Subscribe
Follow Us
Sherrone Moore will have a lot of work to do in his second full offseason as a head coach. While a bowl game still awaits the 7-5 Michigan Wolverines, Moore is already tasked with having to replace several key pieces of his current squad.
While the addition of 2025 top recruit Bryce Underwood highlights Michigan's incoming class, Moore will have to replace essentially his entire running back room. On top of the departures of seniors Kalel Mullings and Donovan Edwards, sophomore running back Cole Cabana entered the transfer portal on Friday, per Allen Trieu of 247 Sports.
Despite being ESPN's sixth-best running back recruit of the 2023 class, the former four-star prospect has not panned out in Ann Arbor. Cabana did not record an offensive statistic in 2024 after being officially credited with just two carries for six yards in 2023.
Behind Mullings and Edwards, Cabana has also watched redshirt freshman Benjamin Hall and true freshman Jordan Marshall bury him on the depth chart.
Before committing to Michigan, Cabana was ESPN's 117th-best overall recruit of the class of 2023. Coming out of Dexter High School in Dexter, Michigan, the Wolverines were one of just two Power Five schools to give the former two-time all-state running back an offer.
Cabana also received offers from Boston College, Akron, Bowling Green, and Central Michigan before signing with the Wolverines. Cabana was part of Jim Harbaugh's last recruiting class before he left Michigan to return to the NFL the following offseason.
Cole Cabana joins hefty list of Michigan's departures
Immediately following the conclusion of the 2024 regular season, Michigan already began its offseason overhaul. Moore kickstarted the process by firing offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell and named tight ends coach Steve Casula the interim OC for the bowl game.
The transfer portal hit the Wolverines next with a swarm of players informing the team that they would be leaving the program. Headlining the group was junior wideout Tyler Morris, who was second on the team with 248 receiving yards in 2024.
The transfers will only be an additional sting to Michigan losing most of its key players to the NFL Draft for the second-straight season. Defensive stars Mason Graham and Will Johnson are expected to declare for the draft as two of the top prospects in the pool with Mullings and Edwards presumably joining them.
Junior tight end Colston Loveland will also likely forego his final season of eligibility as the top prospect at his position and a projected first-round pick.
With Moore being a first-year head coach, outbound transfers were to be expected from the group of players left over from Harbaugh's tenure. While the 38-year-old coach has his work cut out for him, he appears to already be handling the 2025 offseason better than he did a year ago.
