Michigan football strikes out with two remaining transfer portal targets

Posted by author February 1, 2025 Football

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Michigan football’s transfer portal options and targets have been dwindling. But there were two players left who the Wolverines had been targeting.

And now it’s looking like both options are likely off the table.

After losing to Ohio State in the national championship game, two Notre Dame offensive linemen entered the transfer portal, and both had been Michigan targets in their original recruitments. Center Pat Coogan, who went to the same high school as Wolverines linebacker Jimmy Rolder, and left guard Rocco Spindler, who the Wolverines finished second for, both decided to seek other options via the transfer portal. And Michigan appeared to be in good position for both.

Coogan seemed like a great fit for the Wolverines, despite Michigan already having a returning starting center in Greg Crippen. However, Michigan has an ethos that it will get as many good players up front and the best five will play — even if it means moving their position. Coogan was set to visit Ann Arbor this weekend, however, he never made it, having committed to Indiana on his Friday visit to Bloomington.

Spindler appeared to be more of a realistic option anyhow, given where the Wolverines stood with him on his original quest to find a school. Michigan was in the thick of it, but the purported visits that had been set kept being put off. Finally, he was set to visit Ann Arbor this weekend, but according to On3’s Pete Nakos, that visit has been canceled, likely eliminating the maize and blue from contention.

Spindler had visited Nebraska and Pitt (he was in the directory for both schools) as well as Indiana and Virginia.

Though the latter isn’t officially off the board, this indicates that the Wolverines’ pursuits in the winter transfer portal window are now no longer options. Any new additions to the team will now likely come in the spring window, save for one 2025 recruit in four-star offensive lineman Ty Haywood — the former Alabama commit — who will make his decision before the February signing period.

Here are the transfers Michigan was able to procure in the winter transfer portal period:

RB Justice Haynes via Alabama
QB Mikey Keene via Fresno State
DBs Tevis and TJ Metcalf via Arkansas
LB Troy Bowles via Georgia
WR Donaven McCulley via Indiana
WR Anthony Simpson via UMass
CB Caleb Anderson via Louisiana
OG Lawrence Hattar via Ferris State
OL Brady Norton via Cal Poly
DT Tré Williams via Clemson
DT Damon Payne via Alabama

Michigan did get two offensive line transfer commitments, but it also lost multiple players along the offensive line via the portal in Andrew Gentry (BYU), Dominic Giudice (Missouri), Jeff Persi (Pitt), Tristan Bounds (Arizona), and Raheem Anderson (Western Michigan)