Transfer Portal Sting Factor: Jay Toia
When a major program misses out on a key transfer portal recruit, Rivals.com takes a look at how big of a blow it is to the respective school, analyzing it from a national level. To quantify the “sting” of each transfer portal recruiting miss, we assign a score from 1 to 10, with one being no big deal and 10 being a catastrophic hit.
THE STORYLINE
There have been plenty of surprises in the transfer portal over the last couple of years, but the addition of USC's true freshman defensive tackle Jay Toia is near the top of the list. Toia was an early enrollee and impressed during spring practices, which added to the surprise of his decision to depart USC.
Several schools quickly emerged as potential landing spots when Toia's departure became official, with Michigan leading the pack. Two reasons for this was that he seriously considered the Wolverines before his commitment to the Trojans, and also his relationship with Michigan defensive line coach Shaun Nua.
Everything seemed to be going as expected, with Toia taking his first official visit to Ann Arbor. While he did not commit at the conclusion of his visit, optimism remained high that he would become a Wolverine. However, before heading to Michigan he took an unexpected visit to UCLA. Almost as quickly as his visit to Michigan ended, he announced that he had committed to the Bruins. Proximity to his family in California played a huge factor in his decision to attend UCLA.
While Michigan has already added Oregon State transfer defensive tackle Jordan Whittley from the portal, depth at the position continued to be a concern. Missing out on Toia will have the Wolverines back in the portal scouring for more interior defensive line help.
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NATIONAL REACTION
Michigan took their best shot here knowing they were up against it for Toia when it came to location and distance from home so they really weren't the favorite everyone, including myself, thought they were. UCLA offered many things as far as playing time and such but this came down to being close to home and family. So with that in mind it's not a crazy sting factor.
Sting Factor: 6