In the last five years we've been to the championship game in baseball, The final four in basketball, the final four in football twice and the Frozen Four twice.

No National Championships to show for the efforts. I hope football breaks the string this year.

Unsure how many golfers we have in here, but wanted to make this thread for discussion just in case anyone celebrates this weekend the same way I do.

Anyone watching or in attendance this week?

Hovland off to a flaming start, Rahm with a fantastic recovery after a 4-putt on 1, and Brooks doing a good job of bringing his recent LIV success to Augusta so far.

I live about two hours from Augusta and the forecast here has actually gotten slightly better for the weekend, but Augusta still looks pretty rough. Hoping we can finish on time!

I need the proverbial paper bag…hyperventilating at all of these commitments. The water polo team has been a lil quiet, but otherwise…
😵‍💫😍

Story from @Brock Heilig breaks down Jackson and the impact on the roster.

Our BB roster is wide open with the recent departures?

Manuel Beigel has been given three stars, which now makes Michigan's 2024 recruiting class #3 overall in the country. Beigel's grade made the Wolverines leapfrog Notre Dame. Less than 100 points away from LSU at No. 2.

QB: 1

We got our guy.

RB: 1-2

At the moment we have 7 scholarship RB's scheduled to return in 2024. But Donovan Edwards is almost sure to be NFL-bound after this season, Kalel Mullings is 50/50 to still be here for his 5th year depending on his situation, and it's hard to envision Tavierre Dunlap still being here by then given how buried he is on the depth chart. And CJ Stokes' situation will bear watching, anyway. Jordan Marshall is already in the fold and Taylor Tatum is clearly still a take, but if Tatum goes elsewhere, I don't think it's fait accompli we take another. 5 scholarship RB's is a passable number. 6 is totally fine. So I don't think we necessarily take a second RB just to take one. Even if all 3 of Edwards, Mullings and Dunlap departed, a 2024 RB room of, say (in order of age) Gash, Stokes, Hall, Cabana, Marshall and Tatum is fine, numbers-wise. Worse comes to worst, if we lost 3 and didn't get Tatum, we could go portal shopping for one more. (Or have a handy spot to slide Alex Orji into?) Given all the possibilities, I feel like we're "Tatum or bust" from this point forward.

TE: 2

We have 6 scheduled to return right now, but I expect it to be more like 4 as I envision 2 of Barner/Hibner/Klein not being here next season. Loveland will be here. Depending on the season he has it's possible Barner could enter the draft, and I think there are limits to Hibner's and Klein's patience. Thanks to the Law of Conservation of 4* TE's Named Hansen, Louis has departed but Hogan is incoming. And the tea leaves say Prieskorn will be in the fold shortly.

WR: 3

We have 10 set to return right now, which is a big number for returning players at the position. So I think this will be a case of one out/one in from here on in. Roman Wilson could be ready for the draft after this season, while Eamonn Dennis and Cristian Dixon have shown no signs of cracking the rotation, and if Donovan Edwards' expected increased usage in the slot this year (he's too dangerous a weapon to be limited to 10 carries a game as Corum's sidekick, and he almost surely is the best slot receiver on the roster) keeps Henning mostly limited to KOR/PR duty like last year, then AJ might be pondering a 5th year elsewhere. Or even a 4th...? So good bet only one of WiIson/Dixon/Dennis/Henning is here in 2024, leaving room for 3 incoming: Channing Goodwin, I'marion Stewart, and either Jordan Shipp or one of the other names we're involved with.

OL: 6

At present we have a borderline "full" room returning - 15 guys. But there is going to be some deep attrition in those ranks over the next 13 months. At the present time, Karsen Barnhart and Trente Jones are scheduled to be here as 6th years and Myles Hinton and Jeff Persi as 5th years. Two of those guys will almost surely be our starting tackles next season, and the other two will almost surely not be here. None of those guys will still be at Michigan as a backup in his 5th or 6th year. Further, Tristan Bounds and Connor Jones are two guys you hear very little buzz on, and Reece Atteberry is getting to a point where he has to decide if he actually wants to get on the field somewhere. I think at the end of the day, that 15 returning number may be more like 10-11, so upon further review, we can take six OL in this class if we really want. I personally don't love taking that many in one class because it basically assures that 2 will finish their careers elsewhere. You're baking in churn later. But we're recruiting right now as though we're not stopping at 5, and there are seats in the room.

DL: 3

Ted Hammond is already in the fold, and I think we'll take one more DE (likely Brandon Davis-Swain) and a DT TBA.

EDGE/SAM: 1

This is an overloaded position as it is, with 11 guys for 1-2 positions scheduled to return. Even if we lose 3-5 of them to the draft and portal between now and then, which I think is likely, it's a solid bet that we're Brian Robinson & done here.

LB: 3-4

Looks like the MIKE/WILL class will be Chiles, Beasley, Curtis and Ludwig. I remain a little skeptical that Ludwig is really going to be here as a scholarship player, but until we get information that clarifies the extremely odd situation surrounding Ben Herbert's nephew (are we just doing our S&C coach a solid by taking a "commitment" from his heretofore unknown nephew to fluff his recruiting profile and draw interest from elsewhere?)... I guess for now he's in the class?

DB: 3-4

Normally you like to take a full defensive backfield every year - two corners and two safeties. But as it stands, we have 13 scheduled returnees (with RJ Moten counted as a LB) and not a lot of obvious attrition candidates. Keon Sabb is someone you might look at, and whoever is at the back end of the competition between Ja'den McBurrows, Amorion Walker, Kody Jones, Myles Pollard, Jyaire Hill and Cameron Calhoun may be getting antsy by a year from now. Quinten Johnson would have to use the COVID exemption for a sixth year to return, but at the moment there's a world in which he finally gets to start next year after he started getting meaninful playing time last season. And there's a chance Rod Moore could be good enough this year, after two years as a starter and playing a lot as a freshman, that he's ready to go pro. So one way or another, that 13 returning is probably more like 10-11. 12-14 is a good number for the DB room, so I think we'll definitely take 3 and could make room for 4.

***

This gives us a range of 23-26 for the class.

As it stands we have 98 for next year (11 in the class) after Sprague drops today. 12-15 more takes us to 110-113. However they're doing it, the staff seems to think they can be around 90, not 85, meaning 20-23 guys currently scheduled to be here for '24 have to go to get down to 90 and make room for this class.

Ballparking it, I think we'll lose 2 QB's, 3 RB's, 2 TE's, 3 WR's, 3 OL, 2 DL, 6 LB/EDGE, and 2 DB to either the draft or portal before next season - a total of 23 departures, give or take. Right what we need to be in order take the projections above.

(Many of these will need to come before THIS season, as the 2023 roster still sits at 102. I'm expecting as many as 10 lockers to be cleaned out in about 3 weeks when the portal opens.)

And I don't envision much portal shopping next January. There are combinations of events where we might need to fill a hole at QB, RB or DT, but it's hard to see any more than that. Over/under on inbound transfers next year could be more like 1.5, compared to this year's 7.

I will say Jackson and Love (plus Burnett) are intriguing additions in the portal and I think this team is better today than it was last week.

I do think they’re missing a piece or two, not sure if they’ll be able to add two more pieces unless there’s attrition we’re not privy to.

I think Juwan is a forward away from being able to construct something. I’m not ready to say where this team is going to fall in the conference because that will largely be determined by how the transfers work in.

Overall, I think Juwan has had a good day and a good start to fixing things. He identified guys he wanted and he got them.

QB: Warren (RS Jr) or Davis (Fr)
RB: Stokes (Jr) and/or Hall (So) and/or Cabana (RS Fr) and/or Marshall (Fr) and/or Tatum
TE: Loveland (Jr)
LT: Persi (5th) or Link (RS Fr)
LG: El-Hadi (RS Jr)
C: Crippen (RS Jr)
RG: Anderson (RS Jr) or Atteberry (5th)
RT: Hinton (5th)
WR: Clemons (Jr)
WR: O'Leary (RS Jr) or Morris (Jr)
SL: Henning (5th) or Morris (Jr)

DE: Graham (Jr)
DT: Grant (Jr)
DE: Benny (RS Jr) and DMoore (Jr)
EDGE: Stewart (Sr)
ILB: Hausmann (Jr)
ILB: Rolder (Jr) or Hill-Green (5th) or Moten (5th)
EDGE: McGregor (5th)
CB: WJohnson (Jr)
CB: McBurrows (RS Jr) or Walker (Jr) or Hill (So)
NB: Berry (RS So)
S: Moore (Sr)
S: Moten (5th) or QJohnson (6th) or Dent (RS So) or Sabb (RS So)

2024 four-star OL Andrew Sprague became the third pledge for the Wolverines at the position when he announced his commitment on Friday.

Breaking down the impact of his commitment and what it could mean on the recruiting trail moving forward:

Reid in in the transfer portal from Gonzaga. IIRC we were near the top of his recruitment. Any chance Michigan looks his way should Papa Kante fall through?

I'll let the Boom Boom Boys tell it best...

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In seriousness... He Has Risen
Happy Easter

Hmmm, nothing on Sprague. Wasn’t he suppose to announce today?

Good Friday everyone. Today's podcast deals with the breaking news of a pair basketball players committing to Michigan. Elsewhere my thoughts on the UM hockey team coming up short verses Quinnipiac in the Frozen Four. Michigan football looks to add to its offensive line and recent commit Jadyn Davis is recruiting a pair of wide outs from his high school team to join him in Ann Arbor next year.
Breakdown
Open 00:00-1:17
Tray Jackosn 1:18-3:20
Caleb Love 3:21-7:52
Michigan hockey 7:53-8:54
Andrew Sprague & Jadyn Davis 8:55-11:24
Dickinson rumor 11:25-13:53
Michigan winning championships 13:54-19:43

I hope that Naurato can recruit a more agile goalie. If we had their goalie, we win that game 5-1. 6’6” and wandering ten feet from goal. A bad combination. Clearly Q schemed to take advantage — two shots rebounded off his back.

I love what Portillo has added to the squad and wish him a wonderful pro career. With our style of play, we need a different style of goalie. if We are going to play the puck behind the net, let’s get someone who skates well and is a bit more agile. We need a round peg for the round hole.

The Love Machine has arrived boys and girls.

No Moody on the projected draftees? I thought he was a well thought of kicking prospect.

Received a handful of messages from people I speak with including someone from within the Rivals network that makes me feel comfortable in saying that Michigan is trending up for North Carolina guard Caleb Love.

Two evenings ago, I received a text message from someone I trust in the basketball world that said to watch out for Love and Michigan as there is some heavy traction there. Now, just today, someone I speak to within the Rivals network had one of his sources reach out to suggest that the Wolverines could be the choice for Love.

"Michigan just may be the spot," was the exact quote used.

I am not ready to come out and say that the Wolverines will absolutely land Love, as I know how the transfer portal works and things could change four more times before anything happens. However, it's clear that there is definite interest in between the parties and the fact that the Wolverines play the Tarheels next season is a bit of a selling point, too.

Love averaged 16.7 points per game (on A LOT of shots per game), 3.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists while shooting 37.8% from the floor and 29.9% from three last season.

He has played three seasons for UNC.