COMMITMENTS
Michigan picked up commitments from a few transfer portal targets this past week:
Fort Lauderdale (FL) Saint Thomas Aquinas wide receiver Jeffar Jean-Noel (3-star, #149 WR, #948 overall) decommitted from West Virginia.
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UMass transfer running back C.J. Hester committed to Michigan on Saturday. He had visited for the spring game.
Hester is listed at 5’11” and 195 lbs. As a freshman at Western Michigan in 2023, he ran 29 times for 124 yards and 2 touchdowns in seven games. He then transferred to UMass in 2024, ranking as the team’s second leading rusher with 119 carries for 529 yards and 4 scores across eleven games. Coming out of Cincinnati (OH) Wyoming in 2023, he was a 247 Composite 3-star, the #113 running back, and #1702 overall.
I think Hester’s size is exaggerated; he’s probably closer to 5’9″ than 5’11”. And I don’t think he’s 195 pounds, or at least he wasn’t during the 2024 season. But he does run tough. His numbers aren’t great, but he was playing for UMass, one of the worst FBS teams. There are several highlights of him running through tackles and fighting for extra yardage, and that’s a step up in a way from the type of tackle-breaking ability Donovan Edwards showed over the past few seasons. That’s not to say that Hester is a better overall running back, but at least Hester has the ability to fight through tackles. Hester also has a little bit of wiggle and a little bit of quickness, but he’s not going to be a breakaway threat like Edwards.
Overall, Hester is a notch below Jordan Marshall and Justice Haynes, and that’s probably the best Michigan can hope for from someone committing from the portal at this point in the cycle. Michigan has Marshall and Haynes and then a bunch of unproven players, including redshirt freshman Micah Ka’apana and a couple freshmen.
Hester would be the only player other than Jibreel Black, who finished his college career in 2013, to play for Michigan out of Cincinnati (OH) Wyoming.