Michigan picked up a significant transfer out of the portal today, a late Christmas present to use next fall while the current team prepares for Georgia and the Orange Bowl. That transfer is C Victor Oluwatimi from the University of Virginia:
#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/eqPYvXtyzM
— Olu (@bigolu55) December 27, 2021
Oluwatimi is a big deal because he's an excellent football player. He finished as a Rimington Award finalist for the NCAA's best center (losing out to Iowa's Tyler Linderbaum) and PFF ranked him the 3rd best run blocking center in the FBS this season. He was named a Second Team All-American by a number of publications and has racked up ACC awards too. Oluwatimi is 6'3" and weighs 310 lbs., a product of Upper Marlboro, Maryland and DeMatha Catholic. As a little-known recruit in the 2017 class, he began his career at Air Force but never saw the field and then transferred to UVA. Oluwatimi sat out a year due to the transfer in 2018 and then ascended to the starting center job the very next season. Fast forward to the present and Oluwatimi started all 12 games for the Cavs in 2021 and he's now started 32 consecutive games.
Oluwatimi entered the transfer portal just a few days after Cavaliers coach Bronco Mendenhall announced he was stepping down. Oluwatimi visited Clemson and Michigan, but was reportedly wooed back to Virginia when the Cavs hired Clemson's OC Tony Elliott. In the end, he opted for the Wolverines, where his mauling run blocking acumen should fit in seamlessly to the physical run game that Michigan operates.
Having played in a power conference like the ACC, there shouldn't be many transition costs in moving to the B1G for Oluwatimi. This is optimal because he projects as a plug-and-play, immediate replacement for 2022 rather than a developmental piece. Michigan is set to lose 6th year senior center Andrew Vastardis in the offseason and it seems the Wolverines have got their 2022 starter penciled in. If nothing else, this move signals that Harbaugh, Gattis, and Sherrone Moore feel that young center prospects Reece Atteberry, Raheem Anderson, and Greg Crippen are not quite ready to start, and that they want to leave Zak Zinter at guard.
With Oluwatimi on board, you can have him play center as a one-year fix, let the youngsters marinate an extra year, and then pick your Center of the Future in summer 2023. It's a big boon for the 2022 team, ensuring minimal drop-off on the OL, and somehow landing a piece who has a chance to be an upgrade over Vastardis. The news just keeps getting better for Michigan Football fans.
We'll have a hello for Oluwatimi next week. There is no content after the jump.
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stephenrjking
December 27th, 2021 at 7:01 PM ^
Still a game or two to play this year, but next year's offense should be really, really good.
Welcome!
Joined: 03/15/2012
MGoPoints: 20097313
RGard
December 27th, 2021 at 7:55 PM ^
No 'or', it's two games to play...:-)
Joined: 10/20/2014
MGoPoints: 41224
Dizzy
December 27th, 2021 at 8:35 PM ^
This should help them with their depth at guard next year, too. Seemed like this past off-season they wanted to see if Zinter could play center. My guess is they wanted to make sure center was solid in case of an injury to AV, and the freshman weren't really ready yet.
Now Zinter can stay at guard if there's an injury at center and if there's an injury at guard, GC or RA could also fill in if needed. Holding onto quality depth is going to be a new challenge in the portal era. Hopefully they can find ways to keep everyone involved. This team is gonna be loaded next year.
Joined: 08/29/2011
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george11
December 27th, 2021 at 7:03 PM ^
Awesome addition, Go Blue!
Joined: 01/08/2011
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dragonchild
December 28th, 2021 at 11:08 AM ^
Hail to the Victor?
Joined: 10/13/2011
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kurpit
December 27th, 2021 at 7:05 PM ^
That is an incredible addition for 2022. 5* transfer and 5* name.
Joined: 02/25/2009
MGoPoints: 9179
OwenGoBlue
December 27th, 2021 at 7:33 PM ^
Big time pickup.
I don’t know that this says much of anything about the young guys. If you can add an All American at an open position, you do that pretty much every time.
Joined: 04/03/2016
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Don
December 27th, 2021 at 7:36 PM ^
Our offense ought to be good enough that Olu can sit on the bench in the latter stages of most games, giving the young guys the necessary playing time they need to mature and develop.
Joined: 06/30/2008
MGoPoints: 115257
MGoStrength
December 28th, 2021 at 9:44 AM ^
I think the excitement of the season has gotten to you. I like a lot of what's coming back next year too, particularly on offense. But, just because we beat OSU in '21 doesn't mean we are magically becoming them. I don't envision us putting up 50-65 pts a game like OSU does most of the time. You do remember that MSU, Rutgers, & Nebraska played us down to the wire, right? I'm not sure "most" is the word I'd use unless you're talking pre-conference slate. I'd guess over 50% of our conference games will not showcase backups getting many meaningful snaps. I'm sure they'll be a few games that happens, but certainly not the majority of conference games.
Joined: 07/29/2010
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King Tot
December 28th, 2021 at 11:02 AM ^
We were #1 in plays over 50 yards. We return our best receiver who looked incredible before injury. We also return half a dozen other receivers who showed potential and a great TE room. Haskins touches will largely go to Edward's which should result in more big plays as well. The offensive line is arguably going to be better next year. Oh yeah, another year of development for our two great QBs. I think we can project improvement after dropping 84 pts in the last two games.
Joined: 11/29/2016
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MGoStrength
December 28th, 2021 at 4:08 PM ^
Assuming that a guy coming off an ACL injury will be just as good or better is a massive assumption.
Assuming Edwards will match Haskin's 1200+ yards and 20 TDs is also a massive assumption.
I don't see UM's last 2 game's offensive output as a baseline to project forward from. The entire season's average is probably a more indicative number. In 2022 I see games at OSU, Iowa, and MSU and home games against PSU & Nebraska as challenging games. I don't see those as games where backups are going to get significant snaps. In order for me to be wrong in my assessment backups would need to get significant snaps in some of those games. Maybe it will happen, but I think that's optimistic.
Joined: 07/29/2010
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BLUEinRockford
December 27th, 2021 at 7:33 PM ^
Welcome young man 👍🏈
Excellent addition to next year's team.
The O-line should be very good again.
Joined: 08/09/2016
MGoPoints: 12292
Retnep
December 27th, 2021 at 7:35 PM ^
I guess this will have to do for 'content' during game week. I mean, I understand that normally this is vacation time because Michigan isn't 'normally' (ever) in the playoffs and playing a meaningful game and that it's a great time to recharge for basketball season. But we are still in football season...and this is almost, maybe, up until this point, a once in a lifetime occurrence. Gack! Sure, I can go elsewhere, but I mean, I would prefer to go the most trusted place for Michigan football. A week off from the 23rd is like...I don't know, the day before the game. Sure, beggars can't be choosers...but this can't be the way we are forced to learn new behavior (go elsewhere).
Joined: 09/03/2010
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Jason80
December 27th, 2021 at 7:44 PM ^
With the rates these free blogs charge readers nowadays one would expect a staff putting up content 247/365
Joined: 10/05/2014
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a2_electricboogaloo
December 27th, 2021 at 11:15 PM ^
Seriously?
This site puts out TONS of amazing free content all year—better than the vast majority of paywall websites—and you have the gall to call them out for not giving you MORE free content over Christmas/New Years??
Yes there's a game coming up, but these are people with families and friends who 100% deserve to take some time for themselves over the holidays. They work their assess off all season to keep us entertained and informed, let them be for a few days. Jeez.
Joined: 04/21/2011
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Bob_Timberlake
December 28th, 2021 at 6:52 AM ^
If they had time to write this story then they would have had time to write one story about the team this week had this transfer not happened.
Joined: 03/29/2015
MGoPoints: 5769
a2_electricboogaloo
December 28th, 2021 at 7:04 AM ^
I'm guessing they wrote it previously and just released it, this transfer has been predicted for a few weeks now. Let them take a few days off for the holidays, people.
Joined: 04/21/2011
MGoPoints: 9330
lhglrkwg
December 28th, 2021 at 11:02 AM ^
It's common mgopractice to have drafted Hello posts for probable commits. I know there was a famous one out there for Da'Shawn Hand at one point amongst many others I'm sure. I'd imagine the staff had this drafted and ready to publish well over a week ago
But I too am outraged that my free-to-read blog isn't churning out posts during the holidays. The audacity...
Joined: 07/03/2008
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MGoStrength
December 28th, 2021 at 10:00 AM ^
First off, this is not meant in any way as a negative on MGB. I really enjoy the content they put out and of course it's free! But, I have been curious about the business model, particularly because it seems in contrast to many others. It seems like it's closest rival is 11W. I believe they started at roughly the same time with similarly humble beginnings and similarly rabid fanbases ready to devour any of their favorite team's content. But, 11W puts out way more content and has way more writers. It's almost as if Brian does not want to grow his business. He seems to purposefully leave profits on the table. He could most certainly grow the following, get more writers, get more clicks, get more ad revenue if he so desired. But, he only keeps a hand full of writers on staff and takes chunks of the year off, and puts out much less content. I'd guess the big wigs of 11W take the holidays off too, but probably have younger staff and interns churning work during those periods. Anyways, I've always been curious to hear about the business model from Brian and if my assumption is accurate or not and/or why he choses to keep things smaller than they could be. It's unusual in today's day and age. But, happy holidays to all and I hope our staff folks are enjoying some time off to be with friends and family.
Joined: 07/29/2010
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