With the National Championship Game taking place last night, the 2022 College Football Season has now come to an end. The offseason, which began as many as six or seven weeks ago for some teams, is now in full-swing for everyone. The transfer Portal opened in December and many teams have seen significant losses and additions via the portal, while the NFL Draft decision date is coming up. Moreover, coaching staffs are being reshuffled across the country and so there is no shortage of news. If you've been struggling to keep track of the changes among Michigan's B1G rivals, you are probably not alone and it's why I put together this handy piece looking at the offseason developments around the B1G East. I'm planning to do a B1G West one soon, and since the offseason isn't yet over, I'm planning a second round of updates in a couple months once the portal has calmed down and the draft picture is crystallized. 

Ohio State

EXITS

Pretty quiet in Columbus thus far in the offseason in the way of portal decisions, and we're waiting for the big NFL decisions in the coming days. As for guys portaling out, it's all on defense so far. LB Trejada Mitchell and CB JK Johnson were two of my lowest-graded OSU defenders the past two seasons, so it's no surprise they are moving on. Joining them are S Jaylen Johnson and DB Jantzen Dunn, signaling that there could be some additional turnover in the secondary. That's it so far in the way of portal exits, though some will probably come in the future. There have been rumors about high profile transfers out of Columbus, but nothing along those lines has actually materialized so until it does, I will consider it very unlikely. 

As for the NFL, we're waiting on all the big names beyond WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba and OT Paris Johnson Jr. QB CJ Stroud is a projected high first round pick and is thus exceedingly likely to move on, while there are tossup decisions to make for LB Tommy Eichenberg, S Lathan Ransom, G Matthew Jones, and C Luke Wypler, the latter of whom boosted his draft stock dramatically with a great showing in the Peach Bowl. In happier news for Buckeye fans, RB Miyan Williams and TE Cade Stover have already announced their returns. On the flip side, RT Dawand Jones and DB Tanner McCalister have declared for the NFL Draft. 

ACQUISITIONS 

Rather surprisingly, this front has been very quiet in Buckeye-land. They picked up a new LS (John Ferlmann from Arizona State) and K (Casey Maygar from Kent State), which are important aspects of the team (not like Ohio State fans know anything about the importance of kicking these days) sure, but I expected a little more at other positions. Right now, they have just one other transfer in, Syracuse S Ja'Had Carter. Carter profiles as a plug-and-play starter after logging 543 snaps this past season as a regular on the Orange defense. Carter has been a starter for three seasons with Syracuse, earning a solid 68.7 grade from PFF this past season. Nothing crazy good, but a solid player who should be able to help the Ohio State defense. 

After that, it's *crickets*. There have been rumors with Ohio State and different transfer corners, but nothing yet. I guess we'll wait and see, as it may hinge on some of the NFL decisions mentioned above. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: Teams with a lot more movement]

[Bryan Fuller]

Penn State

EXITS

Penn State hasn't seen much in the way of transfers out so far, with (as you'd expect) most of the attrition coming to the NFL. CB Joey Porter Jr., WRs Mitchell Tinsley and Parker Washington, S Ji'Ayir Brown, TEs Nick Tarburton and Brenton Strange, QB Sean Clifford, and DT PJ Mustipher are among the impact players who are either out of eligibility or have declared for the NFL Draft. There are some glimmers on this front, with LT Olu Fashanu surprisingly spurning the NFL and DE Adisa Isaac opting to run it back, but there will be significant change on both sides of the ball, as anticipated for a team of PSU's caliber. 

Little has happened in the way of portaling out in State College, other than a couple obvious decisions. RB Caziah Holmes was trapped on the depth chart behind his younger peers Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton, and opted to enter the portal (landing at FSU). Canadian QB Christian Veilleux seemingly has lost the QB of the Future job to Drew Allar and thus chose to continue his career at Pitt. Depth defensive linemen Fatorma Mulbah, Rodney McGraw, and Davon Townley Jr., depth corner Jeffrey Davis Jr., and depth OT Maleek McNeil all have put their name in the portal as well. No surprise there. 

ACQUISITIONS 

PSU has looked to plug some of their holes by being reasonably aggressive in the portal. WR is an area of immediate need with both Washington and Tinsley leaving, and NCST WR Devin Carter's decision to join the Nittany Lions with his COVID-shirt is the first attempt at patching that up. Carter isn't a superstar, but he is remarkably experienced, catching between 25 and 32 passes every season since 2019, boasting 10 career TDs to go with it. At 6'3", 215 lbs., Carter profiles as a comfortable outside receiver and the reporting suggests that Franklin isn't done looking for receiver help. 

The other big time acquisition comes at corner, where PSU seems to have found a plug-and-play replacement for Porter in UNC CB Storm Duck. Besides being an all-time name, Duck is a nice pickup, a veteran corner who just completed a strong campaign for the Tar Heels, logging a whopping 801 snaps and coming away with a positive 68.0 grade to PFF. He's graded out well in three of four seasons in his NCAA career, so I have to say this seems to be a strong get for James Franklin's crew. Beyond these two, PSU has picked up a new kicker and punter but that doesn't merit much discussion and is rather standard for a team of this level. 

[Patrick Barron]

Michigan State

EXITS 

As you'd expect from Mel Tucker, there is an obscene amount of movement in East Lansing (although funny enough, none of it will be with the coaching staff). Right now I count 14 players in the portal exiting the MSU squad, most of whom not significant but a few are. On top of that there are another ~10 who are exiting for the NFL Draft, leaving a lot of open slots that Tucker's staff will need to fill as they cobble together a 2023 football roster. Let's start with the departures: star WR Jayden Reed and DT Jacob Slade were the biggest names to opt for the NFL, but also included were TEs Tyler Hunt and Daniel Barker, as well as starting OLs Jarrett Horst and Matt Carrick, RB Jarek Broussard, and P Bryce Baringer. 

Those were pretty straightforward, but the portal is where it gets messier. DT/DEs Deshaun Mallory (Arizona St.) and Jalen Hunt (undecided) were rotational DL who could move around for the Spartans this fall and both have exited. More significantly, Jeff Pietrowski (Wisconsin) entered the portal late last week and has since chosen the Badgers. Pietrowski dealt with injuries all year for MSU, playing only 93 snaps, but he was a guy I was very high on exiting 2021 and someone I considered to be an easy bounceback candidate for 2023. Instead he will be trying to rebound in Madison. These DL losses thin the experienced depth but are not catastrophic with the likes of Simeon Barrow, Maverick Hansen, Jacoby Windmon, and Avery Dunn returning. Elsewhere on the roster, RB Elijah Collins, a longtime Spartan, also put his name in the portal recently. 

Perhaps the biggest portal loss so far has been WR Germie Bernard (Washington), who was the third highest ranked recruit in MSU's 2022 recruiting class, a top 250 4* player. With Reed exiting and Tre Mosley undecided on his future, Bernard figured to be a huge fixture of the Spartan WR room this upcoming season after catching seven passes as a true freshman this past fall. Unfortunately, he entered the portal in early December and shortly thereafter chose Washington. If Mosley decides to leave, I would expect MSU to do further portal shopping to try and sharpen up the WR room. 

Elsewhere, MSU has mostly seen players not otherwise notable exit, the kinds of guys who I have never heard of. If there's one other notable one, it would be K Jack Stone (Baylor), who MSU brought in to be a stud kicker after being one of the most highly rated 2022 kicking prospects but who struggled amid the team-wide kicking malaise. Stone was relegated to long-range kicks, going 2/4 on FGs, all of which from 40+. Most assumed there would be turnover in the kicking room and Stone's exit confirms that. Which I suppose is a good place to start the portal acquisitions. 

ACQUISITIONS 

To fix the kicking situation mentioned above, Michigan State has reeled in Jonathan Kim from UNC, who has been the Heels' kickoff specialist. Lauded in that aspect of the game, he has little FG/XP experience but presumably will be interested in giving it a crack. In terms of the other probably impact pickups, I'd start in the RB room. Jalen Berger is returning, but with Collins and Broussard both out the door, MSU is bringing in a pair of transfers, Nathan Carter from UCONN and Jaren Mangham from USF. Carter is a player I was a big fan of when I looked at UCONN last season... not sure how he'll translate to the B1G week-in and week-out, but he's a solid guy to take a flier on. As for Mangham, he once committed to Tucker at Colorado, then ended up with USF, and now is transferring to MSU, where his brother is on the roster. He was seldom used in 2022 but had better production in 2019 and 2021. I'd anticipate Carter to be the #2 behind Berger, with Mangham further down the depth chart. 

The TE room has also seen some pickups. To replace Hunt and Barker, Michigan State has scooped up three TEs: Ademola Faleye from Norfolk St., Jaylan Franklin from Wisconsin, and Tyneil Hopper from Boise St. Of these, I would assume that Hopper is the biggest impact guy after having 13 catches for Boise State. Franklin appears to profile as a PWO type, while Faleye will be adjusting as an up-transfer. Nothing massive in the way of impact pickups here, though. 

On defense, Ken Talley counts as a transfer but is a unique case. The 4*, top 300 EDGE defender was a 2022 recruit of PSU but bailed before the season got going and joined MSU in early September, practicing with the team but taking a RS. I assume he will be in the mix next season on the edges. The Spartans picked up another ex-blue chip recruit in Tunmise Adeleye of Texas A&M, a 4.5*, top 50 DL recruit in 2021 who played significant snaps in two early season games for the Aggies but did not appear after that. He and Talley are both high upside swings that could go great or could end up like Quavaris Crouch. 

MSU picked up a couple DTs who are now on their third schools, Jarrett Jackson of FSU and Dre Butler of Liberty. Both played rotational snaps at their schools without incredible PFF grades, so tough to say they will be needle movers. One possible needle mover is the lone acquisition on the OL so far, Keyshawn Blackstock off the JUCO market. Blackstock was the #3 overall prospect and #1 OL in Rivals' rankings of 2023 JUCO transfer targets, so there is clear potential there. Finally we'll round this out with a couple of ho-hum pickups, DB Semar Melvin from Wisconsin, who was buried on the depth chart for four years in Madison, and LB Aaron Alexander, one-time Michigan commit out of Belleville in the '22 class who was processed and landed in UMass with Don Brown. 

In totality, there's been a lot of coming and going, a few exits that hurt MSU and no pickups that on paper are KW3 level, but then again, no one thought KW3 would be that good, so sometimes in the transfer portal, you never know. That said, MSU has not yet landed a P5 transfer who profiles as an obvious plug-and-play horse of the kind that Michigan and PSU have landed this offseason. 

[Bryan Fuller]

Maryland

EXITS 

This one is busy! Maryland has seen a huge amount of attrition to the portal, mostly depth pieces, in addition to a large number of contributors heading off to the NFL Draft. Starting with the NFL, the WR room has been decimated by the departures of three of their big four receivers, Jacob Copeland, Dontay Demus, and Rakim Jarrett. Those three all sat out the Duke's Mayo Bowl, and are joined in entering the draft by LT Jaelyn Duncan, who has decided to move on as well. All eyes are now on the decision of QB Taulia Tagovailoa, who could cement wholesale change on the offense and promote Billy Edwards to the starting job. Defensive NFL departures are lengthy as well, including EDGE Durrell Nchami, DTs Greg China-Rose and Ami Finau, both starting corners Deonte Banks and Jakorian Bennett + star K Chad Ryland. 

The portal has further cut into the Maryland roster, mostly taking depth pieces but also taking a few starters. CJ Dippre was the #2 TE this season and he was poached by Alabama, while DT Mo Nasili-Kite was a major rotational piece on the line and he has left in favor of Auburn. Another player of note, LB Ahmad McCullough, who was in the main rotation the past two seasons, entered the portal and later picked Washington State. Oft-injured RB Challen Faamatau, who didn't appear in 2022 but played a significant role in 2021, has left as well. Rounding this out is EDGE Austin Fontaine, who logged 264 snaps this past season and is off to a new destination (TBD). If there is a silver lining on defense, it's the return of LBs Jaishawn Barham and Ruben Hyppolite II. 

ACQUISITIONS 

I assume Maryland still has more work to do in terms of figuring out what the roster will look like after these losses, but it's easy to say it will be a different roster. To fill the giant cavern created by all the WR departures, Maryland snagged a pair of receivers in Tyrese Chambers from FIU and Kaden Prather from West Virginia. Chambers had a 1,000 yard season back in 2021 and followed it up with 544 yards in 2022, so he has experience as a high usage receiver, albeit in a much-lower level league. Prather had 52 catches for 501 yards this season for the Mountaineers, a campaign that was his breakout season. Both seem to be solid pickups, though totally replacing what the Terps are losing at receiver will be a tall task. 

In typical Maryland fashion, they've scooped up some former blue chip recruits who washed out of the Big Boy programs, including OL Marcus Dumervil (LSU), who never played consistently after being a high 4* in 2020, and S Avantae Williams, a borderline 5* in the '20 class who played only 100 snaps in 2021 and 2022 and did not do well in those snaps per PFF. It's anyone's guess whether Mike Locksley's crew can turn those players around. DT Jordan Phillips was not as lauded of a recruit, a ho-hum 3* who spent one season (RS) at Tennessee and is now transferring to Maryland to help replenish the devastated Terrapin DT depth chart. 

Finally, they've pulled in a few players who seem to be easy bets to be starters, with the hope of filling holes on the defense more immediately. EDGE Donnell Brown was an FCS All-American at St. Francis (PA) who was an elite player in 2022 but will have to transition to a higher quality of competition playing in the B1G. CB Ja'Quan Sheppard was an every-down starter for Cincinnati this past season but did not do particularly well in PFF's opinion. That said, considering the situation of Maryland's secondary in losing both starters, you have to think Sheppard will be in immediate discussion to start. 

Overall, Maryland has picked up a couple solid players who figure to be starters early on, but they will need more and even then, it is tough at this stage to see the Terps matching this past season's eight wins, especially if Tagovailoa moves on. A lot of change isn't the easiest on a roster and when you lose 10-12 starters, it's rational to expect some drop-off. 

All three Indiana players I can make out in this picture are gone [Patrick Barron] 

Indiana

EXITS 

Tom Allen's program is going through significant change as the last vestiges of their surprisingly good 2019 and 2020 squads have been stripped away. They are set to lose the entire starting secondary that was a crucial backbone of those teams to graduation, including CBs Tiawan Mullen and Jaylin Williams, as well as star LB Cam Jones, whose absence due to injury was felt in the back half of last season. Starting linemen Alfred Bryant and DeMarcus Elliott are also on the way out via graduation/NFL declarations, meaning much work will need to be done to rebuild the defense, a task that gets taller after losing rising sophomore LB Dasan McCullough, one of the rare blue chip recruits Indiana has gotten, to the portal. McCullough was a major recruiting win for the Hoosiers, who then played quite well late in the year filling in for Jones. Big Boy programs saw McCullough flash on tape and like Ernest Hausmann with Nebraska, McCullough parlayed spot duty as a true freshman into a ticket to pack his bags and get the hell out of Bloomington (he transferred to Oklahoma). 

On offense there is a significant amount of departure as well, with QB Connor Bazelak portaling out (Dexter Williams appears to be The Guy at QB now) and his backup, Jack Tuttle, off to Michigan. RB Shaun Shivers is putting his name in the NFL Draft, as are both starting tackles, and starting TE AJ Barner has joined Tuttle at Michigan. The WR room stomachs significant losses, with Emery Simmons, who was 2nd on the team in receptions this past season, entering the portal, while star slot DJ Matthews Jr. is putting his name in the NFL Draft. Rotational WRs Javon Swinton and Malachi Holt-Bennett are also portaling out after snagging a combined 18 catches this past season. The other transfers I haven't mentioned are largely inconsequential besides kicker Charles Campbell, who departed for Tennessee, but at the same time, any more consequential exits and I'm not sure Indiana would still have a football program. 

ACQUISITIONS 

How do you begin replacing the entire team? Going wild in the portal, which is what Indiana is doing. To replace Shivers at RB, they scooped up Old Friend Christian Turner, who cobbled together two consecutive 500+ yard seasons on the ground at Wake Forest. To replace the litany of WRs they lost, Indiana has snagged EJ Williams from Clemson, an ex-4* prospect who had 40 catches in three seasons, as well as Dequece Carter, who was 1st Team All-Patriot League with Fordham in the FCS. To help replace the tackles, OC Walt Bell got Max Longman of UMass, who missed his name-induced calling of being a multi-inning relief pitcher to become a starting tackle for the Minutemen, where he played under Bell until 2021. PFF has graded Bell decently well against bad competition, so make of that what you will. 

Most of the transfers are on defense because [gestures at previous section] yeah. To rebuild the DL, Allen has landed two DEs, Andre Carter from WMU, who has been a stud in the MAC, as well as Lanell Carr of West Virginia, who PFF graded solidly against Big XII competition as a rotational piece. To fix the interior, they've picked up Phillip Blidi of Texas Tech and Marcus Burris of TAMU. Burris is your ex-blue chip washout reclamation project that the Aggies are pumping out these days, while Blidi appears to be a decent Big XII defensive tackle who isn't likely to pop but also shouldn't get obliterated. They've picked up just one LB so far, Jacob Mangum-Farrar, who spent two years in the rotation at Stanford to very poor results. The rest of the help is in the secondary, where the Hoosiers got another Stanford escapee, DB Nicolas Toomer, who has faired better than Mangum-Farrar in PFF's grading, but not substantially so. Elsewhere IU got two JUCO DBs, Tyrik MDaniel and Jamison Kelly, both of whom were well regarded at that level of play, as well as corner Jamier Johnson from Texas, another ex-blue chip reclamation project. 

Whew, that was a lot. Of all those names, there are some guys I like. Turner should be a productive RB, I love Andre Carter as a pickup, and most of these players aren't total scrubs. However, I still don't think it's quite enough to replace everything being lost and it's hard to build a good defense from scratch when all the new players are transfers. I'd expect that side of the ball in particular to be a work in progress in 2023 and the total complexion of this section has me wondering if Tom Allen's project in Bloomington might be on its last legs. 

[Paul Sherman]

Rutgers

EXITS

In a sign that Rutgers is a more stable program than Indiana is currently, this section is quite small, as the Scarlett Knights have been having a much more typical college football offseason. They've lost some players to graduation and the NFL Draft, particularly key WRs Aron Cruickshank and Sean Ryan and DBs Christian Izien and Avery Young + Ray Guy Award winning P Adam Korsak, but attrition has been pretty limited, and Rutgers got favorable decisions from OT Willie Tyler, LB Deion Jennings, and CB Kessawn Abraham, all of whom opted to return to Piscataway. That leaves the transfer portal as the main source of discussion, and even that is pretty quiet. Austin Dean did get some snaps at LB this season and he has chosen to exit, a similar story for backup TE Matt Alaimo and WR Josh Youngblood (WR Taj Harris is also in the portal but he quit the team mid-season). Beyond those guys, there are several more who are in the portal but none of them are names I'm familiar with. Thinning the depth, but no major starters are leaving which is a good sign for a program like Rutgers that is typically regarded as a bottom feeder. So far, so good. 

ACQUISITIONS

Pretty quiet on this front as well, as Rutgers has worked methodically to get a few players to plug the roster holes. Schiano has focused on the secondary, landing DBs Eric Rogers of NIU and Michael Dixon of Minnesota. Neither of whom scream big time stars, but both have seen significant NCAA snaps with okay results and both had other P5 offers besides Rutgers, which is another decent sign of the health of Greg Schiano's program. The Scarlet Knights have also picked up Isaiah Iton on the DL from Ole Miss, but he looks more like a depth pickup than a projected starter like Rogers and Dixon. 

That's it so far from the portal for Rutgers, though I'd expect them to pursue receiver help more in the coming weeks to rebuild that room. If they want QB Gavin Wimsatt to take off in year #2 of getting starts, they need to get him some help. However, they have made a significant change on offense, snatching Minnesota's OC Kirk Ciarocca. Schiano fired OC Sean Gleeson in early October this past season with the offense floundering, and now it appears that Ciarocca will be the man to help try and fix a profoundly broken Rutgers offense. Ciarocca, for those who don't recall, was one of PJ Fleck's right-hand men, coordinating WMU's offense to their Cotton Bowl appearance in 2016 and then leading Minnesota's offense in 2019, when they won 11 games. After that he was poached by PSU for the COVID-year, which didn't go well, and he spent a season at WVU before returning to Minnesota in 2022. Now he's off to Rutgers, a school he coached at during Schiano's first stint (Ciarocca was WR and later QB coach + co-OC from 2008-10), a move that makes a lot of sense. Do I think it will work? Unsure. But it is the most significant change for Rutgers football this offseason.