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TRANSFERS
Devin Asiasi, TE (UCLA): Overall, Asiasi caught 44 passes for 641 yards (14.6 yards/catch) and 4 touchdowns as UCLA went 4-8. Asiasi declared for the NFL Draft despite having one year of eligibility remaining.
Brian Cole, S (Mississippi State): Cole sat out the Music City Bowl to prepare for a potential NFL career. He made 67 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 1 interception, 2 pass breakups, and 1 forced fumble in his final college season.
Kekoa Crawford, WR (Cal): Crawford caught 2 passes for 29 yards in a 35-20 win over Illinois. Crawford made a total of 16 catches for 272 yards and 2 touchdowns this season. He was leading Cal in receiving early in the year, but an injury caused him to miss seven games.
Ja’Raymond Hall, OT (CMU): Hall did not play in a single game in 2019.
Hit the jump for more.
Deron Irving-Bey, DE (CMU): Irving-Bey did not play in a single game in 2019.
Ron Johnson, DE (Towson): Johnson played in three games, making just 1 tackle (a sack for -4 yards) against North Carolina Central.
Reuben Jones, DE (West Virginia): Jones was named a team captain for his final college game. Altogether, he made 31 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, and 2 QB hurries in WVU’s 5-7 season.
Oliver Martin, WR (Iowa): Martin did not play in the 45-24 win over USC as Iowa finished out a 10-3 season. Altogether, he made 5 catches for 28 yards and 1 touchdown, along with 1 rush for 5 yards, during the year. He did not play in five of those contests.
Eddie McDoom, WR (South Florida): Altogether, McDoom made 13 catches for 174 yards (13.4 yards/catch) during USF’s 4-8 season. He has one year of eligibility remaining.
Brandon Peters, QB (Illinois): Peters went 22/37 for 273 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception during a 35-20 loss to Cal in their bowl game; he also ran 8 times for 68 yards. Altogether, Peters was 152/275 (55.3%) for 1,884 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions; he also ran 74 times for 213 yards (2.88 yards/carry) and 3 touchdowns. For a reference point, his conference finish was T-#5 in touchdown passes, #9 in passing efficiency, #10 in passing yardage, #11 in completion percentage, and T-#14 in interceptions thrown. In fairness, when it comes to some of those numbers, he achieved them in only 9 games due to injuries.
O’Maury Samuels, RB (New Mexico): Samuels applied to be immediately eligible at New Mexico this past season, but his application was denied, so he redshirted. He will be a redshirt junior in 2020.
Myles Sims, CB (Georgia Tech): Sims finished the year with 16 tackles and 3 pass breakups for the 3-9 Yellowjackets.
Drew Singleton, LB (Rutgers): Singleton finished the year with 34 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and 1 sack for the 2-10 Scarlet Knights.
Aubrey Solomon, DT (Tennessee): Solomon made 1 tackle in a narrow 23-22 win over Indiana in their bowl game. Solomon ended the year with 28 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and 1 quarterback hurry.
Benjamin St-Juste, CB (Minnesota): St-Juste made 6 tackles and 1 pass breakup in Minnesota’s 31-24 win over Auburn. He finished the year with 45 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and 10 pass breakups.
Kurt Taylor, RB (Iowa Central Community College): Taylor finished the year as the leading rusher for Iowa Central as he had 150 carries for 711 yards (4.7 yards/carry) and 3 touchdowns; he also caught 6 passes for 32 yards. Taylor is transferring to Tennessee Tech.
Ryan Tice, K (CMU): Tice was 1/1 on field goals in a 48-11 loss to San Diego in the San Diego Credit Union Bowl. Overall, he was 13/21 on field goals, 47/47 on extra points, and sent 29.2% of his kickoffs for touchbacks on 65 attempts.
Nolan Ulizio, OT (Pitt): Ulizio was Pitt’s starting right tackle. After checking the All-ACC teams, he did not receive any post-season accolades for his performance. His eligibility is complete.
Kareem Walker, RB (Mississippi State): Walker sat out the season after joining the team late.
Keith Washington, CB (West Virginia): Altogether, Washington made 23 tackles, 3 interceptions (for 41 yards), and 9 pass breakups for 5-7 WVU.
Tyrone Wheatley, Jr., TE (Morgan State): Wheatley did not record any statistics in his final year of college football.
J’Marick Woods, S (Duke): Woods put his name in the transfer portal toward the end of the season and has already moved on to Duke.
DECOMMITS
George Campbell, WR (West Virginia): Campbell finished with 19 catches for 469 yards (24.7 yards/catch) and 7 touchdowns on the season. He has applied for a sixth year of eligibility.
Shaun Crawford, CB (Notre Dame): Crawford made 3 tackles and 1 quarterback hurry in a 33-9 bowl win over Iowa State. Overall on the year, he made 28 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 interception, and 2 pass breakups. He is considering applying for a sixth year of eligibility since he has been so injury-prone.
Messiah DeWeaver, QB (Old Dominion): DeWeaver finished the year 29/67 for 316 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions for the 1-11 ODU squad. He also ran 47 times for 35 yards and made 1 catch for 16 yards. He has one year of eligibility remaining.
A.J. Dillon, RB (Boston College): Dillon sat out the bowl game. He finished the year with 318 carries for 1,685 yards and 14 touchdowns; he also caught 13 passes for 195 yards and 1 touchdown. He declared for the NFL Draft with one year of eligibility left.
Kevin Doyle, QB (Arizona): Doyle has not seen the field in two years at Arizona, which finishes at 4-8 for the year.
Emil Ekiyor, OG (Alabama): Ekiyor played in eight games as a backup offensive guard for Alabama.
Jordan Elliott, DT (Missouri): The Tigers went 6-6 and were bowl eligible but they fired head coach Barry Odom and did not accept a bowl offer. Elliott made 44 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, 3 pass breakups, 6 quarterback hurries, and 1 blocked kick. He declared for the draft with one season of eligibility left.
Eric Gray, RB (Tennessee): Gray was the MVP of the bowl game win over Indiana. He ran 14 times for 86 yards and 1 touchdown, along with 2 catches for 34 yards. He ran the ball a total of 101 times for 539 yards (5.3 yards/catch) and 4 touchdowns, and he made 13 catches for 115 yards and 1 touchdown.
Devery Hamilton, OG (Stanford): Hamilton started at left guard for Stanford early in the year before an injury forced him out of the lineup after four games. He announced his intentions to transfer. He has one year left as a grad transfer, and Michigan is rumored to be interested.
Dele’ Harding, LB (Illinois): Harding made 6 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss in a 35-20 loss to Cal in the bowl game. He finished the year with 153 tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss, 3 interceptions (for 94 yards and 2 touchdowns), 3 forced fumbles, and 2 quarterback hurries. This was his final college season.
Kai-Leon Herbert, OG (Miami): Herbert played in ten games as a backup offensive lineman.
Stephen Herron, Jr., OLB (Stanford): Herron played in three games during his true freshman season. He made 2 tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss, and 0.5 sacks.
Jeremiah Holloman, WR (Florida International): Holloman, who ran into some legal trouble and transferred from Georgia, sat out the 2019 season while redshirting at FIU. He will be a redshirt junior in 2020.
Jalil Irvin, OG (Auburn): Irvin played in four games as a redshirt freshman in 2019.
Chase Lasater, LB (Florida Atlantic): Lasater did not play during the 2019 season.
Amauri Pesek-Hickson (Kansas): The plan was for Pesek-Hickson to grayshirt at Kansas, so he should be joining the Jayhawks this spring with five years to play four.
David Reese II, LB (Florida): Reese made 5 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and 1 quarterback hurry in a 36-28 win over Virginia in the bowl game. Overall, he made 94 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and 1 quarterback hurry during his senior year.
Otis Reese, S (Georgia): Reese played in all thirteen games as a backup/special teamer and made 3 tackles. He is in the transfer portal after having minimal success over two seasons in Athens.
Antwaine Richardson, S (Maryland): Richardson tore his ACL prior to the 2019 season and missed the entire year. He has one year of eligibility remaining.
Erik Swenson, OT (Oklahoma): Swenson was a part-time starter and played in ten total games in 2019. He was not on any of the All-Big 12 teams, nor was he Honorable Mention. The redshirt junior has one year of eligibility remaining.
Garrett Taylor, S (Penn State): Taylor made 9 tackles and 1 interception for 15 yards in a 53-39 bowl win over Memphis. In total, he made 84 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 1 interception (for a 15-yard touchdown), 1 forced fumble, and 2 pass breakups. This was his final year of eligibility.
Leonard Taylor, TE (Cincinnati): Taylor did not make any receptions in Cincy’s bowl game, but he made 3 catches for 30 yards and 1 touchdown on the season.
Victor Viramontes, LB (UNLV): Viramontes made 20 tackles and 1 tackle for loss for the 4-8 Rebels, who fired their coach last week.
Rashad Weaver, DE (Pitt): Weaver tore his ACL in fall practice and missed the entire season. He has one year of eligibility left.
Tyrece Woods, DT (Buffalo): Woods made 8 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, and 1 pass breakup playing a backup role in eleven games during his true freshman season.
COACHES
Brady Hoke, Defensive Line Coach Head Coach (San Diego State): SDSU finished 3rd in the Mountain West in tackles for loss and tied for 2nd in sacks. That was with Hoke as defensive line coach. Now…head coach Rocky Long is stepping down, and Hoke is being promoted to head coach of SDSU again.
Jay Hopson, Head Coach (Southern Mississippi): Hopson and Southern Mississippi fell to 7-6 after a 30-13 loss to Tulane in their bowl game.
Scot Loeffler, Head Coach (BGSU): Bowling Green went 3-9 this season. Loeffler finished his first year as head coach averaging 16 points while giving up 38.6 per game.
Curt Mallory, Head Coach (Indiana State): Indiana State finished at 5-7. He’s 12-22 after three seasons in French Lick.
Jim McElwain, Head Coach (CMU): The Chippewas were 8-4 in the regular season but lost the MAC Championship game and their bowl game (48-11 to SDSU) to finish at 8-6. It was still a remarkable one-year turnaround from a 1-11 season in 2018 before McElwain took over.
Les Miles, Head Coach (Kansas): Miles’s first season was mildly successful with wins over Boston College and Texas Tech and a close loss to Texas (50-48 on a last-second field goal) but went 3-9 overall. Kansas had also been 3-9 in 2018, but prior to that, they were 3-33 over the previous three seasons. Three wins in any given year is a solid year for them.
Rich Rodriguez, Offensive Coordinator (Ole Miss): In a nasty reminder of my fantasy teams, Ole Miss finished the season at 4-8 despite averaging 26.6 points and giving up an average of 26.5. When Lane Kiffin was hired as the new head coach at Ole Miss after the season, Rodriguez was not offered a contract. He’s a “free agent” coach at the moment.
Nick Sheridan, Quarterbacks Coach Offensive Coordinator (Indiana): Sheridan is being promoted from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator.
Tyrone Wheatley, Head Coach (Morgan State): Morgan State finished the season at 3-9. This was Wheatley’s first season as a collegiate head coach.
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Thunder, when you look at this list of players especially the transfers, how does their performance compared to what you would have expected when they were on Michigan’s roster.? is there anyone who stood out to you as having a better career than you would have expected? Who are the players that you most wish would have stayed at Michigan?
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Man, that’s a big question/series of questions…
Generally, the guys who transfer are transferring for a reason, and that’s because they’re not special athletes. Most of these guys go elsewhere and are mediocre. The guy that I miss most is Devin Asiasi, and he’s kind of a special case, because he transferred due to homesickness, not because he couldn’t get on the field. He played quite a bit as a true freshman. The rest of these guys (for the most part) were stuck on the depth chart.
Nobody here was really surprisingly good, because…nobody here on the transfer list is very good, really, other than Asiasi. I guess the jury is still out on someone like Kekoa Crawford, J’Marick Woods, Benjamin St-Juste, and a couple other guys. Keith Washington went to WVU and had a decent career, which is about what I expected of him coming out of high school – good athlete, position-switcher who would need some time to develop, nothing dynamic or outstanding.
Here are the players I wish would have STAYED at Michigan (but, in some cases, only if they kept their heads on straight): Devin Asiasi, Brian Cole, Kekoa Crawford, O’Maury Samuels, Benjamin St-Juste.
As for the decommits, I think Michigan missed out on more. Ironically, the guy with the most success (AJ Dillon) is not a guy that I really miss. He is S-L-O-W and I don’t think he would have had near as much success in the Big Ten. Sure, he would have been able to bowl over some of Michigan’s lesser opponents (MTSU, Maryland), but would he have made a difference against Michigan’s tougher opponents? No, Michigan doesn’t beat OSU or PSU or Wisconsin or Alabama with A.J. Dillon in the backfield.
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I’d like to have St Juste going into next season. do you have the story on his transfer?
David Reese had a very nice career at LB for Florida. I think he would have helped us there.
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I don’t know too much on the St-Juste thing outside of putting the pieces together on his career arc. He got injured a couple times, and the coaches/doctors suggested he should take a medical scholarship. He wanted to keep playing, so he transferred.
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Find it amazing that Ty Wheatley Jr recorded no stats at Morgan St. While there was talk as to whether he was better suited to OL DE or TE, he still looked like a very serviceable TE in his time at UM. Wonder if things would have gone differently if Ty Sr had stayed at UM or maybe he just doesn’t like football.
There should be a iron man award for AJ Dillon. Trophy could be a titanium knee. Glad he is headed to NFL and not sticking around BC for another 3000+ carries, hopefully he catches on somewhere.
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I have the same question as AC1997.
Asiasi (who apparently transferred for family reasons) would be nice to have on the team. Solomon, too, though he seems to be underachieving. Aside from those two, I can’t say we *really* missed anyone.
Nice to see Reuben Jones have a good year at WVU.
What’s up with the CMU guys?
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Jones had an okay year at WVU, but he wouldn’t have played at Michigan. He was one of those guys who looked way in over his head whenever he got a chance to play.
I’ve looked and looked for info on the CMU guys, but I haven’t been able to find anything. My best (educated) guess: Hall got injured, and Irving-Bey got suspended. Hall was supposed to be the starter this year, and Irving-Bey had some off-the-field issues last year.
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I always wonder how AJ Dillon’s career would have turned out if he had gone to Michigan. He seemed to have carved a good career at BC but would he have been a better RB than the ones we had in the past 3 years? I remember we kind of dropped him at the last minute.
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“In fairness, when it comes to some of those numbers, he achieved them in only 9 games due to injuries.”
Only fair since this caveat was always given for Rashan Gary as well.
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I hadn’t heard Duke was where Woods ended up.
St Juste would have been a nice guy to hold onto but the push for medical seems to have back-fired. Maybe not – Michigan seems to be addressing the CB situation pretty well. Still seems like we’re a guy short every year against OSU.
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I liked Gray more than Charbonnet. Will be interesting to see how their careers play out. Both good looking backs IMO.
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