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When players transfer and leave Ann Arbor, us fans quickly go to the old standby reasons:
1 - Harbaugh runs guys out of the program
2- He wasn't getting enough playing time
3- Other issues like classroom, not a fit, etc.
The problem is we don't hear enough from the player or the coaches on when player X (no pun intended) leaves the program.
When Michigan OL starter Zach Carpenter entered the portal, many of the above reasons were given. Why would a starter leave Ann Arbor? Sometimes its a much different reason and a more important one.
This is what Zach told The Daily Hoosier: His mother’s health ultimately made him decide that he needed to be closer to home regardless.
Carrie Carpenter has lupus, an autoimmune disease that is terrifying in normal times, but even more so in the midst of a global pandemic.
Carrie went to the hospital with blood clots in late July — her son said she was told she could have died an hour later if they hadn’t been discovered when they were — and Zach couldn’t come home because he was battling COVID-19 at the time. The Carpenters were obviously terrified of what could happen if Carrie contracted COVID-19, and their worst fears eventually came to pass. She was diagnosed with the virus around Thanksgiving, right as Michigan was about to play Penn State. She was never hospitalized for the virus, Zach said, but she was close and had to undergo a heavy round of medication to get through it. She still hasn’t fully regained her sense of smell or taste, he said.
“She got real sick,” Carpenter said. “She was lucky she didn’t have to go to the hospital. They didn’t have any beds or else she probably would have had to go to the hospital. That really pushed me to make the decision (to transfer.)”
Sometimes players have non-football reasons to transfer. Zach clearly made the right decision for him and his family. I wish him good luck at IU and hope his mom feels better.
- Make sure you come back tomorrow for the annual post : Where will the Wolverines get drafted!
2 comments:
Thanks for the info regarding Zach. I wish him and his family the best.
Michigan will never publically comment on why Player X decided to transfer. That is a well-established fact. If you do hear from a Michigan coach or representative speak publically, they should be fired.
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