Former football players
I'm sure most readers at this site are aware of the good work Magnus does over at Touch the Banner and have that bookmarked already. But one of the pieces that he posts on a regular basis involves checking in on players who transferred away from Michigan or broke off their recruitment after initially committing. I find this piece, which I'm sure is a bit tedious to put together, interesting to think about "what might have been" for these players. His first post of the season (link) has so many names on it that I got to thinking about what a team full of only these players would look like and how competitive they might be.
Check out the link for all the names, but here's my picks for the best roster. My rule was that I had to always pick from a transfer before a recruit if there were enough available, I tried to pick the more successful guys at their new schools, and when there was a debate the guy at the higher level program won out. DL and TE are where the numbers are thin.
- QB - Joe Milton (slightly more success than McCaffrey since leaving)
- RB - Charbonnet, Turner
- WR - Giles Jackson, Oliver Martin
- TE - (Leonard Taylor) (....who I have no memory of)
- OL - Rumler, Filiaga, Carpenter, (Ekiyor), (Irvin)
- DT - Lewis, Stewart, (Herron)
- LB - Mohan, Savage, Solomon, Wheeler
- CB - Sims, Green-Warren (lots of choices here)
- S - Reynolds, Morant
September 1st, 2022 at 9:12 AM ^
I enjoy that feature on TTB.
What's interesting is that - even though there's been lots of whining about transfers during the Harbaugh era - very few of them have gone on to success at P5/Top 25 college football programs.
There have been very few that you could look at and say, "yeah, he would've been a signficant contributor had he stayed at Michigan."
Most have transferred "down," if you will..or not gotten much playing time at their new school
September 1st, 2022 at 9:25 AM ^
good point
September 1st, 2022 at 9:35 AM ^
I hope we never see a Joe Burrow like transfer to leave Michigan and win a National Championship somewhere else as I might actually burn a sofa.
September 1st, 2022 at 9:50 AM ^
Go to EL and wear green if you do 😂
September 1st, 2022 at 9:38 AM ^
It says something about our O-line that two guys who transferred out becuase of playing time are starting at other Big Ten schools.
September 1st, 2022 at 10:44 AM ^
I saw Filiaga, who is the other one?
September 1st, 2022 at 11:08 AM ^
Carpenter is starting at IU, I believe.
September 1st, 2022 at 9:39 AM ^
True, but I think Zach Charbonnet might be an exception. He’s going to be very good for UCLA.
September 1st, 2022 at 9:47 AM ^
He is indeed very good. What’s amazing is we had two backs that were even better!
September 1st, 2022 at 9:55 AM ^
We could use him this year but he would not be getting the carries that he will get at UCLA.
September 1st, 2022 at 10:44 AM ^
Good but he made the right move to transfer in hindsight.
September 2nd, 2022 at 1:30 PM ^
Maybe not if he had the Haskins role and we win the National Championship
September 1st, 2022 at 10:47 AM ^
What happened to VanSumeren?
September 1st, 2022 at 10:52 AM ^
Xavier Worthy...the recruit, signee? that never was...
That one was/is one of the most bizarre 'transfer' situations ever...and as strong as the recruiting room is, he'd almost certainly make an impact at UM if he were on the roster.
September 1st, 2022 at 11:11 AM ^
Yeah exceptional talent, though if he ended up in the class, I wonder if Morris, Walker and Clemons end up in this most recent class, and I wonder if some others wouldn't have transferred because he was too good to keep off the field as a true freshman.
September 1st, 2022 at 9:28 AM ^
I'm not sure what Hunter Reynolds is studying at Utah State, but I like that he and several others are having the opportunity to play more years and get additional education.
September 1st, 2022 at 9:50 AM ^
He was starting for Nevada along with Phillip Paea a former M defensive lineman that Magnus missed. Saw them both play last week.
September 1st, 2022 at 11:14 AM ^
Wow, Phil Paea still eligible? That's wild. Good for him.
September 1st, 2022 at 12:50 PM ^
I only learned that after reading this crazy article that had surprising Michigan connections (would love to know who the former M athletes repping Utah St. were; given that they were at a wedding in NJ, I took it that they weren't Reynolds and Paea...).
September 1st, 2022 at 3:39 PM ^
I checked on Paea this summer but I thought he was finished with football. I guess I got some bad info.
September 1st, 2022 at 4:02 PM ^
They're at Utah State, not Nevada, BTW.
September 1st, 2022 at 9:39 AM ^
Former players like Feagin?
September 1st, 2022 at 3:44 PM ^
I wonder what Fuck Lion is up to?
September 1st, 2022 at 9:46 AM ^
Lots of players on this list that I'll be pulling for to succeed. Jaylen Kelly-Powell, Myles "Spider" Sims, Big Chuck Filiaga...
It seemed like there was some bad blood between Giles and the UM players during the Washington game last year. Things got pretty chippy at times. Did he leave on bad terms?
September 1st, 2022 at 10:13 AM ^
Re Giles: Some things were said. Maybe a little emotions on the field. Feelings were felt.
September 1st, 2022 at 10:49 AM ^
As soon as Giles transferred, he was running his mouth to Xavier Worthy about how he should decommit from Michigan very publicly on social media. Not going to be wishing him well at Washington.
September 1st, 2022 at 11:07 AM ^
I may be misremembering the situation but I believe Milton also talked a fair bit on his way out/at Tennessee and rubbed some people the wrong way at UM as a result. Jackson was more prominent because he was doing it on social media but yeah, not a lot of love lost there.
September 1st, 2022 at 11:10 AM ^
Yup, same with Milton. "Tennessee doesn't try to coach you to be a robot".
September 1st, 2022 at 11:45 AM ^
how's that coaching going for him at TN?
September 1st, 2022 at 3:20 PM ^
Yeah, that was the sense I had from last year.
Again, it wasn't particularly inflammatory but still weird for a guy who got a real chance to be a starter at a P5 program would throw shade at said program when they certainly seemed to try to set him up for success.
September 1st, 2022 at 3:47 PM ^
Weird, because you would think that a robot would have an accurate, repeatable throwing motion.
September 1st, 2022 at 9:22 PM ^
September 2nd, 2022 at 9:12 AM ^
What rumor? There's an interview where Joe himself says he's happy to be in Knoxville because they don't treat their QB's like robots.
September 1st, 2022 at 9:48 AM ^
Magnus missed that Jack Stewart is at Uconn. Will be interesting to see how Umass does this year with Don Brown. I would expect improvement.
September 1st, 2022 at 3:40 PM ^
Thanks for the update. I also checked on him, but last I knew, he was considering giving up football altogether.
September 1st, 2022 at 9:49 AM ^
I am taking my chances with Dan Villari over a loose cannon Joe Milton 10/10 x.
September 1st, 2022 at 9:53 AM ^
Word is Villari is practicing at receiver. You could have Milton overthrowing Villari on your all transfer team.
September 1st, 2022 at 11:11 AM ^
It's funny - I read an article recently about Hooker being a darkhorse Heisman candidate at Tennessee (something I don't buy - I think the Huepel offense looks good for a year because it tries to hide talent deficiencies but once teams download it and you a marked drop), and they mentioned a couple of times that Milton looked much better (they mentioned touch a bunch of times, which was obviously a reference to the fact he only had 1 speed on a lot of throws) and was poised to take over for Hooker once he left after this season. Which I guess is possible but that would make Milton 23 and a half years old with one year of eligibility left and I sort of doubt a team would invest that much into a guy like that when there are younger options behind him.
I wish him luck but I think he's going to wind up playing elsewhere before his college career ends.
September 1st, 2022 at 11:30 AM ^
I would take Ren Hefley over Milton.
September 1st, 2022 at 11:59 AM ^
I would take Ron Reagan over Milton.
September 1st, 2022 at 2:22 PM ^
I would take Shakespeare over Milton.
September 1st, 2022 at 3:51 PM ^
I would take Ren Hoek over Milton.
.
.
.
.
And it's a shame Milton is running his mouth about a school that gave him every chance in the world to succeed and then some on top of that.
September 1st, 2022 at 10:17 AM ^
Seeing names like Omaury Samuels, Oliver Martin and Otis Reese is crazy. These guys have to be in their 30s.
September 1st, 2022 at 10:51 AM ^
Man all three of those guys were supposed to be great. I was so pumped to see what Samuels could do in particular.
September 1st, 2022 at 10:42 AM ^
Where's Xavier Worthy?
September 1st, 2022 at 1:07 PM ^
Preparing for another losing season.
September 1st, 2022 at 4:14 PM ^
This is one of the best replies on this post.
To actually answer his question truthfully, Worthy never played at Michigan and I prioritized transfers over recruits who bailed. I think Worthy is going to be a great receiver and I wish he hadn't bailed after Texas tampered with his recruitment. With that being said, it is funny how a year later we are wondering how we'll ever get enough touches for all of our awesome receivers and haven't mentioned Worthy much at all.
September 1st, 2022 at 11:04 AM ^
My biggest takeway is that Jaybaugh helped stack a RB room.
Also, I really am disappointed that Brandon Peters isn't in college football anymore because he'd have been my pick hands-down.
September 1st, 2022 at 3:52 PM ^
Shane Morris too.
Disappointed for him for how things turned out. I thought with some competent coaching he could have been something.
September 1st, 2022 at 4:15 PM ^
I think Peters is the type of statuesque QB that needs time in the pocket and time to develop into a game manager. He got thrown in at Michigan early and got beat up behind a bad OL and then he went to Illinois where he also kept getting some nasty concussions. As we saw with Devin Gardner and most PSU quarterbacks, getting beat up leads to bad habits when you don't trust your protection and your eyes drop to what's in front of you instead of what's down field.