Michigan football added 14 players from the Transfer Portal in the winter transfer window. The Portal opened on Dec. 9, and it had a soft close date of Dec. 28, meaning players had nearly three weeks in December to enter their name into the Portal if they so wished.

Players of teams that played in bowl games were given a grace period that extended five days beyond the date of the bowl game. For Michigan, this meant non-graduate student transfers could enter their name into the Transfer Portal until Jan. 5.

But for national championship participants Notre Dame and Ohio State, players had until Jan. 25 to enter the Transfer Portal.

Fighting Irish offensive linemen Pat Coogan and Rocco Spindler showed interest in Michigan after entering the Transfer Portal, but the Wolverines were unable to land either interior lineman, effectively ending their winter Transfer Portal pursuits.

Of the 14 players Michigan brings in, some will be starters, others will be depth pieces and a handful will be projects who will take a year or two to develop.

In this article, we rank the incoming 14 transfers based on a combination of talent and importance. This isn't merely a talent-based ranking, because some players arrive in Ann Arbor at a position of great importance, while others may struggle to see the field in a crowded position group.

Justice Haynes, a running back transfer from Alabama, is without a doubt one of most talented and impactful players Michigan is bringing in via the Portal. In two seasons with the Crimson Tide, Haynes carried the rock 104 times for a total of 616 yards and nine touchdowns.

He also caught 17 passes out of the backfield for 99 yards.

A high four-star recruit out of Buford, Georgia, Haynes was the No. 33-ranked player in the class of 2023, and he was the top-ranked running back. Haynes chose Alabama over Georgia.

After two seasons with Alabama, Haynes will transfer to Michigan, where he will team up with Jordan Marshall to make up a dynamic backfield. Haynes, a junior, and Marshall, a sophomore, will combine to form one of the best running back rooms in all of the Big Ten.

As an older, more experienced back, Haynes may get the starting nod over Marshall, but expect both to be used frequently in the Michigan offense. Haynes adds star power to one of the most important positions on a Sherrone Moore-coached football team. This earns him the No. 1 spot in my incoming transfer rankings.

Tré Williams will be entering his sixth season of college football this year after spending his first five with Clemson. Williams was a four-star recruit in the class of 2020 from Washington, D.C.

As the 215th-ranked player in the country, Williams chose Clemson over Ohio State and others.

In five seasons with the Tigers, Williams recorded 37 tackles, two passes defended and four sacks.

After five seasons at Clemson, the 23-year-old Williams will join Rayshaun Benny, Alabama transfer Damon Payne and others on the interior of Michigan's offensive line. It's too early to predict whether Williams will start, but expect him to play a big role alongside Benny and Payne on the interior.

Michigan loses Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant to the NFL, and while Williams and Payne are nowhere near as talented, the Wolverines did a solid job replacing their two gifts from the "football gods" with immediate-impact contributors.

I wouldn't have a gripe with anyone who ranked Alabama transfer lineman Damon Payne above Tré Williams. Both players are going to be significant contributors on the interior of the defensive line, and both are among the most impactful transfers Michigan brought in this cycle.

Payne, a Belleville, Michigan, native, will return back to the mitten state after a three-year stint in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The Belleville native was a high four-star recruit out of high school. He was the 39th-ranked player in the class of 2021, the top-ranked player in Michigan and the second-rated defensive tackle in the country.

In three seasons with Alabama, Payne recorded 30 tackles and 0.5 sacks. The former highly-touted recruit is bound to make an impact along with Williams and Benny on the defensive line.

The only thing that earned Williams a higher ranking than Payne in my rankings was that Williams has an extra year of college experience under his belt. Nonetheless, both players will contribute at a high level. Michigan has two fifth-year seniors (Payne, Benny) and a sixth-year senior (Willians) to anchor the interior defensive line.

Mikey Keene is far and away the most intriguing incoming transfer of the winter cycle. The Fresno State quarterback transfer played at the Big House on Aug. 31 last season, and he arrives back in Ann Arbor with ample experience.

Keene began his career at UCF, where he played two seasons. He then transferred to Fresno State, where he threw for almost 6,000 yards, 42 touchdowns and 21 interceptions.

The 5-foot-11, 200-pound quarterback will complete his college career in Ann Arbor, where there is a lot of uncertainty about how his lone season in the Maize and Blue will go.

I do not see a scenario in which Keene starts the entirety of the 2025 season. That doesn't seem realistic with the best incoming freshman in the country waiting in the wings. If Keene does in fact hold off Underwood for the whole 2025 season, he will have played very well and should be given a lot of credit. However, this does not seem like a realistic outcome.

That leaves Michigan with two options heading into fall camp. Either Keene, the fifth-year senior, starts as many games as Michigan needs him to until Underwood overtakes Keene and earns the starting job, or Keene pushes Underwood to be a better version of himself throughout fall camp and plays backup to the true freshman throughout the 2025 season.

I tend to lean more toward the latter option.

However, regardless of whether Keene starts one game, six games or no games, he will play a huge role during fall camp in determining who Michigan starts at the most important position in football, and for that reason alone, he's worthy of the No. 4 spot on my incoming transfer rankings.

Michigan needs someone — anyone — to step up at wide receiver. The passing attack in 2024 was completely unacceptable — anyone who watched even one game of Michigan football last season knows that.

The Wolverines threw for 1,678 yards, 12 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in 2024. The team's longest pass play in 13 games was 36 yards.

Michigan's passing ineptitude could've been chalked up to a variety of factors — bad quarterback play and poor coordinating being two of the main shortcomings.

But the effort given by the wide receivers was just as much to blame as anything else.

Michigan has made attempts of fixing the first two issues in adding Bryce Underwood, Mikey Keene at quarterback and Chip Lindsey as offensive coordinator, and while the Wolverines have made additions at wide receiver, the room is still very unproven.

Indiana transfer wide receiver Donaven McCulley arrives in Ann Arbor as the most experienced pass-catcher on Michigan's roster at the FBS level. McCulley began his career at IU as a quarterback, but then transitioned over to wide receiver prior to his sophomore season.

As a junior in 2023, McCulley caught 48 passes for 644 yards and six touchdowns. It was just his second year playing wide receiver for the Hoosiers. He then redshirted in 2024 by playing in only two games.

At 6-foot-5, McCulley is a big-framed receiver that can be a good outside target for Michigan quarterbacks. He should compete for a starting role in a wide-open wide receiver room.

This is about the point in the list where rankings become much harder. Fifth-year senior offensive lineman Lawrence Hattar transfers into Michigan from Ferris State, where he won three DII national championships as a Bulldog.

At 6-foot-5 and 335 pounds, Hattar is an experienced option for the Wolverines, presumably at left guard. Our Trevor McCue recently predicted Michigan's offensive line depth chart for 2025, and he has Hattar starting at left guard.

Of course, the season is still more than seven months away, and Michigan could still make some moves in the spring Transfer Portal window, but Hattar is a projected starter, and that earns him the No. 6 spot on my list.

The big query surrounding Hattar will be how he adjusts to the talent jump from DII to a program of Michigan's caliber. That will be something to keep an eye on as spring ball gets under way.

Caleb Anderson, a defensive back transfer from Louisiana, arrives in Ann Arbor with four years of college football experience under his belt. Anderson played under current Michigan defensive backs coach LaMar Morgan at Louisiana in 2022 and 2023, and he will play for Morgan once again, this time in the Maize and Blue.

A three-star recruit in the class of 2020, Anderson will be entering his sixth season of college football.

Anderson did not truly begin his college football career until 2022. He hardly saw action in the 2020 COVID season and redshirted in 2021.

In his three full seasons with Louisiana, Anderson made 55 tackles, defended six passes and came up with two interceptions.

Anderson has plenty of college football experience, but he'll have to beat out returners Jyaire Hill and Zeke Berry, among others, for a spot in the starting lineup.

T.J. Metcalf, a four-star safety in the class of 2023, arrived at Arkansas and played well almost immediately. He made 15 tackles as a freshman, and his numbers saw a significant bump as a sophomore.

In 2024, Metcalf made 56 tackles, defended seven passes and intercepted three balls.

The 6-foot-1, 200-pound safety arrives in Ann Arbor as perhaps one of the more talented players on this list. However, it's hard to view Metcalf as much more than a depth piece because of how deep Michigan is at safety.

Fifth-year senior captain Rod Moore is returning, and so are a slew of other players like Jaden Mangham, Brandyn Hillman, Zeke Berry, Ja'Den McBurrows and Mason Curtis.

Moore all but has a spot locked up, assuming he recovers well from the torn ACL he suffered in spring ball last year. If Metcalf can beat out risers like Hillman, Berry and Curtis, then the credit goes to him. But at this point in time, the Wolverines seem loaded at safety.

Metcalf could be a contributor in 2025 and push for a starting role in 2026.

Troy Bowles is an interesting addition for the Wolverines. The Tampa, Florida, native was a four-star recruit in the 2023 class and was the 86th-rated player in the class. He enrolled at Georgia, picking the Bulldogs over other SEC schools Alabama, Oklahoma, Florida and Auburn.

As a freshman with Georgia in 2023, Bowles made five tackles. Then, during his sophomore season, Bowles redshirted.

Now transferring into Michigan, Bowles, the 6-foot, 220-pound linebacker will look for a fresh start with the Wolverines.

Michigan returns starting linebackers Ernest Hausmann and Jaishawn Barham, and although there have been rumors of Barham moving to EDGE in 2025, it's hard to imagine a path to the field for Bowles right away in 2025.

UMass wide receiver transfer Anthony Simpson has potential to jump a few spots on this list by the time fall rolls around, simply because of how much of a need there is for Michigan at wide receiver.

Simpson may not be the most talented player the Wolverines are bringing in, but he could turn himself into a big-time contributor if none of the incumbent wide receivers step up.

At 5-foot-11, 180 pounds, Simpson arrives in Ann Arbor having produced respectable numbers in just one of his four seasons of college football. He began his career at Arizona, but he caught just eight balls for 102 yards in two seasons with the Wildcats, so he transferred to UMass.

During his first season at UMass, Simpson had a breakout year with 57 receptions for 792 yards and three touchdowns. In 2024, though, Simpson played in just two games. He caught three passes for 16 yards and was dismissed from the team.

The dismissal was reportedly due to an incident with a staffer.

With just one productive season of college football to show for a four-year career, it's hard to put Simpson any higher than No. 10 in this ranking. However, with how poor Michigan's wide receiver corps was last year, Simpson could find himself playing a valuable role.

Former Cal Poly offensive lineman Brady Norton was a class of 2023 recruit who did not have a Rivals ranking coming out of high school.

In 2023, Norton played in just three games and redshirted with the Mustangs. During his redshirt freshman season in 2024, Norton did not allow a sack or a quarterback hit in 444 pass-blocking snaps, according to PFF.

Norton has all of the tools to be the next great Michigan offensive lineman, but he could be a year or two away from really contributing at a high level for the Wolverines.

The Cal Poly transfer still has three years of eligibility remaining, and at 6-foot-3 and 275 pounds, Michigan may opt to put some weight on Norton's frame before sending him out onto the field.

Norton may be a project for the Wolverines. He has potential to have just as good of a Michigan career as any player on this list, but he seems to be at least a year away.

The younger brother of T.J. Metcalf, Tevis committed alongside his brother back in December. Tevis was a member of the 2024 recruiting class. He was a three-star recruit who signed with Arkansas to play with T.J.

However, Tevis rarely saw on-field action outside of special teams. He recorded just one tackle during his true freshman season.

Now, the Metcalf brothers will arrive in Ann Arbor looking for a fresh start. While T.J. has the potential to be an immediate contributor, Tevis is likely to be more of a project.

Perhaps he could carve out a role on special teams, but it could be a year or two before Tevis makes any contributions on defense for the Wolverines.

Michigan long snapper William Wagner exhausted his eligibility in 2024, and he will not be returning to the program in 2025. In early January, former UCLA long snapper Trent Middleton announced his commitment to the Wolverines.

Middleton was a five-star long snapper, according to Kohl's Kicking. Despite this, he redshirted his freshman season at UCLA and did not see game action in 2024.

He will arrive in Ann Arbor with three seasons of eligibility remaining.

Middleton will presumably compete at long snapper with Greg Tarr, who appears to have one more season of eligibility remaining.

Texas State kicker Beckham Sunderland committed to Michigan on Friday morning, adding to the Wolverines' winter Transfer Portal class.

Last year with the Bobcats, Sunderland, who focused primarily on kickoffs, had eight kickoffs and six touchbacks. He also converted on the one PAT that he attempted.

Sunderland is a former professional soccer goalie.

He will likely compete with Hudson Hollenbeck for kickoff duties, while Michigan will presumably let star kicker Dominic Zvada focus on place kicking.

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