Casey Hughes (image via Zimbio)
Utah defensive back Casey Hughes has decided to transfer to Michigan as a graduate transfer for the 2018 season.
Hughes is 6’0″, 185 lbs. and started at cornerback for the Utes in 2017, when he made 35 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 2 forced fumbles, and 1 pass breakup. He made 6 tackles and 1 forced fumble as a backup in 2015 and 2016 combined. He redshirted as a freshman in 2014. He has run 4.44 and 4.47 forties during his time at Utah.
As a high school recruit in the class of 2014, Hughes was a 247 Composite 3-star, the #126 cornerback, and #1595 overall. He had offers from Colorado, Nevada, Oregon State, UNLV, and Utah State, among others.
Hughes is known as a good tackler and tough player. He is expected to play nickel safety. There have been rumors since the season’s end that Michigan’s coaching staff was not happy with the safety position this past season, particularly in pass coverage. Hughes may be able to help with that as an obvious passing down substitution, and he could provide depth on the outside. However, he’s unlikely to become a starting corner since Michigan has two very good corners already in David Long and Lavert Hill.
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We’ll never catch OSU. All of their incoming transfers were ranked as 5-stars in high school.
/s
Seriously, thanks for the scoop. I hope this guy helps out more than the Stanford transfer did a couple of years ago.
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We had one of the best pass defenses in the country last year. Why are we wasting roster space on a mediocre player for an area we were strong in last year, and don’t lose anyone?
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Because we lost by 1 touchdown to South Carolina in a game in which our safety got torched for a long TD? Because our other starting safety dropped an INT that might have been the nail in the coffin against Ohio State? Because, as I said in the post, our other safeties aren’t very good in coverage and there’s nobody on the bench who can cover, either?
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Which doesn’t change the fact that, even with those weaknesses, our pass defense was one of the best in the country, and that we have no reason to think it won’t be comparably good next season. That isn’t the area where we need to be spending extra scholarships to improve. And that’s going on the questionable assumption that this guy could improve us anyway…frankly, he’s not that good a player.
We lost to SC because our offense was terrible, not because of minor quibbles with our pass defense. How about shoring up our weaknesses, and not our strengths? Does that make sense?
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There’s always room for improvement.
We lost to South Carolina for multiple reasons, including the pass defense. Even with the offensive shortcomings, they shouldn’t have scored 26 points.
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Sure there’s always room for improvement. The question remains of how much it’s worth spending to try to improve from 99% to 99.9% in pass defense, when we have other areas that have a lot MORE room for (and need of) improvement. Scholarships are a zero sum game.
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Yep, we need offensive linemen. I’ll be right there with you if we don’t pick up any more OL commits/transfers before the season.
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Just for fun…..What would his TTB rating be?
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I don’t know. There’s not enough film on him.
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I am curious as to why the staff chose to offer 2 DBs (Hughes and Grey) at the last minute when there are clearly more important holes to fill. I doubt it is because they are “can’t miss talent”. I am beginning to wonder if we are looking at more attrition (Brandon Watson or some other younger DBs clearly not cutting it) or we are going to miss out on our top targets.
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UM_1973 – “I am beginning to wonder if we are looking at more attrition”
is a logical inference and one I share as well. The scholarships have to come from somewhere.
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While Watson is a possibility, being a 5th year senior with another 5th year senior being brought in, it feels more likely that attrition among underclassmen will be coming at the defensive end, linebacker and offensive line positions, maybe running back, along with at least a couple other 5th year guys.
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