Highly Touted Michigan Transfer Honors Program Legends With Latest Number Change
The Michigan Wolverines are a college football program steeped in tradition with the most wins in college football history, more Big Ten titles than any other program and a national championship game win in 2024 against the Washington Huskies.
The Wolverines have had counted three Heisman Trophy winners among their all-time roster of players and plenty of others have made a lifelong impact in the Maize and Blue.
Advertisement
On Friday, one of the Wolverines' most highly touted offseason transfer additions, wide receiver Donoaven McCulley, decided to pay tribute to several of the Wolverines' all-time greats at the wide receiver position as he unveiled his latest number change.
Michigan's Donaven McCulley before his recent number change at the 2025 Spring Game. © Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
"WR Donaven McCulley will officially rock the #1 this season for Michigan," the X page Blue By 90 wrote on Friday along with a picture of the new jersey for the former Indiana Hoosiers wideout.
The number one jersey is a prized tradition in the Michigan football program as the number has been worn by former superstars including David Terrell, Braylon Edwards, Anthony Carter and others in Ann Arbor.
Advertisement
McCulley has garnered hype as a potential deep threat and star wideout this coming season for the Wolverines since he left Bloomington, Indiana this offseason.
He will likely catch passes from freshman Bryce Underwood or Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene this season, if not both Michigan quarterbacks or perhaps Jadyn Davis or Davis Warren.
Related: Michigan Legend Charles Woodson's Son Cracks National Recruit Rankings for 2027
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


USA Today
44 minutes ago
- USA Today
Diversity in College World Series field reminds us what college sports is all about
Diversity in College World Series field reminds us what college sports is all about Show Caption Hide Caption Jeremiah Smith, Ryan Williams on cover of EA Sports College Football '26 EA Sports chose Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith and Alabama's Ryan Williams to be on the cover of College Football '26. We talk to the athletes about what this moment means to them. This week, with the approval of the House vs. NCAA settlement, college sports officially split into two. The power conference schools are going to pay their athletes, make their own rules and take the responsibility of enforcement and punishment from an NCAA that was never very good at it in the first place. Is there fear and resentment across the rest of the college sports landscape about where this is all headed? Of course there is. Schools at the lower end of Division I see a power grab led by the Big Ten and SEC and wonder if the clock is ticking on their conference's automatic access to NCAA championships and perhaps even a full divorce. To many folks in the smaller conferences, it feels like they're paying the price for a problem they didn't cause. But in a world where it increasingly feels like the new financial realities of the Big Ten and SEC are driving a land grab for postseason bids, starting with the College Football Playoff but undoubtedly trickling down to every sport in the future, this year's College World Series shows why some traditions are worth preserving. The eight teams that advanced to Omaha over the last few days represent seven different conferences: The SEC (LSU and Arkansas) The Big 12 (Arizona) The ACC (Louisville) The Big Ten (UCLA) The Sun Belt (Coastal Carolina) The Missouri Valley (Murray State) The Pac-12 (Kind of. Oregon State played as an independent this season but was crucial in the effort to resurrect a new Pac-12, which will begin play in the 2026-27 academic year.) Is such a huge conference spread a bit of an anomaly? Absolutely. In recent renditions of the CWS, you'll see a whole lot of SEC and ACC representation, some strong Big 12 and Pac-12 programs (before it imploded) and your occasional interloper from outside the power conferences. But this year's field underscores a very simple point that the SEC and Big Ten would be wise to remember as they go about the business of remaking college sports: At the end of the day, competition is what this is all about. And even if that means you come up on the short end some years, it's nothing to be afraid of. That's just sports. Though we can find a thousand things the NCAA has done wrong on its journey toward the professionalization of college sports, it did one thing that was really genius. In constructing its format for national championship tournaments, it ensured that all Division I conferences would be represented by an automatic qualifier. This means that when the men's basketball players at SIU-Edwardsville began last season, they could dream of playing in March Madness. Was there a realistic chance to win a national championship? Of course not. Were they even likely to win a game? Heck no. Were they better than dozens of basketball teams who missed the tournament? According to the computers, they weren't even in the top 200. But they won their conference, earned their moment on the big stage and got blown off the court by Houston. That's what usually happens. But every now and then, you get an upset everyone remembers. Either way, the possibility of that moment keeps those programs viable and those communities invested in college basketball. Overall, it's a pretty great system. Folks at those lower levels have good reason to wonder if they'll keep those automatic bids going forward, not just in basketball but a variety of sports. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, in particular, has made public comments that could be considered threatening to the notion of equal access regardless of conference size or strength. Meanwhile, there was talk a few weeks back that the SEC and Big Ten could be interested in a 16-team CFP format where they get four automatic bids each, with the ACC and Big 12 getting two apiece and one going to the top-ranked Group of Five champion. It seems as if that idea has subsequently died down. Even though the ACC and Big 12 locking in two bids each might have been tempting on the surface, formalizing an existence as second-class citizens would not have gone over well with those fan bases. If you were to construct the CWS on the same kinds of principles that the Big Ten and SEC have been flirting with this year in their CFP expansion discussions, you'd never have seven conferences involved like this year. And the reason it's such a timely development for college sports is that it should remind people in the industry why they do this in the first place. Everyone understands that a true level playing field is impossible, but competition is about more than revenue on a spreadsheet. And when it comes to the structure of Division I, giving an automatic bid to every conference underlines that they are partners in an enterprise whose mission is to deliver a good product – even if a lot of those partners can't stack up competitively to the mighty SEC. You can't deliver as good of a product for the sport – the entire sport – by stacking the deck and using historical performance to engineer future outcomes in your favor. You can only do it by making the postseason possibility available to everyone and letting the chips fall where they may. Even in a more complicated and professionalized world, you don't need to apologize for the outcome when you just let sports do its thing.


USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Michigan football secures 9th commit, beats Notre Dame for Alister Vallejo
Michigan football secures 9th commit, beats Notre Dame for Alister Vallejo While there was a lot of consternation from Michigan football fans about the 2026 recruiting class just a week (or less) ago, that has to be dissipating at this point. The Wolverines managed to secure a big commitment on Monday with Chicago (Ill.) Simeon four-star edge rusher McHale Blade spurning Notre Dame for the maize and blue. Just 24 hours later, the question was: could Michigan upset the Irish yet again with a commitment that was supposed to end up in South Bend? On Tuesday morning, Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore put out the proverbial bat signal, indicating a commitment was nigh. And one target set to decide on Tuesday evening who appeared Notre Dame-bound might just end up in a winged helmet instead. Alister Vallejo commits to Michigan football Somewhat of a Mason Graham clone, Michigan actually offered 2026 Liberty Hill (Tx.) four-star defensive tackle Alister Vallejo one day before Notre Dame, on April 13. However, he appeared to be a strong Irish lean throughout much of the process. And, given that he has not yet visited Ann Arbor (his official visit is set for June 13), would he pledge to the amzie and blue sight unseen? It appears the answer is yes, as he made the announcement for Michigan over Notre Dame and Kansas on Tuesday night. 247Sports is the sole service that has Vallejo as a four-star, while ESPN is the one recruiting site that has yet to give him a rating altogether. He is the first interior defensive line commit for Michigan this cycle. Michigan has two edge rushers pledged in Tariq Boney and the aforementioned McHale Blade. Scouting report The scouting report via 247Sports' Gabe Brooks: Verifiably big with requisite frame to survive and potentially thrive in the trenches at the high-major level. Checks multi-sport box with encouraging shot put data. Excellent production for an interior D-line projection with 18 sacks, 26 hurries, 5 kick blocks across past two seasons (sophomore-junior). Serious forward juice with impressive linear closing speed relative to mass. Shows promising redirecting ability. Moves around with some role flexibility in a primarily odd front. Big/strong enough to back up traffic, athletic enough to penetrate and make plays on the ball. Can get caught flat-footed. Still room to improve balance and body control i.e. eliminating wasted motion upon disengagement and pursuit initiation. Potentially scheme-versatile iDL with dominant high school tape against solid comp. Projects as a quality high-major D-line piece who could develop into an NFL Draft candidate down the road. Vallejo checks in at 6-foot-3, 310 pounds going into his senior year. Junior film The 2026 class Vallejo is the ninth commitment of the 2026 class. He's the 443rd-rated prospect according to the 247Sports Composite and the second pledge from the state of Texas in the class. Using these metrics, here is the class thus far:


Chicago Tribune
2 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Chicago Bears CEO Kevin Warren pays nearly $2.3M for Lake Forest mansion
In a move sure to lend further credence to the view that the Chicago Bears will build a new stadium in Arlington Heights, Kevin Warren, the team's president and CEO, in May paid $2.25 million for a five-bedroom, 8,725-square-foot shingle-style mansion in Lake Forest. Warren, 61, became the Bears' president and CEO in January 2023 after serving for more than three years as the commissioner of the Rosemont-based Big Ten conference. During his time overseeing the Big Ten, Warren first rented a 21st-floor condo in a building on Lake Shore Drive in Streeterville, and then in 2023, he and his wife, Greta, paid $1.75 million for a three-bedroom, 2,547-square-foot condominium on the 13th floor of the same high-rise. Since June 2021, the Bears have been known to be considering locations for a new stadium, including building a new arena in Arlington Heights on the 326-acre site of the former Arlington Park racetrack — land that the team purchased in 2023. Warren soon emerged as an enthusiastic proponent of the idea of a new stadium on Chicago's lakefront. In April, Warren told reporters that the team had shifted from solely pursuing building a new stadium downtown to considering both downtown and Arlington Heights. 'The focus now is both downtown and Arlington Heights,' Warren said in April. 'One thing I have said before is that these are not linear processes or projects. They take time.' Then, in May, the Tribune broke the news that the team's focus had moved once again, this time to Arlington Heights exclusively. Warren's decision to buy a suburban home is sure to spark speculation that the team now is near-certain to build in Arlington Heights, although Warren's new house also is close to the Bears' Halas Hall headquarters and training complex in Lake Forest. The house Warren purchased has a wraparound deck, a new cedar shake roof, a great room with a 19-foot alder wood ceiling and a Lannon stone fireplace, and a kitchen with high-end appliances, a center island and a breakfast bar. Other features include a private office with a fireplace and and a first-floor primary bedroom suite with a bathroom that has dual vanities and heated stone floors. Downstairs, the lower level has a family room opening to a stone patio, a guest bedroom suite and an exercise room. With Warren now having purchased a place in the northern suburbs, he joins several of his colleagues, including Bears general manager Ryan Poles, who paid $2.077 million in 2023 for a 5,200-square-foot house in Lincolnshire. Recently hired head coach Ben Johnson is not known to have bought a house here yet. The sellers lost money on the Lake Forest mansion. They paid $2.39 million for it in 2015, and they first listed it in 2023 for $2.495 million. They cut their asking price in April 2024 to $2.4 million, and they signed a deal in April with Warren, who closed on the purchase in May through an opaque land trust that masks his identity. The mansion had a $35,839 property tax bill in the 2024 tax year. It also has $295-a-month homeowners association dues. Real estate agent Annie Royster Lenzke, who represented Warren in his purchase, did not respond to a request for comment. Her colleague Dawn McKenna also did not respond to a request for comment.