Kaleb Ringer, we hardly knew ye

Before he ever played a down for the Wolverines, Kaleb Ringer has decided it is best for him to take his talents elsewhere.

Kaleb Ringer has left the Michigan football team, program announces.

— Kyle Meinke (@kmeinke) May 6, 2013

The word on the street is that he will be joining his brother at Ferris State to play football.

Ringer committed to Michigan over two years ago. He was the third commitment overall, and second of the ones that stuck. He came from Big Ten football roots -- his dad played for Iowa and his uncle Javon was a running back for MSU -- and was a promising linebacker prospect before injuries hampered his senior year of high school.

Once on campus he red shirted, probably because of another injury issue, and fell behind the other three linebackers from his class. The road to meaningful playing time would have been long, and with injuries being such a factor he may have never gotten to move past special teams.

What this means for the roster as a whole is very little. James Ross seems to have an iron death grip on the weakside linebacker position while Desmond Morgan, who still has two years of eligibility, is the leader at the Mike. Joe Bolden is the first guy off the bench to replace either, and Royce Jenkins-Stone is in the mix as a backup as well. With Michigan bringing another talented Will type in, the athletic and long Ben Gedeon, Ringer was going to have even more competition for playing time.

The bigger news is that this opens up scholarship room for Will Hagerup if he can crawl out of the coaches' doghouse. Ringer is also the first player from the 2012 class to leave, which is quite frankly nuts when you think about the insane amount of attrition Michigan has seen in the last few years. Wooo, for that.

Best of luck to Kaleb in his future football endeavors as well as life. Sorry it didn't work out, kid.