The ninth annual Polynesian Bowl will be played in Honolulu, HI, in January of 2025. Here are the Michigan participants over the years:
2024
Micah Ka’apana, RB – Las Vegas, NV
Deyvid Palepale, DT – Lancaster, PA
2023
Enow Etta, DE – Colleyville, TX
Amir Herring, C – West Bloomfield, MI
2022
Zeke Berry, S – Concord, CA
Mason Graham, DT – Anaheim, CA
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Name: Reece Atteberry
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 315 lbs.
High school: Aurora (CO) Eaglecrest
Position: Offensive guard
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #74
Last year: I ranked Atteberry #47 and said he would be a backup offensive guard (LINK). He played in three games.
TTB Rating: 74
Atteberry came in with a plan to play center, and that shifted to guard over the past couple seasons. He seems like someone the coaches like, but who can’t quite make his way onto the field consistently. After playing in one game as a freshman and preserving his redshirt – though it was a COVID year so it didn’t really count – he played in eight games in 2021 and then just three in 2022.
The outlook doesn’t look much better for playing time in 2023. Michigan has numerous starting-caliber offensive linemen, but the names bandied about don’t include Atteberry. That’s because both starting guards – Zak Zinter and Trevor Keegan – return, while players with guard experience also exist, such as Karsen Barnhart and Arizona State transfer La’Darius Henderson. It may be a big year for Atteberry to establish himself in practice as a front-runner to play in 2024, but for now, he probably won’t see a ton of playing time except for during blowouts.
Prediction: Backup offensive guard
With the onslaught of transfer portal entries in college football, it’s inevitable that Michigan will face some more departures this off-season. Three players have already announced their intentions to transfer, and one (Cade McNamara to Iowa) has already found a landing spot. Tight ends Erick All and Louis Hansen are both headed for, ahem, greener pastures.
McNamara and All are both somewhat unique cases of players who played a lot but felt slighted in some way, but Hansen is a more typical case of a player buried on the depth chart who wants to see some light at the end of the tunnel. This post explores several players in similar situations who may find greener pastures elsewhere:
DISCLAIMER: This post is speculative in nature and not intended to encourage/discourage any player from leaving Michigan’s program. The reality is that college football is now a lot like unrestricted free agency from year to year.
RB TAVIERRE DUNLAP
Why he should stay: Every Michigan starting running back during his tenure has turned in a 1,000+ yard season, but they had to wait three or more years to do it. Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum have both turned in star performances after waiting their turn. Dunlap has done well when given a chance, averaging 6.1 yards per carry.
Why he might leave: Opportunities are limited when you’re the third string back or lower, and there’s no reason to expect much of a change in scenery for 2023. While Corum is likely headed to the NFL, Donovan Edwards is a bona fide star in the making and freshman C.J. Stokes already has many more carries (55) in one season than Dunlap has in two (16), and walk-on Isaiah Gash (19 carries, 101 yards, 2 touchdowns) even topped Dunlap in touches. When it came to the Big Ten championship game and Ohio State, Michigan decided to use a big back at times . . . but that back was the 6’2″, 232 lb. backup linebacker Kalel Mullings instead of Dunlap (6’0″, 217).
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Name: Reece Atteberry
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 307 lbs.
High school: Aurora (CO) Eaglecrest
Position: Offensive guard
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #74
Last year: I ranked Atteberry #51 and said he would be a backup center (LINK). He played in eight games.
TTB Rating: 74
Atteberry was recruited in 2020 as an interior lineman. Originally thought to be a center, it appears that experiment may have mostly ended in 2021 when freshman Greg Crippen passed him off the bat. Andrew Vastardis started, Crippen backed him up, and starting right guard Zak Zinter also practiced some at center. So when Atteberry got a chance to get on the field, it was either at right guard or on special teams.
The 2022 season probably won’t be a whole lot different for Atteberry. Instead of Vastardis starting at center, it will be transfer Olu Oluwatimi. Michigan brings back the rest of its starting offensive line except for right tackle Andrew Stueber, and Atteberry doesn’t have the ability to slide outside. So Atteberry should once again be looking at backing up Zinter at right guard and perhaps Trevor Keegan at left guard, but if someone were to go down for an extended period of time, I would expect Karsen Barnhart to be the primary backup at either tackle or guard spot.
Prediction: Backup offensive guard
Name: Reece Atteberry
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 284 lbs.
High school: Aurora (CO) Eaglecrest
Position: Center
Class: Redshirt freshman
Jersey number: #74
Last year: I ranked Atteberry #103 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He played in one game.
TTB Rating: 74
Atteberry surprised me a little bit last season. He was the lowest-ranked scholarship player in the countdown, but he ended up playing in one game on special teams against Minnesota. Usually you want big, beefy guys on the field goal protection unit, and at 284 pounds, Atteberry was not one of the biggest or beefiest guys available. But he got on the field, so good for him. That probably means the coaches were pleased with what they saw out of him in summer/fall practice.
This off-season Atteberry has been mixed in the talk about the center position. At one point I heard a rumor that he was a possible starter, but I found that to be very surprising. As the spring and summer have progressed, there has been more talk about Zak Zinter playing center. With Andrew Vastardis, Raheem Anderson II, Greg Crippen, and Nolan Rumler all also available, there’s no shortage of bodies. My guess is that it will be Zinter at #1, Vastardis as the primary backup, and then other guys filling in at center and/or guard on occasion to give them playing experience for when Vastardis graduates or for when a guard spot opens up, perhaps allowing Zinter to slide one way or the other.
Prediction: Backup center