transfers

was a big recruit but got buried

this was not a catch

Well, it finally happened: Jerald Robinson has left the team after two years of practice hype did not translate into playing time. Michigan returns Drew Dileo and Jeremy Gallon, but in non-short-guy receivers the only returning experience is Jeremy Jackson. Darboh, Chesson, and whichever freshmen come in will have to pick it up fast.

Robinson is now the 15th member of the 27-strong 2010 class to exit. The departed:

• Conelius Jones (never showed up, academics)
• Carvin Johnson (played a bit, but transferred midway through Hoke year one)
• Cullen Christian (torched as a freshman, followed Tony Gibson to Pitt)
• Demar Dorsey (academics)
• Terrence Talbott (left team before fall for mysterious reasons)
• Ray Vinopal (same as Christian)
• Terry Talbott (injury)
• Antonio Kinard (never showed up, academics)
• Davion Rogers (never showed up, academics)
• Christian Pace (injury)
• Stephen Hopkins (moved to FB, injured a bit, quit football)
• Austin White (booted off team almost before showing up)
• Ricardo Miller (gave up football after not finding PT)
• Jerald Robinson (presumed transfer after not finding PT)
• DJ Williamson (didn't like football, quit)

What a disaster. Jackson and Dileo are the only WRs left from the five Michigan brought in; Michigan has no other offensive recruits left from that class other than Devin Gardner. There's not much on defense, either: Jibreel Black, Courtney Avery, and Jake Ryan are the only contributors. You are permitted to go poke your Rodriguez voodoo dolls now.

As for the future: Michigan now has a full 25 spots in the current class without anyone else leaving. Lewan is headed to the draft and Michigan's sudden urgency to recruit an additional linebacker or two probably indicates attrition is on its way there, so expect this class to bulge up to 27-28 when all is said and done. Sam Webb suggested on the radio today that Michigan could take up to seven more players from their current total of 21/22, give or take the longsnapper.

I'd expect Green/Dawson/some LB/Delano Hill as four of them, with randoms making up the remainder.

AnnArbor.com

Fullback Stephen Hopkins has left the team, according to all of twitter. That's unexpected. Hopkins had some injury issues early this season and was on the verge of getting Wally Pipped by Joe Kerridge but had seemingly fought his way back to starting before a pretty terrible outing against Ohio State. Seems like that was a breaking point but that's just speculation.

With Paul Gyarmati graduating, that leaves Kerridge and freshman Sione Houma the main options at fullback, which is fine. Kerridge seemed to be a better blocker than Hopkins anyway. Houma has played on special teams for whatever reason and seems like more of a run/catch threat from the spot if and when he sees playing time. In addition to those two guys Michigan is also bringing in Khalid Hill and Wyatt Shallman as H-back sorts*, so they're fine at the spot.

Hopkins leaving opens up a 24th scholarship in the class, with more attrition pending. Given the flurry of offers Michigan has issued in the past few weeks it's clear they're looking for another linebacker, preferably a SAM type**, and I would guess they go above 25 if they find enough players they like.

*[FWIW I bet a dollar Shallman is on defense by the end of his freshman year.]

**[I don't think this has anything to do with Cam Gordon or Jake Ryan. It's more about the freshman class. If Royce Jenkins-Stone isn't going to be a SAM, and it doesn't look like he will, then there is no one younger than Ryan on the roster who can play the spot. Even if they make the logical move and slide Mario Ojemudia over, they could still use another guy there before Michael Ferns arrives in 2014.]

Ricardo Miller's facebook page:

I know there was a fake Devin Gardner page out there but this one has 1200 friends and several pictures of Miller taken from cellphones and the like. Looks legit to me.

Miller bounced to and from tight end after arriving early, never finding playing time. With walk-ons seeing snaps ahead of him the writing was on the wall—time to move on. As a redshirt sophomore his departure does open up a scholarship slot in the next class. That brings Michigan to 23 plus any guys who don't get a fifth year; they currently have 22 plus maybe longsnapper Scott Sypniewski. Gareon Conley is wavering, of course.

Also: yeah, Miller's getting a degree in three years. Good luck to him.

NEWS ITEM: Brady Hoke announced at Media Day that redshirt freshman Tamani Carter has left the program. Carter had obviously not seen the field. He was the first guy to ever commit to Brady Hoke, signing up as part of Michigan's late "oh crap we have a month before Signing Day and need ten guys" blitz. Michigan actually snatched him from Minnesota a mere eleven days after he'd committed to the Gophers. He also claimed Iowa and Stanford offers, though it seemed like they went off the board midway through his senior season.

No idea why the guy left yet but if I had to guess it's that he saw the writing on the wall about playing time. He was a non-entity in the spring when Allen Gant and Josh Furman weren't around and may have slipped further down the depth chart after their arrival/reinstatement.

Carter's departure takes Michigan down to 76 scholarship players this year and takes the open spots for the class of 2013 up to 22 plus any fifth years who don't return, though there are a couple of walk-ons (Burzynski and Brink) who might make a case for themselves as scholarship guys a la Kovacs. Sam Webb has been saying that Michigan is planning a class of 25 on WTKA; by my figuring Michigan is still two players over once fifth year decisions are factored in. That's not much of a concern six months from Signing Day, since things like injuries and depth charts and allegations happen to football players.

OTHER NEWS ITEMS: Clark and Toussaint will return to practice on Monday; no decision has yet been made about suspensions. Roy Roundtree had his knee scoped and will be out two weeks.

[Programming note: sorry about the slow content from myself. Minor family emergency, emphasis on minor, but one that required some attention the last 24 hours. Anyway…]

the spring headfake

Michigan's decision to recruit ALL OF THE CORNERBACKS is now a little clearer, as Sam Webb is reporting that Terrence Talbott has decided to leave the program. Talbott was buried on the depth chart last year before a star turn in the spring practice videos that seemed to indicate he was being given serious consideration for playing time. JT Floyd reasserted his hold on the starting spot in the spring game, and now Talbott's out the door. Apologies to Andy Staples, who used the hype at this site to name Talbott to his spring breakout team.

Talbott's departure leaves Michigan thin at boundary corner. If Floyd goes down it probably sees Blake Countess slide over and Courtney Avery slide into the starting lineup with either Delonte Holowell or Raymon Taylor taking over the nickel spot. Either that or Taylor steps into the starting lineup at boundary, but he's listed at 169 pounds on the roster… other than Floyd Michigan's cornerbacks are tiny. By virtue of being listed at 5'11", 180 Talbott was the second-biggest guy available. Floyd's health, already pretty important, is now more so.

From a recruiting perspective, Talbott's exit opens up a 21st scholarship for the 2012 class. On the WTKA recruiting roundup a couple days ago, Webb mentioned that Michigan would now take a 25th player in the class, so Talbott's decision seems to have come recently and led directly to Ross Douglas's offer and commitment. Michigan is still after LaQuon Treadwell and will look for BPA with slot #25. Rivals is reporting($) that Leon McQuay III has dropped Michigan after the Douglas commitment, so who that might be is a mystery unless it's VA RB Derrick Green.

NON-BONUS: The 2010 class, originally 27 strong, has been hacked to 15 in just two years. Death by…

• ACADEMICS: Antonio Kinard, Demar Dorsey, Davion Rogers, Conelius Jones
• BEING A NE'ER DO WELL: Austin White
• INJURY: Christian Pace, Terry Talbott
• DEPTH CHART RELATED: Cullen Christian, Ray Vinopal, DJ Williamson, Carvin Johnson, Terrence Talbott (probably)

Yeesh.