tamani carter

NEWS ITEM: Brady Hoke announced at Media Day that redshirt freshman Tamani Carter has left the program. Carter had obviously not seen the field. He was the first guy to ever commit to Brady Hoke, signing up as part of Michigan's late "oh crap we have a month before Signing Day and need ten guys" blitz. Michigan actually snatched him from Minnesota a mere eleven days after he'd committed to the Gophers. He also claimed Iowa and Stanford offers, though it seemed like they went off the board midway through his senior season.

No idea why the guy left yet but if I had to guess it's that he saw the writing on the wall about playing time. He was a non-entity in the spring when Allen Gantand Josh Furman weren't around and may have slipped further down the depth chart after their arrival/reinstatement.

Carter's departure takes Michigan down to 76 scholarship players this year and takes the open spots for the class of 2013 up to 22 plus any fifth years who don't return, though there are a couple of walk-ons (Burzynski and Brink) who might make a case for themselves as scholarship guys a la Kovacs. Sam Webb has been saying that Michigan is planning a class of 25 on WTKA; by my figuring Michigan is still two players over once fifth year decisions are factored in. That's not much of a concern six months from Signing Day, since things like injuries and depth charts and allegations happen to football players.

OTHER NEWS ITEMS: Clark