other coaches leave michigan gains

Michigan picked up a significant transfer out of the portal today, a late Christmas present to use next fall while the current team prepares for Georgia and the Orange Bowl. That transfer is C Victor Oluwatimi from the University of Virginia: 

#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/eqPYvXtyzM

— Olu (@bigolu55) December 27, 2021

Oluwatimi is a big deal because he's an excellent football player. He finished as a Rimington Award finalist for the NCAA's best center (losing out to Iowa's Tyler Linderbaum) and PFF ranked him the 3rd best run blocking center in the FBS this season. He was named a Second Team All-American by a number of publications and has racked up ACC awards too. Oluwatimi is 6'3" and weighs 310 lbs., a product of Upper Marlboro, Maryland and DeMatha Catholic. As a little-known recruit in the 2017 class, he began his career at Air Force but never saw the field and then transferred to UVA. Oluwatimi sat out a year due to the transfer in 2018 and then ascended to the starting center job the very next season. Fast forward to the present and Oluwatimi started all 12 games for the Cavs in 2021 and he's now started 32 consecutive games. 

Oluwatimi entered the transfer portal just a few days after Cavaliers coach Bronco Mendenhall announced he was stepping down. Oluwatimi visited Clemson and Michigan, but was reportedly wooed back to Virginia when the Cavs hired Clemson's OC Tony Elliott. In the end, he opted for the Wolverines, where his mauling run blocking acumen should fit in seamlessly to the physical run game that Michigan operates. 

Having played in a power conference like the ACC, there shouldn't be many transition costs in moving to the B1G for Oluwatimi. This is optimal because he projects as a plug-and-play, immediate replacement for 2022 rather than a developmental piece. Michigan is set to lose 6th year senior center Andrew Vastardis in the offseason and it seems the Wolverines have got their 2022 starter penciled in. If nothing else, this move signals that Harbaugh, Gattis, and Sherrone Moore feel that young center prospects Reece Atteberry, Raheem Anderson, and Greg Crippen are not quite ready to start, and that they want to leave Zak Zinter at guard.

With Oluwatimi on board, you can have him play center as a one-year fix, let the youngsters marinate an extra year, and then pick your Center of the Future in summer 2023. It's a big boon for the 2022 team, ensuring minimal drop-off on the OL, and somehow landing a piece who has a chance to be an upgrade over Vastardis. The news just keeps getting better for Michigan Football fans. 

We'll have a hello for Oluwatimi next week. There is no content after the jump.