ron johnson

In Michigan's second most significant Michigan athletics departure this month (and very hopefully the last), defensive lineman Ron Johnson has entered the transfer portal, via Cole Cubelic, via Isaiah Hole of WolverinesWire.

Michigan DL Ron Johnson has entered the NCAA transfer portal.

— Cole Cubelic (@colecubelic) May 24, 2019

A 2016 Garden State recruit from the "nice try fencing the garden" class, the borderline four-star WDE prospect spent most of his Michigan career as the player the wonks occasionally brought up to show we have the roster memorized. His name briefly surfaced in spring 2017 as a guy willing to try defensive tackle when most of the options were nursing minor injuries or coming back from major ones. That's usually an ominous sign for a guy they hoped would be a rush end, ominous enough that we came close to naming the redshirt freshman under "Getting Late Early" in 2017 HTTV.

Indeed Johnson spent most of his Michigan career on the scout team as various defensive end recruits arrived and passed him. With that list now including 2018s Aidan Hutchinson, Julius Welschof, and Taylor Upshaw, and 2019 early enrollee David Ojabo, Johnson's only route to playing time was hoping he could make that unlikely DT transition.

Johnson has completed his coursework to graduate and will have two seasons of eligibility wherever he winds up. By my count Michigan's now at 81 scholarships for 2019, with one more in wait in case Chris Evans can make it back, and the other three openings reserved for walk-ons Tru Wilson, Jordan Glasgow, and Will Hart if they don't find another grad transfer they want.

With Josh Gattis, obviously you hired him for a reason. Now that you’ve had a chance to work with him more through spring drills, what new impressions do you have based on being around him day-to-day?

“All positive. Tremendous teacher. A lot of energy. Brings a lot of energy to meetings, the practice field. I mean, he’s coaching a lot of people every play so I think that’s been a good thing for all of our coaches. They’ve really been engaged and coaching really well. Our players are picking it up, I think, as it relates to the offense. We’re pretty far along after seven practices with the new system. That’s a credit to Josh and the staff.”

Being satisfied with the new system so far, do you ever stop and say ‘Why didn’t I do this a year or two earlier?’ Do you look back and have second thoughts on previously if this stuff is as good as you think it is so far?

“Um, I think things sometimes change as you go along and you’re open to new ideas and different factors that make it beneficial, but I’ve never been one to ever do things just because that’s the way they’ve always been done. Always taken the approach that if it helps us when then we’re gonna do it or at least try it, so that’s always been my mindset.”

You talked about the corners yesterday on your podcast. What’s Lavert’s [Hill] status right now?

“Lavert’s coming along well. He had a procedure done in the offseason that he’s rehabbing from and really coming along well. It’ll be close to whether he’s able to make it back for some part of spring ball or not, but the rehab’s going extremely well.”

And then Don Brown talked about Vince Gray—

“Yeah, so the corner, it’s been a healthy position for us this spring. With Lavert rehabbing, Vince Gray starting at left corner right now and Ambry Thomas starting at right corner. Hunter Reyolds is backing up along with Jaylen Kelly-Powell. Jaylen Kelly-Powell’s also backing up at the nickel. Myles Sims, Gemon Green have also been in the mix and they’re coming along good so far this spring, so that’s been a good, healthy position for us. Jalen Perry has also worked in and he’s on the depth chart along with Jared Davis and then John Baty, who is a student tryout that’s done a nice job. All indications are that he’s making the football team, so it’s been a good position.

“The nickel position, Brad Hawkins is the starter there. He’s doing an excellent job. He’s also backing up at both safety positions, both the Rover and the Free. Right now Josh Metellus and J’Marick Woods are the two starting safeties. Louis Grodman is backing up Brad and so is Sammy Faustin. Gemon Green, Tyler Cochran are also in the mix along with Quinn Rothman. That’s also been another position of good health for us.”

What’s the situation at kicker? Is Quinn [Nordin] the guy or is that a competition between him and Jake [Moody]?

“It’s neck and neck right now. Charting all the kicks, it’s extremely close. Quinn’s like maybe 15-of-17 or 16-of-17. Jake Moody is like 15-of-16 or 15-of-17. They’re right there, neck and neck. So it’s a good competition going on at kicker.”

[After THE JUMP: a single answer that's as long as some pressers bears a depth chart]

With Ty Law joining eight other Pro Football Hall of Famers from Michigan last week, and Tom Brady continuing to push the bar for greatest football player of all time past the outer reaches of the Virgo Cluster, I figured our next Michigan All-____ team should focus on who made the best pro players.

This one got long and took a lot of research so here's Part 1.

Previously:

• Ancient History: 1879 to 1968
• The 5-stars
• The 3-stars
• The Extracurriculars
• Position-Switchers
• Highlights
• All-Numbers Team Part I: The Offense
• All-Numbers Team Part II: The Defense
• The Best of Michigan (the state)
• All-Name Team
• All-Small Team

Today's Rules: I'm creating a 53-man NFL roster with Michigan alumni based on their total contributions in pro football (mostly the NFL). It's not about the greatest Michigan players to go pro; in fact I'm going to include a few transfers best known for playing elsewhere. I'm judging based on things like years in the pros, years as a starter, Pro Bowl/All-Pro selections, a little bit on team success, and their impact on the game, all relative to when they played.

The goal is a bit different than normal because the idea here is to build a team, not reward the best players. A guy had to play a position in the pros to be be eligible for it, within reason: I expect a career left guard to be able to play right guard (but not necessarily center), and a 1950 flanker to not feel totally out of place as a modern slot receiver.

A * means he's in the Hall of Fame already.

Quarterback: Tom Brady (2000-present)

It doesn't seem to get old. I think we can skip the career rundown because you've no doubt been on this Earth the last few weeks. At this point Tom Brady and Bill Belichick are past trying and just making up challenges to keep things interesting.

Tom: Okay guys, don't even block Aaron Donald, Ndamukong Suh, and Dante Fowler for a quarter.

Bill: Betchya I can convince the whole league to go back to punting on 4th and short from the opponents' territory.

Tom: Oh yeah? Watch me make a short, bearded Jewish guy a Super Bowl MVP.

Bill: Ooh, that's a good one. Try this…I'm going to hold Jared Goff to the worst passing day of his career.

Tom: Yeah?

Bill: Using just zone defense!

Tom: That's good, but you know what would really be funny?

Bill: What?

Tom: Okay, here it is: Not only do you have to hold the Rams under 7 points, but you also have to get McVay to forget he has the highest paid running back in the league for a half…

Bill: …and?

Tom: And then you've got to bust out your own 1st round RB from Georgia and salt the game away using nothing but double ISO and counter-trey.

Anyway the nice thing about the All-Michigan NFL Team is it will beat any other college's all-NFL team. I mean, what other school gets to put out a tweet like this every year?

Congratulations to Brian Hoyer on becoming a Super Bowl Champion! #GoGreen #SpartansInTheNFL pic.twitter.com/qZL9p0Zc5n

— Michigan State Football (@MSU_Football) February 4, 2019

Backups: Benny Friedman* (1927-'34) and Jim Harbaugh (1987-'00). What's more incredible about the greatest quarterback of all time is he pushed down the Most Important. Without Benny the NFL would have taken much longer to get out of the college game's shadow. Benny also provides depth at RB, the secondary, and special teams. Former 1st round pick Jim Harbaugh was 49-22-1 as an NFL starter, mostly for the Bears, but had a long second career as a backup who doubled as a mentor and coach for young prospects.

Honorable Mention: Elvis Grbac (1994-'01), Brian Griese (1998-'08), Chad Henne (2008-present), Todd Collins (1995-2010), Larry Cipa (1974-'75), Jake Rudock (2017-present)

[After THE JUMP: a position that isn't as deep, and one that's deeper]