Like it or not, the transfer portal is an essential piece of the college football puzzle at this point in time. While Michigan has bigger fish to try this December, the Wolverines would be remiss to completely ignore the transfer portal during the open window. Recruiting and roster construction never ends.
Jim Harbaugh and company have benefitted greatly from the transfer portal since it’s inception. Drake Nugent, LaDarius Henderson, A.J. Barner, Josaiah Stewart, and Josh Wallace have all played vital roles in Michigan’s success this season. Still, the coaching staff has insisted that they intend to use the portal to plug holes, not to build the program from the ground up. With that in mind, how active do you think Michigan should be in the transfer portal this off season
Quarterback is the biggest question mark heading into 2024. There are a handful of reasons why J.J. McCarthy should stay in school. He could be QB1 in the 2025 draft class instead of somewhere from QB3-QB7 in the 2024 class. He also could benefit from a larger workload in 2024 in order to build his draft stock. However, there are also several million reasons for McCarthy to leave.
Should McCarthy declare for the draft, Michigan’s options in 2024 would be numerous. The Wolverines could roll the dice and start a true freshman in Jadyn Davis. They could see how well Alex Orji can throw the ball and build the offense around a running quarterback. Most likely in my mind is they test the waters in the portal. Several huge names have already entered the portal with Kyle McCord, Moore, and Cam Ward just to name a few. Should the Wolverines take a stab at recruiting Dante Moore again? The program has already reached out and contacted him. Michigan has other needs as well. Roster projection at this point is very, very difficult as there will be 20+ stay-or-go decisions that will need to be made once the season concludes. We’ve seen Michigan thrive at pulling in the right transfers — will that continue?
There is certainly a downside to utilizing the transfer portal as well. If you plug in transfers ahead of home grown talent, that same home grown talent may choose to transfer out themselves. It’s also significantly more difficult to establish a culture when you have large groups of players only in your program for one year. The Michigan coaching staff has a definite strength in player scouting and development. It would be a shame to see them not be able to develop players for longer than one year.
