Michigan football player surprisingly leaves team just ahead of season

Michigan's running back room got a little thinner on Thursday.

In some surprise news, Pete Nakos of On3.com reported that former UMass and Western Michigan running back CJ Hester, who transferred to Michigan football in the spring, has left the team.

Nakos is citing the agent of Hester, who is reportedly going to sit out this season and enter the transfer portal with the idea of playing in 2025.

Hester will have two years of eligibility remaining. He was added this spring as an insurance policy of sorts, following Benjamin Hall's transfer. However, his time in Ann Arbor was short-lived. Fall camp started last week. We are just 3.5 weeks away from the start of the season.

The timing is interesting. Here's what it means for the running back room.

Concerns about running back depth chart?

Michigan should be just fine. In fact, my guess is that this departure is related to where Hester stands on the running back depth chart.

The third running back for Michigan football hasn't gotten much playing time the past four seasons. So Hester's role was always going to be minimal. There was another transfer added to the running back room, John Volker, a gradudate transfer from Princeton.

Over the past four seasons, Volker carried the ball 245 times for 1,183 yards with 17 touchdowns. He also caught 31 passes for 273 yards with two touchdowns and made four tackles during his career

The 6-foot, 214-pound veteran will have a chance for a bigger role now. Micah Ka'apana, a sophomore, is another who could have a bigger role, along with freshman Jasper Parker.

More than likely though, Justice Haynes and Jordan Marshall will get about 90 percent of the carries, and about 99 percent of the time when games aren't in doubt.

So I wouldn't sweat this transfer too much, although the timing is odd.