Players are listed in order of remaining eligibility. With 3 open scholarships and 13 seniors scheduled to graduate, the 2016 class should start out aiming for 16 players.
TOTAL SCHOLARSHIPS ALLOTTED FOR 2015 = 82
– Logan Tuley-Tillman was dismissed from the team.
– Dan Samuelson announced that he will transfer.
– Dennis Norfleet will transfer to Tuskegee.
– Chris Fox retired due to injury.
– Ondre Pipkins will transfer from Michigan.
– Blake Countess transferred to Auburn.
– Blake O’Neill will transfer to Michigan from Weber State.
– Jake Rudock transferred to Michigan from Iowa.
– Wayne Lyons transferred to Michigan from Stanford
– Jack Miller will not return for a fifth year.
– QB John O’Korn transferred to Michigan from Houston.
– Russell Bellomy transferred to University of Texas at San Antonio.
– Keith Heitzman will not return for a fifth year.
– Justice Hayes transferred to Southern Miss.
– Kyle Bosch transferred to West Virginia.
– Michael Ferns transferred to West Virginia.
Hit the jump for the breakdown by class.
REDSHIRT SENIORS = 6 (Final season 2015)
QB Jake Rudock
FB Joe Kerridge
OL Graham Glasgow
LB Desmond Morgan
CB Wayne Lyons
P Blake O’Neill
SENIORS = 7 (Final season = 2015)
FB Sione Houma
TE A.J. Williams
DE Mario Ojemudia
LB Joe Bolden
LB Royce Jenkins-Stone
LB James Ross
S Jarrod Wilson
FB Bobby Henderson
WR Brad Anlauf
S Travis Wooley
REDSHIRT JUNIORS = 16 (Final season 2016)
RB Drake Johnson
OL Blake Bars
OL Ben Braden
OL Kyle Kalis
OL Erik Magnuson
WR Jehu Chesson
WR Amara Darboh
DE Matt Godin
DT Ryan Glasgow
DT Willie Henry
DE Tom Strobel
DE Chris Wormley
LB Allen Gant
CB Terry Richardson
S Jeremy Clark
P/K Kenny Allen
QB Brian Cleary
FB Bobby Henderson
TE Michael Jocz
OL Ben Pliska
LB Nick Benda
LB Mark Lawson
LB Dan Liesman
S Shaun Austin
S A.J. Pearson
JUNIORS = 11 (Final season 2016)
QB Shane Morris
RB Derrick Green
RB DeVeon Smith
WR Da’Mario Jones
TE Jake Butt
DE Taco Charlton
LB Ben Gedeon
CB Jourdan Lewis
CB Channing Stribling
S Delano Hill
S Dymonte Thomas
RB Antonio Whitfield
WR Kenneth Sloss
LB Evan Hampton
REDSHIRT SOPHOMORES = 13 (Final season 2017)
QB John O’Korn
RB Ty Isaac
FB Wyatt Shallman
WR Jaron Dukes
TE Khalid Hill
OL David Dawson
OL Patrick Kugler
DT Maurice Hurst, Jr.
DT Henry Poggi
LB Mike McCray
CB Reon Dawson
CB Ross Taylor-Douglas
LS Scott Sypniewski
QB Garrett Moores
WR Jack Wangler
OL Greg Froelich
DE Leon Johnson
DE Garrett Miller
LB Michael Wroblewski
CB Anthony Dalimonte
S Francois Montbrun
SOPHOMORES = 3 (Final season 2017)
WR Freddy Canteen
OL Mason Cole
DT Bryan Mone
QB Matt Thompson
FB Deyanco Hardwick
OL Nikhill Brueggeman
DE Cody Zeisler
S Jeffrey Houston
K Kyle Seychel
REDSHIRT FRESHMEN = 12 (Final season 2018)
QB Wilton Speight
FB Brady Pallante
WR Drake Harris
WR Maurice Ways
TE Ian Bunting
OL Juwann Bushell-Beatty
DE Lawrence Marshall
LB Noah Furbush
LB Jared Wangler
LB Chase Winovich
CB Jabrill Peppers
CB Brandon Watson
FB Joe Beneducci
FB Nick Volk
LB Alex Kaminski
LB Nick Volk
CB Matt Mitchell
S Joe Hewlett
LS Andrew Robinson
FRESHMEN = 14 (Final season 2018)
QB Zach Gentry
QB Alex Malzone
RB Karan Higdon
WR Brian Cole
WR Grant Perry
TE Tyrone Wheatley, Jr.
OL Grant Newsome
OL Jon Runyan, Jr.
OL Nolan Ulizio
DE Shelton Johnson
DE Reuben Jones
CB Keith Washington
S Tyree Kinnel
K Andrew David
RB Kevin Gross
DE Cheyenn Robertson
LB John Andrysiak
LB Chris Terech
S Jordan Glasgow
P Ryan Tice
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Mason cole should be a sophomore
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You've posted Ty Isaac twice, he should only be a red-shirt sophomore. Correct?
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Hopely the 6 guys committed to the program stays through. I really think they are pretty good and worth keeping. If we get Harbaugh or at least Dan Mullen the rest of recruiting will take care of itself.
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We really need a couple real 4star linebackers we're losing a lot
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We'll get a couple LB's, don't worry about that. Even if they're 3* guys, LB is more about being in the right position then having super assets.
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God I wish we could afford to cut
Bellomy loose in 2015. He couldn't make a D3 roster. But I am not convinced that Shane Morris could either
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Bellomy prob won't get the 5th year. We have Shane and two youngsters. And Michigan is not morally or contractually obliged to give him the 5th year. Hopely he will get his degree soon.
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With all the LB graduations in 2015, you have to wonder what is going on in Michael Fern's head. Five guys ahead of him, gone in two years, four next year alone.
Why not just get your behind into the weight room and make fans of the coaching staff, and then go out and hit everything in site during spring ball. This one makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
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are there any more likely transfers? Hopefully, that is over with
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The importance of the next 3 weeks cannot be understated.
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I think you meant overstated? But if not then I agree with you. Harbaugh first recruit class is the exact opposite of Homes first class. We don't have any real needs for this September that we're filling with this tiny class. We have young depth at most positions, and return more starters than just about any team in the country, so any players we pick up in the next couple weeks will just be icing on the cake
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I feel overstate works, but understate kind of works too, no?
Overstate: We can't possibly exaggerate how important the next 3 weeks are.
Understate:
We can't possibly minimize the importance of the next 3 weeks.
I'm confusing the hell out of myself: Can't understate the importance, and the importance can't be overstated.
Proper grammar isn't important. What is important is this recruiting class. I believe we have quite a few needs for this September class, especially with the inevitable attrition that is coming. I think RB is a big hole. OL I'm hoping we're ok with 3. The entire DL needs some bodies. R. Jones is a good start, could use a real DT or NT now. A linebacker and a DB would be great for depth, otherwise we need to kill it next year.
We absolutely need another DL, and we absolutely need another DB. If Harbaugh is using TEs as an integral part of the office, I'd say we absolutely need 1.
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I don't know, I mean I guess it's a matter of when we need those players. We'll NEED to have them 3 seasons from now, it'd be good to have them in 2 years so they can redshirt and develop behind starters for a year, and it'd be nice if we took some now, but we have so much RB and DT depth, 5 each, that it'd almost waste a year of eligibility on players we take right now. I'd rather we filled those spots next year with the perfect guys instead of scrambling at the last minute for whoever we can get this year.
I mean we just lost an rb and lb because we had too much depth at those positions. But as it stands we theoretically have a returning 3 deep at every position on the field except at Center, and Strong Safety, but with a dozen returning DBs on the roster we'll be ok.
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That's the ticket though. In 3 years from now, do you want a sophomore handed a job, or do you want them to have earned it from competing with a capable junior?
So much RB and DT depth?
Right now we have 4 RBs. 1 Sophomore and 3 Juniors. We could really use a freshman back now so we aren't left with just a solo freshman backup 2 years from now.
At DT we have quite a bit of bodies there, but I don't feel any of them are solid DTs. Godin, Wormley, Strobel: all DTs trapped in DEs bodies. Then we're left with Henry and Hurst, who I feel comfortable with, but Hurst is a sophomore and Henry is a junior. It'd be nice if we could have a freshman redshirt at DT.
At NT we have: Pipkins, Glasgow, Mone, Pallante. I would be ok if we didn't get a hole plugging NT this recruiting cycle.
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So many wasted redshirts.
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hoke walked into a pretty tough situation however he proved awful at roster manipulation – some aspects of his tenure can be reasonably defended or explained away, managing his 85 not among them.
this team has some huge holes to fill. and hoke made some big mistakes in those 2 massive classes he signed – look at the roster / depth when those classes matriculate thru, it presents harbaugh with some real challenges. hes trying to add bodies at DE, DB, OL, etc now, even though some discount the importance of this 2015 class when the exact opposite holds true, so the team will have at least have 1-2 older options to plug into the lineup in 2017 when those massive holes appear.
every class is key in college football. and if the goals are truly competing for league and national titles on annual basis then all 85 count even more. all championship teams trim the fat when necessary, thats how they successfully manipulate their rosters and remain competitive while signing as many talented athletes as possible. so if they can offer bellamy, heitzman and similar dudes (and next year gant, etc) firm handshakes after having offered them opportunities to graduate and earn PT then it MUST be done…those scholarships then go to next crop of talented hs kids, some of whom likely contribute more as true frosh or sophs than any possible production from 5th years like bellamy, heitzman, etc.
father figure hoke was a nice dude and players liked him but he was incompetent and lacked a killer instinct and i cant recall any coaches consistently winning at high levels with those attributes. maybe harbaugh can do it. but its more likely hell let go of 5th guys who will never contribute meaningful snaps, just like hell prob never recruit 3 big slow WRs with little D1 ability in the same class (like hoke did in 2013) or avoid signing handfuls of under 5-techs with little pass rushing promise and few true WDE's
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9 more spots. I hope a few more opens up and make the 2015 class a full one.
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Hayes is going to transfer? When did that happen, I must have asleep at the wheel. Oh well, not a big time loss however he did fill the small 3rd down back type position. Does Harbaugh not use those in his O ?
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Since we're at 85, I wonder if there's wiggle room if R Smith comes to M…
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Don't forget if Wayne Lyons decides to transfer from Stanford….
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Exactly. We can get a few transfers as well. I wonder if there's some wiggle room in case any of those materialize.
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Offensive linemen are dropping like flies around here.
Chris Fox can't get healthy yet/so far either.
I'm thinking there's gonna be another big class of OL prospects in 2016 as it's going to be real easy to sell an early shot at minutes.
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Any word on how Harbaugh plans to address the 2 schollys he is over at the moment? I have read that Fox may be done due to injuries and that either Kerridge or one of the Glasgows will get their scholly pulled.
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You are correct that Fox may be done. Walk-on scholarships may also be removed, since those are year-to-year.
There will also likely be some attrition this summer of guys who quit or transfer. I have actually started to hear rumors of several of those types of players now that the semester is closing and players have a chance to think about next year. It would not surprise me if we are under 85 by the fall.
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Thanks, it will be interesting to see if/which players leave. Do you see Speight sticking around? The QB situation is going to be quite crowded come fall.
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Speight should stick around just because he and Harbaugh have khakis in common. But right now it seems like he's buried on the depth chart, and I don't see him beating out the other guys after Rudock is done.
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I guess that didn't specifically answer your question. It's rare that guys will stick around for five years at the QB position if they're not playing. Based on what I've seen and heard so far, I do not think Speight will win the job unless there are injuries. So I lean toward expecting not to see Speight play out his career in the winged helmet.
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I feel bad for Speight, as he seems like a coaching change casualty. Hoke hid the fact that he fired Borges until after Speight and other early enrollees enrolled, and now since Harbaugh did not recruit WS and has other guys he prefers Speight might never get to play. This is still early, but he might see the writing on the wall and transfer.
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I think that's a mischaracterization of what actually happened with Borges. Michigan played in the BWW Bowl on December 28th, Alabama played in the Sugar Bowl on January 2, and the early enrollees were already planning to arrive within a few days. Nussmeier's hiring was announced on January 9 with Borges's firing taking place a day or two previously. There's really not much that can be done about that situation.
I understand some sympathy for Speight's situation, but I don't think Hoke conned him.
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Thunder — the Nussmeier deal was in place weeks before it was announced. Borges was fired weeks before the hire, but Borges kept his mouth shut about it during the negotiation process. I do think it was a bit of a con. The hire was then announced AFTER the early enrollees came.
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Isn't Norfleet ghost? That would get it down to 85.
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