Now you're making me mad, Attrition Monday, as yet another important 2021 piece from the 2020 class who played less in 2022 is now in the portal. This time it's a guy Michigan *REALLY* could have used in 2022, however. Best I can tell, Alejandro Zuniga was the first to have it:

Losing Hill-Green is frustrating, totally understandable, not unexpected, and totally frustrating anyways, plus argggh and grrrrr and aahh maaaaan. He was, in my mind, one of the diamonds in the rough that helped to characterize the resurgence of the last two years.

[After THE JUMP: I may get a little misty-eyed at this one]

Michigan was left badly in need of linebacking after Cam McGrone departed for the NFL (too) early, and those placing bets on Hill-Green were doing so entirely based on spring practice talk that dated back to spring 2020. In high school he was in a platoon at St. Frances with another Michigan MLB recruit, Osman Savage, and the lower ranked of the two.

By their redshirt freshman year however Savage was gone, and NHG was starting next to Josh Ross. There was a *major* breakdown against Rutgers, but by the end of the season I was nudging closer and closer to declaring Hill-Green, not senior captain Josh Ross and certainly not phenom freshman Junior Colson, Michigan's best linebacker. By the end of the season, I got there; or more accurately, he did.

Even in that Rutgers near-disaster, Hill-Green was Making Plays and Solving Problems by kenning what the offense meant to do. Rutgers went tempo late to hold classmate Kalel Mullings on the field, but once Michigan got NHG back out there he ended it.

I'd spend each week's UFR's patiently explaining why Ross's grade needs to be considered in the context of the intricate subtleties of Macdonald's defense, then be like, except not for this redshirt freshman.

The one that's going to stick is when he knew exactly how long to keep contain on the hip of a running back in the backfield, and when to discard him to force a throwaway.

See what I mean? There's a feel. I wore a Rob Lytle jersey* to games because I thought it was hipster to have oldsters not realize what they're appreciating. I was into Nikhai Hill-Green before it was cool, you see. And it was one of the cool things about this place that I kept meeting you people who were as well. Hill-Green was smart. He was subtle. He was perfect for this site, which was the first place to declare, definitively, David Harris is good, and here's why.

And then he got hurt. A hamstring injury held him out of spring practice, which extended to fall practice, which extended to the entire season. Michigan had to wait much of a season for Michael Barrett to get comfortable (and good), and when a starter went out they had to fall back on Kalen "Not a Linebacker" Mullings or Jimmy "Is a True Freshman" Rolder because there was nobody else.

Now they have otherbody else. Lots of them. Barrett did get comfortable, and then he got good, and then he returned for his senior season, behavior which should be highly encouraged. Michigan also yoinked the conference's most promising 2022 freshman, Ernest Hausmann, out of Nebraska, and Hausmann looked pretty dang good in the Spring Game. Jimmy Rolder also makes the leap from true freshman to probably serviceable sophomore. Hill-Green, to my eyes, looked like himself again—one very noticeable miscue for the plebs to hang him for, and several excellent plays for the discerning fans to ruminate over.

Biff Poggi, the man whose name is synonymous with St. Frances, moved on, following Don Brown, Mike Macdonald, and George Helow.

Michigan should be fine. They could be much better than fine, if Partridge unlocks Colson, Hausmann takes that next step, and Barrett can be what he became late last season for an entire campaign. They should be fine with Rolder if someone goes down, and with another year to find someone playable from the 2021-'23 kids. We'll find plenty to appreciate.

This does put a bow on the 2020 linebacker class, however. Those guys:

1. Kalel Mullings. Now at running back, which is where Wisconsin wanted him.
2. Osman Savage. Didn't make it out of 2020 before transferring to Alabama A&M. He's now a coder.
3. William Mohan. Transferred to Tennessee after 2020, dismissed.
4. Cornell Wheeler. Also left after 2020. Deep backup for Kansas.
5. Nikhai Hill-Green.

Michigan needed someone from that class to hit, and they got one in Hill-Green. Unfortunately his injury robbed us of 2022, and 2023 is a very different world from 2020.

That 2020 season was a free one for everyone, however, and with a slam dunk medshirt for 2022, NHG has three years left to give someone else. I really hope it's to someone Michigan doesn't play, and doesn't hate too much, because I really like rooting for him. Maybe he'll follow Poggi to Charlotte. I might have to get that jersey.

* [Please buy Kelly's book so I can justify not giving it back to him a little longer]