This time for real.
This one’s official…Alabama transfer @DamonPayne2021 is in the fold for #Michigan. Story by @AllenTrieu – https://t.co/DFAZg8fgt4pic.twitter.com/27AlEd3guW
— Sam Webb (@SamWebb77) December 19, 2024
We didn’t even have a tag for Damon Payne, that’s how unlikely we thought it was that Michigan would reel in a local 5-star defensive tackle in the Class of 2021 if he went to Belleville. Sure enough, Payne chose Alabama over some other schools in the pay-for-play belt. Grumbles were had over the unfair state of college football where Michigan can’t have the three-and-out DTs that Playoff teams are made of because of reasons.
Payne’s career in Tuscaloosa also didn’t go as expected. He redshirted behind a deep line in 2021 and started to become a regular rotational contributor last year. With his eligibility running out, Nick Saban retired, and bygones bygone, the 6’4″/313 run-stuffer was looking for a new home to get his career back on track. Three Big Ten Championships, three Playoff appearances, one national championship run including a Rose Bowl win over Alabama, and four victories over Ohio State later, Michigan was about to lose a pair of three-year, top-of-the-first round defensive tackles to the NFL and also about to bring in the #1 player in the country and his 4-star teammate from, uncannily, Belleville. Payne decided home could be home…