Michigan football starter offered $1.75 million to enter transfer portal

Michigan football was able to retain most of its roster despite millions being offered to starters to leave the Wolverines.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to any Michigan football fans, but when Jim Harbaugh left for the NFL, sharks smelled blood in the water.

The departure of Harbaugh to the Chargers opened a 30-day transfer portal window. Alabama and Washington suffered heavy losses and many predicted the same fate for Michigan football.

Yet, when the (Harbaugh) window closed last weekend, only one player on the projected two-deep for Michigan football entered the portal (Keon Sabb).

I suspect tampering in that situation, but it is what it is. That’s the modern era of college football. However, Sherrone Moore did an incredible job of retaining his roster, despite rival schools offering at least one starter $1.75 million to transfer (via the Athletic).

The month after Jim Harbaugh's departure was open season for schools trying to raid Michigan's roster, with one starter offered roughly $1.75 million to enter the portal.

Michigan weathered the storm, but the work isn't done.https://t.co/rNib0XkDZo

— Austin Meek (@byAustinMeek) March 1, 2024

Sherrone Moore should be commended

It wasn’t just Harbaugh that left. Steve Clinkscale, the co-defensive coordinator, Ben Herbert (strength coach), and Mike Elston (D-line Coach), as well as Jay Harbaugh (Seahawks) all left for the NFL.

Nowadays, if a team loses its entire defensive coaching staff, you can expect mass departures. Hell, the reason Michigan football signed Sabb and Derrick Moore in the 2022 recruiting cycle was coaching changes.

Sabb de-committed from Clemson after Brent Venables took the Oklahoma job. Moore re-opened his recruitment after being pledged to the Sooners when Lincoln Riley went to USC.

Yet, not much of that happened with Michigan football which lost one high school signee and one notable player to the portal. Moore is the biggest reason why. The ownership of the players and their achievements was probably the other.

Michigan football stars decided to stay

Will Johnson could easily make more NIL money than he likely gets at Michigan. Flat out, I think he’s the best defender in college football. Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant aren’t far behind.

But Johnson wants to stay and signed a NIL deal with EA Sports to promote the new College Football video game wearing the Maize and Blue. He also said he’s not going anywhere publicly.

The leadership of the players has been key but Moore has also facilitated that by allowing them to meet with Wink Martindale before he was hired to be Michigan football defensive coordinator.

There’s a reason Moore got the head coaching job. He’s an exceptional recruiter, a brilliant offensive coordinator, and just a smart dude.

The fact that Michigan hasn’t lost more players to the portal speaks to that. He built a quality staff and as long as the Wolverines have a productive spring transfer window, they should be in playoff contention once again.

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