Former 5* DT Walter Nolen in Transfer Portal
Soon to be former TAMU player and #2 overall recruit in the 2022 class Walter Nolen has entered the transfer portal. Michigan finished in his top 5. Obviously NIL played a big part in getting him to TAMU, but I have to think that our defensive line development over the past year would be a draw.
December 4th, 2023 at 12:04 AM ^
If we beat Bama, then beat Texas, I'm not sure anyone could argue Team 144 isn't the best team to ever play college football.
December 4th, 2023 at 12:09 AM ^
I think it's hard to argue they are better than the 2019 LSU team, that team was stacked.
December 4th, 2023 at 12:53 AM ^
It would be hard to argue that team was better than the 1997 Michigan team that happened to feature the GOAT (as a backup) and famous winery owner Charles Woodson.
December 4th, 2023 at 8:12 AM ^
I thought Charles Woodson WAS the GOAT.
December 4th, 2023 at 12:22 PM ^
Team 144 is probably already better than the 1997 team. A win over Alabama would all but seal it. That is my hot take of the day.
December 4th, 2023 at 1:10 AM ^
Yeah, literally beat a Who's Who of football...Texas, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma and Clemson. Impressive. And delusional OSU fans claiming Burrow's success as their own is just sugar on top.
December 4th, 2023 at 6:58 AM ^
2020 Bama was unreal as well. People just forget because it was the COVID year.
December 4th, 2023 at 9:20 AM ^
2000 miami
December 4th, 2023 at 1:16 PM ^
The only reason we had to share with the Black Shirts in ‘97 is because of the ‘95 Cornhusker's road grater. They’ve got to be way up there.
*grader
December 4th, 2023 at 12:09 AM ^
If developing who we had when he was in high school wasn’t enough, nothing will be unless he matured and cares about development.
December 4th, 2023 at 12:14 AM ^
Seems like a Tennessee bag is coming his way.
December 4th, 2023 at 12:29 AM ^
It's embarrassing that as Michigan fans we are still making bag jokes like it's still illegal and negative.
December 4th, 2023 at 12:41 AM ^
True enough. We ought to double down on Harbaugh’s comments about sharing the TV money with the players. Michigan should lead the parade. Loudly. Fuck the NCAA. They are just a bunch of highly paid hacks trying to hold on to their gravy train.
December 4th, 2023 at 1:38 AM ^
except it is still illegal to pay people to go to your school...
December 4th, 2023 at 5:13 AM ^
it’s totally legit to suggest that players that pick a school based entirely on the size of the bag might not be the greatest team players, or all that interested in working through adversity once they arrive. i don’t call that “making jokes,” i call it “questioning their commitment.”
December 4th, 2023 at 6:07 AM ^
Or just questioning their fit into a team culture that now seems to be pretty firmly entrenched. It seems that the narrative has shifted from "Michigan doesn't do NIL" to "Michigan doesn't do up front NIL," and we accordingly get players who are content to come in and earn what they make through their contributions on the field.
I think at this point the guys who want payment before rendering service realize that Michigan isn't the place for them.
December 4th, 2023 at 6:40 AM ^
Someone needs to read up on:
1. NIL
2. Improper Enticements
December 4th, 2023 at 12:41 AM ^
Nolen passed on us for $$$. People don't change. Will always be externally motivated and that's tough to sustain in Ann Arbor. Not a good cultural fit.
December 4th, 2023 at 1:00 AM ^
What exactly is wrong about passing on us for money? These kids are always one play away from the end of their careers
December 4th, 2023 at 1:46 AM ^
Nothing. There is, however, a pause on Nolen as a possible transfer option, when as a recruit, he sought money as the prevailing motivation. Just questioning his fit.
December 4th, 2023 at 2:51 AM ^
Doesn't he only have one transfer left (not counting grad transfer)?..if so, then he has a lot more riding on getting proper development than picking up a bit of NIL.
December 4th, 2023 at 6:44 AM ^
Exactly why they need to get their degrees, especially when it's free.
December 4th, 2023 at 9:18 AM ^
"passing on us for money" is an entirely different conversation than "getting paid for your work while you are able."
December 4th, 2023 at 7:02 AM ^
People do change.
I enjoyed having Okie turn his career around at Michigan and he would still be here if Biff was here.
You can bring people into a strong culture.
Not a cultural fit is such a cop out.
I bet if I asked you what *is* a cultural fit at Michigan ...you would provide your definition and then I would show you Semaj Morgan and you'd be blown away. (I think Morgan is a cultural fit, but he's not JJ McCarthy or Blake Corum or Mike Sainristil at this stage in life...and he definitely isn't going to fit some bullshit definition of Michigan culture).
You don't know every guy on the team, you know they chose Michigan.
How many guys have we relied on in the past 3 years that didn't chose Michigan first? You don't think any of them had money on their mind when they selected their other school? But now they're at Michigan. Or none of them had money on their mind when they transferred into Michigan? Interesting.
December 4th, 2023 at 8:09 AM ^
Yes, I think all of our stars could have gotten more NIL money elsewhere. Maybe some of the 3* the coaches saw were underrated got the best offer from us, but I understand for 4* and 5* we don't offer the best NIL packages for incoming freshman.
December 4th, 2023 at 12:54 AM ^
Undergrad transfer. Have to consider issues with credits transferring.
December 4th, 2023 at 10:35 AM ^
Might not matter if he "ain't come here to play school."
December 4th, 2023 at 4:31 AM ^
I'm glad players are getting some of the money they earn, but man, some of these commits are following such predictable paths. Everyone knew Dante Moore wasn't ending his career at UCLA, nor likely Nolen at A&M (though honestly I'd thought he'd transferred somewhere already) or half the other kids at A&M and Miami, and that's kind of a bummer.
December 4th, 2023 at 6:10 AM ^
That's why I think the NIL market will stabilize over time. Donors are going to figure out that the kids they pay up front aren't providing that ROI most of the time. I think the initial bonanza of NIL led to a lot of stupid money getting thrown around, and schools and donors may start rethinking their investment approach as the results on the field don't track with NIL spending.
December 4th, 2023 at 12:48 PM ^
That's for sure. Things like OSU giving Ewers a fat payday for literally 2 snaps I think it was? It has been fun watching teams trying to buy mercenaries find out that culture is arguably just as important as talent.
December 5th, 2023 at 8:32 AM ^
I feel sorry for today's high school sophomores. By the time they go to college, NIL will have mostly burned itself out and approaching something much more modest.
December 4th, 2023 at 4:48 AM ^
I didn’t know of Tennessee’s impermissible contact with Nolen during the Covid dead period. #Telling
“During the recruiting process, Nolen took multiple visits to Knoxville. According to Mike Wilson of the Knoxville News Sentinel, one of those visits occurred during an NCAA-mandated recruiting dead period because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Details of the visits were outlined in a report by the NCAA on Friday, which handed down its verdict after a year-long investigation. Tennessee got off pretty easy, all things considered.“
December 4th, 2023 at 8:04 AM ^
Must not have bought him a cheeseburger when on his visit.
December 4th, 2023 at 5:31 AM ^
“This is not a coaching thing, or necessarily a Michigan thing. Those things help. But fundamentally this is a decision they make because something other than maximizing revenue is what drives them. They are here—still here—for another reason. They stayed. And they are champions.”
Brian’s quote above is why Nolen, who seems to chase bag only, above anything else, may not be a good cultural fit.
And yes, FWIW, I’ve turned down jobs that paid more because other things such as support staff weren’t amenable to success. Chasing bag only is not good.
December 4th, 2023 at 7:20 AM ^
Many of us have had opportunities to turn down jobs paying more money.
There are also many of us who felt we had to accept jobs because our financial situation outweighed anything else at that point in our life.
(personally, I've done both)
The privilege in this thread is kinda gross.
Let's use a dramatic example, to get a point across, but in effort to not be taken too seriously.
If you make $100,000 working at BizTech, and SmartTech, who has notoriously bad leadership and culture, offers you $125,000...maybe you turn that down.
If you're homeless, living on the street, unemployed, with a mound of debt from your former life...and SmartTech, who has notoriously bad leadership and culture, offers you $125,000...you probably accept if you're looking to get off the street and you don't have another offer.
The point? We need to STFU until we know everyone's situation.
And while it won't be as dramatic as described above, what's their family situation? Do they come from any level of generational wealth? Who is advising them? What have they been taught? What have they seen for 18 years? What school system are they in? What neighborhood are they from?
There are so many factors at play and questions we can't answer.
If someone "chases the bag"...that's a decision they have to live with. Not our problem. But why does that automatically disqualify them from growing from that decision? Or what if "the bag" is what they felt they needed at the time and now that they have it...they don't need another bag and they can make a different decision? Just because you chased one "bag" means you're chasing the next?
Just because you took that $125,000 to get back on your feet means you can never work at BizTech? Or you would never be interested in working at BizTech? Or you would never take a pay cut to work at BizTech?
...long post, but privilege is a trigger for me, clearly. You all did this to yourselves.
December 4th, 2023 at 7:49 AM ^
There is plenty that can be opined in every direction in a matter such as this. In general, I agree with you however I also believe that there are huge red flags with players that are transferring multiple times. And then there is the next "however" in that the Michigan staff has done a phenomenal job with screening and counselling the young men who have transferred in.
Bottom line, this Michigan coaching staff is elite.
December 4th, 2023 at 8:51 AM ^
Here's a reworking of your analogy, but now tweaked to reflect the college recruit's situation a *little* more closely.
If you're homeless, living on the street, unemployed, with a mound of debt from your former life...and then you get offers from *both* BizTech (for $100,000) and SmartTech (that has notoriously bad leadership and culture, and offers $125,000)--then what do you do?
December 4th, 2023 at 12:30 PM ^
The better analogy is 125K from SmartTech and an internship that will likely lead to some amount of performance bonuses from our investors at BizTech. Not as easy.
December 4th, 2023 at 1:45 PM ^
Why's that a better analogy? Nolen could have just started working for BizTech immediately and earned bonuses during his career there.
December 4th, 2023 at 7:30 AM ^
People saying they don’t want him because of a presumed culture fit and NIL are crazy. This is the type of thing that can be a workaround for our recruiting. Keep the guys we get, develop the underrated players, poach portal the starzzz that we missed on initially.
December 4th, 2023 at 7:41 AM ^
The economist in me is begging to get my hands on some NIL data because it would be an amazing labor market paper
December 4th, 2023 at 8:00 AM ^
Least surprising portal entry ever.
December 4th, 2023 at 9:00 AM ^
Yes please
December 4th, 2023 at 10:11 AM ^
There are two reasons I think it's very unlikely that Nolen will transfer to Michigan.
1. Nolen is from Powell, Tennessee, which is about 15 miles from Knoxville. He basically grew up next door to the Tennessee football program.
During his high school years when his recruitment was in its most serious phase, Jeremy Pruitt was Tennessee's HC and his tenure was a failure even before the NCAA sanctions were handed down, so it wasn't a huge surprise that Nolen chose A&M. What high school kid wouldn't want to join a recruiting class stuffed with other 5-stars?
However, Heupel has been much more successful and it would be entirely natural for Nolen to return to what is basically his home territory to join a program that seems to be on an upward trajectory.
2. Nolen just finished his sophomore year, so good luck getting all his credits transferred to Michigan.
What's really nuts is that in two years of playing, Nolen has a grand total of 4 sacks.
December 4th, 2023 at 11:09 AM ^
He's finishing his third semester of college, much like Ernest Hausmann was. Not saying that I think he's coming here because I think that's close to zero, and have no idea what his desire might be compared to Ernest to possibly make up any of the credits he would need to to become eligible..
December 4th, 2023 at 11:23 AM ^
"He's finishing his third semester of college"
Good point and correction, thanks.
December 4th, 2023 at 10:24 AM ^
Given Michigan’s, shall we say, “issues” with credits transferring from other schools that are not Stanford, UVA or some other top end institution, I wouldn’t get my hopes up about this kid even if the interest was mutual.
If he was just a freshman, or a grad transfer, I think we might be talking a different story. But he’s two years in, from what I understand. Unless he’s OK with starting over, I have to believe Michigan is very much out.
December 4th, 2023 at 10:46 AM ^
Yep. If lightning strikes and he ends up here, great, but no Michigan fan should be thinking it’s likely.
I don’t really care where he ends up as long as it’s not OSU or PSU.
December 4th, 2023 at 11:33 AM ^
Do you really think that he is going to college to play "school"? This dude wants to go to the school that provides him with the best opportunity to become a first round draft pick. He got his money from A&M and doesn't have to pay it back. He now needs to make a smart choice.
December 4th, 2023 at 6:59 PM ^
For hoops team, sophomores are very hard to get in. But hoopers are supposed to have completed four semesters.
maybe it’s a little different after the third semester. Hope so.