Michigan needs to protect eight players from the transfer portal.
In more ways than one, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh’s choice to leave Ann Arbour and take over the Los Angeles Chargers set the metaphorical clock.
Not only did Harbaugh’s departure put athletic director Warde Manuel and university president Santa Ono in a race against time to find a qualified replacement before too much of the program’s infrastructure deteriorated, as happened at Alabama and Washington. It also opened a 30-day window during which anyone on Michigan’s roster may access the transfer site, despite the fact that it was closed. A luxury available to any team whose coach departs stage left.
Though the Wolverines lost more than a dozen players who will be taken in the 2024 NFL Draft, the core of Michigan’s roster still includes a few possible first- and second-round picks in the 2025 NFL Draft. In other words, these are the types of guys that coaches throughout the country may be looking for now that Harbaugh has left. While meddling with players on other rosters is still against the rules, the mostly unregulated world of NIL collectives and pay-for-play incentives ensures that there is always a way to get the message out. Nobody doubts that certain players of Michigan’s roster will be approached with financial incentives.
One of the reasons moving offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore to head coach makes sense is to protect against such buzzards. Moore, of all the options Michigan may consider, has the best chance of keeping the roster’s core intact, especially if he retains some of Harbaugh’s coaches. Here are three players Moore — or whoever else might be running the show in Ann Arbour — will want to protect:
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