It's part of the tradition around here to pore over the new rosters when they come out, but the rosters have been so devoid of new information lately that I didn't even bother until today, when we're starved for content and Brian used up all the football bits between open practice and UV. The new rosters don't have any updated weights (or heights) so we can't even obsess over who's a faster/more agile version of himself versus who packed on a bunch of muscle without losing any of that speed or agility (there is no other kind of weight change).

What we're left with: Who's here, who's not here, and what numbers are they wearing. I mean it's this or you can hear Jay Harbaugh talk about the running backs he doesn't have. Right.

Early Enrollee Numbers

QB Cade McNamara: #12. This number has been cursed ever since people starting buying it thinking it was Tom Brady's number in college (he wore #10). Brandon Williams and I are going to turn 40 this year, and he's the last guy to don #12 as a freshman and wear it at Michigan until his eligibility ran out. Josh Ross is working on it. Matt Gutierrez transferred after Henne Pipp'd him. David the Notorious C.O.N.E. left early. JT Floyd switched to 8. Roy Roundtree switched to 21. Devin Gardner was already disqualified for wearing 7 but still took 98. Allen Gant grad transferred. Alex Malzone didn't happen. It even clipped Chris friggin' Evans! Verdict: What are you doing Cade? Do you even read MGoBlog?

RB Zach Charbonnet: #24. The Butch Woolfolk number. Gil Chapman, Mad Magicians quarterback (and OSU transfer) Howard Yerges, and MGoBlog-aware person Jerome Jackson also wore it. Verdict: Make it yours!

Slot Mike Sainristil: #19. Of the few slots to remind us of, Kelvin Grady was both the most underrated, and the least likely. Obviously Ron Bellamy is the first and only receiver to come to mind—it's more of a kicker digit here. But I like it for Sweetness—figures an exciting slot bug from the Boston area would be the guy pulling Dark Tower references. Verdict: Sweetness.

TE Erick All: #83. We just sent Gentry to the NFL. Bennie Joppru is the other TE modern Michigan fans might associate with it, but for a long time in the middle 20th century this was THE number for Michigan ends, the way Louis was the name for French kings, or how a Pope who ascends to the holy see right before a massive plague wipes out a significant portion of Europe always takes the name Urban. Verdict: Probably not a '50s reference, so he'd better be Ent-like.

DT Mazi Smith: #58. We've already got a #58 DT in Paea so somebody is changing numbers if they haven't already. The precedent here is tiny 1970s middle guard Jim Humphries of the late 1970s, and tiny nose tackle of the late '90s Rob Renes, who like Mazi is from Western Michigan and probably the inspiration. Verdict: Renes reference; good sign.

DE David Ojabo: #71. The only starting DE (well, DT but that was a DE back then) I can name who wore #71 was John Hennessee of the middle 1970s. Usually it's the guys opposite an Ojabo wearing #71. I like it. I like it when guys take walk-on-ish numbers and become The Guy you think of for that number at that position. Often, however, they're just doing so while waiting for the low number they wanted. Verdict: Hope Ojabo keeps 71 because from the open practice he looks like an early contributor and a possible long-term anchor.

DE Gabe Newburg: #99. The contrast with Ojabo is almost as sharp as that in this photo of them that I got off Rivals:

Newburg chose the number that your videogame will automatically assign to whatever freshman DE you brought in. It's the most  "Oh, okay, you're a DE we want to bulk up to a DT" number. Matt Godin. Adam Patterson. Jake Frysinger. Damon Denson before his move to OL. Back in Bo's day it was the number for DEs who got called "OLB" on the roster because that sounds cooler: Dominic Tedesco, Carlos Bostic, Bob Thompson, Randy Stark. Pierre Woods was a throwback to that. Verdict: Generic Defensive End Number 1, the Penn State of number choices.

CB Jalen Perry: #3. He's nowhere as tall as Marlin Jackson so I'm going to choose to believe this is a reference to Todd Howard. But if it's not Todd, he could be referencing Marion "The Body" Body. Tripp Welborne and Shonte Peoples aren't bad references if you're expanding to free safety. I'm just glad this didn't go to a Viper, because #3 was popular with the Rich Rod-era spurs. Verdict: Probably just wanted the low number.

[After THE JUMP: new positions for fullbacks and walk-ons, other number changes, departures, more walk-ons]

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Departures (non-Seniors)

The first thing reporters do when we get a new official roster is look for the names of players we already knew or suspected were no longer with the program. We knew about most of these already—Ben St-Juste was the news when the roster broke—but for completeness's sake we'll do everybody who left with eligibility since last fall's roster.

RB/FB: Chris Evans (suspended indefinitely for academic misconduct), O'Maury Samuels (behavioral), Kurt Taylor (PT transfer)

WR: Eddie McDoom (PT transfer), Ethan Deland (Fr/walk-on)

TE: Zach Gentry (NFL), Ken Ferris (walk-on, no 5th yr), Ryan Veingrad (So/walk-on)

OL: Grant Newsome (grad assistant), James Hudson (personal transfer), Nolan Ulizio (PT grad transfer), Connor Burrows (Fr/walk-on)

DL: Rashan Gary (NFL), Aubrey Solomon (personal transfer), Deron Irving-Bey (PT transfer, subsequently booted from CMU), Reuben Jones (PT grad transfer), John Luby (walk-on/no 5th)

LB: Devin Bush (NFL), Jack Dunaway (walk-on/no 5th; via his dad last year Jack was right behind Anthony FWIW), Bryce Chamberlain (Fr/walk-on)

DB: David Long (NFL), Benjamin St-Juste (medical), Ryan McCurry (Fr/walk-on), Owen Goldsberry (Fr/walk-on)

ST: Adam Culp (Fr/walk-on)

For the record the guys who were out of eligibility: QB Jeff George; RBs Karan Higdon, Berkley Edwards and Joe Hewlett; FB Jared Wangler; WR Grant Perry; OT Juwann Bushell Beatty, DE Chase Winovich, DTs Bryan Mone and Lo Marshall; SAM Noah Furbush; S Tyree Kinnel and Matt Mitchell; CBs Brandon Watson and Casey Hughes the Utah Transfer, and LS Andrew Robinson.

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Position Changes

QB Kyle Grady from ATH, however that still appears to be up in the air. Grady is a preferred walk-on, and a stick, a high school quarterback they recruited to turn into a wide receiver. Grady was with the QBs but not in a yellow QB jersey in the last practice. His twitter handle is @[hisname]qb, but his avi is Grady catching a pass. So still an ATH.

RB Ben VanSumeren from FB. The only fullbacks on the roster now are Matt Brown and Tyler Plocki (yes That Bev Plocki)

RB Lucas Andrighetto from DB. You heard about this one—Tru 2 moved from safety to running back and was impressing.

WR Jacob West from QB. This ATH is sticking. He was #15 in the receiver drills. A grad student, so I don't know if he'll hang around to matter.

TE Peter Bush from FB. Another fullback refugee finding a home elsewhere, Bush has appeared with the third team in shots of drills after being third team fullback last year. His dad happened to come into the Bo Store the one time I ever mentioned Bush on a podcast.

FB/DL Ben Mason from FB. If you haven't heard about this one you haven't read anything about spring ball, and certainly wouldn't be this far down this post.

LB Michael Barrett from ATH. As reported, the former quarterback was at running back for a time then switched last year to Viper. He looks like he's going to stick there, and return kicks sometimes.

K Alan Selzer from K/P. Looks like he chose one.

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Number Changes:

No, roster, you're wrong. [Bryan Fuller]

QB Joe Milton they have backwards. He was #5 at the start of last year, but wore #3 when he got on the field, since Wangler was the #2 fullback by then. He's still listed at #3 but he was back in #5 in the open practice, and I expect he'll stay there. What it means: Nothing; 5 is open with Wangler graduated.

Christian Turner to #3 from #41. Skill players with numbers in the 30s and 40s are often afterthoughts. Turner was not that, but then, #41 at Michigan isn't just a number usually reserved for Brackenses—it was worn by Rob Lytle, and biggest Rick Leach-era Michigan fan after Dr. Sap Jim Harbaugh for sure knows that. Did Turner? He's got a shot to be the #1 back this year, and thus deserves one of those single digits, albeit one not usually associated with running backs. Kevin Grady had it for a few years; for an RB before him though you have to go all the way back to the Yost-era All-American John Maulbetsch (from Ann Arbor). What it means: This is a massive numeric downgrade in the eyes of people who care lots about Michigan history, and a number upgrade to everyone else. You know what camp I fall in, though if Turner starts giving quotes about Maulbetsch I'll take it all back.

RB/FB Ben VanSumeren to #40 from #20. This happened last year. What it means: Ironic he got a fullback number just in time to play RB.

WR Jack Young to #81 from #31. What it means: Walk-on with a walk-on number probably moved up to the 8-deep.

TE Luke Schoonmaker to #86 from #89. Luke took #89 last year after Ian Bunting left and wore #44 in high school. What it means: I don't know. Maybe he's a Koger fan? It's probably nothing. The only hypothesis I can come up with is class-/same breath-mate Mustapha Muhammad is #85 and Sean McKeon is #84, and 83/82 are All and Eubanks, so maybe Sherrone just wanted all of his scholarship ducks in a row. There is this…

TE Carter Seltzer to #89 from #82. What it means: …but I doubt Seltzer seized Schoonmaker's number.

OT Ryan Hayes to #76 from #60. What it means: Hayes was a quasi-TE during his redshirt year so the #60 wasn't very solid. I think now that he's a tackle full time he got himself a full time tackle (Jim Brandstatter, JBB)'s number (even though it's best known for Hutchinson).

DT Phil Paea to #58 from #31. By the way #31 is what he wore on defense—his original position—though he was at offense at this time last year. Paea switched back to DL but spent most of last year injured. He wore #58 in high school, but freshman DT Mazi Smith is also wearing #58 according to the roster. What it means: I dunno. Was he in another jersey at the open practice? Why am I the only person on the internet who seems to care about Phil Paea?

DL Ron Johnson to #92 from #97. This also happened last year, as Aidan Hutchinson took his dad's number and beat RoJo to the field. What it means: Johnson is unlikely to stick around since he's been passed by all the kids.

LB Devin Gil to #8 from #36 (previously: #9). Gil kindly gave up his #9 a few years ago and played at a comparatively nondescript number. With Drew Singleton departed, another single-digit spot opened up on defense and Gil seized it. What it means: low numbers are cooler.

CB Myles Sims to #46 from #6. Ah crap. First off, Michael Barrett (#6) moved from running back to Viper so somebody was going to have to change numbers. Note the last guy to switch from #6 to #46 was Kareem Walker, right before Walker walked out the door. Practice reports that put classmate Vincent Gray ahead of the rest of the spindly 2018 things, and talk up former walk-on Hunter Reynolds, are a bit more ominous for the guy from that class who was the most likely to contribute early. What it means: Grrrrrr. I really wanted "Spider" to work out you guys, but if you can ever read something into number changes I believe 6->46 says a thing.

P George Caratan to #18 from #27. Caratan, a redshirt freshman, is now #2 on the punter depth chart, what with Brad Robbins going down to a back injury after Will Hart won the job. Luigi Vilain is unlikely to be on the punt team if Caratan is called upon. Hunter Reynolds, who wears #27, is on the punt team. And Caratan probably wore the old number because he was a scout teamer anyway. What it means: Caratan is happening.