Fort Myers (FL) Bishop Verot quarterback Carter Smith decommitted from Michigan on Wednesday. He had been committed to the Wolverines since June and was doing a good job of spearheading the 2025 class, but circumstances have changed since he pledged to the Wolverines.
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Overland Park (KS) Blue Valley Northwest offensive tackle Andrew Babalola committed to Michigan on October 21. He picked the Wolverines over Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Stanford, among others.
Babalola is listed at 6'6" and 280 pounds.
RANKINGS
ESPN: 4-star, 87 grade, #8 OT, #27 overall
On3: 5-star, 98 grade, #3 OT, #11 overall
Rivals: 4-star, 5.9 grade, #9 OT, #63 overall
247 Sports: 5-star, 98 grade, #2 OT, #11 overall
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All hail Davis Warren! I'm not going to pretend that Davis Warren is on track to be J.J. McCarthy, but Warren played his best game of the year in going 13/19 for 123 yards, 1 touchdown, and 0 interceptions. He did not take any sacks and scrambled once for 7 yards. I mentioned on Twitter (before I knew Jack Tuttle would miss the game) that if I were Michigan's coaching staff, I would start Warren and mix in Alex Orji on every third series. Warren got a bad rap early in the year when he made mistakes while other people (Donovan Edwards, Evan Link, Colston Loveland, etc.) were screwing up; Warren took the blame for the team being bad. Now that the offensive line has improved some and other players have adjusted, Warren looks okay. He's not a world-beater, but the kid can play a little bit. I'm happy for him that he got a little bit of redemption. Nobody will ever be able to take away the fact that he quarterbacked Michigan to a rivalry victory over Michigan State.
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RUSH OFFENSE vs. MSU RUSH DEFENSE
Michigan is a disappointing 45th in rushing offense (180.3 yards/game) despite being unable to do the whole passing thing well. They average 4.76 yards/carry, which ties them for 54th nationally. Kalel Mullings (110 carries, 676 yards, 7 TD) is the leader in the backfield, while backup Donovan Edwards (80 carries, 391 yards, 3 TD) gave up his second fumble of the season last Saturday. It might be worth mentioning QB Alex Orji, too, who has not played for the majority of the past two games (he played three series against Washington) but who has 35 carries for 124 yards this year. With the turnovers given up by QB Jack Tuttle over the past couple weeks, the staff may work in Orji a little more. Michigan had three new starters on the offensive line last week with Jeff Persi at LT, Greg Crippen at C, and Andrew Gentry at RT, but starting LT Myles Hinton - Michigan's best lineman - may return on Saturday. Defensively, Michigan State is #53 in rushing defense (131.1 yards/game) and #46 in yards allowed per carry (3.78). The last three teams MSU has played have averaged over 5.2 yards/carry, but two of those are top-five teams in Ohio State and Oregon, and the third was Iowa, which has a pretty solid running back in Kaleb Johnson; Johnson had 14 carries for 98 yards and 1 score, but one of those carries was a 75-yard touchdown, so his other 13 attempts went for 23 yards. The leading tackler is senior Wisconsin transfer Jordan Turner, a Farmington High School product, who is a 6'1", 231 lb. middle linebacker with 43 stops. Next is fifth year senior LB Cal Haladay (6'1", 233) with 34 tackles and then junior UCF transfer strong safety Nikai Martinez (5'11", 191) with 31. Former Michigan DT commit Alex Van Sumeren (6'3", 300) and fifth year senior D'Quan Douse (6'2", 300) start at defensive tackle, but the Spartans rotate a lot of players in the front seven to keep them fresh. I do think Michigan can have success on the ground . . . if they use Kalel Mullings and Alex Orji appropriately, which is unfortunately a question mark.
Advantage: Michigan
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TRANSFER PORTAL
Donaven McCulley - WR - Indiana: McCulley is a 6'5", 203 lb. former quarterback who transitioned to receiver at Indiana. He entered the transfer portal in the off-season and was courted by Michigan, but he was convinced to rejoin Indiana's squad. After not being a major factor early in the year (2 catches, 21 yards, 1 TD in the first five weeks), he decided to re-enter the transfer portal and is now considering Michigan again.
2025
Andrew Babalola - OT - Overland Park (KS) Blue Valley Northwest: Babalola (5-star, #2 OT, #11 overall) committed to Michigan.
Avery Gach - OT - Franklin (MI) Groves: Gach is committed to Michigan (LINK).
Quante Gillians - DE - Rochester (NY) Aquinas Institute: Gillians is a 6'3", 278 lb. prospect who has been committed to Syracuse since June 2024. Michigan offered him in the last month, and he also has offers from Boston College and Pitt, among others. He's a 3-star, the #101 defensive lineman, and #978 overall.
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Bad game plans are the norm. After Saturday's 21-7 loss to Illinois, Sherrone Moore said he needs to re-evaluate himself as a head coach. I'm not ready to throw Moore out after half a season with no functional quarterback, but I am very disappointed in him and offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell. There are all kinds of glaring issues with this offense:
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Here's a look at the biggest plays in Michigan's history against Illinois:
Hit the jump for a highlight of Alexander's 90-yard TD catch.
RUSH OFFENSE vs. ILLINOIS RUSH DEFENSE
Michigan is #39 in rushing offense (191.3 yards/game) and #44 in yards per carry (5.06). Kalel Mullings has emerged as the #1 back for the offense (589 yards, 6.5 yards/carry, 6 TD) because of his ability to break tackles and move the chains, but he and Donovan Edwards (353 yards, 4.8 yards/carry, 3 TD) split carries in the last game with 14 each. There may be a shakeup on the offensive line: injured LT Myles Hinton is expected to return, which could allow fill-in tackle Jeff Persi to get a shot at right tackle; and it sounds like Greg Crippen will get a start at center over Dominick Giudice. Defensively, Illinois is #77 against the run (149.2 yards allowed/game) and #96 in yards allowed per carry (4.54). The last two opponents, Penn State and Purdue, have both run for 239 yards. The leading tackler is redshirt sophomore safety Matthew Bailey (6'2", 215) with 38 stops; following him are redshirt junior MLB Dylan Rosiek (6'1", 235) with 35 and redshirt junior free safety Miles Scott (5'11", 210) with 33. The Illini don't have a ton of size up front - their biggest regulars are two 305 pound nose tackles - but they do have a 6'3", 275-pounder at OLB in Gabe Jacas who leads the team with 5 tackles for loss. Michigan should have an advantage when running the ball, especially if Crippen and/or Persi can be improvements over Giudice and redshirt freshman RT Evan Link.
Advantage: Michigan
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Saint Louis (MO) Christian Brothers defensive end Triston Abram, an Indiana commit, was offered by Michigan. He's a 6'4", 225-pounder who also has offers from Boston College, Kansas State, and Memphis, among others. He's a 3-star, the #58 edge, and #782 overall.
Lake Worth (FL) Santaluces wide receiver Jamar Browder, a North Carolina State commit, was offered by Michigan. Browder is a 3-star, the #119 wide receiver, and #782 overall. He committed to NCSU back in June. The Wolfpack are having a rough season, and Browder recently visited Michigan's campus for an unofficial visit. He's planning to return in early November for an official.
Massillon (OH) Washington offensive tackle Nolan Davenport, a Wisconsin commit, was offered by Michigan. Davenport is a 6'6", 260-pounder with offers from Missouri and Penn State, along with the Badgers. He's a 3-star, the #54 offensive tackle, and #716 overall in the 247 Composite. He has been committed to Wisconsin since June 2024.
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Here's a roundup of the former Michigan player, former commits, and former coaches (or players-turned-coaches). NOTE: I will not regularly post updates about offensive linemen since stats are minimal and just posting PFF grades is kind of boring, but I did this week just to show who's playing where and what their opening day role was.
FORMER PLAYERS
WR Andrel Anthony (Oklahoma): Anthony has not played since week one due to an injury.
LB Jeremiah Beasley (Missouri): Beasley made 1 tackle in a 45-3 win over UMass.
QB Alan Bowman (Oklahoma State): Oklahoma State (3-3) had a bye following their third straight loss. So far this season, Bowman is completing 59.3% of his passes for 12 touchdowns and 8 interceptions.
LB Semaj Bridgeman (Michigan State): Bridgeman has not recorded any stats yet this year for MSU.
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NOTE: I meant to post this mid-week but somehow it slipped through the cracks, so this is for the games from eight days ago, not yesterday.
Here's a roundup of the former Michigan player, former commits, and former coaches (or players-turned-coaches). NOTE: I will not regularly post updates about offensive linemen since stats are minimal and just posting PFF grades is kind of boring, but I did this week just to show who's playing where and what their opening day role was.
FORMER PLAYERS
WR Andrel Anthony (Oklahoma): Anthony has not played since week one due to an injury.
LB Jeremiah Beasley (Missouri): Beasley did not record any stats in a 41-10 loss to Texas A&M.
QB Alan Bowman (Oklahoma State): Bowman completed 10/19 passes for 116 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions in a a 38-14 loss to West Virginia.
LB Semaj Bridgeman (Michigan State): Bridgeman did not record any stats in a 31-10 loss to Oregon.
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I guess it's Tuttle time. After a couple drives of Alex Orji's version of the offense doing nothing (0 points), Michigan surprisingly inserted seventh year Utah/Indiana transfer backup Jack Tuttle. The offense immediately got a boost as Washington tried to adjust. Michigan rather quickly put up 17 points across the second and third quarters before doing nothing in the fourth. Tuttle completed 10/18 passes for 98 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. He also ran 5 times for 14 yards and lost a fumble. Orji completed 3/7 passes for 15 yards and ran 3 times for 11 yards before departing. The offense looked more cohesive and calmer with Tuttle behind center, at least until the end of the game, when Michigan was down a couple scores in hurry-up mode. I would imagine Tuttle's time on task has not been significant running a two-minute offense since he's been hurt for the past several months, but the game was out of hand at that point. Michigan was not going to get two scores in the span of a minute or so.
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RUSH OFFENSE vs. WASHINGTON RUSH DEFENSE
Michigan is #34 in rush offense (194.8 yards/game) and #44 in yards per carry (5.13). Kalel Mullings has emerged as the top running back (77 carries, 540 yards, 6 TD) with Donovan Edwards (59 carries, 258 yards, 2 TD) still playing a big role as a backup. QB Alex Orji is the third-leading rusher, but he has just 55 yards on 22 carries since taking over as the starter two weeks ago. LT Myles Hinton is likely to miss the game due to injury, and naturally, he's Michigan's best lineman, so fifth year senior Jeffrey Persi will likely get the start on the left side. According to PFF, Persi is the second best run blocker of the linemen, so perhaps the drop-off there will not be too significant. The rest of the line has been overwhelming, but it will be interesting to see if Michigan's platoon of Dominick Giudice and Greg Crippen continues at center. Defensively, Washington is #51 in rush defense (121.8 yards allowed/game) and #58 in yards allowed per carry (3.74). Last week they gave up 184 yards on 33 carries to Rutgers, including 25 attempts for 132 yards and 1 touchdown by Kyle Monongai. The leading tackler is senior MLB Carson Bruener (6'2", 226) with 30 tackles, followed by fifth year senior WLB Alphonzo Tuputala (6'2", 230) with 25. The Huskies start five transfers, including two on the defensive line; head coach Jedd Fisch brought with him from Arizona a redshirt sophomore DE/OLB Isaiah Ward (6'5", 227), who is quite clearly undersized. Senior DT Sebastian Valdez (6'4", 305) is in his first season at the FBS level after transferring from Montana State.
Advantage: Michigan
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