) Harbaugh didn't recruit Butt but he coached him up. Gentry and McKeon are better NFL players than Asiasi. I'd bet money on Schoonmacher or All surpassing the three at the next level. Just don't make me pick which one.
DeleteI don't understand the 'revenge' angle of this. Michigan does not play Iowa in the regular season in 2023, so to the extent they'd play Michigan, it would be in the Big Ten championship game, which there is no guarantee either team will be there. Unless by 'revenge' we mean 'go to another team in the Big Ten,' and that's about it.
ReplyDeleteIf they really wanted to poke Michigan in the eye, they would have transferred to a B1G east team, like Penn State or Michigan State.
I agree. I don't really think revenge is a factor. I think McNamara saw an open starting job at Iowa, and All sees a program that produces good tight ends and a QB he knows well. Honestly, it makes sense for both of them from a playing time/development standpoint.
DeleteI didn't care about Milton's "putting up 50" comment, and I sure as heck don't care to speculate about All (hero of Happy Valley) and Cade (1st B1G championship QB in decades)
ReplyDeleteGood luck. We'll be fine without them
That was a rumor - never verified and certainly not made in public. Milton transferred to a place where he was highly unlikely to play Michigan. Milton said thanks publicly to the staff and program. Milton is a proud UM alumni. Milton's departure was classy in public and without any tangible negative consequences to the program.
DeleteCade and All are criticizing the program publicly and privately and recruiting people to leave.