Michigan football gets commitment from UMass transfer CB Josh Wallace

One of the question marks heading into the upcoming football season for Michigan is its situation at cornerback. Will Johnson returns for his sophomore season and has one of the starting jobs, but who will play opposite him has been unclear and undecided coming out of spring practice.

Michigan now has another corner in the mix, with the addition of UMass graduate transfer Josh Wallace, who announced his commitment to the Wolverines on Wednesday in a post on social media. Wallace entered his name in the NCAA transfer portal two weeks ago, and teams including Penn State and Oklahoma also were in the mix.

Wallace, a captain at UMass — where former Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown is now the head coach — is the Wolverines’ ninth player added from the portal entering this season.

Last season, the 6-foot, 190-pound Wallace had 41 tackles (32 solo), including three for loss, two interceptions and eight pass breakups and a fumble recovery.

He certainly will have a shot at a starting job when camp opens Aug. 1, as the Wolverines work to find a player to replace the production of D.J. Turner and Gemon Green. Johnson is back, as is veteran Mike Sainristil, so there’s experience there, as well as Ja'Den McBurrows, converted receiver Amorion Walker, Myles Pollard, and Jyaire Hill.

Last week at the Sound Mind Sound Body camp at Wayne State, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh was asked his best guess who will start opposite Johnson.

“You plant seeds, and in the summer see which ones develop,” Harbaugh said. “I think we're going to have quite a few guys with the best license and ability to do that. We'll see. It's always a good thing. A lot can happen over the summer. There's a lot that can happen from spring practice to the start of training camp. Where it left at spring ball, I was pretty darn pleased. Could be some of the best corners we've had, two of the best corners we've ever had. We'll see how it goes the rest of the summer and into training camp.”

Wallace joins these transfer portal additions at Michigan: offensive linemen LaDarius Henderson (Arizona State), Drake Nugent (Stanford), and Myles Hinton (Stanford), tight end AJ Barner (Indiana), quarterback Jack Tuttle (Indiana), linebacker Ernest Hausmann (Nebraska), edge Josaiah Stewart (Coastal Carolina), and kicker James Turner (Louisville).

Nugent and Hinton missed spring practice while recovering from minor postseason surgeries, Harbaugh had said in February, but are now, he said, “healthy”. Henderson was still working on finishing his degree work at Arizona State and could not practice with the Wolverines. Harbaugh said a big group of freshmen arrived on campus last week, as did the transfer linemen.

“Your team is totally different than it was three months before,” he said. “When they all show up, many of those that weren't in spring practice, some of the linemen that transferred and others, all of a sudden, you're looking at this bigger, better team than you had three months ago.”