Michigan DB Elijah Dotson plans to enter NCAA transfer portal

According to On3’s Hayes Fawcett, Michigan freshman cornerback Elijah Dotson plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal, with the player himself informing Fawcett.

The 6-foot-1, 192-pounder played one season at Michigan, appearing in 12 of 13 games to burn his redshirt. Dotson has three years of eligibility remaining.

The Detroit native tallied 11 tackles, 1 interception and 1 pass breakup on the season. Dotson logged 94 defensive snaps in nine contests, the fourth most among U-M cornerbacks. He also checked in seventh on the team with 126 special teams snaps, seeing time on kick return, kick coverage, punt return, punt coverage and field goal block.

Dotson’s interception came against Central Michigan.

“Surreal. All glory to God,” he said postgame. “I couldn’t imagine anything better than that. I said all week I was going to get an interception. I told my coaches. I told them if it came my way and the ball comes, I’m going to get one, so that’s what I did.”

The Belleville (Mich.) High product was a four-star recruit and the nation’s No. 94 overall player and No. 12 cornerback in the 2025 class, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking.

Dotson is the first Michigan player to announce intentions to enter the transfer portal since new head coach Kyle Whittingham was hired. Appearing on ESPN’s College GameDay Thursday morning, Whittingham discussed his individual meetings with every Michigan player.

“It was an incredible experience,” the coach said. “These guys [are] a high-character group. They care about academics, they want to be at Michigan. And that was the real mission when I met with everybody individually is where they were mentally and what the plans were. I was amazed — there was not a bad guy in the bunch, literally.

“And every guy that I visited with was excited to be at Michigan. Now, it doesn’t mean they’re all going to stay. You’ve got the transfer portal, and there’s going to be some activity there, I’m sure there. But I came away very impressed. It’s a great group of guys, when you talk about what a Michigan man is, they exemplify that.”