Michigan Football should pursue DT Jowon Briggs in transfer portal

Michigan football desperately needs help at defensive tackle and it just so happens a former top-100 recruit landed in the transfer portal.

It’s pretty clear to anyone watching Michigan football that the Wolverines need some help at defensive tackle.

The depth on the interior defensive line has just been eaten away and also, the top-ranked recruits at the position haven’t necessarily delivered — at least not yet.

Carlo Kemp has struggled mightily this year and the whole defensive line has. Opposing teams are rushing for 178.5 yards per game and averaging 4.5 per attempt. Last week, Wisconsin just bowled over the Wolverines, reinforcing the need for more size inside.

The issue is that you college football doesn’t really have free agency. It has recruiting and of course the transfer portal. Of course, any player added there wouldn’t be able to play until next season but it just so happens that a former top-100 recruit, Jowon Briggs out of Ohio, entered the transfer portal this week from Virginia.

Why Briggs would fit for Michigan football

As a recruit, Briggs was ranked as the No. 75 player overall in the 2019 class, as well as the No. 7 defensive tackle and the second-best player in Ohio. He visited Michigan but the Buckeyes weren’t as big a player in his recruitment.

The strange thing is that Briggs actually played in seven games this season for the Cavaliers before announcing his intention to transfer. In those seven games, he had 20 tackles, four tackles for loss and three sacks. He’s also listed at 6-foot-2, 314 pounds.

It’s not really clear why Briggs decided to transfer. Virginia is sitting at 3-4 right now in the ACC and he was playing, so it’s a different situation, but there’s no question Michigan football could desperately use someone like this.

The Wolverines did land some highly-touted defensive tackles in that 2019 class as both Chris Hinton and Mazi Smith were top-10 recruits at their positions. So far though, things haven’t really worked out and neither has shown much in terms of pass rush at this point either.

If Michigan was interested and was able to land Briggs as a transfer, he would still have three seasons of eligibility since this season won’t be counting towards that for anyone.

So if the Wolverines haven’t contacted the kid, they need to and immediately. With no 2021 commitments at defensive tackle, more bodies are needed and a top-100 recruit with some recruiting ties to the school just became available.