The Michigan Wolverines hit a hot streak in the transfer portal over the last week, snagging four defensive backs with a lot of game reps and experience under their belts. Those four commitments brought Michigan’s total to nine incoming transfer portal prospects this off-season.
Here’s a quick look at all of them:
- Jaden Mangham, DB (MSU)
- Aamir Hall, DB (Albany)
- Wesley Walker, DB (Tennessee)
- Ricky Johnson, DB (UNLV)
- CJ Charleston, WR (Youngstown State)
- Amorion Walker, WR (Ole Miss/Michigan)
- Dominic Zvada, K (Arkansas State)
- Josh Priebe, OL (Northwestern)
- Jaishawn Barham, LB (Maryland)
While that group is certainly a solid haul for Sherrone Moore as he looks to address several positions of need on the roster, 247Sports currently has the Wolverines ranked outside of the Top 50 in their national transfer portal rankings for 2024, coming in at No. 54 overall.
As it relates specifically to the Big Ten, Michigan’s nine transfer portal commits rank No. 12 overall within the conference. Here’s a look at where all 18 B10 teams currently rank according to 247Sports:
- Oregon
- Ohio State
- Washington
- Michigan State
- USC
- Wisconsin
- Purdue
- Indiana
- Minnesota
- UCLA
- Illinois
- Michigan
- Penn State
- Nebraska
- Maryland
- Rutgers
- Northwestern
- Iowa
It’s clear that Michigan is still intent on adding some depth on the defensive side of the ball, targeting several interior defensive linemen in recent weeks. Although they’ve yet to land the commitment from a DT in this cycle, fans should expect that the Wolverines will add one or two in the coming days.
As for what these rankings mean overall, only time will tell. It’s clear that some teams within the conference made a big splash by snagging big names from the portal. Ohio State landed two former five-star prospects out of Alabama in QB Julian Sayin and DB Caleb Downs, and also added a second highly rated QB in Will Howard. Oregon landed two of the top quarterbacks available in Dante Moore and Dillon Gabriel. Both Washington and Michigan State went through a head coaching change this off-season, and the result was the two programs bringing in a whopping 52 combined transfer portal prospects.
Back in Ann Arbor, the turnover wasn’t nearly as high as what some expected when Jim Harbaugh announced his departure to LA, along with taking most of the defensive staff along with him. All things considered, the Wolverines were able to retain the vast majority of their top talent on both sides of the ball, meaning they didn’t need to be as aggressive as some of the other teams out there.
Overall, it seems that Michigan is fairly satisfied with the roster as-is, making additions to just a few position groups for a little depth and experience. With so many key contributors from the 2023 team gone to the NFL, it’s going to be really interesting to see if this new-look roster can continue to win at such a high-level in 2024, particularly with loaded B10 schedule.
