They should all come back - Get NIL Done!
Last night was a heartbreaker. Losing on so many self-inflicted wounds....really don't want to recap it. Thankfully, OSU lost their own heartbreaker and won't be winning the National Title.
That said, we have a pretty loaded roster coming back next year, with some key contributors with NFL decisions to be made. I think our D-line should be better, even with the loss of Mazi (Jenkins + Graham, Kenneth Grant) and Okie on the outside. Obviously JJ should make a leap. Our O-line can be good to great depending on who comes back. Help me out here, but I think we could potentially have our best roster in the Harbaugh era next year if we can hang on to some folks. This guarantees nothing, of course, except a good shot at glory again. Here are some gents off the top of my head that substantial NIL may just be able to help persuade to stick around for a year.
1) Corum - OK, tbf, maybe he should not come back given the wear and tear on RB's. IMO, if he has a top 2 round grade, should probably leave, RB is a brutal position. Otherwise, pay this man a few million for the year - rotate him more with a healthy Edwards, and let's get him that Heisman he deserved this year!
2) Zinter - Pay the big man
3) Keegan - Pay the big man
4) Hayes - Pay the big man
5) Sainristil - already staying, needs a year more on tape as nickel to show NFL scouts - pay the captain
6) C Johnson - Breakout game against OSU - maybe 1 more year to improve his draft stock? Pay him
7) Roman Wilson - Need that speed, and need receivers. Pay him
8) Henning - Expect him to stay - speedster needs to refine his route running to be a legit WR threat. Send money
9) Trente Jones - Likely to stay given the injury and limited playing time...don't let him slip away in portal. Send money
10) Barnhart - Has shown flashes - Some decent NIL should keep him out of the portal
Let me know if I missed anyone. I know Harbaugh is all about NIL, specifically if players have earned it and worked through the program. Hopefully we can hold onto and reward these young men, as we would have a very loaded and talented team if we can keep even 5 of them.
Are both Gemon and Turner out of eligibility? Will Johnson looks like the real deal, but we need some more depth out there.
Lots of young talent on the team, but not much beats proven veterans.
Go Blue
January 1st, 2023 at 2:59 PM ^
I love beer.
January 1st, 2023 at 3:50 PM ^
My dry January doesn't start until the first workday of the month. Them's the rules.
January 1st, 2023 at 3:03 PM ^
They're not all coming back. There is more to it than NIL. Some of these kids don't want to stay in school and want to move on. On the other hand, I think we are getting some of these grad transfers because getting a masters from U-M is attractive.
January 1st, 2023 at 5:01 PM ^
I totally understand the wanting to move on mantra….especially those who may have showed up pre-COVID. Probably feels like they’ve been in college for a decade.
January 1st, 2023 at 3:04 PM ^
If there is something we can do to help Blake stay we should
January 1st, 2023 at 3:08 PM ^
Sorry, and you all may not like me, but for his sake, Blake should leave.
January 1st, 2023 at 3:18 PM ^
I agree, depending on what round grade he gets.
Unfortunately for RB's. their draft stock as a position group has been diminished over the past 10-15 years, and unless you are a truck like Derrick Henry, even the elite guys are falling to at least round 2. Given Blake's size and coming off an injury, I could see him slipping to round 4, which is not cool.
The NFL has really become a QB league and they see RB's primarily as interchangeable, and most squads have 2-3 guys, not a bell cow like Derrick Henry.
If Blake can make substantially more next year in NIL than he would under his initial rookie contract, there is a case to be made for him to stay.
JK Dobbins - a comp many NFL analysts make to Blake - makes about $1.5mm a year right now. Good $, but definitely something UM should be able to surpass significantly.
January 1st, 2023 at 3:34 PM ^
Maybe he should…or maybe he shouldn’t? It’s just different now. What if he can get his masters and make $1M? I don’t know if that’s the market for him or not. Maybe his market is $100k.
I’m all for these kids going and making money but I also see his draft grade from 2nd to 5th round.
RBs take abuse though…if I’m in his shoes it’s such a brutal position you just can’t take 300 carries.
January 1st, 2023 at 3:36 PM ^
Buy a shirt.
https://www.mden.com/blake-corum.html
At $40 for a T-shirt, I imagine Blake is getting a decent cut of that. NFL players get 45% of jersey sales. At $40 for a $20-$30 T-shirt, Blake is getting $10-20 per sale. If they sell 10k shirts, he makes $100-200k. For 100k shirts sold, he’s making at least $1M. Is that a reasonable assumption? I have no idea. NFL jerseys brought in $2B in revenue for 2021. The average team is $2B/32, or $62M. Look around your neighborhood. Do you think Michigan gear is at least as popular as the average NFL team? I’m not suggesting we’re at Cowboys, Chiefs, or Bucs levels, but Michigan has to be right up there with the Bears, Lions and Vikings. So take $62M, give the players a 1/3 cut and we’re at $20M. That’s getting split between Blake, JJ and who else? I can see the Keegan’s and CornJohn’s leaving because they are not getting big bucks from NIL, but Corum and JJ (and Hunter Dickinson) should be incentivized to stay an extra year at UofM if they’re playing their NIL game properly. Or I could be way off. It’s not easy to find sales data on this stuff.
January 1st, 2023 at 7:29 PM ^
Happy New Year everyone! With that I bring potentially good news. Corum is 70-30 to stay another year. Might be the emotion of last night so we’ll see where he’s at in a week, but that’s the word I got this morning.
Blake was projected mid second to mid third before his injury but now getting grades around the 4th round. This coupled with the heartbreaking loss has him considering staying another year. Blake isn’t necessarily concerned with making big money, as you see he donated a lot of his time and money. But a big NIL push would help keep him around, in my opinion.
If Blake returns expect him to share the load a little more with Edwards next year. Plan was to play Edwards more this year but he dealt with a few injuries that kept him out more than they had hoped for. Plan for Michigan to lose a scholarship running back to the portal.
Personally I’d love to have Blake back and utilize Edwards more. They also will try some two running back stuff and split Edwards out more if this happens. Keep an eye on what draft guys are saying. If Blake returns a 4th round grade there’s certainly a possibility we see him again. If it’s lower grade then it’s a higher chance he’s back. If he does end up with a mid 2-mid 3 again it’s a 50-50 he’ll go.
January 1st, 2023 at 3:13 PM ^
That's all I got
January 1st, 2023 at 3:21 PM ^
Corum should go for obvious reasons. CoJo should go because the position needs an upgrade with Clemons, Walker & Anthony getting the snaps in ‘23.
Also, add Avant as the WR coach.
January 1st, 2023 at 3:26 PM ^
You can't just assume Clemons, Walker and Anthony are upgrades because you want it to be so.
Anthony disappeared this year (I have a sneaking suspicion injury was involved) and Walker and Clemons have proven nothing on the field yet.
January 1st, 2023 at 3:50 PM ^
True but I do know in ‘22 JJ was an elite QB with an elite OL, and two elite RBs but exactly zero elite WRs.
January 1st, 2023 at 3:56 PM ^
A) Avant has no coaching experience.
B) We have no open spots as of now.
C) Ron Bellamy is a great coach.
January 1st, 2023 at 3:25 PM ^
I think some 'healthy turnover' may be beneficial. We have a soft non-conf again, let some high upside young guys get acclimated prior to conf schedule. We know Sainristil and Jenkins are coming back - I really would love to see Roman Wilson come back as I think he is the prime deep threat with JJ now getting his deep ball mojo in order. (I'm getting Tarik Black one game wonder vibes with Andrel Anthony)
January 1st, 2023 at 7:46 PM ^
Hopefully Michigan can hang on to Wilson. TCU DBs were highly regarded and Wilson was constantly open or being pulled heavily. They couldn’t keep up with him. Receivers are the group I’m most interested in seeing what happens. I think Michigan could lose up to 4 receivers from this team.
I actually believe Ronnie Bell has a season of eligibility because of injuries and Covid. Michigan will try to hang on to him. He’s most likely to go to the draft.
Cornelius Johnson is another receiver who has a year but could try the NFL or could transfer to an another school to get some more film. Both of those guys are currently 50-50.
Henning is a guy who could potentially transfer. There was thoughts he’d follow a couple of other Michigan guys, but that’s no longer the case. Morris played a decent number of snaps in the playoff game and it looks like he’ll have some run next year. He probably will cut into Hennings time a lot. Henning might be ok being a return guy and a leader on next years team or he could look to another school for more open playing time.
Dennis is a guy who will most likely graduate and transfer in the spring. Highly regarded by teammates but he could get time at a school like UConn or Boston College or UMass. All places closer to home that could use someone like him.
Christian Dixon is also a guy to keep an eye on. He could be a guy to see what his options are but return to the team. Won scout player of the week this year in preparing for Ohio State. He’s a guy who could come on for Michigan is some spots open up. Depends on how some of the roster shakes out. He also could eye a couple of PAC 12 teams that have open spots on the roster. Strong team guy and Michigan would support him either way. Harbaugh hopes to hang onto him, but there does seem to be a current lack of opportunities and the class after his is very highly regarded at Michigan.
January 1st, 2023 at 3:33 PM ^
I do love to see NIL really benefiting the existing roster to return. The Ewers million dollar heist of OSU and other unproven 5 stars is not so good side of NIL.(Dante Moore getting first round pick money without throwing a single pass) It's a boring New Years so I was checking out the past 2 or 3 years of top 10 QBs on 247 and there was a lot of 'who is that?'.
I.e.Watched Clemson's Klubnik(Big NIL) in Orange Bowl and while he is a true frosh with little experience , he looks nothing like a 100 rated QB or even in the same league as JJ, despite having loads of 5 stars around him. (Several wobbly ducks, and Mark Sanchez -esque butt fumble type scrambles.)
January 1st, 2023 at 3:52 PM ^
Pipedream
January 1st, 2023 at 4:00 PM ^
How are you going to pay them all Bernie? With whose money?
January 1st, 2023 at 4:47 PM ^
Jersey sales, NIL collectives, merchandise, etc, etc
Hence, UM needs to get organized and properly coordinate with vendors, retailers and local businesses.
Not everything is a socialist conspiracy Pete. It's called making an effort to address NIL through fair practices and functional capitalism...like the rest of CFB is trying to navigate.
But if name calling makes you feel better, cool.
January 1st, 2023 at 5:19 PM ^
There’s not going to be enough money to compete with NFL salaries for these guys and quite frankly there shouldn’t be It’s getting ridiculous for everyone to keep saying throw money at these guys. They are making money along with a free education and many perks already. But where does all this money come from people want to throw at them? People aren’t going to keep buying some guys jersey or shirt to give them money. Business will use only so much money to invest on UM football they need to get something in return or it makes no business sense. There is not some endless pool of money out there to just throw at players
January 1st, 2023 at 5:24 PM ^
How many NFL teams get 110,000 people to show up and pay 100 bucks a game 8 times a year?
January 1st, 2023 at 6:15 PM ^
It doesn’t have to be socialist conspiracy. In fact, you unleash the beast of capitalism and coordinate so the best guys prosper and make the money. If your not good enough and there is no demand for your jersey…sorry Charlie…no NIL (or very little).
January 1st, 2023 at 4:02 PM ^
I don't see a lot of Michigan guys leaving early for the NFL outside of Corum. Right now they are "college good", not prime NFL draft selection material (yet). If we can focus a way to upgrade our passing scheme overall and sell it to our wideouts, hopefully we won't lose them to the portal. I like our WRs but their potential hasn't been unlocked. I am extremely worried about the RB position because when Corum went down and Edwards wasn't in the game, our guys were completely lost. They need to learn to hold onto the football. Wouldn't mind us grabbing a backup RB out of the portal who could help.
I hope the plan is to combine the returning now-upperclassmen talent with the incoming transfer class and mold it back into a playoff team. As someone who is extremely pessimistic about Michigan football overall, I like their chances next year. Road schedule is worrisome (B1G is about to get a lot better quickly with Minnesota and MSU on the mend + Rhule / Fickell in the West) but as per usual it's going to come down to the Ohio State game, thankfully in Ann Arbor. I see us entering The Game at 10-1.
January 1st, 2023 at 4:19 PM ^
So are you suggesting we pay the players to stay?
January 1st, 2023 at 4:48 PM ^
Through collectives and purchasing of merchandise, yes, 100%
January 2nd, 2023 at 2:20 AM ^
I think OA is playing with the phrase "pay to play". That there is a sense of irony that we refuse to pay them to play, but we will pay them to stay.
Regardless, nice post and conversation Bo H.
January 1st, 2023 at 4:24 PM ^
If a player can get drafted in the first 4 rounds they are going to make at worst around 1 million a year. They can also still make money off NIL when they go to the league. There's a lot of speculation on what players are making off NIL. However, according to On3 there are only 12 players evaluated at or above that million dollar mark.
January 1st, 2023 at 4:59 PM ^
RONNIE BELL! He can’t be better than like a 5th round grade, and he played the game of his life last night and has to be left wanting. (I know he accepted a senior bowl bid, I know)
January 1st, 2023 at 5:20 PM ^
Unfortunately, I’m guessing UM picks up seriousness with NIL sort of like we did the spread, about 5 years too late
January 1st, 2023 at 5:22 PM ^
A 3rd or 4th round rb gets a contract 500-600k a year. Get him a million to come back and be done with it!
January 1st, 2023 at 5:41 PM ^
That’s $400 for a MINI helmet. Not an authentic helmet, a $10 mini helmet that they’re slapping JJ and Donovan’s autographs on. Or you can spend $500 to buy some cards. A JJ bobblehead is going for $200. That’s a $25 item. We can assume the majority of that is going to JJ for his autograph.
The university is trying to LEGALLY take advantage of NIL. But it is up to the fans to put their collective money where their collective mouths are.
The university is not going to set up direct transfers from wealthy donors to players if that is in violation of state or federal law. I know, no one is enforcing the rules, but UofM will play by the rules because that’s what we do.
January 1st, 2023 at 8:51 PM ^
Sometimes the Lou Gehrig’s on the bench are better than the Wally pipps starting... do we have any big fast receivers like the one tic had
January 2nd, 2023 at 9:34 AM ^
If I had an opportunity to stay in college for 6 or 8 years while it was paid for and I was getting paid, hell yeah, I would. Unless I was going to get a massive signing bonus and guaranteed contract, there is no way I would want to leave college. I had too much fun, of course, I did take about 6 years to finish because of having too much fun, but still. Haha.
January 2nd, 2023 at 12:04 PM ^
Has there been any discussion of a Blake Corum specific NIL collective? I would think with just the readers of this blog we could accumulate a sum that would entice him to come back.
I would gladly pay $100, $200 or even $500 for a Blake Corum NFT with the specific purpose of creating a retirement account or sizable insurance policy for him in the event his NFL career is cut short. Let’s stop waiting for a decision and do everything we can to make it happen!