Kalen DeBoer answers on Michigan landing two Alabama transfers in front of Sherrone Moore

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The transfer portal will help teams and it will also hinder teams. Last season, Alabama gained one of Michigan's bright stars when safety Keon Sabb elected to transfer from the Wolverines after his sophomore season to go play for first-year Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer. But this offseason hasn't been as kind to the Crimson Tide and two of their players are Ann Arbor bound.

Former five-star defensive tackle Damon Payne Jr. was the first Crimson Tide player to leave Alabama and head back home and commit to Michigan. The former Belleville product has one year of eligibility remaining and will suit up for the maize and blue next fall.

The second Bama player to leave for Michigan was the big fish. The top-ranked running back in the transfer portal, Justice Haynes, left after two seasons with Alabama. The Wolverines haven't made his signing official quite yet and on Monday, during Sherrone Moore and Kalen DeBoer's joint press conference, Moore couldn't comment on Michigan landing the duo. But DeBoer came up with an answer to Bama losing two players to Michigan -- in front of Moore.

"Tough question," DeBoer said on losing both Payne Jr. and Haynes. "Yeah, I'm just going to
say this: I'm always going to wish the guys that are in our
program the best, and those are two really good solid
young men. Always going to wish them the best.

"I hear the word "fit" coming from Coach Moore's talk here, and
that's what you always hope, is that the college experience
for anyone that you get to coach, you want it to be in your
program, you want it to be a lead in your program, but
ultimately this time comes and goes really fast, so I'm
always going to wish the guys the best that were part of the
year that we had here or anytime I've coached throughout
my career.

With Michigan losing both Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, Payne Jr. is expected to see a big role in Ann Arbor this fall. And so will Haynes. The Wolverines lost their top two running backs with both Kalel Mullings and Donovan Edwards being NFL bound. The Wolverines will likely see a pairing of Haynes and Jordan Marshall on top of the depth chart.

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Trent Knoop
TRENT KNOOP