Michigan Wolverines news: Another transfer portal departure and much more
The Michigan football team suffered another departure in the transfer portal, plus a couple of tight ends will visit and more Michigan Wolverines news.
Michigan football hasn’t suffered many departures via the transfer portal, outside of a few players that were pretty loud on the way out.
Sour grapes are a thing and Cade McNamara has been drinking those sour grapes for months. He complained about NIL even though reports suggest he did pretty well and while he wants to act like he wasn’t given a fair shake, J.J. McCarthy beat him out fair and square.
It is what it is.
All in all, the Wolverines haven’t been hit too hard in the transfer portal but did suffer another loss on Monday as former four-star D-lineman George Rooks announced his intent to leave via the transfer portal.
Rooks was a late 2021 signee after going back and forth on his recruitment for months. But the defensive line depth chart is crowded and with guys like Kris Jenkins, Rayshaun Benny, Kenneth Grant, and Mason Graham well ahead of him on that list, it’s not a huge surprise.
Rooks is 6-foot-5, 275 pounds, and is an ideal 3-4 defensive end. He also stood out last spring as a pass rusher and someone will get a solid player. This is an instance where Rooks is probably just seeking a bigger opportunity that can’t be guaranteed for him at Michigan.
Again, when it comes to transfers, it is what it is, and remember, Michigan football can add guys too. The Wolverines are also being more active than in the past.
More transfer portal news for Michigan Wolverines
On Monday, we wrote about Cal-Poly transfer tight end Josh Cuevas reportedly getting ready to visit Michigan football along with visits to Washington and Utah.
It seems like a solid guess that Michigan is in the top three but you never know if West Coast kids will want to come to play for Michigan.
Some don’t want to be that far away and another concern is admissions since he would be a junior. Anytime a kid is talking about sending transcripts to Michigan, I get nervous because we know admissions won’t do athletics any favors.
So another target for Michigan football is former Indiana tight AJ Barner. The 6-foot-6, 250-pound former team captain has been in contact with the Wolverines and is likely to visit soon according to The Wolverine.
Pittsburgh, NC State, Illinois, and UCLA are among the other teams interested. Barner played over 600 snaps last season for Indiana and with the way Michigan uses its tight ends, he would be a great fit as a No. 2 potentially behind Colston Loveland.
In more transfer portal activity, Michigan has made the top three for transfer edge rusher Josaiah Stewart out of Coastal Carolina. Stewart had 40 pressures last season according to On3 and was Second-Team All-Sun Belt. He is also considering USC and LSU.
https://twitter.com/josaiah_stewart/status/1602364963175239680?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
More Michigan Wolverines news
The Michigan women’s basketball has gotten off to a hot start in the 2022-23 season and the Wolverines were ranked as high as No. 14 last week after winning their first nine games.
However, Michigan lost to Toledo last Thursday and fell to 19th in the latest AP poll. There is just one game this week on Saturday at home against App State (Noon EST, BTN+).
Emily Kiser is having an incredible season with 19.1 points per game and Laila Phelia isn’t far behind with 17 ppg.
Both are shooting better than 40 percent from 3-point range and Phelia actually has 16 triples this season (1.6 per game) and is shooting 48 percent. Leigha Brown has been stellar too with over 11 points and four assists.
The meat of the schedule starts soon and North Carolina is on tap next week for the Michigan Wolverines men’s and women’s basketball teams before both squads move solely to Big Ten conference play.
Kim Barnes Arico is proving again how spectacular she is as a head coach since the Wolverines lost Naz Hillmon—their best player ever—and haven’t really missed a beat.
