OL Chris Mayo: Biggest Offensive Transfer Ever?
He's the second-highest rated recruit out of high school to come to EMU.
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Big news out of the transfer portal — Eastern Michigan’s newest commit is the highest-rated offensive recruit to ever come to Ypsilanti.
Eastern Michigan beefed up its offensive line with a transfer from West Virginia this weekend. Chris Mayo, who picked WVU over many other Power 5 schools during his initial 2020 recruiting cycle, made his visit and committed to EMU on Saturday.
Mayo, so far, is the only offensive lineman added to the roster this year via transfer. The three linemen signed in December were high school recruits. Mayo, from Highstown, New Jersey (The Peddie School), was ranked the #22 offensive guard and #13 recruit in his home state in 2020.
As the #452 ranked recruit (247sports composite score of 0.8824), nationally, out of high school, Mayo’s the highest-ranked transfer to join EMU since last year when linebacker Chase Kline was the #447 national recruit in the 2018 recruiting cycle (0.8829). Offensive lineman Dimitri Douglas, the #657 national recruit in the 2018 cycle (0.8688), also transferred to EMU from Michigan State.
If we’re simply looking at everybody’s composite scores out of high school, Mayo’s got the second-highest grade of any player to ever come to EMU, coming in just barely behind Kline’s high school grade.
Out of HS, Mayo picked WVU over Arizona State, Auburn, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Rutgers, Syracuse, Temple, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wake Forest. In three years at West Virginia, Mayo’s playing time has been minimal. According to PFF he was on the field for 7 total snaps between 2020-21, and played in 21 snaps at left tackle vs. FCS level Towson in the beginning of 2022. On Dec. 19, Mayo announced his decision to leave WVU via Twitter.
In his second recruiting cycle, Mayo picked up competing offers from Akron, Maine, New Hampshire, Toledo, UMass, and Western Michigan before he made his commitment to EMU today.
Mayo has three years of eligibility remaining.
Eastern’s offensive line is going to need to find a lot of new answers this season. Jake Donnellon was a starter who missed all of 2022 with an injury, then three of the five normal starters during the season are gone from the roster this offseason. So if you look at it this way, EMU has to find a way to replace four starters this winter: Donnellon, Richard Bates Jr. (center), Marcellus Johnson (left tackle), and Sidy Sow (left guard).
Johnson’s the only one from the group to leave via transfer, the other three are graduated.