Former Buckeyes and Spartans are making their way to Ann Arbor.
The new transfer portal era (along with the wildness of NIL) has significantly changed the landscape of college sports, seemingly establishing what has evolved into multiple free agency windows each offseason. While this theoretically benefits the players, giving them more control over their own future, there is significant reason for caution and skepticism with how this is all playing out.
Nevertheless, the transfer portal is a part of the game today, and programs will be left behind should they choose to ignore it (read: Clemson). This means formerly awkward situations are now more commonplace. At the forefront is the movement of players from familiar schools — Ernest Hausmann, Josh Priebe, and Jaishawn Barham are just a few of the names that have left other Big Ten programs to come to Michigan. However, it even gets much stickier than that…
How do you feel about Michigan’s intra-rivalry transfers?
Controversial transfers existed long before the latest chaos, with players like Justin Boren, Andrew Dakich, and Ben VanSumeren amongst those leaving Michigan for its rivals. The relaxed NCAA regulations have really thrown gas on this possibility, though, and suddenly Jaden Mangham, Roddy Gayle Jr., and Tyler Duke are not really anomalies.
While I am happy to welcome any transfer to Ann Arbor, it does feel a bit strange for me. Just like with Greg Mattison heading out or Tony Alford coming in, movement between rivals is nothing new. Still, it feels a bit jarring how easy it seems for players to quickly transfer from one rival to another in today’s system, and while maybe that will become the norm in time, as of now it still take me a minute to digest.
What do you think? Have some strong feelings one way or the other about all of this transfer movement? Let us know in the comments below!