Hoke Says Michigan Will Know More On Peppers Soon, Not Worried About Him Transferring

By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak

CBS DETROIT - Michigan head coach Brady Hoke hinted Thursday that a decision will be made soon on whether freshman defensive back Jabrill Peppers will redshirt this season.

Peppers, expected to be a starter, suffered two injuries this year and has played in only three of eight games.

"I think we're getting close to see where he's going to be either way," Hoke told Stoney, Bill and Sara of 97.1 The Ticket. "He's holding up fine. He's mad as hell, I can tell you, because he's a competitor. He never has really gone through anything when you look at injuries coming back-to-back like that, so it's frustrating,

"But he's engaged with everything we're doing," Hoke continued. "We were out there yesterday and he was coaching up the safeties and very much involved ... It is something that we'll know a little bit more here in the near future."

Hoke said he has no concern that Peppers, a highly prized recruit, would transfer if he does not get to play again this season.

"No, not at all," Hoke said. "He came here for a lot of different reasons, and one of them is, as a young kid, he's always loved Michigan. That was his team growing up in New Jersey. He knows the value of an education. He's doing great in school, and [knows] this education and what it can do after football."

With the Wolverines struggling this season, several high-profile high school recruits have rescinded their commitments to Michigan. Four-star cornerback Garrett Taylor tweeted his news Monday, while four-star defensive end Darian Roseboro did the same a month earlier. At the suggestion that players have decided to go elsewhere because Michigan players have not been developing into NFL players, Hoke balked.

"That's probably wrong," Hoke said. "[Taylor] Lewan was developed, and so was [Michael] Schofield. You just look at the classes. We have 58 first- and second-year players on this team, and there's some pretty good players on this team. They're just young, and they're coming along at a pace that we all would like for them to be faster and all that, and the pace be [expedited], but that's not always the case."