Michigan Wolverines suffer a huge loss without playing a game as Sherrone Moore rejoins the team ahead of battle with Wisconsin

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Travis May | Last updated Sep 29, 2025 3:09 AM ET

The Michigan Wolverines put together quite the recruiting haul as the summer wrapped up back when the season was about to start. Five star running back Savion Hiter. Five star edge rusher Carter Meadows. A trio of intriguing wide receiver recruits. Sherrone Moore and company were on fire.

Unfortunately there's always some bad news mixed in with the good when it comes to college football recruiting, and Michigan fans got a disappointing update over the weekend. Elite four star cornerback Dorian Barney–who had been teetering back and forth with flipping for a while according to sources around the sport–finally did end up flipping to the Ole Miss Rebels.

Four Star CB Dorian Barney flips from Michigan to Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss

Barney was set to be the most important piece of Michigan's secondary in the 2026 recruiting class, and now that he's gone the Wolverines don't have a single cornerback committed for next spring. Barney has been long considered a top 100 player in the country throughout his recruiting journey, boasting offers from around 50 FBS schools amid his final high school season. His consensus rating has taken a bit of a hit in recent weeks, but Barney is still considered an elite talent with great length and speed.

Losing him to Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels is a huge loss as he officially flipped on Sunday night, but Michigan still does have plenty of time to fix the defensive secondary portion of their recruiting class for next spring.

BREAKING: Four-Star CB Dorian Barney has Flipped his Commitment from Michigan to Ole Miss, he tells me for @rivals

The 6’1 185 CB from Carrollton, GA had been Committed to the Wolverines since July

“God’s Plan”https://t.co/ELH7NXFfL1 pic.twitter.com/IHQXPeTcpu
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) September 29, 2025

Michigan's cornerback room has bounced back so far in 2025 with Jyaire Hill looking far more consistent, Jayden Sanders perhaps the surest tackler on the team, and Zeke Berry limiting the big plays for the first time in his career. Sadly, both Hill and Berry could likely be gone after this season, so getting the depth fixed up at what has always been a strength for Michigan should be a major priority.

If Sherrone Moore and his recruiting staff can't get the freshmen stacked up to build depth via more conventional means then Michigan fans might need to get used to the idea of a few plug-and-play defensive back transfers next season. Hopefully Moore can find some perfect mix of both worlds. In the meantime, this is a disappointing loss of an extremely good player that Michigan fans will miss in the very near future.

We’ll be back with more Michigan Wolverines coverage here at A to Z Sports soon! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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