Well, the coaching stunk. Where do you start? And where do you stop? Michigan lost a possession because Oregon lined up in a funky punt formation, and it’s illegal to line up over the snapper. Michigan’s best 4th-and-5 call toward the end of the game was an end around pass with Semaj Morgan, and he threw the ball to Alex Orji, who had run out of bounds. The best thing about the entire offense was Davis Warren-to-Colston Loveland, and when it came down to crunch time, Michigan put the ball in Alex Orji’s and Semaj Morgan’s hands. Coaches always talk about “players, not plays” and Michigan very clearly went for “plays, not players.” Gross. Michigan had no answers in the run game, whether on options or RPOs. They challenged a Colston Loveland dropped pass for no reason, which cost them a timeout. I don’t want to say coaching cost them the game, because Oregon is clearly a better team. But it probably wouldn’t have been a 21-point loss.
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PWO QB FTW. Well, it was a mild surprise when it was announced that former walk-on Davis Warren was named the starting quarterback for the season opener over Alex Orji and Jack Tuttle. Orji had received most of the hype in the off-season, and Tuttle is the most experienced. But Tuttle has been dealing with injuries and soreness, so he wasn’t really an option. Rumors started coming out a couple days before the game that Warren would be the guy. He finished 15/25 for 118 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception and graded out as Michigan’s #4 offensive player (69.7 on Pro Football Focus). Overall, I thought Warren was mostly accurate. He overthrew a deep shot to Tyler Morris, and he underthrew Fredrick Morris on an open post route that could have been a touchdown but turned into an interception. There were a lot of checkdowns and short throws, probably by design to make things easy for Warren in his first start. But overall, I thought Warren looked composed and accurate.
Name: Aamir Hall Height: 6’1″ Weight: 201 lbs. High school: Baltimore (MD) Mt. St. Joseph Position: Cornerback Class: Fifth year senior Jersey number: #12 Last year: Hall played at Albany. He made 63 tackles, 5 interceptions, and 15 pass breakups. TTB Rating: N/A
Michigan suffered a lot of attrition from the defensive backfield following the 2023 football season. Along with losing Mike Sainristil and Josh Wallace to the NFL, Cam Calhoun (Utah) and D.J. Waller (Kentucky) transferred. And that doesn’t even bring into account the safety position. Waller probably would have been the #3 guy in 2024 and possibly would have had a chance to beat out Jyaire Hill for the #2 spot. So the Wolverines coaching staff went into the portal to get Ricky Johnson from UNLV and Hall from Albany.
Hall was a standout at Albany last year and was named an FCS All-American. Albany has a history of sending decent transfers up to the FBS level, including Florida State defensive end Jared Verse, who was picked in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft. Hall probably won’t be a first round pick in 2025, but he appears to be a worthwhile addition. Word out of camp is that Hill will be CB2 this fall, and Hall appears to be the next guy in. That means Hall will still play quite a bit this fall. Keshaun Harris got the third-most outside corner snaps for Michigan in 2023, and that amounted to 158 snaps.
Based on what I’ve seen of Hall from Albany, he’s an aggressive corner with good size. I don’t think he’s going to be intimidated by the move up to FCS, and physically he seems like he’s going to hold up well. His athleticism seems adequate, too. The biggest thing is going to be how he adjusts to Michigan’s defense, disguising coverages, etc., and that’s difficult to predict based on past film. Again, the word out of camp is that he’s hit the ground running and should be ready to roll as the third corner against Fresno State.
Albany transfer cornerback Aamir Hall committed to Michigan this evening after taking a visit to Ann Arbor on Wednesday.
Hall is a 6’1″, 201 lb. corner with one year of eligibility remaining. Originally a signee for FCS Richmond, he spent the 2021 and 2022 seasons playing for the Spiders. He then transferred to Albany in 2023, where he was an FCS All-American, totaling 63 tackles, 5 interceptions, and 15 total passes defended.
After watching some highlights of him playing at Albany this past fall, I think Hall may have a better shot at playing corner than I originally believed. I mentioned in an earlier article that he might be more of a nickel – which was based on going back to watch his high school highlights – but there has been some development since then. He’s a good-sized, physical corner who’s not afraid to come up and support the run, and he has some nice instincts and ball skills. He plays through the hands of receivers, and he makes some nice adjustments to go up and get the ball, get low to dig out short throws, etc.
Overall, Michigan has found themselves a good addition to the cornerback room to compete with Jyaire Hill for that second corner spot, or perhaps help at nickel with Zeke Berry or Ja’Den McBurrows. Hall doesn’t have the greatest speed, but if he did . . . he probably wouldn’t be available at this point, and he wouldn’t be coming from Albany. Hill probably has higher upside in the long run because he’s a better athlete, but Hall is probably a good approximation of Josh Wallace – someone who’s capable in pass coverage and who won’t be taken advantage of physically.
Albany somewhat famously produced defensive end Jared Verse, who turned out to be a standout player for Florida State before becoming a 1st round draft pick last month. However, Albany has only produced one NFL draft pick, and that was 6th round safety Rashad Barksdale back in 2007.
Michigan is still looking at trying to land more defensive backs from the portal, including Michigan State safety Jaden Mangham, Sacramento State safety Cameron Broussard, and Louisville safety Wesley Walker, among others.
Aamir Hall – CB – Albany: Hall is a product of Baltimore (MD) Mount Saint Joseph’s who originally went to Richmond out of high school, where he played two seasons, making 88 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, 2 interceptions, and 16 pass breakups. After transferring to Albany in 2023, he notched 63 tackles, 5 interceptions, and 15 total pass breakups. At 6’1″ and 201 pounds, he’s probably more of a nickel than a true cornerback.
Jaden Mangham – S – Michigan State: Mangham was a 4-star, the #13 athlete, and #311 overall in the class of 2022. Trying to escape the dysfunction in East Lansing, he’s visiting Michigan this weekend to potentially fill the hole(s) left by Rod Moore’s injury and the departure of Keon Sabb to Alabama. Listed at 6’2″ and 185 pounds, he has started twelve games during his two seasons wearing green and white. He has 73 tackles and 4 interceptions during his college career and was named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten in 2022. Michigan did offer him coming out of Franklin (MI) Groves – also the home of recent Michigan commit Avery Gach for the class of 2025 – but both sides cooled a little bit throughout the recruiting process.
Wesley Walker – S – Louisville: Walker actually visited last week, but I did not include him in last week’s visitor list. He started his college career at Georgia Tech, transferred to Tennessee, entered the transfer portal in December, committed to Ole Miss, flipped to Louisville, and spent spring ball with Louisville. Then he entered the portal again. Originally, he was a 3-star, the #58 cornerback, and #572 overall in the class of 2019. Overall, he started 25 games and made 184 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 1 interception, and 12 pass breakups throughout his career.
