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Breakdown of Michigan football roster: How many years each Wolverine has remaining

clayton-sayfieby:Clayton Sayfie•05/10/22•

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Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh
Michigan Wolverines head football coach Jim Harbaugh was the AP Coach of the Year in 2021. (Photo by Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The NCAA deemed 2020 a ‘free year,’ meaning the 2020-21 academic year wouldn’t count against an athlete’s eligibility. In other words, instead of having five years to play four seasons, athletes who were on college teams in 2020-21 could have one more year. From a Michigan standpoint, that aided the return of safety Brad Hawkins last season.

In 2021-22, the NCAA did not count players utilizing their extra years against a team’s scholarship limits, but that is set to change next season. With less players having the opportunity to take advantage of the free year due to scholarship counts and the fact that roughly half of student-athletes will not have been in college in 2020-21 (freshman and sophomore classes), The Wolverine has decided to adjust how we refer to a Michigan football player’s class.

Starting last winter, we began using classes that reflect how much eligibility a player has remaining. For example, we called quarterback Cade McNamara a redshirt freshman in 2021, even though he was technically a junior who redshirted in 2019 and had a free year in 2020. Now, we will refer to players in the same way that the University of Michigan official rosters do (McNamara is a senior, per the team).

U-M uses five ways to refer to an athlete’s class: Freshman, sophomore, junior, senior and graduate.

Here’s a look at the Michigan football roster, as of May 9, 2022, and how we will refer to scholarship players.

NOTE: Remaining years of remaining eligibility are listed in parentheses next to the player’s name. Remaining eligibility includes this coming season.

Graduates — 15

• LB Michael Barrett (2)

• WR Ronnie Bell (2)

• QB Alan Bowman (2)

• DB Gemon Green (2)

• DB German Green (2)

• DL Cam Goode (2)

• OL Ryan Hayes (2)

• TE Joel Honigford (1)

• K Jake Moody (1)

• OL Olusegun Oluwatimi (1)

• P Brad Robbins (1)

• TE Luke Schoonmaker (2)

• TE Carter Selzer (1)

• DE Taylor Upshaw (2)

• DL Julius Welschof (2)

Seniors — 16

• TE Erick All (2)

• OL Karsen Barnhart (3)

• WR Cornelius Johnson (2)

• DB Quinten Johnson (3)

• OL Trente Jones (3)

• OL Trevor Keegan (3)

• DB Caden Kolesar (3)

• QB Cade McNamara (3)

• DE Mike Morris (3)

• DE Gabe Newburg (3)

• DB Jalen Perry (3)

• WR/DB Mike Sainristil (2)

• DL Mazi Smith (3)

• DB DJ Turner (3)

• LB Joey Velazquez (3)

• LS William Wagner (3)

Juniors — 15

• OL Reece Atteberry (3)

• RB Blake Corum (3)

• WR Eamonn Dennis (4)

• LB Jaylen Harrell (3)

• WR A.J. Henning (3)

• TE Matthew Hibner (3)

• LB Nikhai Hill-Green (3)

• DL Kris Jenkins (3)

• DE Braiden McGregor (3)

• DB R.J. Moten (3)

• LB Kalel Mullings (3)

• DB Makari Paige (3)

• OL Jeffrey Persi (4)

• WR Roman Wilson (3)

• OL Zak Zinter (3)

Note: Two Michigan players in this class — Dennis and Persi — played in four or less games in 2021, giving them a redshirt season on top of the free year in 2020.

Sophomores — 22

• OL Raheem Anderson (4)

• WR Andrel Anthony (3)

• DE Kechaun Bennett (4)

• DL Rayshaun Benny (4)

• OL Tristan Bounds (4)

• LB Junior Colson (3)

• OL Greg Crippen (3)

• WR Cristian Dixon (4)

• K/P Tommy Doman (4)

• RB Tavierre Dunlap (4)

• RB Donovan Edwards (3)

• OL Giovanni El-Hadi (4)

• DL Dominick Giudice (4)

• DE TJ Guy (4)

• TE Louis Hansen (4)

• LB Jaydon Hood (4)

• DL Ike Iwunnah (4)

• CB Ja’Den McBurrows (4)

• QB J.J. McCarthy (3)

• LB Tyler McLaurin (4)

• DB Rod Moore (3)

• DL George Rooks (4)

Note: Six Michigan sophomore played in more than four games in 2021, burning their redshirt season and giving them just three years of remaining eligibility.

Freshmen — 23

• DB Zeke Berry (4)

• WR Darrius Clemons (4)

• QB Jayden Denegal (4)

• DB Damani Dent (4)

• OL Andrew Gentry (4)

• DL Mason Graham (4)

• DL Kenneth Grant (4)

• DB Will Johnson (4)

• OL Connor Jones (4)

• DB Kody Jones (4)

• TE Marlin Klein (4)

• OL Alessandro Lorenzetti (4)

• TE Colston Loveland (4)

• DE Derrick Moore (4)

• WR Tyler Morris (4)

 • QB Alex Orji (4)

• LB Micah Pollard (4)

• DB Myles Pollard (4)

• LB Jimmy Rolder (4)

• DB Keon Sabb (4)

• LB Deuce Spurlock (4)

• RB CJ Stokes (4)

• WR Amorion Walker (4)

Note: Michigan had 13 early enrollees, with 10 more freshmen set to join the team this summer.

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