darion green-warren

Two defensive players who’ve rarely gotten on the field are in the portal, Rivals’ Josh Henschke is reporting:

#Michigan linebacker Anthony Solomon enters the transfer portal @rivalsmike @RivalsPortal https://t.co/hSYfehTXnq #GoBlue

— Josh Henschke (@JoshHenschke) January 3, 2022

NEW ON TMBR: Michigan defensive back Darion Green-Warren enters transfer portal https://t.co/qw8BYhCH7r #GoBlue

— The Maize and Blue Review (@MaizeBlueReview) January 3, 2022

Solomon was recruited in 2019 to play the Viper position that made a sort of renaissance this year with Michael Barrett, who’s a class ahead of him. Barrett redshirted as a freshman however so the two have the same eligibility. Depth chart hawks also noticed that Joe Velazquez appeared to be ahead of Solomon for the specialized hybrid safety role, though Joey had just 11 snaps to Solomon’s five (both played special teams). Several of the hyped freshmen safeties recruited this year could also factor in there, notably five-star Keon Sabb.

Green-Warren departs having never made a dent in a pliable cornerback depth chart over two years on campus. The four-star Californian jammer could still play four years somewhere since last year doesn’t count and he redshirted this one. Gemon Green, DJ Turner, and Vincent Gray locked down the starting rotation in 2021, true freshman Ja’Den McBurrows was the next man in, and here again there’s going to be an influx of talent that shouldn’t be far from seeing the field, led by five-star Will Johnson. Deep backups Keshaun Harris, George Johnson, Andre Seldon (DGW’s classmate) and Quinten Johnson all played ahead of Green-Warren this season.

Unfortunately this means the end of our dream of Michigan playing Green, Green, Hill-Green, Hill, and Green-Warren at the same time.

Previously: The Story. Podcast 12.4A, 12.4B, 12.4C. Quarterback. Running Back. Wide Receiver. Tight End. Interior OL. Offensive Tackle. Defensive End. Defensive Tackle. Linebacker.

Depth Chart

Well, crap. We're back.

There are kids in college who don't remember a point where cornerback was a bonafide problem for Michigan football. The last time Michigan gave more than one start to a guy who wasn't at least a fringe NFL player was 2014(!), when Raymon Taylor got passed midseason by a sophomore Jourdan Lewis. The only guys to go undrafted since, Channing Stribling and Lavert Hill, was second-team and first-team All Big Ten, respectively.

It's been a terrific run. And now it's under serious threat. After Ambry Thomas decided not to opt back in it's been scramble time. First there was a ton of talk about moving Dax Hill to corner. Reasonable! He's a five star. He can hack it. The biggest problem with that is that he is so dynamic that moving him to corner might reduce his impact.

Then Hill went back to safety and Sammy Faustin moved to corner. He might start.

Redshirt freshman Sammy Faustin has switched positions from safety to corner within “the last week" and is in the mix to start on Oct. 24 at Minnesota.

Slam that panic button.

[After THE JUMP: uhhhhhhh]

Last year I did a What I Learned post about the 2019 class after that set of recruiting profiles was completed; now that 2020 is done let's reprise. I've gone over every scrap of information and highlight video; I've even scouted a couple full games when information on a prospect was frustratingly thin, or used Adam and Dave's Future Blue Originals/Derivatives.

These are my takeaways.

It's a B+ class

There's a lot of consternation about the lack of truly top-end prospects in this class, and it's understandable. It's nice to have guys like Rashan Gary and Jabrill Peppers around. This class does not have a single composite top 100 prospect. 2019 had 3, including two five stars; 2021 has 3, including a five star. I don't think it says a whole lot other than it was a weird year.

On the other hand, there are almost literally no fliers. If JD Johnson had not been forced to retire, thus paving the way for Dan Villari to get a Signing Day offer, the lowest-ranked guy in the class would be #513 Kris Jenkins. That's just outside the 3.5* range we use to designate players who are high three stars pursued by a large number of mid-to-upper-level P5 teams.

The previous class, which ranked first amongst Big Ten teams, had seven guys ranked lower than Jenkins. Five of them were below 750th. The 2021 class also has some deep cuts. So while the 2020 class doesn't have much of a top end it is uncommonly deep.

This is something I said on Signing Day. Doing the profiles reinforced that take because various guys in the back half of the class jumped out as good bets. Jeffrey Persi is a Greg Frey tackle. Cornell Wheeler has Ron Bellamy travelling the state to yell at people about how good he is. Matt Hibner's composite ranking is held back by ESPN and Rivals, who missed his incredible fitness montage. Roman Wilson… yes, he is in the back half of this class. I know.

This isn't a class that's going to shift the paradigm against Ohio State but what does that even look like? If we judge it by the standards of other recent Michigan classes it's solid.

[After the JUMP: stocks up, down, and shruggie sections]