Michigan Thursday: Ole Michigan and How The Numbers Work

All reports are this is happening.  Michigan will be hosting 3 Ole Miss players this weekend and it seems there is a high probability that all 3 will become Wolverines:

• Shea Patterson, was part of the 2016 class and was the #1 rated QB out of IMG.  He is 6'2 and 200 pounds.   He played some as a true freshman and completed 54% of his passes in 2016.  This season he played in 7 games before getting hurt and completed 63% of his passes. 
• WR Van Jefferson was another 2016 recruit out of  Tennessee.  Van is also 6'2 and 200 pounds.  He caught 49 balls as a freshman and scored 3 TD's.  This year he caught 44 and scored 1 TD in 10 games.
• The 3rd Ole Miss player from the 2016 class is Safety Deontay Anderson.  DA is 6'1 and 220 pounds.  He played in 11 out of 12 games in 2016 and had 31 tackles.   He redshirted this year.

Bob, what is this going to do to our 2018 recruiting class?


There are reports that up to 7 players are interested in transferring to Michigan from Ole Miss.   The issue is that would kill the rest of the 2018 class, which still needs a few players. 


The 2018 class has 16 players in it currently.  (The only guy I'm concerned about de-committing is Georgia LB Otis Reese, he has been spending a lot of time in Athens and I heard Georgia made the playoffs after winning the SEC)    Michigan right now has 16 scholarships available after the recent transfers.  It's expected that after guys leave for the NFL and more 5th years guys decide to play elsewhere, Michigan will have around 20 spots in the class. 


With taking 3 guys from Ole Miss, Michigan would be filling 19 spots right now and we all want Chase Winovich to come back and not head to the NFL.   These guys are open question marks:  Ian Bunting, Juwann Bushell-Beatty, Lawrence Marshall, Noah Furbush, Bryan Mone, and Brandon Watson.   We should know quickly after the Outback on what these guys are planning.  


It's pretty easy to see that Michigan would not have room for 4 more transfers from any school.   The only player that Michigan would even consider is OT Greg Little and he doesn't seem to have any interest in Ann Arbor right now (even though he and Rashan Gary are friends).


If all 2018 commits sign on 12/20, there might be only 1 or 2 more spots left in the entire class.   That could be a boring NSD in February. :-(

• Is this news related to the above?  2018 4 star OT Jarrett Patterson has de-committed from ASU.  Jarrett is visiting Ann Arbor this weekend and UCLA next.