Exit: Frankie Collins
It makes no sense, and total sense, and lots of people who think they possess sense are going to imagine themselves capable of passing it on. It's all in vain. Frankie Collins, projected to be Michigan's point guard of the immediate future, is entering the transfer portal.
I'm sure there's an announcement or something I can place here...I'm writing this last night and spending my Saturday trying not to dwell.
After a much-needed freshman year behind Devante' Jones, Collins was—at least in every mind but his—guaranteed to start the majority of Michigan's possessions next year. Shooting aside, his on-ball defense got Michigan to the Sweet 16, and there were more than enough flashes of his finishing at the rim and passing acumen to expect Collins would grow into a taller Zavier Simpson.
Clearly, Collins felt he'd been recruited over when Michigan picked up transfer guard Jaelin Llewellyn, even though he wasn't recruited over, because Llewellyn is a shooting guard and Frankie can't shoot. Again, if that was something that could be communicated it's past.
Unfortunately for Michigan it's still true, which means they're probably going to have to go shopping in the portal for a 30-minute point guard, either a grad transfer, a freshman willing to start his education over, or someone from the rare school our admissions tweeds will concede is a college.
It's 2022, however, so there are some names still out there. Iowa State's Tyrese Hunter was a freshman at an until-recently AAU school. He recently cut down his list to KU, Texas, Tennessee, Purdue, and Zaga, but that was before Michigan opened up—he's originally from Racine, Wisconsin.
April 30th, 2022 at 10:29 PM ^
Best of luck to him but I hope he transfers so far away (another conference)
Llewellyn is a two, Frankie! A two!
I think it's more like Llewellyn is a point guard who can play at the two. He's a skilled pick n roll practitioner; the question will be how his skills transfer from the Ivy League, but they wouldn't have picked him up if they didn't think they could. And Frankie may just have felt that Llewellyn had the inside track. There were rumors on other sites of Frankie leaving last week. Jet may have to play the two, and I think he can. (We're also got Isaiah Barnes, with little idea how the coaches regard him, what they may have seen from him in practice.) And we will recruit another guard.
I strongly dislike the chaos and effect on students, their academic trajectories, team stability and cohesion--there are also rumors that Frankie was being lured with monetary offers from more than one school; this is a world that I personally would prefer we were not entering (I expect that some of the irrational enthusiasm for all of this here is starting to be tempered a little). But in strict terms of having the most skilled possible players on your team, losing Frankie--longer-term, as fun a kid as he was--may well be preferable to having lost Kobe Bufkin, who is a hugely promising player.
At some point here we're going to know what the roster is--hallelujah.
He was a two at the Ivy League level. The logical thing for him is show he can play the one at the P5 level especially if he wants to catch NBA scouts attention. They know he can shoot. Now they are gonna want to see if he can playmake and run an offense. This is most the reason undersized two guards transfer up is show their pg ability.
Didn’t see that coming?
No, I don't think most people did.
Retention is as important as recruitment, especially at a program like Michigan where we obviously just can’t go to the portal and get anyone we want. I don’t get our guard recruitment at all, pg or sg.
This is so stupid. They don't even play the same position.
If this was Bufkin, whatever, I get it. But Collins? WTF?
There is something amiss somewhere for sure. T Will openly speaking ill on Twitter as well. I’d hope there was team meetings after the season about what we needed and were going to bring in to the team.
What was he saying? I can't see anything from his tweets but understand they may have been deleted.
Politics in this game crazy, go be great brudda, love you. It was deleted shortly after.
He was also one of the ones who took all of his Michigan stuff off of his social media page last night.
April 30th, 2022 at 10:28 PM ^
TWill's twitter banner is still of him after a Michigan game and his instagram is still full of pictures of his time at Michigan. Not sure what you were looking at.
April 30th, 2022 at 11:44 PM ^
It got deleted. Look at the first page of the post at the bottom of the page about him leaving. It’s in there. I basically quoted above what it said
That's not much....I wouldn't run w the narrative that he's upset based on that tepid comment.
Wtf? I don't understand this. Had to be more to the story.
Zeb Jackson and Frankie Collins leaving behind a possible 50+ minutes of playing time. Maybe the new guy CAN play point BUT he can for SURE play the 2. SO why the fuck chose.
Frankie had the most promised minutes behind Hunter.
Frustrating to say the least.
Whats funny is all these headscratching moves across all of college basketball. Just the "Why did that guy leave -random big ten team-" followed by "Why did that guy transfer in to -random big ten team"
Its a strange time but this hurts I really liked Frankie as a 4 year player.
"Hey, good for you, you're gonna start next season and play tons of minutes!"
"Oh, yeah, about that....I'm leaving."
I. Just. Don't. Understand.
But, good luck to the young man -- you gotta do what you think is right.
Thanks for your contributions to Michigan, Mr. Collins. It feels bad you decided you had to leave. Good luck.
Yeah, this was completely unexpected but I guess does mesh with UM clearly going after multiple guys in the portal despite seemingly being short of scholarships.
Wish him luck wherever he lands.
Is anyone surprised? It's been a minute since we have been kicked in the balls.
Academics?
If all of you were 19 and offered 6 figures to transfer to a school closer to home, I think all of you would do it too. $200k is nothing to sneeze at
Where?
Dang. I liked what this young man brought to the team. Ah well. Next man up!
It's going to be hard to replace Frankie's ball handling skills and to the hoop penetration, hopefully Dug will take this over.
The silver lining, if there is one, Bufkin shouldn't be going anywhere, and Frankie was a 16% 3pt shooter and 44% from the line last year granted limited data points. Still, I thought he was a 4 year guy, but it's clear we need shooters.
There's no reasoning it. This is one of the more out-of-nowhere-wait-what???-ambush transfers that I can recall. Frankie looked set to star here for another two or three years. Star. Whatever "explanation" we can produce simply doesn't carry enough water. It's a negative for the team and it's not something you want to see. Full stop.
Think it’s pretty clear he sees himself as being recruited over by the transfer. I don’t know how or why but he seems to think that way
April 30th, 2022 at 10:22 PM ^
I agree it's a negative but I don't mind seeing it in the sense that college athletes should have the same freedom to change their situation as other students. If Collins felt he was being recruited over with this transfer plus Dug coming in as well maybe demanding some minutes then he should feel free to look elsewhere. There's no promise that he'll do any better but we expect kids to make 4-year commitments when they're 17 or 18 years old and it's probably a net benefit if they're able to adapt and alter their trajectory as more information becomes available and they mature.
It does suck but it's reality at this point.
it’s time to stop saying “like any other student” and ask if “like any other professional athlete” fits, too.
because these guys are now full-fledged professional athletes, except with (so far) non-binding contracts. they’re independent contractors.
I don't see how they're much different than college students who have lucrative outside gigs like social media influencer types. They still have to attend classes, have to stay eligible, etc.
If we're going to call them "other professional athletes" then we need to stop calling them "college sports" and instead call them "pro league feeder systems" because Dabo and Harbaugh ain't making teacher salaries.
i didn't say they were different.
i don't know if you think i'll object to the phrase "pro league feeder systems," but i don't, and haven't objected to the notion in literally decades. the fact that college sports function as de facto minor leagues to the nba and nfl are near the top of my own list of why college sports should be burned down to the ground.
if you think this is hyperbole on my part, think again. i truly believe that big-time college sports as they are currently constituted are, in my opinion, antithetical to the very function of The University as a concept.
April 30th, 2022 at 10:24 PM ^
No, the guy is not a proven shooter. His success was very much an open question.
So weird.
Wish him well. Hope he finds... A team that promises him 110% of the available playing time?
April 30th, 2022 at 10:08 PM ^
...110% of the available paying time.
If he were to somehow end up at UCLA, would this be "Frankie Goes To Hollywood"?
I'll just show myself out...
Honestly, this is one of the more surprising transfers that I can remember.
To me it seemed like everything was setting up perfectly for Frankie to be 'the' guy next year...
really a headscratcher unless there's something else that is going to happen that hasn't been announced yet...
April 30th, 2022 at 10:00 PM ^
So sad to see, Frankie seemed to have fit in so well and felt like one of our guys. No other words other that dang
April 30th, 2022 at 10:02 PM ^
Him entering the portal doesn’t mean he can’t come back to Michigan
April 30th, 2022 at 10:09 PM ^
This one doesn't have the feel of ending with a return.
April 30th, 2022 at 10:31 PM ^
Yeah, I agree though Kofi last year felt like a divorce with Illinois and he came back so it can happen. But I agree this feels like a situation where some team will offer him what he's looking for on and off the court.
April 30th, 2022 at 10:59 PM ^
Unbelievable. I am at a loss for words. The headline slapped me in the face the second MGoBlog loaded in my browser. Frankie was really developing a drive to the basket. Shooting is bad but the dude has serious ups. I felt like he was going to be a premier assist guy as time went on. This sucks, dude.
April 30th, 2022 at 11:31 PM ^
I had a full ride academic scholarship. I transferred to another school after 2 years.
do any of you saying things about Frankie want to explain why nobody has ever said those things to me? What is different?
Because people cheer for athletes more than they cheer for mathletes?
Just out of curiosity, why did you transfer?
I’m not criticizing Frankie, but I’m betting thousands of people didn’t follow your academic career so the odds of anyone saying anything about it we’re significantly lower.
April 30th, 2022 at 11:49 PM ^
So we have serious minutes on a top ten potential final four team at point guard and hey I’m going to get my panties in a bunch? Unless I’m missing something this is a stupid ass move.
So is he expecting to run the full game without substitution and threatened by the shooting guard who is going to help his game?
My wild guess is NIL money came calling and the system is now totally corrupt. Makes zero sense. I’m selfishly bitter.
i will just quote forrest gump "stupid is...stupid does".
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