Attrition Watch: December 2015

I haven't done one of these in over a year. If you want a last glimpse at the 2009 class, hit up the 2014 preseason version of this post. You would be surprised that you might—that was a good class. Italics below indicate a contributor. Bold is for a player who is a multi-year starter. Sometimes the latter is a projection for guys with eligibility remaining. Yellow stars are for draftees, purple moons for All Big Ten players, and silver goats for All-Americans.

2010

One last look at the class of doom.

Dorsey, Gardner, Vinopal

Did Not Take Fifth Year(2): Richard Ash, Jordan Paskorz

Played Out Eligibility(7): Jeremy Jackson, Drew Dileo, Jibreel Black, Courtney Avery, Devin Gardner, Jake Ryan, Will Hagerup

Transferred for PT (6): Ricardo Miller, Cullen Christian, Marvin Robinson, Carvin Johnson, Jerald Robinson, Ray Vinopal

Academics/Not Being Nice (5): Demar Dorsey, Antonio Kinard, Austin White, Davion Rogers, Conelius Jones

Injury (3): Terry Talbott, Terrance Talbott, Christian Pace

Left Football (3): Ken Wilkins, DJ Williamson, Stephen Hopkins

Seven out of 26 kids played out their eligibility. One kid who left, Pitt safety Ray Vinopal, did anything after his departure. The kids who played out their eligibility saw one guy drafted. This was a bad class and Rich Rodriguez should feel bad.

2011

Frank Clark 50 pounds ago, Chris Barnett, Tony Posada

This was the hybrid RR/Hoke class in which Hoke found himself with three weeks to pile ten guys in. Late Hoke pickups are denoted with H.

Played out eligibility(6):Brennen Beyer, Raymon Taylor(H), Delonte Hollowell, Desmond Morgan, Matt Wile(H).

Early NFL draft entry(1): Frank Clark(H)*.

Early Fancy Job entry(1):Jack Miller.

Transferred for PT (6): Tamani Carter(H), Thomas Rawls(H), Justice Hayes(H), Keith Heitzman(H), Russell Bellomy(H), Blake Countess.

Academics/Not Being Nice (2): Chris Barnett(H), Kellen Jones

Injury (2): Antonio Poole(H), Chris Bryant.

Left Football (3): Chris Rock (basically: is walk-on at OSU now), Greg Brown, Tony Posada.

Transitional classes are rarely any good and this one wasn't. Hoke's late pickups did include two current Seattle Seahawks, but since Thomas Rawls had to transfer to get on the field that rather takes the luster off. Fifth-year departures complicate our "transfer for playing time" category: Blake Countess was a two-year starter at Michigan and started at Auburn this year.

This is a 20-man class with seven major contributors, which isn't great. Given the cloud Rodriguez was recruiting under and the extraordinarily brief window Hoke was provided after The Process completed, it could have been a lot worse.

*[Clark of course got booted from the team after a domestic violence incident and could be filed under Not Being Nice. In terms of his ability to contribute to the team, early entry—which was coming either way—is more accurate.]

2012

25 players. Seniors and redshirt juniors, if they're still around. As of April 2014 this class had lost just one player, Kaleb Ringer.

Devin Funchess, Willie Henry, Kyle Kalis

Enrolled:Amara Darboh, Jehu Chesson, Kyle Kalis, Blake Bars, Erik Magnuson, Ben Braden, Willie Henry, Matt Godin, Tom Strobel, Chris Wormley, Terry Richardson, Allen Gant, Jeremy Clark.

Played out eligibility: Jarrod Wilson, Sione Houma, AJ Williams, Mario Ojemudia, Joe Bolden, Royce Jenkins-Stone, James Ross.

Early NFL draft entry(1): Devin Funchess

Injury(1): Kaleb Ringer.

Transferred for PT (1): Ondre Pipkins

Academics/Not Being Nice (1): Dennis Norfleet.

With Ryan Glasgow a bonus walk-on this class is the spine of what was, OSU excepted, one of the best defenses in the country. Only two guys got added to the attrition list, and it was clear that Ondre Pipkins was inclined to stay before clashing with Harbaugh about his health. Pipkins will have a year at Texas Tech to show what he can do.

This class also provided Michigan's starting wide receivers, three-fifths of its offensive line, a boring safety, and a couple of linebackers. Hoke's first full class is going to see 22 of 25 players have their careers end successfully. This is an excellent class that drove Michigan to 9-3 once the glaring hole in it—quarterback—was resolved.

2013

27 men.

Jourdan Lewis, Derrick Green, Logan Tuley-Tillman

Enrolled:Jourdan Lewis, Derrick Green, Patrick Kugler, Dymonte Thomas, Shane Morris,David Dawson, Henry Poggi, Mike McCray, Taco Charlton, Jake Butt, De'Veon Smith, Ben Gedeon, Maurice Hurst, Delano Hill, Wyatt Shallman, Jaron Dukes, Ross Douglas, Channing Stribling, Khalid Hill, Da'Mario Jones, Reon Dawson, Scott Sypniewski.

Injury(1): Chris Fox.

Transferred for PT (2): Dan Samuelson, Kyle Bosch

Academics/Not Being Nice (2): Logan Tuley-Tillman, Csont'e York

Just five guys have departed, and two of the linemen had things that were just fate: Fox blew his knee out in an un-repairable way, and Kyle Bosch was in a bad place.

This class is going to experience some additional attrition after the season, all of it for playing time reasons, but with Jake Butt, Jourdan Lewis, and Maurice Hill leading a dozen-plus contributors it is another quality class.

It is again notable for the hole at QB, where Michigan went with a mono-afflicted Shane Morris after forgoing one in 2012 and taking Russell Bellomy at the last minute in 2011. The failure of this OL class to break through is the other major disappointment. Of the six enrollees only two remain and neither started this year.

2014

16 men.

Jabrill Peppers, Ian Bunting, Brady Pallante

Enrolled:Jabrill Peppers, Drake Harris, Bryan Mone, Mason Cole, Lawrence Marshall, Chase Winovich, Freddy Canteen, Ian Bunting, Juwann Bushell-Beatty, Wilton Speight, Maurice Ways, Noah Furbush, Brandon Watson, Jared Wangler, Brady Pallante.

Transferred for PT(1): Michael Ferns.

Ferns departed shortly after Hoke was fired, before Michigan could even hire Harbaugh. That looms rather large for next year. It's still early days for this class but it's looking rather sketchy, with just two guys making a major impact so far.

On the other hand those guys are Peppers and Cole.