Michigan football transfer portal open window closing

On Saturday, the window is officially closed! #GoBlue

When Jim Harbaugh departed Michigan football for the NFL last month, the transfer portal opened to any player who wanted to depart the program. They had 30 days to make a quick exit.

The Wolverines weren’t terribly hurt. Only one potential starting-caliber player departed: junior safety Keon Sabb, who transferred to Alabama. Sabb likely sought more playing time given both starters at his position (Rod Moore and Makari Paige) opted to return to Michigan for another year. But of those players other fan bases clamored for — cornerback Will Johnson, defensive tackles Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, and tight end Colston Loveland — none entered the transfer portal.

And as Friday turns into Saturday at midnight, that 30-day portal window will be closed, once again, and it will not reopen until it opens for everyone in spring.

At the time of this writing (less than an hour before the portal window closes), the Wolverines have lost only Sabb and no one else. It’s a pretty good sign of retention given the other schools that made late coaching changes — Alabama and Washington — both suffered mass exoduses to their program. But with the maize and blue retaining Sherrone Moore as the head coach, though many of the assistant coaches left, the players, for the most part, didn’t budge.

While that’s good for now, Michigan will have to continue to recruit its own roster, not just through the spring, but up to the season. It’s a new age of name, image, and likeness and the NCAA has not cracked down on any kind of tampering or external inducements (the latter appears to be something that the governing body won’t ever be able to legislate against, given the recent court decision). Regardless, given the culture that has been built in Ann Arbor, it’s a good sign of things to come — even if there are a few more departures on the way down the road.