Michigan’s recruitment of a five-star prospect became even more important this week.

On Monday, it was reported that Michigan sophomore guard David DeJulius has placed his name in the transfer portal. According to The Wolverine’s Chris Balas, the news was the culmination of rumblings for the past several weeks that DeJulius was considering departing from the program.

On the surface, DeJulius’ transfer would appear to be a blow to Michigan. DeJulius morphed from a benchwarmer as a freshman to Michigan’s sixth man as a sophomore. He quickly cemented his role in the rotation after he scored between nine and 14 points in six straight contests in November and drilled 11-of-22 (50%) threes during that span. Though he was hot or cold for the rest of the season (7.0 PPG, 108.4 ORTG, 17.2 USG%), he showed promise that he could develop into a solid starter in the Big Ten and help fill the void to be left by senior Zavier Simpson.

However, with DeJulius in the portal and other high-major programs demonstrating interest, that void must be filled by someone else, and Michigan is hoping that person is Josh Christopher.