The transfer portal has given Michigan football plenty of help since it arrived in 2018, and the Wolverines have used it well enough to win the national championship in 2023. But the portal has also taken its share, and a few departures stand out more than the rest.
Some exits were about opportunity. Others were about fit.
A couple were just plain painful. Looking back, these are the six players Michigan should regret losing the most in the portal era.
Zach Charbonnet is the first name that jumps out. The former four-star running back put together a strong 2019 season with 149 carries for 726 yards, averaging 4.9 per attempt, before his role shrank dramatically in the COVID season, when he played only five games and finished with 19 carries.
The split clearly did not work out. After transferring to UCLA, he ripped off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, including 1,359 yards in 2022 with 14 rushing touchdowns and a Big Ten-best seven yards per carry.
Michigan had Blake Corum that year, but Charbonnet still would have been a major asset in 2022 and 2023. He also became a third-round pick.
Benjamin St. Juste’s departure carried a different kind of sting.
The 6-foot-2 cornerback only appeared in three games for Michigan while dealing with injuries, and after being told by the program that he should medically retire because of a hamstring injury that ended his 2019 season, he sought a second opinion and left for Minnesota. Over the next two seasons, he posted 13 pass breakups and gave the Wolverines exactly the kind of man-to-man corner they could have used.
The situation was unfortunate, and Michigan should have handled it better. St.
Juste eventually turned into a third-round NFL draft pick.
Giles Jackson never became a full-time star in Ann Arbor, but he did leave behind a real special-teams void. He was the Big Ten’s best kickoff returner in 2020 and scored two kickoff return touchdowns during his Michigan career, along with a touchdown against Ohio State.
After transferring to Washington, he had limited success until breaking out in 2024 with more than 800 receiving yards. Michigan could have used him badly in 2023 as a returner, especially with punt returning nearly costing the program a national title, literally.
He also could have been another offensive weapon, and maybe even the team’s top pass catcher in 2024 when the receiver room was thin.
Keon Sabb’s exit came in the wake of Jim Harbaugh leaving for the NFL after the 2023 national championship, and it was the one player departure that really stood out. Sabb was excellent in the title game and looked like a future pro.
He has only reinforced that view at Alabama, where he now has five career interceptions, 12 pass breakups, 121 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, and 1.5 sacks. Michigan would have loved to have him in the secondary over the past two seasons, and again in 2026, but that final college season will belong to the Crimson Tide.
Justice Haynes is another one that makes you wonder what could have been. Michigan’s backfield simply did not have enough carries for Haynes, Jordan Marshall, and Savion Hiter, but the idea of that group is hard not to love.
Marshall ran for 823 yards in Big Ten play last season despite missing nearly three games and averaged 6.9 yards per carry. Haynes, the former five-star Alabama signee, rushed for 857 yards and 10 touchdowns at 7.1 yards per carry.
He looks like a perfect fit for Michigan, and if he stays healthy, he should clear 1,000 yards this season with ease. Still, too many mouths to feed is too many mouths to feed.
The one that may end up hurting the most is Cole Sullivan. After a freshman year in which he played in 12 games but made only a few tackles, the 6-foot-3, 225-pound linebacker turned into a real difference-maker last season.
He finished with 55 tackles, five tackles for loss, three interceptions, a pass breakup, and a forced fumble. He seemed to be everywhere.
Oklahoma won him in the portal, and with the massive hole he left at linebacker and no clear replacement, watching him develop into an All-SEC defender will be tough. He also looks like an early-round draft pick.
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Why This Michigan Transfer Matters More Than Fans Realize
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Bracys value goes beyond just filling a roster spot. Michigan is counting on him to be a durable, reliable safety who can handle real responsibility right away, and his fit could matter even more if the Wolverines want the group to hold together over a long season. For a defense built on depth and versatility, a first-year transfer earning that kind of trust says plenty about where the staff thinks the room is headed. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Just Made A Defensive Staff Move That Could Shape The Secondary
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Stocktons path has included stops at Ball State and Boise State, where he worked with multiple all-conference players and earned recognition around the coaching profession. For Michigan, the appeal is obvious: a coach with a track record of teaching the back end, building depth and helping defensive talent take the next step, even if the full impact of this move will take a little time to show up on the field. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Just Missed On A Quarterback Fans May Regret
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For Michigan, the frustration is less about missing on a random target and more about watching a player it evaluated repeatedly head to a rival program with momentum. Taylors path included a strong previous season, a heavy dose of offseason showcase attention, and a recruiting process that drew visits from several Big Ten schools before Nebraska landed his commitment. The Wolverines have since moved on with their own 2027 quarterback work, but Taylor is the kind of name that can linger if he keeps climbing. [Read more 🡒]