Tag: attrition

Maurice Ways, Ex-Wolverine

Maurice Ways, Jr.

Redshirt junior Maurice Ways, Jr. announced on Wednesday that he would be seeking a fifth year elsewhere. As a graduate transfer player, he should be eligible to play immediately in 2018.

Ways graduated from Detroit (MI) Country Day and caught his passes from quarterback Tyler Wiegers, who has gone on to play for Iowa. Ways initially wanted to concentrate on basketball in high school, but his average height (6’3″) led him to pursuing college opportunities on the gridiron. I gave him a final TTB Rating of 81, because I saw him as a player who would eventually be that big, pro-style receiver that Michigan fans got used to seeing in the 1990s and early 2000s. Unfortunately, he continued to be a little raw – perhaps going back to that early concentration on basketball – and struggled occasionally with drops.

Ways appeared to be on the right track in 2015 when he caught 3 passes for 40 yards as a redshirt freshman, and he followed that up with a spring in which he was thought to be headed toward more playing time. Then he suffered a foot injury, which caused him to miss time, and he never really recovered that momentum that he had seen going into 2016. He ended his Michigan career with 6 catches for 47 yards.

The Wolverines have a bunch of receivers who have passed Ways for playing time, including Kekoa Crawford, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Tarik Black, and Grant Perry. Ways is a good blocker and reportedly an excellent human being who was involved in a lot of volunteer and leadership activities on campus. He’s a good team and locker room guy, so hopefully he can find a place where he can be a little more successful on the field, too.

Alex Malzone, Ex-Wolverine

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Alex Malzone announced that he would be transferring after he graduates this year. Malzone enrolled in January of 2015 and earned a start in his initial spring game. However, he never stepped on the field across three seasons. The closest he got was last weekend, when starter Wilton Speight and backup Brandon Peters were injured. Malzone was the #2 guy behind John O’Korn against Ohio State, but he wasn’t needed.

I said the following about Malzone during his recruitment:

Malzone runs a somewhat multiple offense and has experience dropping back, from shotgun, or from the pistol formation. He has a slight build and is a little short at a listed 6’2″. He runs his offense very well, is a good ball handler, and seems to be in command. He’s a good athlete who can get on the edge a little bit and make some things happen with his feet, but he’s not a blazer. Malzone gets the ball out on time and shows good accuracy and touch. His throws on skinny posts appear to be right on the money, but I question whether he has the arm strength to squeeze those in there against faster and longer defenders. He has a little bit of a hitch in his throwing motion where he brings the ball down to throw it, not totally unlike a right-handed version of Tim Tebow. Michigan’s coaching staff has been somewhat erratic with the quarterbacks they’ve recruited (the 6’3″ sorta dual-threat Russell Bellomy, the 6’3″ Shane Morris with a rocket arm, the 6’6″ Wilton Speight), but I look at Malzone and see him being too short and lacking the arm strength that Michigan likely wants.

I ended up giving Malzone a TTB Rating of 73 when he committed in the transition year between Brady Hoke and Jim Harbaugh, but with the other guys on the roster, it seemed unlikely that he would ever make an impact. He was passed up by literally every other scholarship quarterback on the roster, except classmate Zach Gentry, who moved to tight end.

This won’t affect Michigan next year, even though Speight is also transferring and O’Korn is graduating. Brandon Peters will go into 2018 as the expected starter, while Dylan McCaffrey has also earned high praise from the coaching staff. With two freshmen coming in the 2018 class, the Wolverines will have four scholarship quarterbacks on the roster – and the staff may pursue transfers at the position, too.

Drake Harris, Ex-Wolverine . . . again

Drake Harris

Redshirt junior wide receiver Drake Harris is transferring for his fifth year of football. It was reported earlier in the year that Harris left the football program and was going to join the basketball team, but then Tarik Black got hurt and Harris never made any appearances with the basketball program.

He ended up returning to the football team and played in four games, making 1 catch for 10 yards against Ohio State. In total, he made 9 receptions for 60 yards in four seasons in Ann Arbor. He was hampered early in his career (and toward the tail end of his high school career) by hamstring issues, though that problem seems to have cleared up in the past two years.

Harris was a 4-star, the #7 wide receiver, and #68 overall in the class of 2014, according to the 247 Composite. In that respect, he’s one of the more disappointing recruits Michigan has landed in recent years. For the #68 player to only make 9 catches over a full career – and to be passed by numerous lower-rated players – that’s quite a letdown. Particularly this season when Michigan was low on experienced receivers, Harris had a prime opportunity to play but got stuck behind Black, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Kekoa Crawford, and others.

This hurts Michigan very little for 2018 and opens up a scholarship for another player. Harris has struggled to get on the field in the past, and there’s no reason to think he would become an important cog next season.

Wilton Speight, Ex-Wolverine

Wilton Speight (image via AP)

Michigan quarterback Wilton Speight announced via Instagram on Sunday afternoon that he would be transferring elsewhere for his fifth year senior season. Speight started 12 games in 2016 and 4 more in 2017 before breaking a few vertebrae in his back against Purdue. He redshirted in 2014 before playing a backup role to Jake Rudock in 2015.

Hit the jump for more on the transfer.

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Keith Washington, Ex-Wolverine

Redshirt sophomore cornerback Keith Washington is transferring out of Michigan. I ranked Washington at #20 in the 2017 Season Countdown (LINK) and projected him as a starting cornerback after he looked like the best corner on the roster in the spring game.

Recent rumors suggested that David Long and Lavert Hill solidified themselves as the top corners, and Sam Webb intimated that Washington was no longer playing corner, presumably meaning that he had moved to safety. That makes sense for Michigan due to the low numbers at safety. But maybe it didn’t sit well with Washington, who would have been behind two sophomores at cornerback, a junior safety in Tyree Kinnel, and a sophomore safety in Josh Metellus. Maybe he simply didn’t see the path to playing time.

Washington was committed to Cal at one point, and Michigan flipped him out of Prattville (AL) Prattville. Remember that exciting pipeline to Prattville? Nobody is left. Washington is transferring, Dytarious Johnson didn’t qualify, Kingston Davis transferred to a JUCO in Kansas, and Cam Taylor – 2018 wide receiver who was offered – committed to Missouri this summer.

Not much of a pipeline after all.