Tag: Ex-Wolverines

Ja’Den McBurrows, Ex-Wolverine

Fifth year senior defensive back Ja’Den McBurrows has decided to enter the transfer portal for his final season.

McBurrows is listed at 5’11” and 194 lbs. on Michigan’s roster. He played four games as a freshman in 2021 and then missed 2022 with an ACL injury. He played in fifteen games in 2023 and 2024, totaling nineteen appearances throughout his career. McBurrows was also involved in the infamous tunnel brawl with Michigan State when he tried to help fellow defensive back Gemon Green.

At various times in his career, McBurrows has been thought to be a key contributor, especially at the nickel position. However, injuries and the performances of other players have prevented him from being a major factor. Last year the nickel spot was won by Zeke Berry initially, and then safety Makari Paige won the role during the second half of the year when Berry moved to outside corner. That was probably McBurrows’s best chance to play significant moments, but his season ended due to injury after the first four games.

McBurrows has one season of eligibility remaining (though with his injury history, he could eventually apply for a sixth year and would probably get it). Overall, he made 13 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 2 pass breakups, and 1 interception in his career at Michigan, and that one pick came against the dastardly MSU Spartans in 2023, a year after they attacked him in the tunnel.

Jason Hewlett, Ex-Wolverine

Redshirt sophomore Jason Hewlett has decided to enter the transfer portal.

Hewlett is a 6’2″, 227 lb. linebacker who played in nine games, mostly on special teams and all of them in 2024. He made 2 career tackles after redshirting in 2023.

Hewlett was committed to Cincinnati at one point in the process but Michigan swooped in and stole him. I gave him a TTB Rating of 81 when he came out of Youngstown (OH) Chaney (LINK) listed at 6’4″, 220, but the fact that he’s two inches shorter than that and has only put on seven pounds in two years did not bode well for his playing much in 2025.

This makes ten players from the class of 2023 who have already transferred, where Hewlett joins LB Semaj Bridgeman (Michigan State), RB Cole Cabana (Western Michigan), CB Cam Calhoun (Utah/Alabama), WR Karmello English (West Georgia), OG Amir Herring (Kansas), LB Breeon Ishmail (Purdue), LB Hayden Moore (Wasington), K Adam Samaha (North Carolina), and CB D.J. Waller, Jr. (Kentucky). All the linebackers from the class (Bridgeman, Hewlett, Ishmail, Moore) have transferred as the linebacker room has seen some coaching turnover in that time, going from Chris Partridge to Rick Minter to Brian Jean-Mary.

2024 Ex-Wolverine Coach Updates: Post-season

This is a whopper of a post. I tried to keep track of a lot of former Michigan coaches and players who are in the coaching ranks. It’s impossible to keep up with all of them, and surely there are a ton who are coaching high school football or maybe at the Division II or Division III level.

FORMER COACHES

John Baxter (Special Teams Coordinator, Fresno State): Baxter has been the special teams coach at Fresno since 2022.

Joe Bolden (Linebackers Coach, Ohio): Bolden was named the linebackers coach for the Ohio Bobcats for the 2024 season.

Adam Braithwaite (Assistant Safeties Coach, Cincinnati): Braithwaite spent 2024 as Samford’s defensive coordinator and was hired as an assistant safeties coach this off-season by the Cincinnati Bearcats.

Don Brown (Head Coach, UMass): Brown was fired after ten games with a 2-8 record this year and went 6-28 during his second stint there. He previously went 43-29 at UMass back when it was an FCS program.

Hit the jump for more.

2024 Ex-Wolverine Commit Updates: Post-season

Here’s a roundup of the former Michigan commits and how they did this past season.

FORMER COMMITS

DE Collins Acheampong (UCLA): Acheampong has yet to play any college snaps after two years, one with Miami and this past season with the Bruins.

LB Aaron Alexander (Michigan State Arkansas State): Alexander made 3 tackles this past season playing for the Spartans and has since transferred to Arkansas State.

WR Markus Allen (Eastern Michigan): The former Wisconsin Badger was EMU’s second leading receiver with 43 catches for 651 yards and 3 touchdowns. He is now in the transfer portal.

Hit the jump for more.

Owen Wafle, Ex-Wolverine

Rising second-year player Owen Wafle has entered the transfer portal.

Wafle was listed as a 6’2″, 298 lb. defensive lineman on this year’s roster. He did not play in any games. He was a 4-star, the #50 defensive lineman, and #445 overall in the 247 Composite for the class of 2024. Michigan flipped him from Notre Dame.

I gave Wafle a TTB Rating of 73 when he committed (LINK) and said this:

Wafle is not as athletic as [Maurice] Hurst, more talented than [Brady] Pallante, and perhaps as versatile as [Dan] Klecko. I could see Jim Harbaugh wanting to line Wafle up in the backfield on goal line situations and letting him make a linebacker or two explode.

Linebacker Jeremiah Beasley (Missouri) was the first player to transfer out of Michigan’s 2024 class, and Wafle is now the second.

Wafle’s brother Luke is a 2026 prospect with a Michigan offer, so this development may hurt Michigan’s chances there. The younger Wafle is a 6’5″, 240-pounder and he’s a 4-star, the #28 defensive lineman, and #221 overall.