Exit Luiji Vilain
Another into the portal:
Michigan DE Luiji Vilain is in the portal, @247Sports and @michiganinsider have learned. A former top 75 recruit, Vilain posted 4 tackles this past season. https://t.co/TZBJxDVPR3
— 247Sports Transfer Portal (@247SportsPortal) January 19, 2021
Vilain was a top 100 recruit who suffered two major injuries that wiped out his first couple years on campus. He saw scattered snaps a year ago and got into the rotation this year, particularly after Hutchinson went down, but hadn't separated himself from younger competitors.
Michigan has Aidan Hutchinson returning at one DE spot; it's likely that Gabe Newburg or Taylor Upshaw takes the other. Depth is okay with David Ojabo, Braiden McGregor, and Jaylen Harrell available as non-true-freshman options.
There is no content after the jump.
January 19th, 2021 at 2:45 PM ^
Good luck to him. Was hoping he'd break through, but those early injuries put him behind the 8-ball.
January 19th, 2021 at 2:49 PM ^
NO!! Was so excited about this kid. Best of luck Luigi?
January 21st, 2021 at 10:38 AM ^
I was too, I remember watching his film from the UA game before he came in and I was just so excited to see him go up against similarly rated talent on an o-line and just obliterate double teams for sacks, it was just magnificent.
Always sorry to see someone want to make this move after getting injured multiple times like this. I remember an o-lineman from the Rich Rod era, Chris Bryant who looked so good coming in and had a catastrophic injury just before coming off his red-shirt. I used to run into him at Blimpy all the time and wanted to buy him his burger, but alas, we follow the rules here.
January 19th, 2021 at 2:57 PM ^
Best of luck, Luiji.
I’m sorry so many spelled your name wrong, which I’m sure is the decision driver on your transfer.
January 19th, 2021 at 3:11 PM ^
What is the deal with using a photo with McCaffrey dead center ? Still am stunned he left.
January 19th, 2021 at 3:17 PM ^
How many extant photos of Vilain in action can there be? Hence the transfer.
January 19th, 2021 at 3:30 PM ^
Probably the only good shot they have of him playing in a "game."
January 19th, 2021 at 3:12 PM ^
What a disappointment the 2017 class is. So many of our top recruits have just not panned out. I don't what the deal is...bad luck, poor coaching & development, poor talent identification, too much turnover with the assistants, or kids just don't like JH, but this trend is killing UM and has been going on through several coaching regimes now. It is hard being a UM football fan these days.
January 21st, 2021 at 10:40 AM ^
Unfortunately, I think the issue is simultaneously more complex and exactly what you're saying. I think it's a combination of all of these things, plus injury (in Luiji's case at least, and a few others). He was on track coming in to be an excellent SDE or smaller 3 tech here. Man I miss Greg Mattison...
January 19th, 2021 at 3:19 PM ^
It’s all Harbaugh’s fault!!!!!
January 19th, 2021 at 3:28 PM ^
Really feels like those early injuries submarined a really positive career at UM. Hopefully he'll catch on somewhere else and see the field.
January 19th, 2021 at 3:34 PM ^
Was so excited about Vilain when he signed. I'm beginning to hate the transfer portal. It's great kids get an opportunity elsewhere and I love me some Mike Smith and Chaundee Brown, but there is something about rooting for your guys. College football is just a business these days.
January 19th, 2021 at 3:51 PM ^
Yes. It's becoming more and more business like. The 4 team playoff is and recruiting services is only magnifying that. Add in social media, the sports news, blogs, and the internet. It's a different world we live in.
That's why I get so aggravated when people try and compare modern coaches to past coaches. The past coaches had way less to overcome than coaches do today. It's unfair to say, "So and so did it", because they had nowhere near the obstacles.
January 21st, 2021 at 10:45 AM ^
I agree that comparing with past coaches is not a valid argument on this one, but comparing to current coaches is definitely valid and sound in my opinion. If we want to move our program up into the "1a" tier again (1 tier being Bama, Clemson, OSU; 1a being LSU, Georgia, Oklahoma, etc) we need to be identifying how they are keeping their talented 4 and 5 stars who are behind someone or injured happy enough to stay and provide that insane depth of talent they have. I mean, Olave says he's coming back to OSU, we just lost Charbonnet... do the math, we can't lose this much talent and stay competitive at the level we've been accustomed to over the last 5 years, let alone move up to winning 11 games every year.
January 19th, 2021 at 6:04 PM ^
He's graduating in the spring. College football has been all about business for a couple decades.
January 19th, 2021 at 9:20 PM ^
I am 100% sure that you don't see the irony of combining those two sentences.
January 19th, 2021 at 4:17 PM ^
holy attrition 2017 class
January 19th, 2021 at 5:09 PM ^
Still a great class - a difficult one with the attrition, but there was a lot of talent in that class.
January 19th, 2021 at 6:02 PM ^
Lol what? There were like 4 contributors from that class, and mostly not even the most talented ones.
January 20th, 2021 at 10:29 AM ^
4 contributors? WTH? From that list you have DPJ, Ambry, Ruiz, Nico, Paye, Hawkins, Mason, and Ross that were long-time starters, plus Filiaga, Jeter, Strueber, Honignord that were/are certainly contributors as at least part-time starters.
January 19th, 2021 at 4:23 PM ^
I see he's graduating in the spring. Good for him.
January 19th, 2021 at 9:50 PM ^
Nice work.
January 20th, 2021 at 5:18 PM ^
Forgot he was extant
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