DETROIT — Michigan football was awfully quiet for a big bulk of the offseason when it’s come to bringing in transfer players. In December, the Wolverines got two in linebacker Jaishawn Barham and left guard Josh Priebe but it took months before the maize and blue dipped back into the portal.
But once they did, it was quite productive.
One such player who came from another school to Ann Arbor was former Tennessee safety Wesley Walker who was a starter in Knoxville. Walker initially transferred to Louisville but ended up transferring again in the spring portal to Michigan football.
So what does his new head coach see in him?
Sherrone Moore spoke about Walker at SMSB, a recruiting event in Detroit, and says that the new Wolverines safety brings a lot to the table.
“Experienced, physical, dude loves to tackle and hit, really good cover guy,” Moore said. “I think he hasn’t let up a touchdown (at Tennessee) in is career there. So he’s just a dude.”
Walker fits into Michigan the same way that some of his predecessors have — he exudes leadership.
Last year, the Wolverines succeeded by bringing in multiple transfers who had been team captains at their previous stops. This year’s group doesn’t necessarily have the same pedigree, but there are aspects that Moore likes about Walker in that regard.
“And then he’s a leader. Like you can tell he’s a leader,” Moore said. “You go back and look him up, all the media days, he was there, anytime they had media with players, he was doing it. So it’s pretty cool thing that somebody else was doing that so we tried to bring in — guys like that.”
Walker wasn’t the only defensive back Michigan brought in via the transfer portal this spring. The room was bolstered with the additions of UNLV’s Ricky Johnson, Albany’s Aamir Hall, and Michigan State‘s Jaden Mangham also being added to the fold.