Michigan loses top special teams player and starting safety to transfer portal
The wide receiver, linebacker and safety rooms in Ann Arbor are all now one spot thinner.
Michigan football senior wideout A.J. Henning has entered the transfer portal after three seasons in the program, he announced Monday afternoon. Redshirt senior safety R.J. Moten also said he is in the portal, a more surprising move. Senior linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green followed suit Monday evening.
Moten appeared in 29 games during his three years in Ann Arbor, with 28 appearances over the past two years with 15 starts. Moten, a former four-star recruit, finished with 65 tackles, six pass breakups and two interceptions in his career.
The Delran, New Jersey, native appeared in all 14 games last season and made 10 starts. He collected 31 tackles, two sacks and one interception.
The safety room appeared to be particularly crowded entering 2023, with anchor Rod Moore in one spot and the ascending Makari Paige likely the favorite to win the other job. Behind them are two trending underclassmen in Keon Sabb and Zeke Berry (who had an interception in the spring game).
Moten, 6 feet and 223 pounds, was primarily recruited back in 2019 by Chris Partridge, who returned to be the team’s linebacker coach this offseason after spending the past three years at Ole Miss.
Henning never caught on with the offense in three seasons, but proved to be a weapon on Jay Harbaugh’s special teams unit, becoming a twotime All-Big Ten punt returner (second team in 2022, third team in 2021). He was named the team’s 2022 Special Teams Player of the Year.
Henning, 5-10, 185 pounds, cracked the rotation as a freshman, playing in all six games and gaining 74 yards on six catches and three rushes.
He caught 10 passes for 79 yards in 2021, and had nine rushes for 162 yards and two scores, which included a 74-yard end-around touchdown against Western Michigan. His other touchdown came on a 14-yard reverse from the slot to open the game against Ohio State, in Michigan’s first victory over the rival Buckeyes in a decade.
He seemed poised to take the next step as a junior in 2022, but the Frankfort, Illinois (Lincoln-Way East) native couldn’t build on the momentum.
He had his best game of the season in Week 3 against Connecticut, when he caught four passes for 37 yards and had a 61-yard punt return for a touchdown. He caught four passes for 16 yards the rest of the season, utilized mostly on special teams.
Henning is the second wideout who was in the top five spots of the playing rotation to enter the portal after Andrel Anthony went to Oklahoma. U-M also lost top wide receiver Ronnie Bell from last season to the NFL draft.
The current pecking order in assistant Ron Bellamy’s room appears to be Cornelius Johnson, Roman Wilson, Tyler Morris, Darrius Clemons and Peyton O’Leary. It wouldn’t be a surprise if U-M went to the portal to add one more proven, veteran presence in the room.
As for Hill-Green, its the end of a once promising career in Ann Arbor that never materialized. The linebacker started six games as a sophomore in 2021, but suffered a soft-tissue injury in summer camp prior to the 2022 season which caused him to miss the entire year.
Hill-He worked his way back and played in the spring game earlier this month where he recorded four tackles. There, he spoke with reporters for the first time in nearly one year, where he said he was happy just to get back on the field.
“Last year, man, it was a strenuous process,” Hill-Green said. “It was like, keep pushing every week by week, trying to get back, get over the hump and try to be back to help the team. I felt like during the season I just got closer and closer, but it wasn’t worth playing with the injury I had.
“They (training staff) said I should just chop it up and get ready for this season. I feel great. I feel back to where I was. I’m just trying to stack and just surpass that.”.
U-M has a deep linebacker room which saw both starters return in fifth-year senior Michael Barrett and third-year starter Junior Colson.
The Wolverines also added Ernest Hausmann from Nebraska and are excited about young talent that started to appear last year (Jimmy Rolder) and that’s yet to make much of a mark in Micah Pollard and junior Jaydon Hood.