TE Erick All (Iowa): All tore his ACL this past season but finished as Iowa’s leading receiver, catching 21 passes for 299 yards and 3 touchdowns. Despite having another year of eligibility if he wanted it, he declared for the NFL Draft.
WR Andrel Anthony (Oklahoma): Anthony caught 27 passes for 429 yards and 1 touchdown before suffering a season-ending ACL injury.
QB Alan Bowman (Oklahoma State): Bowman led Oklahoma State to a 10-4 record this season. Things started off a little rocky, but he ultimately locked down the starting job and went 304/501 (60.7%) for 3,460 yards, 15 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions. He also ran 26 times for 24 yards and 2 touchdowns. He will return to the Cowboys in 2024 for a seventh season of eligibility.
Sophomore wide receiver/cornerback Amorion Walker has entered the transfer portal. He played in thirteen games for the Wolverines over the past two seasons.
Walker came out of Ponchatoula (LA) Ponchatoula in the 2022 class and was ranked as a 3-star, the #72 wide receiver, and #522 overall. I gave him a TTB Rating of 81.
Michigan’s coaching staff believed in Walker as an athlete, and he had some freaky testing times when it comes to sprints and short shuttles. But after two years on campus, he was listed at 6’3″ and 180 lbs. Despite Jim Harbaugh saying he considered Walker to be a starter last winter, he looked overmatched in the spring game – getting torched by walk-on Peyton O’Leary – and then got passed up by UMass transfer Josh Wallace during the summer.
Players usually seem to end up closer to home when they transfer – see Oregon native Darrius Clemons transferring to Oregon State – so I would expect Walker to end up somewhere near SEC country. He has a crystal ball right now for Ole Miss.
As for Michigan, the Wolverines will once again be looking for help at cornerback after losing Walker and rising second-year player Cam Calhoun (Utah) to the transfer portal. Starter Will Johnson returns on one side, but Wallace and Mike Sainristil are heading to the NFL, leaving sophomore D.J. Waller, redshirt junior Ja’Den McBurrows, redshirt freshman Jyaire Hill, and a few others to battle for playing time. Michigan may look to the portal once again for a starter.
I feel really good about my predictions for 2023 and I’m nearly certain they’ll all be correct.
LEADING RUSHER Junior running back Blake Corum had 1,463 yards on the ground in 2022. Unless his surgically repaired knee doesn’t hold up, he’s a good bet to lead the team in rushing again, even with the presence of star running back Donovan Edwards. Edwards should get a lot of rushing attempts and might even top 1,000 yards himself (he had 991 last year), but Corum should still be the #1 guy. Prediction: Blake Corum, 1400 yards
Hit the jump for the rest of the prognostications.
Name: Amorion Walker Height: 6’3″ Weight: 180 lbs. High school: Ponchatoula (LA) Ponchatoula Position: Cornerback Class: Sophomore Jersey number: #4 Last year: I ranked Walker #94 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He played in six games and caught 1 pass for 4 yards. TTB Rating: 81
Walker had quite a freshman year for Michigan, at least from the standpoint of potential. Wide receivers coach Ronald Bellamy and cornerbacks coach Steve Clinkscale fought over him. Jim Harbaugh said he was 157 pounds when he got to campus, so he has put on at least 23 pounds since then. Michigan couldn’t figure out which side of the ball to play him on, so naturally, they played him on both sides. He caught 1 pass for 4 yards during the blowout of UConn, and he played both wideout and cornerback against Hawaii.
This spring Harbaugh went as far as to say that he considered Walker to be a starter. Unfortunately, in the spring game, Walker looked a long way from being a starting-caliber corner. He was beaten multiple times by walk-on receiver Peyton O’Leary, and while O’Leary looks like a legitimate threat for playing time this fall, it’s not so much that Walker was beaten – it’s that he looked flummoxed while doing it. He had a hand-timed shuttle of 6.10 seconds, video of which was posted online, so athletically he’s perfectly capable of staying with almost anyone. But his reaction time and recognition of routes aren’t where they need to be, and he wasn’t physical enough yet in the spring. Perhaps his potential is sky-high, but I think he’s at least a year away from being a quality cornerback. Luckily, Michigan landed UMass transfer Josh Wallace to challenge him, along with guys like Ja’Den McBurrows and Keshaun Harris, who are already on the roster. I do think Walker will start at some point this season, but I don’t expect him to lock down the job, at least not early in the year.
Okay, it’s time to put some thoughts about the spring game on paper.
QUARTERBACK: We know what J.J. McCarthy brings to the table, and Michigan was never going to let him factor into the run game, so whatever. This comes down to thoughts on the backups. After watching Michigan have a good 1-2 punch the past two years with McCarthy and Cade McNamara, there is a big question mark at the #2 quarterback spot in 2023. I thought redshirt sophomore Davis Warren once again outplayed the competition, which comes from Alex Orji and Indiana transfer Jack Tuttle. Tuttle had a couple decent throws and showed some decent athleticism on the run, but Warren is more accurate and probably a better decision maker, despite the fact that Tuttle is a sixth-year player. Orji has decent arm strength but leaves something to be desired when it comes to his timing and accuracy; running is the best part of his game, and he’s a change-up guy. I would put him at #4 on the depth chart.
