Michigan football: Blake Corum a potential X-factor in recruitment of transfer defensive tackle
Michigan Wolverines football is looking for some more bodies on the interior of its defensive line. The Maize and Blue lost tackle Christopher Hinton, who stunned and declared for the NFL Draft, and have several options to replace him — third-year sophomore Kris Jenkins, sophomore Rayshaun Benny and others. But they could use some more talent and experience to provide depth, at the very least.
Enter Cam Goode, a Central Florida transfer who is visiting Syracuse this weekend and taking his official trip to Michigan in the near future, as reported by TheWolverine.com’s Chris Balas last week. The 6-2, 315-pounder began his career with a redshirt year at Virginia Tech, played three seasons at UCF and has two years of eligibility remaining.
RELATED
• Michigan football to get visit from big transfer defensive tackle
Michigan is high on Goode, and he’s reportedly extremely interested in the Wolverines, with the upcoming visit being a strong indicator.
The Washington D.C. native also has some connections in Ann Arbor, with he and Michigan third-year sophomore running back Blake Corum, who’s from Marshall, Va., having a relationship dating back to their childhoods. Goode was also a high school teammate of Michigan redshirt sophomore defensive back Quinten Johnson.
“I recruit. My boy Cam Goode … we’re getting — hopefully he comes,” Michigan’s running back said on the Bussin’ with the Boys podcast with Taylor Lewan and Will Compton. “Cam Goode, if you’re watching … he plays at UCF — interior D-line. Cam Goode, come on boy.
“He has an official [visit to Michigan] coming up in the next couple weeks. I feel like we need some interior guys on the D-line. We need a little bit more speed. The game is kind of changing, so speed in space would be good. But I definitely help recruit.”
While Corum decided to play his high school ball at the prestigious Baltimore St. Frances, one of the nation’s top powerhouses, Goode played closer to home at Washington (D.C.) St. John’s College, and helped lead his team to a Washington Catholic Athletic Conference title.
An Under Armour All-American in the class of 2018, Goode made an impact at UCF after redshirting with the Hokies. He notched nine tackles and a half-stop for loss in 176 snaps in 2019, before registering 19 stops and 7.5 TFLs in 2020. He played a career-high 432 snaps this past season, posting 23 tackles, one stop for loss, four pass breakups, one interception and four forced fumbles. He’s had 43 pressures on 532 career pass-rushing snaps, according to Pro Football Focus (PFF).
Michigan also hosted JUCO defensive tackle Jehlani Davis on a visit last weekend.
Jim Harbaugh: Michigan Is ‘Always’ Searching Transfer Portal
Michigan has added just one player from the transfer portal this offseason in sixth-year senior center Olu Oluwatimi, a graduate transfer from Virginia. With U-M’s admissions process being a hurdle, the Wolverines don’t bring in many from the portal, but are still searching it on a daily basis.
“We definitely are always looking at it,” head coach Jim Harbaugh said this spring. “If there’s a good fit, as you’ve seen, then we won’t shy away from that. To predict of whether we’re gonna be more active or less active, I can’t make that prediction, because we’ve got a lot of players on the team that we recruited right out of high school, been in the system that we’re super excited about what they’re gonna do.”
