Sherrone Moore on NCAA transfer portal: 'You have to have your ears to the ground' but 'we don't want to live in it'

Michigan Wolverines football has landed 16 transfer portal commitments ahead of the 2025 season, and more could be on the way. More than 700 college football players have entered the portal already this month, and Michigan has added two this spring in running backs CJ Hester (UMass) and John Volker (Princeton).

Michigan’s emphasis is still to attain high-level talent from the high school ranks and retain those players, but transfers have also been a crucial piece of the Wolverines’ roster building in recent seasons.

Head coach Sherrone Moore said on the ‘In The Trenches’ podcast with Jon Jansen that the Wolverines always have one eye on the portal.

“You always have to have your ears to the ground in the transfer portal, because it’s just part of it,” Moore said. “We don’t want to live in it, but you definitely have to use it to supplement your roster, fill some holes, whether it’s depth needs or we need somebody to compete to help start. Those are pieces we’re always going to use.”

Michigan has also lost players to the portal, though none of them were in the projected two-deep of the depth chart. There’s a lot that goes into players’ decisions in today’s college football, Moore pointed out.

“There are guys that are gonna leave based on, hey, it’s attrition, ‘There are guys that are here that I don’t think I’m gonna play,'” Moore explained. “And then the other factors we’re dealing with, the financial piece that really isn’t in control of the players, it’s the agents and the outside factors that you have to deal with in college football now.”

Moore laughed when he was asked if he ever thought he’d be dealing with agents on a daily basis.

“No, not on a daily basis, no,” he said. “That’s why I hired [general manager] Sean Magee, so he handles it. But it’s something that you just have to work with and work through, so you just gotta be able to adjust to it and adapt.”

The House v. NCAA settlement is expected to soon receive final approval, shaking up the college athletics world.

The settlement terms originally stated that Michigan and other college football teams would have to reduce their rosters to 105 players — scholarship or not — but there are still questions about when that will be put into place. Judge Claudia Wilken stated earlier this month that she would approve the settlement if there is a phase-in period for implementing new roster limits, allowing current players to be “grandfathered in.”

That could change how roster management looks in the short term. Still, with all the uncertainty, Michigan has had to have candid conversations with players, including walk-on athletes, that may be near the cutline.

“I just try to be very transparent with everybody,” Moore said. “Like, ‘Hey, this is exactly where we’re at. If there’s a 105 and that happens, you can come into camp, but if we have to cut and get to the game week, then you can’t be on the 105,’ which is an awful thing to have to say and you never want to do that, and I don’t agree with it. But that’s where we’re at.

“I just want to be open and transparent for them, that if they have the opportunity to go find somewhere else to play, they can, but would love to keep them around.”

Michigan just wrapped up spring practices, and Moore is pleased with where his team is at in its offseason development.

“Very excited about the energy,” Moore said. “Feels like a youth movement. A lot of young guys that will be in starting roles, new guys in starting roles and guys that have been here for a long time getting roles that they’ve really earned and worked their opportunity for. And then some new faces.

“It was an awesome spring, a physical spring and it went by super fast. You sometimes wish that you had a couple more practices, but it ended with a good, healthy spring game. I was proud of the team.”

Moore shared what he’s looking for out of the rest of Michigan’s offseason.

“Pretty simple: Do the little things extraordinarily well, and attack every little thing, be on time for everything, make sure the locker room is clean, attack the weight room,” he said. “Because they love football, they love the play book, they love doing all that stuff, but it’s all the little things. And if we do that, we’ll be in a great place.”