Famous players who transferred from Michigan
I just did a search for this, and the main "Earl" mentioned is James Earl Jones.
So while doing one of my pieces for TTB, I came across this little factoid that I didn't know: Earl Little originally signed with and played for Michigan. Little transferred to Miami before playing in the NFL for the Saints, Browns, and Packers (291 career tackles, 18 interceptions). Unfortunately, Little had a bad experience with Michigan and basically said Gary Moeller was a giant asshole to him. Here's an article that outlines that situation (LINK).
Obviously, there are a lot of transfers. The ones from the olden days that I've seen mentioned most are probably Trevor Pryce (DE for Denver Broncos) and Jon Ritchie (FB for Oakland Raiders/Philadelphia Eagles).
The reason I came across this was that Michigan has offered Earl Little, Jr., who's a 4-star 2022 cornerback from Fort Lauderdale (FL) American Heritage.
What other famous players have transferred out of Michigan? I have a big ol' list going back to the early 2000s, but the pre-2000 days are much less documented.
William Petersen DB. Played on 1997 NC team.
Yeah, he had more than couple cups of coffee in the NFL, didn't he?
Yes, I believe he was in the league for awhile.
Great actor, besides CSI, he was outstanding in To Live and Die in LA.
Ryan Mundy comes to mind. Transfered to WV
He play about 7 years in the NFL and won a superbowl. Pretty good IMO.
The transition from ‘Yards after Mundy’ to superbowl champion was a surprising one. Really glad he was able to pull it off
Not exactly famous but David Bowens tied the sack record then transferred to western Illinois in the 90’s. Had himself a nice 12 year NFL career, too
Bowens was a beast who, unfortunately, didn't think much of school.
I played BB with him at CCRB a number of times (along with C Wood) when he was a student and after he was cut from the program. The last time I saw him was probably six months after he was expelled -- he had sneaked into CCRB and was playing ball before being unceremoniously removed from the facility.
Nice guy -- glad be carved out a career for himself. He would have been an AA at UM had he stayed IMO.
Thanks PP and BM for remembering Bowens. At times, he was just unstoppable in his 2 years at UM, destined to be an AA, and, yes, a complete knucklehead in school. He and (Jevon) Kearse came into the NFL the same year. Kearse was a 1st round pick for the Titans. Everytime I saw Kearse, he reminded me of Bowens.
Most talented pass rusher I’ve seen at Michigan, and I’m not saying that lightly. Ten cent head — his is the first name that comes to mind when I think of UofM’s woulda-coulda-shouldas.
I like thinking about the guys who almost signed out of HS. Kevin Garnet (tho that was debunked recently), Eric Lindross, Kareem, Peyton Manning considered M IIRC, Jeter was in A2 for a semester before signing with the Yankees.
Did you mean Eric Montross or Eric Lindros? Montross has a sister who went to U-M and we were definitely close on him. He does a fine job calling color on the UNC radio broadcasts by the way.
Jeter was a great guy, at least back then. I sat next to him at a Fab Five game right before he left for the Yankees.
Don't forget about Rik Flair. He was supposed to play for Bump Elliott
Removing my comment because I didn't read the question well. Apologies.
Ryan Mallet whose famous for all the wrong reasons
We only talk about the guys that play for Michigan.
Justin Boren....BARF! I guess if there's a list, he has to be on it.
Boren would be on the list of "infamous" players who transferred from Michigan. He certainly isn't famous.
Justin Boren. Justin is his legal name, but he goes by the name Judas.
Ryan “Million Dollar Talent / Ten Cent Head” Mallett
Wrong thread please delete.
If you want a good laugh, search his business in Columbus. Also, the commercials him and his brother did for a tractor company is pretty hilarious.
97 first round pick Trevor Pryce started off at Michigan before transferring to Clemson. He was in the NFL for over 10 years.
Justin Fargas played for Michigan from 1998 to 2000 before transferring to USC. He was a third round draft choice by the Oakland Raiders. In his best season with the Raiders, he topped 1000 yards rushing in 2007.
Fargas is the son of Starsky and Hutch actor Antonio Fargas, who played Huggy Bear.
Saw Huggy Bear at a game. Pretty cool as I remember the TV show.
That injury is burned into my brain. His leg from the knee down was perpendicular.
If I remember correctly he only transferred to be near the doctors who were going to fix his leg.
Yeah. That was by far the ugliest injury I have ever seen in person.
I know it’s not a transfer but Jack Hughes almost came to Michigan
Damon Jones played TE for Jags. He was more famous to michigan fans because he lit off pipe bombs in the dorms. He was the biggest reason michigan stop taking non qualifiers.
It's basketball, but there's Makhtar Ndiaye, who was a double transfer. He came here from Wake Forest, spent two years playing for Steve Fisher, and then transferred to North Carolina, where he played on two Final Four teams and became an asshole. He then moved on to the NBA.
"Hacktar" was the Forest Gump of mid-'90s pre-NBA basketball. IIRC he played with Jerry Stackhouse at Oak Hill in high school, was in the same Wake Forest recruiting class as Tim Duncan, played a year at Michigan with all Fab Fivers except Chris Webber, then got to a couple of Final Fours at UNC with Rasheed Wallace and Vince Carter.
I might be off on a couple of details there ...
I’d like to see the whole list. It seems the only ones any of us remember actually watching are Fargas and Mundy but I’m sure there are others.
Here's a link to the full list going back to 2002 (LINK).
Haven’t seen it posted yet, but Thomas Rawls. Still in the NFL I believe
Currently a free agent. He's been signed by the Jets, Bengals, and Jags the last two seasons but has been cut in Sept by all teams before seeing any regular season snaps. 2017 in Seattle was the last season he was signed by a team for a whole season
Moeller's staff comes off poorly in the Earl Little story. Moeller telling him not to worry about his sick mother was insensitive, but I could see it as "God please help me control the things I can control" or whatever the quote is. The ride to the airport was a little weird. I'm assuming players used to get chauffeured by the coaches? When I was a student I was on my own for anything like that. Just goes to show you that you should always treat people well. I doubt his son is going to come to Michigan.
Not famous - but on that great 1980 team (Carter, Woolfolk, Edwards, Mel Owens, Andy Cannavino, Keith Bostic) that won Rose Bowl and finished #4 in nation - we had a stud freshman at Middle Guard named Jeff Shaw. Guy was a beast and plugged up the middle of our line. In 1981 - he was off team. Later graduated from Salem College and was drafted by the Bengals.
Have no idea what happened - but our line in 1981-83 would have been significantly better with Shaw staying.
Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch
Great name from past. But Crazy Legs actually transferred TO Michigan from Wisconsin, while also serving in Marines during WW2.
Incredible athlete. And obviously bright considering his ultimate college choice!
Clarence Thompson, 93-95, All Big Ten safety in 1995 for Michigan played for the Colts, selected in 1997 draft. Transferred to Knoxville in 1996. His son Tyriq played for MSU. I remember Clarence Thompson as a kind of stud, never knew his story Why he transferred.
He flunked out of school. And yes, he was a total stud. Started off as a corner and was certainly athlete enough (even at his size) to play press man. Kid was a monster — wish he could’ve kept it together just enough to get by.
Epke Udoh transferred during the transition to Beilein and ended up playing in the NBA.
Also in basketball, Olivier Saint-John transferred to San Jose State, converted to Islam and had a decent NBA career under the name Tariq Abdul-Wahad.
Other basketball transfers: but not sure if they made the league: Jon Horford and Evan Smotrycz.
Not NFL talents but 5-star RB Derrick Green played for TCU and then hyped hurdler Sam McGuffie went to Rice.
McGuffie would go on to be an Olympic bobsledder, so there’s that.
I'm friendly with the Horford family as they live in the Lansing area. They are still fond of Michigan and keep in contact with Beilein, Jordan Morgan, Bacari Alexander, etc. No hard feelings with the transfer situation. Jon is not playing anymore to my knowledge but seems to be doing training videos and such. His brother Al got more of the talent from his dad Tito it seems.
Jason and Tate Forcier.
Not there yet, but I suspect Devin Asiasi will join your list. Really sorry he couldn't stay.
Joe Holland (1973)
transferred to Cornell, was their all time leading rusher.
now an entrepreneur doing good things in Harlem.
son of former Ambassador to Sweden.
not “famous,” per se, but matt gutierrez was as highly-touted a quarterback as we’ve seen here (behind henson, obviously) but got hurt at the worst possible time and got wally pipped.
that qb room also had clayton richard, who “transferred” to the baseball team and has had a good long career in the majors.
and after all that he still got a shot with Patriots. I think he lasted a couple of seasons.