CJ Hester, John Volker give Michigan football two new running backs via transfer portal
For the second time in 48 hours, the Michigan football team has added to its running back corps.
First, Saturday evening, UMass transfer CJ Hester made his pledge to join the Wolverines, which he shared on social media. Assistant coach Tony Alford's running back room had dwindled to two primary options − Jordan Marshall and Alabama transfer Justice Haynes − after Ben Hall's decision to enter the portal earlier this month.
Advertisement
"Beyond blessed to announce my commitment to the University of Michigan!," Hester posted with a picture alongside coach Sherrone Moore. "Thank you to everyone who's supported me on this journey. Maize and Blue, let's work! #GoBlue #Committed."
Hester began his career at Western Michigan in 2023 − U-M's now defensive line coach Lou Esposito was the defensive coordinator at the time − and ran 29 times for 124 yards (4.3 yards per carry) and a pair of touchdowns. Then a season ago he transferred to UMass, where as a sophomore he rushed 119 times for 529 yards (4.4 yards per attempt) and four touchdowns.
New offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey has also been known to use his backs out of the backfield in the passing game and Hester flashed a bit of that ability, too, with 14 catches for 58 yards for the Minutemen. Hester, a Cincinnati native (Wyoming High School), shares a hometown with Marshall and now also a potential role in the backfield.
Advertisement
U-M locked up the commitment after he visited Ann Arbor this weekend during the spring game.
The Wolverines weren't done there. On Monday afternoon they added former Princeton running back John Volker. An incoming graduate student, Volker spent the past four years at Princeton, where his playing time grew each year.
A 6-foot, 210-pound back from Fair Haven, New Jersey (Rumson-Fair Haven Regional), he ran 245 times for 1,183 yards (4.8 yards per carry) and 17 touchdowns. In 2024 was likely his best season, when he had 89 carries for 514 yards (5.8 per rush) and six scores, including a career-long 75 yard rush as he was named Honorable Mention All-Ivy League.
Like Hester, he also has decent hands coming out of the backfield, catching 31 passes for 273 yards and two touchdowns at Princeton.
Advertisement
Fun fact: His brother, Charlie, also played football at Princeton but is now on the United States Bobsled team.
Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: CJ Hester, John Volker give Michigan football new two running backs
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Scenes from a Tigers victory: A daunting catch, a daring escape and another unlikely hero
DETROIT — Here was another dilemma. Sweat beat down on Tarik Skubal's head Friday under a strange summer haze. Smoke from Canadian wildfires infiltrated the Detroit sky and lingered as dusk descended on Comerica Park. The best pitcher in baseball was at 94 pitches. He had just surrendered back-to-back singles. There were runners on the corners and two outs. The Tigers were clinging to a 2-1 lead. Advertisement In Skubal's previous outing, manager A.J. Hinch removed him after seven innings and 90 pitches. Reliever Beau Brieske surrendered the lead to the Kansas City Royals in the eighth. Skubal keeps pitching so well that it's creating difficult decisions for his manager. Friday, Hinch again called to the bullpen. Right-hander Will Vest entered to face Seiya Suzuki, who was 0-for-3 against Skubal but entered play with a 1.173 OPS against left-handed pitching. The move made logical sense but still required some gumption. 'Suzuki is the at-bat of the game,' Hinch said. 'It's the most leverage, it's the biggest spot, and we've got to get a righty on him at that moment.' The right-handed Vest has been a dynamic force in his own right this season, the owner of a 1.72 ERA. So in the top of the eighth, Vest threw a 1-2 fastball that caught too much of the plate. Suzuki appeared to swing under the ball. It left his bat at a 39-degree launch angle. At the dais after the game, Hinch mimicked his thought process as the ball traveled through the air. 'OK,' Hinch thought for a moment, 'we got out of it.' But Suzuki's hit hung in the sky like a disco ball, slowly drifting deeper into the hazy twilight. 'I was like: 'Stay here. Stay in the ballpark,'' Hinch said. There at the wall, Kerry Carpenter, the right-fielder whose defense has been an adventure as of late, peeked toward the padding and ran. He always thought he'd make the catch, he said. Finally, the sphere came crashing toward the earth. Carpenter jumped. Extended his glove. And … there it was. Ball met leather. Carpenter made the catch, might have robbed a home run, and certainly kept the Tigers' lead intact. Now watching as a spectator, Skubal pumped his fists and shouted in celebration. 'You're doing everything you can in the dugout to reel it back in,' Skubal said. KERRY CARPENTER IS A BAD MAN.#VoteTigers ⭐️ — Detroit Tigers (@tigers) June 7, 2025 That was the peak of another dramatic Tigers victory, 3-1 against the Chicago Cubs, this one a win that encapsulated so much of what has made this team so good all season. The Tigers entered as the best team in the American League. The Cubs entered as the best team in the National League. Detroit was coming off a sleepy series on the South Side, where it split four games with the last-place Chicago White Sox. The Cubs rolled into town having won four out of five. Skubal was on the mound. The park was sold out. The game was flying by. Advertisement The Tigers struck first in the fifth. Gleyber Torres, the second baseman they shrewdly signed on a one-year deal this winter, hit a shrieking line drive over shortstop to bring home a run. The Cubs tied the score when Kyle Tucker doubled home rookie Matt Shaw in the sixth. And then the Tigers did what they have been doing all year. Finding ways. Some way, any way. Spencer Torkelson, entering on a 3-for-27 slump despite a redemptive season that will merit All-Star consideration, got down 0-2. Cubs starter Ben Brown threw three consecutive knuckle curves low, scraping the dirt. Torkelson took all three. Full count. Then he got a fastball. Torkelson smoothed out his swing, found his timing and detonated a blast that sent the ball crescendoing over the left-field fence. It was Torkelson's 15th home run of the year. The Tigers pulled ahead. That set the stage for the drama in the eighth. The Tigers escaped with the lead. Along the way, they benefited from a series of sterling defensive plays. Riley Greene caught a ball and crashed into the left-field wall. Javier Báez played impeccable shortstop, even redirected a throw from left in the fifth to nab Pete Crow-Armstrong, who ran past the base at third on a late stop sign, then was called out floundering back to the bag. Dillon Dingler threw out Shaw for a key out in the eighth. 'That was an absolute clinic by the guys,' Torkelson said. The Tigers have started wearing T-shirts with one of Hinch's mantras printed on the back. Everything matters. 'Everything matters in every game,' Hinch said. 'Everything matters to a greater extent in a close game. And any one of those plays could have changed the whole complexion of the score.' And in the ninth, a little more poetry. Before the game, the Tigers sent down Andy Ibáñez, their longtime right-handed-hitting specialist who has lost all feel in the box. Ibáñez was coming off a lackluster series against the White Sox, slumbering at the plate for much of the past two weeks, and the Tigers needed to infuse their offense, particularly with right-handed help. They brought up Jahmai Jones, a 2015 second-round pick who's on his fifth MLB team at 27 years old. Advertisement Jones has a unique connection to this city. His late father, Andre, was a defensive end for the Detroit Lions in 1992. His older brother, T.J., also played four seasons for the Lions as a wide receiver. In spring, Jones talked of all these connections, of the family legacy, of what it would mean to actually make it to Detroit. He impressed in spring but did not make the team. He lingered in Toledo, where his name was hardly mentioned in the endless roster talks that percolate through the season. But finally the Tigers sent down Ibáñez to find himself. Jones got the chance. He arrived at Comerica Park around 2:30 p.m. and launched straight into game prep. After first pitch, he sat near injured utility player Matt Vierling, talking about the best way to prepare for the possibility of a late-game pinch hit chance. Hinch called Jones' number in the ninth. And what did he do on his first pitch? He got a hanging curveball, then launched a looping torpedo over the left-field fence. This was his first bat, his first pitch, as a Detroit Tiger. And it was his first home run, only the second of his major-league career. He retreated to the dugout, saw Vierling and started laughing. 'I told you how to get ready!' Vierling shouted. 'My guy!' Jones said in response. In the bottom of the ninth, 40,000 people rose to their feet. Vest — once a Rule 5 pick who was returned to the Tigers after a mediocre stint with the Seattle Mariners — closed the door for the 10th time this season. Hinch was asked about the idea of his Tigers meeting the moment. Tough matchup, national broadcast, big crowd, all that. He practically shrugged. 'I appreciate the thought of raising the bar,' Hinch said. 'The bar is pretty high around here.' (Top photo of Will Vest: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
PWHL hires Princeton coach Cara Gardner Morey as GM of its Vancouver expansion team
Cara Gardner Morey is leaving Princeton following seven seasons as women's hockey coach after being hired as general manager and the first employee of PWHL Vancouver's expansion franchise, the league announced Friday. Aside from spending 14 seasons at Princeton, Gardner Morey has held various coaching roles with Hockey Canada at the senior women and under-18 levels, while also serving as a developmental camp coach with the Philadelphia Flyers the past four years. She coached the Tigers to their first ECAC conference tournament title in 2020 as part of a school-record 26-win season. Advertisement Her former Tigers players include Canadian national team members in forward Sarah Fillier and defenseman Claire Thompson, who were selected first and third overall in last year's PWHL draft. Gardner Morey's first priorities will involve hiring coaching and support staffs, while also preparing for the league's exclusive expansion signing period from June 4-8 and expansion draft on June 9. Her hiring comes two days after the PWHL appointed Boston Fleet assistant GM Meghan Turner to take over as general manager of its other expansion franchise in Seattle. The six-team league, in the midst of completing its second season, announced Vancouver and Seattle's additions in separate news conferences held a week apart late last month. 'Cara brings exceptional experience at all levels of the game, a deep understanding of player development, and an unwavering passion for advancing women's sports,' PWHL executive vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford said. Advertisement From Hensall, Ontario, Gardner Morey played both ice and field hockey at Brown University, and also played in the original NWHL. She earned a masters in education at Arizona State. 'It's a privilege to help bring the best women's hockey to one of the greatest cities in the world,' Gardner Morey said. Vancouver was selected as the PWHL's first expansion franchise after attracting a sold-out crowd of 19,038 to a neutral site game in January. The yet-to-be-named Vancouver team will play out of the former home of the Vancouver Canucks, the Pacific Coliseum. ___ AP Women's Hockey: John Wawrow, The Associated Press
Washington Post
5 hours ago
- Washington Post
Tarik Skubal stars as the Tigers top the Cubs 3-1 in a matchup of division leaders
DETROIT — Tarik Skubal pitched one-run ball into the eighth inning, and Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago Cubs 3-1 on Friday night in the opener of a weekend series between two of the majors' best teams. Skubal (6-2) allowed eight hits, struck out six and walked none in 7 2/3 innings. In his past 11 starts, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner is 6-0 with a 1.61 ERA, 95 strikeouts and three walks.
