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.
Name: Tamani Carter Height: 5'11" Weight: 175 lbs. High school: Pickerington (OH) Central Position: Free safety Class: Redshirt freshman Jersey number: #20 Last year: I predicted that Carter would be a backup safety. He redshirted.
Carter came out of high school without a great deal of fanfare as a late addition to the 2011 recruiting class. He had a chance to earn playing time last season if the team needed him in a pinch, but luckily, there were very few injuries in the defensive backfield. Carter plays free safety, which is currently occupied by Thomas Gordon, and departed senior Troy Woolfolk spent some time at free safety during the latter half of the year. That afforded Carter the chance to redshirt.
This spring Carter was involved in the legal issues that kept fellow safety Josh Furman from participating in spring practices. Although Carter was never charged, he sat out several practices while the coaches and the legal system sorted things out. He probably hasn't completely escaped the doghouse, and the depth at safety hasn't changed much since last season. Gordon is still the starter at FS and Jordan Kovacs will start at strong safety; Furman and Marvin Robinson return as backups; and a couple incoming freshman, Jarrod Wilson and Jeremy Clark, will also be competing for time at free safety. It's likely that Carter spends another year looking on from the sideline.
I accidentally let this post go by the wayside back in August, but the results are interesting, if only confirmation of what we already knew.
It turns out that 75% of voters were right - Countess had the biggest impact. He developed into a starter and perhaps the best cover corner on the team.
Greg Brown barely played before deciding to leave the team. Taylor played early in the season when Troy Woolfolk was hurt, but saw very little time down the stretch. Hollowell burned his redshirt late in the season just to run down the field on special teams. And Carter redshirted.
The correct answer would have been Countess - Hollowell - Taylor - Brown - Carter, but the voters did a pretty good job for what was known. Greg Brown screwed up the voting by leaving mid-season, but it happens. Maybe we should re-think how advantageous it is for kids to enroll early; many of the recent early enrollees have struggled just as much as the average freshman.
Name: Tamani Carter Height: 6'0" Weight: 175 lbs. High school: Pickerington Central High School in Pickerington, OH Position: Safety Class: Freshman Jersey number: #20 Last year: Carter was a senior in high school (commitment post here)
TTB Rating: 62
Carter was one of the kids recruited by Brady Hoke and Greg Mattison once they were hired at Michigan. Michigan fans didn't have much time to get familiar with him, and he didn't create a ton of buzz when they did find out more about him. He was one of those tweener players with a mediocre offer list and an unspectacular highlight film. But he was a defensive back, which Michigan needed.
Although listed as a cornerback by recruiting services, Hoke introduced him as a safety on National Signing Day. That's probably a good thing, because I don't see Carter having the athleticism to run with Big Ten wide receivers on a regular basis. He might get a bit of seasoning this year because of Michigan's shortage of safeties, but Carter will be blocked for major playing time by more experienced or more athletic players. He could be a Brandent Englemon, fill-in starter type somewhere down the road, though.
A poster over at Rivals posted the following jersey numbers for the incoming freshmen. I'm not sure how accurate they are, but here's what he gave:
3 Russell Bellomy
5 Justice Hayes
18 Blake Countess
20 Tamani Carter
21 Raymon Taylor
24 Delonte Holowell
35 Greg Brown
38 Thomas Rawls
40 Antonio Poole
44 Desmond Morgan
45 Matt Wile
52 Kellen Jones
57 Frank Clark
58 Chris Bryant
79 Tony Posada
82 Chris Barnett
92 Keith Heitzman
95 Chris Rock
97 Brennen Beyer
Sorry, I did not get Russell Bellomy (EDIT: Bellomy is #3. Thanks, readers!) or Jack Miller.
Safety Ray Vinopal, who just finished his freshman season at Michigan, has left the team due to personal reasons. Coach Brady Hoke did not elaborate on the reason for Vinopal's departure.
When Vinopal was recruited out of Cardinal Mooney (Youngstown, OH) last year, I was not a fan. I pegged him as a probable backup and special teamer, but Vinopal ascended to the starting free safety role halfway through the season. His rapid ascension was at least partially due to the ineffectiveness of early-season starter Cam Gordon; the departures of Vlad Emilien and Justin Turner; and injuries to J.T. Floyd and Troy Woolfolk. My guess is that one of the latter three would have moved ahead of Vinopal at free safety once Gordon proved he wasn't up to the task. And yet we saw #20, a 2-star recruit, find his way into the starting lineup.
Vinopal exceeded my expectations, but his play was nothing special. He ended the season with 33 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 1 interception, and 3 pass breakups. He made a couple decent plays throughout the season (a pick against Bowling Green, a critical tackle on Mikel Leshoure of Illinois), but he was outmatched by the majority of Michigan's 2010 opponents - too small, a step too slow, or both.
Regardless of his shortcomings, he may have been the frontrunner for the starting free safety job in 2011. Now Michigan will probably be in the same position it has been for the past few seasons - starting a very inexperienced youngster at the secondary's most critical position. It was Jordan Kovacs, Mike Williams, and Woolfolk in 2009, Gordon and Vinopal in 2010, and . . . someone else in 2011. Options include sophomores Carvin Johnson, Marvin Robinson, and Cullen Christian; freshman Tamani Carter; or a converted cornerback like Woolfolk or Floyd. The situation is less than ideal.
As for the 2010 recruiting class, this is yet another blow to its quality and numbers. Twenty-seven kids signed National Letters of Intent in February 2010, and only 21 remain. Safety Demar Dorsey (now at Grand Rapids Community College), quarterback Conelius Jones (Marshall), linebacker Antonio Kinard (Miami), linebacker Davion Rogers (Youngstown State), and running back Austin White (Central Michigan) preceded Vinopal in leaving the program.
Vinopal has not announced a destination, although rumors have floated around that he might be headed to play at Pitt. His former position coach at Michigan, Tony Gibson, is now the cornerbacks coach for the Panthers. For those of you who are wondering, Pittsburgh is about one hour and fifteen minutes from Vinopal's hometown of Youngstown. Ann Arbor is three hours and thirty minutes away.
Cornerback Tamani Carter (#3) digs pink. And maize and blue.
Tamani Carter, a 6'0", 175 lb. cornerback from Pickerington Central (Ohio) committed to Michigan on Wednesday. He was offered a scholarship by new coach Brady Hoke on Sunday night and took a few days to mull it over, but ultimately decided to switch his commitment from Minnesota to Michigan. And really, who wouldn't rather be a Wolverine than a Gopher?
Carter is a 3-star to Scout and Rivals, and a 2-star to ESPN. He had offers from Arizona, Iowa, Minnesota, and Stanford, as well as a few others. Carter's Rivals profile also lists a bench max of 295, a 35-inch vertical jump, and a 4.48 forty yard dash.
Prior to Carter's commitment, Michigan had only used 10 of its approximately 20 scholarships available for the Class of 2011. Many fans and some analysts think that if Michigan can't get elite prospects to fill out this recruiting class, then they should bank those unused scholarships for the next recruiting cycle. I disagree with that theory. As of now, approximately 16 players should be graduating after the 2011 season, leaving at least 16 scholarships open for next year. More likely, that number will swell to 20 or so, which is a decent sized class. This "banking scholarships" thing only really makes sense if next year's class would be a very small number, say 10 or 12; that's not the case.
Therefore, I'm not that concerned with Michigan using a scholarship on Carter. Including Class of 2011 additions to the roster, Michigan could have nine cornerbacks on the roster. I expect that at least one of those nine will move to safety, so the numbers are fluid. The ultimate goal is to get talented players on the roster, and I'd rather Michigan use a scholarship on a guy like Carter than just handing it to a walk-on whose maximum contribution might be running down the field on kickoff coverage a few times.
That being said, nothing about Carter really stands out on film. He has decent size (unlike many cornerbacks Rich Rodriguez recruited), he has decent speed, he's not afraid of contact, etc. It's not a wasted scholarship. At the same time, I don't see the suddenness and change of direction that I'd like to see from a cornerback. This is not an "elite" player, but Michigan can't exactly hold out for elite players when the class has ten guys and less than two weeks until National Signing Day. I would like Carter more if he were going to be playing in a Cover 2 defense and sitting in the flat most of the day, but that's not what I'm expecting from new defensive coordinator Greg Mattison.
At this point, Michigan needs to secure the commitments of a few linemen (Jake Fisher, Tony Posada, Chris Bryant, and maybe a fifth guy), a quarterback, a tight end, a linebacker, a safety, and hopefully a couple defensive linemen. That would bring the class to approximately 19. I'm hopeful that Michigan can also convince a highly touted cornerback like Stefan McClure or Floyd Raven to join the squad. Michigan lacks a true free safety outside of Ray Vinopal, in my opinion, and while McClure is purely a corner, I think Raven has the instincts, speed, and tackling ability to be an outstanding free safety.
