FIRST OFF: DUNNO. Give or take Matt Hibner, who stopped playing in order to maintain a redshirt and transfer somewhere next year, Michigan is the last P5 team without someone in the transfer portal. This obviously isn't going to last, but I mention it because that fact combined with the peak COVID-shirt year means just about anyone could come back, or leave, for 2024. Michigan only definitively loses six contributors: Cornelius Johnson, Cam Goode, Mike Barrett, Mike Sainristil, Josh Wallace, and James Turner.

I'm going to wave a wand and assert that the following players will not be back next year because their eligibility has expired or they head to the draft:

QB: Jack Tuttle
RB: Blake Corum, Donovan Edwards
WR: Cornelius Johnson, Roman Wilson
TE:
OL: LaDarius Henderson, Trevor Keegan, Zak Zinter

DE: Jaylen Harrell
DT: Kris Jenkins, Cam Goode
LB: Mike Barrett
CB: Mike Sainristil, Josh Wallace
S: Rod Moore

The following players are in the maybe category:

QB: JJ McCarthy
RB:
WR:
TE: AJ Barner
OL: Drake Nugent, Karsen Barnhart, Trente Jones

DE: Braiden McGregor
DT:
LB: Junior Colson
CB:
S: Makari Paige, Quinten Johnson

Aaaaand the following extant contributors (ie, persons who have played non-garbage-time snaps who are not DJ Waller or Amorion Walker) are highly likely to return next year:

QB: Alex Orji
RB: Kalel Mullings
WR: Tyler Morris, Darrius Clemons, Semaj Morgan
TE: Max Bredeson, Colston Loveland
OL: Myles Hinton

DE: Derrick Moore, Josiah Stewart
DT: Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, Rayshaun Benny
LB: Ernest Hausmman
CB: Will Johnson, Ja'Den McBurrows
S: Keon Sabb

That maybe category is huge in impact if not in numbers, and it's not out of the question that guys like Clemons or Benny could alight for greener pastures. But we have to put them in bins, and now they are in bins.

UPSHOT

Michigan doesn't really need a whole lot. The existing roster could enter next year with a pretty good shot at the Big Ten title. The only spots where things could get hairy is QB (if JJ leaves) and OL (if they don't get more than one potential sixth year guy back).

But they can up their chances and set themselves up for down the road. Michigan portal priorities:

1. Potential starting WR
2. CB #2 or nickel
3. Established LB
4. Versatile OL
5. DE
6. DT
7. Developmental QB.

I'd expect them to hit on 1 and 2 and then fill two or three of the other spots to end up with a slightly smaller portal class than last year.

[After THE JUMP: position by position.]

QUARTERBACK

the funniest option [Barron]

NEED: Ask JJ.

Michigan does not have a clear Next Man Up here. They do have Alex Orji, who will be a dude if he can throw the ball, Jayden Denegal, who's flashed some things, and Davis Warren, who seems to have faded from the conversation of late. They also add Jadyn Davis in this recruiting class. All of those guys seem like they're a year away.

If McCarthy returns, Michigan could either stand pat—particularly likely if they feel they've got the inside track with Bryce Underwood—or add a developmental guy who is willing to spend a year apprenticing and then get in a war to succeed McCarthy in 2025.

If McCarthy goes to the NFL, it looks like stopgap time. The problem is that by the time McCarthy announces his decision it will be early or (hopefully) mid-January and the vast bulk of the QB options in the portal will be off the board.

OPTIONS: Unless certain players are willing to wait it looks like Michigan is likely to strike out on plug-and-play veterans. The funniest thing would be to grab Kyle McCord, but that's deeply unlikely.

Dante Moore, the highly-touted in-stater who flipped his commitment from Oregon to UCLA, is the only name that's been linked with Michigan so far. Moore had a rough freshman year, completing 53% of his passes for 7.5 YPA, 11 TDs, and an alarming 9 INTs. There are some mitigating factors—41% of his dropbacks were pressured and 10% of his throws were dropped—but Moore looks like another guy to add to the 2025 battle, not a plug-and-play stopgap. Webb reports that his coach is asserting Michigan is a "perfect fit" for Moore. Oregon is the other main option.

RUNNING BACK

NEED: Meh. Even if Donovan Edwards does go to the draft, which we expect, Michigan will have Kalel Mullings, Ben Hall, CJ Stokes, and incoming freshman Jordan Marshall, amongst others. Mullings has shown enough to believe he can be a feature back, and there's plenty of depth.

If Adrian Peterson pops up in the portal, sure, but short of that Michigan can stand pat.

OPTIONS: No one obvious.

WIDE RECEIVER

McCulley is my #1 [Fuller]

NEED: I am going to put a checkmark next to slot. We're good.

On the outside, Michigan could use somebody. Michigan returns Morris and Clemons and has Karmello English and Fred Moore entering their second years. Peyton O'Leary is also a guy who has been garnering attention, and of late the occasional target. I don't think Michigan needs to do a ton here, but one proven guy would go a long way to solidifying this next season.

OPTIONS: IU transfer Donaven McCulley stands out as a guy who knows a couple of dudes on Michigan's roster and performed well. McCulley is 6'5" and broke out this year after converting from QB as a freshman—you may remember McCulley as the vastly-out-of-his-depth QB Indiana was forced to field in the 2021 game. 48 catches, 644 yards, 65% completion rate when targeted, a few drops. His contested catch rate was an impressive 67%. Michigan offered today and he told Wiltfong that Michigan "100 percent catches my eye" and that he wants to get to Ann Arbor "as soon as possible."

Staying in the state of Indiana, Purdue transfer Deion Burks is a Michigan native with a purportedly maize and blue family. Burks is an unexpectedly big name in the portal, ranked the #1 WR by 247 and sporting the offers to match despite season numbers that are good but not eyepopping: 47 catches, 629 yards, a 49% completion rate when targeted. PFF thought he was fine but just fine. Maybe Burks's production looks a lot better in context: Purdue's passing game was a trainwreck after their starting tackles went out for the season. FWIW, Burks is the guy who gave Mike Sainristil the business at the tail end of the Michigan-Purdue game. So he's got that going for him.

Burks told Steve Wiltfong that agents are saying he could have a second- or third-round grade, FWIW, and did not mention Michigan as an option. Webb reports that Michigan is interested but did not put feelers out to anyone before they were officially in the portal for obvious wrath-of-the-NCAA reasons.

TIGHT END

NEED: If AJ Barner comes back, none. If he leaves Michigan could use the closest thing to Barner they can find.

OPTIONS: Nothing obvious, and given the situation here is basically the same as QB it's likely that Michigan will be picking over scraps if Barner does declare for the draft.

OFFENSIVE LINE

Hinton is both an exemplar and a major swing guy for next year [Fuller]

NEED: Anywhere from nah to desperate, as there are a ton of moving pieces here. Michigan could return Nugent, Barnhart, and Jones for sixth years, feel that Hinton's improving rapidly, plug in Gio El-Hadi in the other guard spot, and call it a day. Or the former three could decide five years is enough and move on, leaving Michigan with zero returning starters, give or take Hinton.

Even in that situation something like Gentry-El-Hadi-Crippen-Anderson-Hinton is probably fine. That line would be guys in at least their third year on campus; all are four-stars. El-Hadi played a bunch last year, and Hinton played a bunch this year.

I wouldn't be surprised if Michigan added someone; I would be surprised if they took three like they did last year.

OPTIONS: ND C Zeke Correll is in the portal but is nowhere near the level of Nugent/Oluwatimi and I'd probably rather roll with Crippen. So is former Wolverine Zach Carpenter, who wasn't bad for Indiana last year. Still seems like he's not an obvious upgrade on Crippen.

Another IU player is an interesting option at tackle: Carter Smith. Smith survived against OSU, Michigan, Penn State, and Purdue as a redshirt freshman. He wasn't exactly good against the top teams but he was pretty decent against everyone else, posting a season grade of 69 at PFF. North Dakota's Easton Kilty is a Wisconsin native who is 247's #1 portal OT; if Michigan kicks the tires he'd probably have some interest.

DEFENSIVE LINE

NEED: I mean, I guess if they want to have nine playable guys again they'll need to add someone but of the nine they're likely to get five or six back, so they do not have starter's snaps to offer. They can point out that everyone eats and even if you're nominally second string you'll be on the field for critical snaps.

There does not look to be anyone pushing through as a must-play dude, so Michigan probably wants to add a DT to keep that two deep stocked. Maybe a DE as well.

OPTIONS: Penn transfer Joey Slackman is one of two confirmed Michigan portal offers to date. Slackman has the kind of PFF stats you want to see for an FCS up-transfer, going from 77 to 85 to 90 over his three years on the field. (Slackman originally intended to wrestle at Penn and did not play football as a freshman.) He grades out as an elite run defender.

Another Ivy transfer, Harvard's Thor Griffith, told Bruce Feldman that he'd like to go to Michigan or Ohio State. Griffith has graded out as a monster in all three of his years, with season grades of 92, 91, and 89; he also made Feldman's freaks list this fall:

The 6-2, 320-pound powerhouse, who packed on 10 more pounds this offseason thanks to a diet, he says, of 6,000-8,000 calories a day, bench-pressed 225 pounds 45 times and improved his 40-time two-tenths of a second from a year ago, down to 4.95. His 10-yard split is 1.65 to go with a 4.57 pro shuttle time. To put that in perspective, Oklahoma’s Jalen Redmond, almost 30 pounds lighter, clocked the fastest time among defensive tackles at this year’s NFL combine, going 4.51 in the shuttle.

Michigan has not been mentioned beyond Griffith's initial conversation with Feldman. I am antsy about this one.

There are no obvious DE targets; so far the portal is a bunch of guys looking like down-transfers after washing out at powers. FSU's Patrick Payton is the exception, but that's a kid from Miami with no obvious connections to Michigan. Duke's RJ Oben is going to be a hot name; he went to Duke and was a Jersey kid before that so he might be a guy with an interest in the winged helmet.

LINEBACKER

NEED: Chances are Junior Colson goes to the draft. Michigan can plug in Ernest Haussmann and maybe Jimmy Rolder—one perspective on Rolder's two not-very-good snaps against Ohio State is "wow, they must like Jimmy Rolder a lot to put him in the OSU game after barely playing all year!" Rolder also played about 150 snaps as a true freshman, so they probably think there's something there.

Then they have a large, amorphous mass of guys: Micah Pollard, Jaydon Hood, Tyler McLaurin, Semaj Bridgeman, and Hayden Moore. Depending on how they feel about the amorphous mass, that may be sufficient. It wouldn't be a surprise to see them add someone.

OPTIONS: Maryland's Jaishawn Barham has a ton of experience but looks like two-down guy at this point in his career, with coverage grades at PFF that are in the 40s. Princeton's Ozzie Nicholas is another Ivy guy with gaudy PFF grades who might be worth kicking the tires on.

SECONDARY

Huskey is not in any of our photos, which is probably a good thing [Barron]

NEED: Similar to last year but less severe. Will Johnson returns; seems likely that Michigan gets Paige back for a fifth year and Quinten Johnson for a sixth. Keon Sabb also has a bunch of experience. Nickel and the second corner spot are question marks but Michigan has a promising set of underclassmen who are likely to produce a hit or two. Ja'Den McBurrows has flashed as the Sainristil heir apparent, DJ Waller and Amorion Walker keep getting into the game in the first half, and Jyaire Hill will be coming off a redshirt raring to go.

One guy would be good, raising the floor considerably.

OPTIONS: WKU transfer Upton Stout is one of three confirmed Michigan portal offers thus far. Stout has pretty PFF numbers—81 coverage grade—and survived against OSU. More to the point, he was avoided. Stout is 5'9" and this more likely ticketed for the nickel spot if he comes here.

First team All-MAC CB Jalen Huskey posted excellent PFF grades and was targeted just once when Michigan played BGSU; that fell incomplete. BGSU coach Scot Loeffler is of course a former Michigan coach and could do M a solid here.

SPECIALISTS

NEED: Depends on how Michigan feels about Adam Samaha or their various walk-on competitors at K.

OPTIONS: Your guess is as good as mine.