alex vansumeren

This won't come as a surprise to anyone. After a couple days of rumors and his younger brother Alex's decommitment from the program last night, junior linebacker Ben VanSumeren announced this morning that he's entering the transfer portal:

I have decided to enter the Transfer Portal and begin a new chapter in my life. pic.twitter.com/pwZlhJC3r0

— Ben VanSumeren (@primetimedunkin) February 12, 2021

Angelique Chengelis subsequently confirmed that VanSumeren's name is officially in the portal.

After spending his first two seasons as a running back/fullback, VanSumeren moved to linebacker last year and landed atop the depth chart at strongside linebacker. That spot was a part-time role in Don Brown's defense, so he made seven tackles in six games, contributing both on defense and special teams. With Brown's departure and replacement Mike Macdonald likely moving the defense to a 3-4 scheme, VanSumeren likely believed his best chance at significant playing time would come elsewhere.

Michigan still has plenty of depth, even if much of it is unproven, at the linebacker spots, especially since some of the lighter defensive ends are likely to become rush outside linebackers this spring. The most significant fallout from VanSumeren's departure may be the impact on his brother's recruitment, though given Alex's post-commitment influx of high-level offers and the change in M's defensive scheme, these moves may not be as related as the timing would indicate.

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Michigan's recruiting momentum took a hit this evening with the decommitment of Essexville (MI) Garber DT Alex VanSumeren, a top-250 prospect and the #4 in-state player in the 2022 class. Since committing to the home state squad, VanSumeren has picked up some major offers:

"Although I will always be grateful for the opportunity, I am no longer committed to the University of Michigan," he posted to social media. "My recruitment is open."

A four-star recruit per the 247Sports Composite, VanSumeren committed to the Wolverines in December of 2019 and since then, added offers from Michigan State, Penn State, Alabama, Stanford and recently, Arkansas.

His decommitment comes on the heels of a report from The Wolverine's Chris Balas that junior Michigan linebacker Ben VanSumeren, Alex's older brother, may soon appear in the transfer portal. Michigan, of course, turned over much of its coaching staff over the offseason, but it's unclear if that was a factor here; 247 lists Alex's primary recruiter as Shaun Nua and secondary as Sherrone Moore, both holdovers from the previous staff.

There's no sugarcoating the loss of a four-star in-state recruit at a position of need. Michigan does, at least, have another defensive tackle in the class, River Rouge (MI) three-star Davonte Miles, and hopefully the younger VanSumeren is open to the idea of coming back into the fold once he's looked at some of the other options available to him.

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We’re past Signing Day for 2021, so it’s time to go through the 2022 board. Since CORNERBACKKKKAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH we’ll start with defense.

Operation Coverage

In case the one-off exploits of Ricky White didn’t make it abundantly clear, Michigan needs defensive backs, particularly corners. Mo Linguist was brought in to fix cornerback recruiting, and has already been instrumental in securing commitments from two Tennessee athletes, Brad Hawkin-ish safety Taylor Groves (Hello!), and Jourdan Lewis-ian CB/nickel Kody Jones (Hello!).

Touch the Banner got his scout in too late for the latter so here's his take on Jones:

To me he looks like a nickel corner in the mold of former Michigan cornerback Blake Countess (who played well at Michigan before transferring and playing safety at Auburn and then in the NFL). He’s compact and packs a punch, with very good change-of-direction skills and good top-end speed.

On the negative side, Jones is perhaps a little lacking in ball skills. He’s great with the ball in his hands, but his hand-eye coordination is sometimes a little lacking. He also needs to improve his tracking of the ball in the air. 

Magnus admits a lot of guys look like Blake Countess when they're 15 years old and playing low-level competition. Rivals’s EJ Holland knows Groves’s mentor from the Junior Colson recruitment, and got some exciting (and FAKE) scouting($):

"He's as elite as it gets as far as a safety prospect. He has everything you're looking for. He's 6-foot-3, 190 pounds and runs a low 4.4. He has amazing ball skills because he's a damn good wide receiver. He's physical. He's smart. He's the type of guy and DNA to be a very high draft pick one day if he stays healthy and everything goes well. His ceiling is wide open. He can literally play anywhere in America, but he's raw because he's been a wide receiver. His upside is unlimited. He checks the boxes as an elite defensive back."

Woooo!

Michigan’s #1 target all last cycle was in-state RB Donovan Edwards, who did, to our horror, lead West Bloomfield to a state title and become a 5-star (the new MGoBlog tagline is a reference to our own uncertainty if the 5-star curse is a joke or real). For 2022 that guy is Grosse Pointe South’s Will Johnson, son of Moeller-era safety Deon. As with Edwards, there was a concern at one point that Ohio State was going to yoink this guy then murder our loved ones and make us eat them in front of Radiohead. According to Sam Webb on their recent Michigan Insider podcast, everybody can breathe a tiny sigh of relief about the Johnson part:

“I think Michigan has taken a lead... maybe a slight one... but a lead. […] Was it the cornerback coaching change? He actually told me that was not the issue. He said that, frankly, it helps Michigan in his eyes. […] But when things just seemed to get worse, and they just couldn't find any rudder after that... when all the uncertainty about the coaching staff hit, and just really feeling like this wasn't going to improve. That's when his eyes really started opening to other possibilities that he did legitimately like. Like Ohio State.”

It’s a long way to go, but this is very good news. Keep sharing stories about how Coombs-coached kids show up in the league with no skills, everybody. Also call your mother.

If anybody’s happier about the Linguist hire than President for Life of the Michigan Fans Panicking About Cornerback Depth Club Seth Fisher, it’s Rivals’s EJ Holland, who comes from Linguist’s stomping grounds and has many of the same relationships in the 7v7 world:

If you are a top defensive back in Texas, chances are you train with Christian White aka Coach Flight. White worked with Michigan defensive backs Gemon Green and German Green as well as the aforementioned Jones, Richardson and Brian Williams, yet another big 2019 signee for Linguist and A&M.

It’s a free article and a good way to familiarize yourself with a scene that could be key to a key recruiting role. Jones is the first commit from that world—his Texas-based 7v7 coach runs a satellite in Memphis—the first Texan who could follow Linguist is 4* S Chace Biddle, who sounds like a Daxton-ian:

He’s going to hate me when I say, but I think he can play corner at the next level. If you’re talking about guys that go to the league, they’re big and long like he is. He’s a finesse player. He’s fast and athletic. He’s a cover guy more so than a physical guy. Anything you want him to do in coverage, Chace Biddle can do.”

[After THE JUMP: Hey attorneys, can we sue Stanford?]