Big Ten Impact Transfers - CFB

Submitted by Space Coyote on

Putting this up so that people have a feel for what is going on elsewhere throughout the league (and at least one that is obvious to everyone here). This includes transers that are immediately eligible, those becoming eligible, and those that left. There are likely others, some that probably won't be of serious impact to these teams, and some that I just missed. But this gives a basic feel of new faces and old faces from around the conference.

To the B1G

John O'Korn - QB - Michigan by way of Houston - currently battling for the starting QB position. Has the athleticism but lacks the accuracy and decision making consistency that is desired in Harbaugh's west coast passing offense.

Richard Lagow - QB - Indiana by way of JUCO by way of Ok State - I don't know much about Lagow, though he was a highly sought after JUCO drop back passer. What I do know is that Indiana's current roster does not have a viable B1G starter, regardless of how often Zander Diamont's dad tells me otherwise. While Diamont looked slightly better in limited action last season, he still isn't good enough for Indiana's offense. Lagow has an opportunity to win the job immediately. Supposedly Diamont is getting reps at WR along with other QBs on the roster, and Danny Cameron may be the backup.

Trey Edmunds - RB - Maryland by way of Virginia Tech - Maryland returned capable RB Wes Brown but lost Brandon Ross (nearly 1000 yards last year). Edmunds is more of a bruising RB that showed flashes as a FR but never took off in Blacksburg. He will likely provide depth at the RB position for Maryland, who will also run the QB.

Jayme Thompson - DB - Indiana by way of JUCO by way of OSU - Jayme Thompson has been committed to just about everyone dating back to HS, but now he's at Indiana where he expects to be an upgrade for the Hoosiers at the safety position. Thompson is a bit more athletic than other members of the Indiana defensive backfield, and gives the Hoosiers some flexibility, but doesn't fix their defensie woes.

Malcolm Prdgeon - OT - OSU by way of JUCO - Pridgeon worked a bit at LT, but will be looekd at to fill in at RT this upcoming season if he can earn the starting spot. He didn't look great in spring, and doesn't have a ton of position flexibility (6'8" and 325 lbs), he was a highly sought after OL that really helps a position group that lost a lot of depth.

Tyrell Chavis - DT- PSU by way of JUCO - PSU lost a ton on the DL (all 4 starters), as well as their DC (Tennessee). Chavis was one of the top DL JUCO prospects in teh country, and he has an opportunity to step right in and start at the DT position for the PSU.

Kevin Williams - DT - MSU by way of Nebraska - Nebraska had some serious internal problems on DL last year. Collins didn't progress, Valentine did a little then left probably a year early. McMullen, a solid DE, quit football, and Nebraska's DL coach was fired. Williams, a 6th year senior, was projected to start but decided to transfer to essentially replace Knox at MSU, who didn't receive a 6th year.  Williams was an above average DT for Nebraska that finally broke into the rotation more under the new coaching staff. He has had injury issues in the past and is undersized, but adds a DT that is a capable B1G starter to an MSU interior DL that lost some talent recently. He comes from an Over system and played both interior spots and I expect to start for the Spartans, at least early in the season.

Malachi Moore - DE - Rutgers by way of BC - Only played spot duty under Brown at BC, but flashed a little bit. He came in undersized, but can likely work his way into the rotation immediately at Rutgers, who has needed help along the DL across from the talented Hamilton.

Ross Taylor-Douglass - Skill position - Rutgers by way of Michigan - It's still not immediately clear where the former Wolverine will play for Rutgers, but with lots of holes at WR as well as in the DB, it seems as if the skilled player can at least find his way into the rotation somewhere.

Out of the B1G

Geno Lewis - WR- Oklahoma by way of PSU - Lewis looked like an emerging All-B1G WR his sophomore year, but production fell off as Chris Goodwin improved greatly and Hamilton kept up what he was doing. Lewis still has a lot of talent though, and is a blow to the depth of the PSU WR corp that is going more spread this year.

Austin Appleby - QB - Florida by way of Purdue - Appleby was a guy that everyone kept thinking could eventually take the reins of the QB position in West Lafayette, but never seemed to get over the hump. While his completion percentage improved quite a bit in 2015, he was still pretty well south of 60% and had a very low average. David Blough, a RS FR last year, had taken over because Appleby failed to improve enough last season. Still, it's a blow to a very thin depth chart.

Logan Tuley-Tillman - OT - Washington St by way of Michigan - Kicked off the Michigan team for off the field issues, LTT showed promise entering his RS Soph season. He would have likely been primed to slide into the LT position this season for the Wolverines and played a pivotal role as the 6th OL last season (allowing true FR Newsome to RS).

EDIT: Brian Cole - WR/S - Kentucky by way of Michigan - Started at WR, was injured, moved to Safety, was red shirted, and then kicked off the team for off field issues. Cole likely wouldn't have had a huge impact this season for Michigan, but depth at the safety position and experience for next season are a concern.

 

Everyone Murders

May 18th, 2016 at 9:52 AM ^

This is one of the best posts I've seen on the board in a while - thanks.  It seems that the QB transfers are potentially the most important, just given the importance of the position.  So those write-ups are particularly interesting. 

Also interesting is that IU is going the JUCO route to replace Sudfeld.  I see they also did the JUCO route to get a DB.  Does IU typically go the JUCO route, or is this year an anomaly?  (My sense is that OSU and MSU are frequent JUCO flyers, but I don't recall seeing it that much in other traditional B1G schools.)

The other thing that is striking is that there are relatively few transfers reflected here.  I know that the OP selected for "impact" (thus reducing the number of players profiled), but still, with 14 teams, this is not a lot of transfer action.

Mr Miggle

May 18th, 2016 at 12:27 PM ^

the better Big Ten teams that make frequent use of JuCos. OSU will fill a hole now and then. What struck me is that PSU is starting to go that route. Maybe they are just filling in holes due to sanctions, but they were one of a handful of power programs that almost never used JuCos.

NittanyFan

May 18th, 2016 at 1:55 PM ^

Paterno had 2 JUCOs in the 1987-2011 era: both OL in the mid-2000s.  A WR JUCO in 1986, a couple others before that.  Only 5 over the course of his very long career as HC, so rather limited. 

O'Brien brought in one.  A QB, someone brought in for depth after Hackenberg was already in the fold.  Tyler Ferguson barely played in his 1 PSU year and then transfered to Louisville (and later transferred again! to WKU).

Franklin has brought in 3 already.  A DL (Tarow Barney) who was 2nd string but definitely contributed in 2014-2015.  A highly-regarded OL (Paris Palmer) who rather disappointed in 2015.  DT Chavis is the third.

Palmer & Chavis: that is definitely a case of filling holes (as the very good opening post said, PSU DL loses a LOT in 2016).  I do tend to think Franklin will use JUCOs more than his predecessors.  I'm not philosophically opposed to JUCOs, but I understand the thoughts of those who are.

Everyone Murders

May 18th, 2016 at 9:58 AM ^

Agreed, as far as short-term impact on the team.  I hope that loss is counterbalanced by sending a message to the team and the world that UofM is not going to make "Glenn Winston" decisions for the betterment of our W-L.* 

Which, of course, will help our W-L in the long term, since it discourages (a) bad actors joining the team and (b) bad actions by those on the team.  Cutting a player like LTT sends a strong message that character trumps positional value on Michigan's football team.

So while losing LTT does hurt, I'm happy to see how the coaches dealt with his situation.

*Not that LTT's case is, to many, as clear-cut as Winston's.  I think that LTT was punished appropriately, but realize this is a hotly-disputed point, and reasonable minds differ.

Magnus

May 18th, 2016 at 10:00 AM ^

I don't know how much I agree with that. I think Newsome is further along than Tuley-Tillman was going into each one's second year, and Newsome is younger. Neither one is really a guard, so the effect is a) depth and b) maybe the right tackle position. If Ulizio or Spanellis or Bushell-Beatty or someone can be decent at RT in 2017, then it's not much of a loss.

Mr. Yost

May 18th, 2016 at 10:40 AM ^

I disagree...it hurts depth. But Newsome was passing LTT anyway. I've heard the only reason he wasn't playing in the Utah game was because they were so close the coaches wanted to try and redshirt Newsome. But by this time, Newsome was destined to be ahead of LTT.

So you're talking LTT versus whoever ends up as the backup left tackle this year. I will agree LTT was likely better, but who knows at this point? Will it matter? By this time next year will whoever wins the backup left tackle spot be better than LTT?

Still plenty of questions, so I don't think we can say it'll be a huge blow. If we have another Newsome or Mason Cole in this freshman class, I'd take that player as a RS Freshman or Sophomore next year over LTT.

In the end, I don't think there is too much to worry about except having depth at the tackle spot, which is always important. But how can we say that we DON'T have depth without seeing Bredeson or Ulizio? Hell you can toss JBB in that group as well.

ThoseWhoStay W…

May 18th, 2016 at 10:23 AM ^

While I understand the reason behind wanting JUCO payers I have to think were doing just fine without them. I would rather have a 3* 4* 5* prospect take up a scholorship spot over a JUCO transfer who may have 1 or 2 years at best left. The potential for error is to high compared to the diamond in the rough player. Not saying its always the case but just a general observation. 

Mr Miggle

May 18th, 2016 at 2:51 PM ^

They primarily come from CA, which has a strong JuCo system. If you want to transfer from WCC to UM, you take approved, college level classes and those credits are accepted. They do that with other Michigan JuCos too. Too bad there isn't JuCo football in state.

If you are a typical JuCo football player, you're there because you couldn't qualify. You're taking some remedial level classes to catch up. Or you're taking some other easy classes. You won't take enough credits that transfer to be eligible at Michigan. If, for example, you are taking trig, that's a zero credit class at UM. Other universities might offer trig as a 3 or 4 credit class.

 

hailtothevictors08

May 18th, 2016 at 10:29 AM ^

This goes to the value of our education here at Michigan. Our university doesn't accept transfer credits from many places and that is ok. It shouldn't be easy to get a short cut to a Michigan degree unless the admissions folk truly consider that previous institution's course work to be at our level. If this means losing out on a few players, so be it.

King Douche Ornery

May 18th, 2016 at 10:54 AM ^

But this kind of shit is incredibly pretentious and also disingenuous.

At Michigan you sit in a giant lecture hall with 300 other hung over idiots and four years later you graduate.

Wow. Was that ever tough.

In reply to by King Douche Ornery

PeterKlima

May 18th, 2016 at 12:09 PM ^

It's not the same.

I have taken and taught classes at many different schools. The differences are huge even when the textbook and class size is the same.



Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

The Mad Hatter

May 18th, 2016 at 10:55 AM ^

I think we all know that many, if not most, football players wouldn't get into Michigan were it not for football.  Also, the school accepts over 1k transfer students each year and I have no problem with that.  The first two years of college are mostly an extension of high school and in my (biased) opinion, a student might actually learn more at a CC with an actual professor teaching a class as opposed to a GA.

I'm really of two minds on the issue.  Part of me thinks we should go the Stanford route and only accept players that can get into the school on merit.

The other part of me wants to beat OSU and win NC's every year.