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Four-star Michigan early enrollee announces his football career is over
Published:
Corey Malone-Hatcher’s Michigan football career is over before it even started.
The four-star early enrollee, who had been battling a torn Achilles, announced on Tuesday that he’ll take a medical disqualification and retire from football:
"Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is gods will for you in Christ Jesus" ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18 pic.twitter.com/CUqafWgvgI
— . (@CMH2017) July 4, 2017
As Malone-Hatcher said in his statement, he suffered the Achilles injury in high school and struggled to recover in the nearly two years since it happened. He committed to Michigan in June before his senior year.
He’ll stay on scholarship — it won’t count against the 85 — but the Saint Joseph, Mich. native won’t take the field for his home-state school. Malone-Hatcher was the No. 6 recruit from Michigan and the No. 287 player overall in the 2017 class.
He had hopes of competing in a loaded group of Michigan defensive linemen. The Wolverines did sign four other defensive ends in its 2017 class, which was ranked fifth nationally (247sports).
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.