Tag: Ex-Wolverines

Ex-Wolverine Updates: 2017 Pre-season Edition

Shane Morris (image via Twitter)

TRANSFERS

OG Kyle Bosch: Bosch is expected to start at offensive guard for West Virginia. He’s currently ranked as the #11 offensive guard in the 2018 draft class by NFL Draft Scout.

WR/S Brian Cole: Cole spent the 2016 season at East Mississippi Community College, the school that’s the subject of the Netflix docuseries Last Chance U. Cole isn’t featured prominently, though he makes a couple cameos. Anyway, he made 54 tackles, 1 sack, 3 forced fumbles, and 2 fumble recoveries at safety. He enrolled at Mississippi State in January but he will have to redshirt this year to get in compliance with academic requirements.

RB Kingston Davis: Davis ran 2 times for 17 yards against Hawaii in last year’s season opener, and now he’s transferring to Independence Community College in Kansas. The assumption is that he’ll try to transfer back up to an FBS program in 2018.

Hit the jump for many, many more updates.

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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.

Kingston Davis, Ex-Wolverine

Rising sophomore running back Kingston Davis is transferring, according to Sam Webb.

Davis committed to Michigan in April of 2015 (LINK). I initially gave him a TTB Rating of 80 before dropping that down to 70 once the recruiting cycle ended (LINK). I came to view him more and more as a fullback, despite his and his father’s insistence that he wanted to play tailback and tailback only. That’s fine if that’s your goal, but it’s tough to be a dynamic tailback at 6’1″ and 245 lbs. Davis dealt with some injury issues after enrolling early at Michigan in January of 2016 and played just a bit, carrying 2 times for 17 yards against Hawaii in the season opener.

Davis was looking up at Chris Evans, Karan Higdon, Kareem Walker, and Ty Isaac, not to mention potential sixth year senior Drake Johnson. Therefore, I don’t think this affects Michigan very much on the field. He was bound to be a backup tailback, and I suggested once again this morning (LINK) – before the news broke – that Michigan should consider moving him to fullback to back up the two co-starting seniors at the position.

Michigan is now down to 86 scholarships allotted for the 2017 season, so they have to shed at least one player before fall camp. I expect some more news of departures soon, which will get Michigan under the 85 cap.

Devin Asiasi, Ex-Wolverine

Devin Asiasi (#2, image via Fox)

Unfortunately, the rumors have come true: rising sophomore tight end Devin Asiasi is transferring. The Concord (CA) De La Salle native committed to Michigan on National Signing Day in 2016.

This is disappointing for me because I was very high on him coming out of high school. I named him as Michigan’s top offensive recruit in the 2016 class (LINK) and gave him a TTB Rating of 92 (LINK). I thought he would be a standout tight end in an offense that utilizes the position more than most programs. He was used mostly as a blocker – something he did effectively – as a freshman, but he also caught 2 passes for 18 yards and 1 touchdown.

Once considered to be an extremely deep position, the ranks are thinning at tight end. With Jake Butt’s graduation and Asiasi’s transfer, Michigan is down arguably its top two tight ends from the 2016 season. After not taking a tight end in the 2016 class, the Wolverines have presumed starter Ian Bunting, oft-used backup Tyrone Wheatley, Jr., and redshirt freshmen Nick Eubanks and Sean McKeon. There are some walk-ons who could contribute, as well as Zach Gentry, who spent much of last season practicing at wide receiver. It’s not an emergency situation, but the Wolverines are down to four scholarship tight ends, and Wheatley is the only plus blocker at this point.

The reason for the transfer has been mentioned as family issues, but some have pegged it as pure homesickness. Either way, he will probably transfer closer to home, and USC seems a likely landing spot. He will presumably have to sit out the 2017 season and then have eligibility for 2018-2020.

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Ex-Wolverines: Class of 2005

Marques Slocum (image via Scout)

TRANSFERS/RETIREES

Jason Forcier – Quarterback – San Diego (CA) St.Augustine
Forcier, the older brother of Tate (Class of 2009), arrived in the fall of 2005 as a bit of a departure from the standard mold of Michigan quarterbacks; he was more mobile and elusive than the standard 6’4″ to 6’6″, 220 lb. passer that seemed to gravitate toward Ann Arbor.  He redshirted in his first season on campus and was a backup quarterback on the 2006 team; he completed 3-of-3 passes for 30 yards.  With the arrival of highly touted freshman Ryan Mallett and still more competition in Steve Threet, Forcier transferred to Stanford and sat out the 2007 season due to transfer rules.  As a redshirt junior at Stanford in 2008, Forcier went 5-for-13 for 62 yards and 1 interception.  He tried to return to the University of Michigan in 2009 as a grad student and play for the Wolverines, where younger brother Tate Forcier was a freshman QB, but his attempts were unsuccessful.
Current status: Out of football

Hit the jump for several more former Wolverines.

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