It wasn’t that long ago when rival fanbases were hanging their hats on the fact that Michigan football was going to lose all of their star players to the transfer portal. Not only because Jim Harbaugh left for the NFL and half of the Wolverines’ position coaches went to the Chargers with him, but also because the hammer was coming down on Michigan involving the Connor Stalions sign-stealing case — which the Wolverines have yet to receive anything from the NCAA on.
An Ohio State insider/fan account called Buckeye Scoop went to (X)Twitter back on April 3 with a photo of star cornerback Will Johnson and hinted at him hitting the open market. But as we all know, Johnson is still on Michigan’s team. Which is why a Michigan NIL collective known as Champions Circle fired back.
Champions Circle officially inked Johnson to a NIL deal and posted a photo of him with the word ‘signed’. They quoted Buckeye Scoop’s tweet from back on April 3 and said ‘update?’ to it.
But not only did the rival X account say Johnson would transfer, but they also had a photo of Colston Loveland, Kenneth Grant, and Mason Graham with a caption ‘chaos awaits’ referring to them transferring away from the program.
Not so fast. All three are still with Michigan.
Champions Circle, as they did with Johnson, signed all three to a NIL deal and quoted Buckeye Scoop’s tweet with the caption ‘Chaos has arrived’.
Champions Circle launched a ‘Those That Stay’ collective for star Wolverines to STAY at Michigan and help them receive NIL deals. Last season, Champions Circle launched it for the first time and it helped key players stay with Michigan. This season, they have inked Johnson, Graham, Grant, Loveland, Semaj Morgan, Donovan Edwards, Derrick Moore, Makari Paige, Rod Moore, Josaiah Stewart, and Ernest Hausmann to deals — so far.
Here’s what they say about the collective:
SUPPORT TEAM 145 NOW
For a lot of people in college football, our national championship run was a chance to scout Team 144 before trying to steal the stars from Team 145. So all of us at Champion Circle —and you fans most of all — went to work. And the players noticed.
We can’t put it any better than our returning first-team All-American cornerback. “The collective has done a great job of putting their all into making the team what it is now, and I think they’ve done a great job so far,” Will Johnson, a rising junior, told reporters during spring practice. “We needed to keep that core group together:
The transfer portal is closed, and thanks to you, the University of Michigan will once again field of the most talented rosters in the country—and they still have the best championship culture in America.
“Everybody wants to be here, and everybody wants to be with each other,” defensive tackle Kenneth Grant added. “That kind of outweighs everything else — just the type of brotherhood that we just have for each other is bigger than anything, any of that.”
They’re on a mission to beat Ohio State, again, win the Big Ten, and win the national championship. All their goals are in front of them, and with your support, they’ll reach them again.
Help us reach our million dollar goal today!
Those Who Stayed Are Champions. And they’re running it back.
Champions Circle has reached 75% of its goal and you can help them reach their goal for the Michigan football players here.
