Blue By Ninety - 2025 Michigan Commit Eli Owens joins | Michigan felt like home

Episode Date: August 19, 2024

2025 Michigan commit Eli Owens joins the show to talk his recruitment to Michigan, picking the Wolverines over Alabama, Ohio State, and the home-state Vols, and his upcoming senior season for Alcoa High School.

All right, welcome back to Blue by 90. I am Tanner, joined by a very special guest today, Eli Owens, Michigan tight end commit in the 2025 class. Eli, how are you doing on this fine Sunday morning? I'm doing great. Thank you for having me. Absolutely, man. I appreciate you coming on and really kind of wanted to talk about, you know, your recruitment, the way that you kind of ended up committing to Michigan. You were one of the first guys, I believe the second guy in the class behind uh Bobby Kanka who's a local kid here in Michigan uh what was it about Michigan you had offers from Alabama Ohio State the home state volunteers what was it about Michigan that led you to commit right after that Rose Bowl win over Alabama um see see that's the thing I originally committed after the Purdue game, but we waited to announce it until that week of the national title just because, I don't know, I guess they thought that I'd get more press or something. But, man, Michigan really is just like, it felt the most at home

for me. When you walk into a building, you feel like you're at home. You have a sense of sense of like excitement for what's um you know what's ahead of you there specifically and yeah i just my personal play style fits into the offense better than i fit in anywhere else i was gonna i was gonna mention as you were number 44 there's a number 44 on michigan's current team that is maybe the best h back in the country is that something that they you know is there a player comp is it max bredesen when you talk to the coaches about their plan for you because when i watch your film you not only do the h back stuff you line up as an inline tight end there's sometimes you're out in the slot and you're doing it all coming out of the flat you're running over

the middle like you're making plays on offense as well as defense. So, what does that player comp from the Michigan coaching staff, and what is their plan for you? You know, they tell me, like, half Max, half Colston, you know, but, like, I'm sure when I get up there, you know, that'll be different. They'll have me just fit in with whichever way would be best. Um, but yeah, right now it's, it's like a seven, I'd probably say it's more of a 60 40 split with Max and Colson. Um,

you know, they want me being, you know, your typical average fullback, but also a guy who can get out into the flat or, you know, do a couple extra things in the pass game that, you know, a typical fullback can't do. Yeah. Yeah, man, well, that's not a bad comp. I mean, Max Bredesen, like I mentioned, is the best H-back in the country, and Colston Loveland coming into this year should be the odds-on favorite

to win the Mackey. So with your game, I mean, again, I mentioned it. You get out there, you catch the ball, you run after the catch. Like what are some of the biggest strengths in your game that you think will translate to the college level? Yeah, I consider myself very versatile. You know, I think I can do a lot of things. You know, I feel like I can do anything that's asked of me. You know, if you tell me to go play safety, I'll go play safety. If you tell me to go play safety, I'll go play safety.

If you tell me to go play center, I'll go play center. But I think the best part of my game is my blocking ability. I think I'm a very good blocker. I think I can block anybody that steps in front of me. And that's really what I'm going to try to pride myself on once I get to college, you know. And if I have to take a year to get there, it'll take a year to get there. But once I get on the field, my number one priority identity will be wanting somebody. Man, you sound like a Michigan man already, buddy.

So what was it like, you know, you commit after Purdue, which is new to me. So that's uh interesting you should commit after Purdue and then Michigan you know goes on the run with Sharon at the helm so you already get to see your future head coach you know handle a lot of that adversity go on the road to Penn State and win and uh you know pretty dominant from the old line in the run game in the second half you know and then they they beat Ohio, they win the Big Ten. You know, what was that like, you know, kind of seeing Sharone before you even knew that he was going to be your head coach in college? Yeah, it was good. It was good. It was really good. It was cool, you know, being able to

see that even without Coach Harbaugh, we could still live up to expectations. You know, we still delivered on what we said we would do. And I think that's important going into this year because, you know, we already have a background. We already have a basis of what, you know, to look for. You know, I mean, I see everywhere that we're all projected to go eight and four, nine and three. I think I saw somewhere that said six and six.

But, you know, everybody in the building, you know, we're still wanting national championships. And I think we have a team this year that's going to win a national championship again. Now we'll, is this year's road a little bit harder? Yes, but it should be, you know, as teams get better every year, it should be. But, you know, I think the expectation, I know the expectation is to go back and win a national championship. Absolutely. I mean, the guys that we speak to, you know, my co-host, Justin,

who's not available, this is typically a two- or three-man show, but Justin, you know, he's in Shem a lot. And, you know, the vibe that we've heard from not only him, but from, you know, we talked to Jake Butt, who is maybe one of the greatest tight ends in Michigan football history just the other day. And we talked to some of the guys from two, four, seven and rivals. And that's the consensus is that this Michigan team is,

is maybe a little bit being written off and the defense is going to be outstanding once again. And then obviously with the offense, you know, trying to figure out who the quarterback's going to be, but you know, obviously you got Colson level and you got Max Bredis, you got Donovan Edwards, you got a bunch of guys filling in at receiver. So I, I, I agree with you that this team may surprise some people. So you commit publicly on January 4th. And a few weeks later, Jim Harbaugh,

it's announced that he's going to the Los Angeles Chargers. And like 48 hours later, Sharon is the head coach. So your primary recruiter, correct me if I'm wrong, was Grant Newsome? Yeah. So he's the tight ends coach. And then he gets promoted to be the offensive line coach. They bring in Steve Kosula from UMass to be the tight end coach. How have you connected with Coach Kosula since he has come into the program

and, you know, maybe started to take over some of the communication from Coach Newsome? Man, dude, Coach Kosula's my guy. Man, I love Coach. You know, he's just the funniest's the funniest guy because, like, you know, like, how people are funny because they just don't know no better? You know, like, they're just them. He's one of those type of guys, you know,

and he just – he knows ball to such a crazy extent. Like, I don't think I've ever met anybody that knows football as much as he does, you know, and just, like, being, like, engulfed in the game 24-7 and always wanting his players to do better, you know, it makes you want to play for somebody like that. So Michigan also has another tight end commit with Andrew Olesch who's a top 100 player how have you connected with Andrew you know being in the same position group coming in uh you know in the same class what what have those conversations been like about kind of how you can complement

each other on the field once you once you get on the field um you know dude Andrew Andrew's my guy. I love Andrew, you know, and the way we've been discussed and like been talked to has been a lot similar to how Max and Colston are now, you know, you have Andrew, that's more of your, you know, your true typical, why, you know, you're in line or split out, you know, receiving tight end and then me, I'm more of your backfield fullback blocker. But I think we complement each other very well. I think we both do things incredibly differently, which makes us who we are.

But at the end of the day, we still, you know, we still like are coming together to make one product. So I think that, you know we still like are coming together to make one product so I think that you know if when when we get on the field together we'll really be able to show that off yeah so with you being one of the first guys to commit right I think at the time when you committed it was Bobby Kanka and it was Carter Smith and so you've really just from your Twitter and just from, you know, for me reading like the two, four, seven or whatever, like the consensus is, is that you were one of the leaders of the class. What goes into that? Is that your natural personality to kind of, you know, uh, just take up and just step up and take that leadership role

with the guys in the class and continuing to recruit some of the guys that are still on the board that are considering Michigan? Like, what does that kind of look like for you kind of, you know, and do you feel that you are that way? You know, honestly, that probably wouldn't be a question to ask me, you know, I don't like want to consider myself, you know, a leader, because I don't think you make yourself something, I think it just kind of happens, you know, leader because i don't think you make yourself something i think it just kind of happens you know you are who you are right um and like that's the thing i'm gonna be me you know whatever that is i'm gonna be me and if that's being stupid on twitter i'm gonna be stupid on twitter you know if that's going after some recruit i'm gonna go after him as hard as i can

you know because my mama said that if you don't do something, you got to do it all the way. So, you know, I really, you know, I take that to heart and, you know, if I'm going to go do something, I'm going to go do it. No, man, absolutely. Well, you know, and like I said, I didn't want to assume anything, but man, it just seems like, you know, I don't know, that's how it feels from an outsider's perspective that you are one of those guys in the class that, you know, is really out there, you know, on the trail alongside the coaches, like pushing out like, Hey, let's, let's go win a championship. Let's play together. Like, let's commit and let's do this thing. So,

you know, I wanted to kind of go back. I kind of already asked you this, but like, you know, have you been in Tennessee your whole life? Is that where you grew up your entire life? Yeah. Yeah. No, I live in, I live in Alcoa, Tennessee, which is about 12 minutes from Neyland Stadium. You know, we're one county south of Knox County, about 12 minutes. You know, I can tell you how to get there from my house. It's like six turns, you know. Okay. I grew up a Tennessee fan my whole life and got to the recruiting process and Michigan just ended up being a better fit for me personally. And, you know, I don't you know, I wish Tennessee the best. I hope they do well. You know, there's always a little part of me that's going to be a fan, but I'm a Michigan man through and through.

No, man, I love that. And really what I wanted to ask was, you know, you come up to Michigan, you know, maybe let's take it back to your first visit. Like, I know it sounds like you fell in love right away, but like for a kid from Tennessee, like what is that experience like? Right. Cause I mean, it's not that far away geographically, but you know, culturally it's a little bit different. So what was your first thought coming to Ann Arbor experiencing, you know, what it's like up here in the north? A lot of people, you know, SEC is, you know, they go the hardest. They've got the best football. They've got X, Y, and Z.

But, you know, I like to think we do it pretty good up here, man. So I'd love to know just your thoughts coming up, like, you know, maybe that first game you attended on an unofficial visit, what that looked like and what your experience was. Man, so my first visit to Michigan was freshman year, right? I went up with my 7-on-17, you know, and it was like – it's kind of like getting shot in the face or getting punched. It's just – it shocks you. And you walk through the door and you see that sign in the facility

that says, this is Michigan. And you've got all the wind balls over to the end it's like oh my god you know like this is Michigan you know and we're walking up to the team room you know get the classic spiel and then all of a sudden I see coach Newsome walking out of coach Harbaugh's office you know coach Newsome's like seven five right so he calls me over and he's like hey stay stay by me all day and i was like okay that's that's cool with me dog um and then you know practice stay down with the tight ends watch them and me and coach nelson got to talking after practice and that you know that's what he offered me and it was you know it was really cool it was surreal too because at the time it was only my second offer um man now i'm reminiscing but but no and then my first game day visit was the purdue

game you know that's the one thing i hadn't done in michigan yet was get up there for a game so we really made that a point of emphasis last year and you know i got up there and i was like yeah it just doesn't get better and eventually committed yeah that atmosphere had to be uh pretty crazy you know considering they're playing Purdue but like that you know that's a game I unfortunately wasn't able to go to at a wedding that day but that just felt like there was a certain type of energy that everybody was just ready for Michigan versus the world Michigan versus everybody like all the things that kind of came after like that feels like that kind of kicked that off.

So what was that atmosphere like? You know, it was obviously a night game, but, you know, I like to think we get up for big games, but we're not always up for Purdue, you know, all the time when Purdue's like two and six or whatever they were. So what was that atmosphere like in the big house under the lights? It was crazy, you know, because it was also the first game with the new leds um so like i mean i've seen you know i've seen all the entrances you know you could say i've seen

tennessee running through the t i've seen alabama running you know running through whatever it is they run through that big old block you know i've seen lsu run you know i've seen all the big entrances and hitting that banner is something, you know, it should be marked on every bucket list. And the whole stadium is blue, amazing blue, and everybody's cranked up, and all the

pom-poms are shaking. You know, it just makes you think, like, I could play here. You know, I want to play here. I need to play here. And I think that's what, you know, kind of got of got me you know just envisioning myself in the situation of the players like me being dressed out in uniform under the lights on national television about to go play ball no man that's uh it's it's one of the best entrances in college football man you hear the victors you got the m uh formation from the band and they're hitting that banner are you do

you have any plans to do anything cool to touch the banner? You know, some guys, you know, go between the legs with an imaginary basketball or, you know, maybe a 180. Do you have anything, or are you just going to tap it? I don't know. I don't know. I feel like that's something that happens in the moment. Yeah.

Who knows? I might do, like, a triple backflip over the banner, you know, just really to make make something my own. But that's something that will happen when it happens. You know, I might try to punch through the banner. Who knows? It's it's been seen some things, you know, how state trampled it one year. And that's when Michigan changed from going out second to coming out of the

tunnel first. So we'll, we'll Michigan history. I don't know if you knew that or not, but I'm, I'm a Michigan nerd, bro. year and uh that's when Michigan changed from going out second to coming out of the tunnel first so we'll Michigan history I don't know if you knew that or not but I'm I'm a Michigan nerd bro like I love I love this thing so um how's your how's your high school team looking this year man are you guys uh you guys looking pretty good like I don't know much about Tennessee high school football I know they produce some good athletes but how are you guys looking um we're looking decent you know we're not as good as we've been in past years um but you know we're still alcoa you know uh my school we're we're working on 10 in a row state championships in football um and we've won back-to-back in basketball too and uh we also won track the

last couple years so you know we're know, we're a sports school. And I think if Coach said it was 14 points separates us from a 78-game win streak, I think is what it is. And we only play, you know, if you make it to the state championship in Tennessee, you'll play 15 games. And we would have been 21 in a row state championships if 14 points. You know, we just came up with a way for 14 points. So you're telling me your school has won nine straight state championships? Yes.

All right. That's absurd, man. So when you say we might not be as good as last year, you still may go 15-0 and win a state championship. That's unbelievable, man. Not everybody gets to accomplish anything of the sort. So that is unbelievable, man. So how was your fall camp, man?

Like, do you guys still do two days? I know some schools, some states don't allow it. are you guys still out there morning afternoon session um no so we start school relatively early like we start school in the end of july okay so you know that's normally when camp kicks up so we can't really do two days or really have like a super big camp but in the summer we go from about nine to noon you know about four days a week we go nine to noon we really dive in kick in your meetings team field work workout then like actual game situation practice type deal and that lasts from i think middle of may to after dead period, which is like the second week of July.

Yeah. And then after that, we kick up. We've got our first scrimmage by the end of July. And week one is this Friday. So we're really in the swing of things now, getting ready to try and make that 10-peater reality. No, absolutely. Well, obviously, you're going to be in season for quite a while.

Do you have any plans to get up for a game this year? Is that going to be something that's probably a little difficult with the schedule? No, it's difficult, but I'm going to try my best to get up there for about four of the six, I think, four of the five. Okay. I mean, you know, we're sitting here on the 18th, 13 days from now. Michigan kicks off against Fresno State.

And then the next week is the big one. At home, noon Eastern against the number three Texas Longhorns. Are you going to be in the tennis for that one? Is that one you're trying to get up for? Oh, yeah, I'll be there. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if I was a recruit, man, I'd be going all the big games.

I don't blame you. That's going to be a heck of an atmosphere. And, you know, it's noon, but I think that the big house is going to be rocking because Ohio State games at noon and that place is loud. Yeah. No, I'm going to try my best to get up there for Texas, SC. My grandfather's from Southern California. Okay.

Get up there for SC and then Oregon and Michigan State those are going to be the four I'll try yeah those are the four four biggest games uh so that that makes a ton of sense and uh yeah Michigan's schedule this year is pretty crazy but you know makes for some good football so one thing I wanted to ask you this is a little bit newer of a kind of a happening are you excited to be in college football, whatever, year 26, 27 in your career? I mean, is that something you think is pretty cool? Yeah, no. I mean, I remember, you know, I was young, right?

But I remember playing the old NCAA games. You know, my uncle beat me by 50, you know, as he was in high school at the time. Or playing online and giving me the controller that wasn't turned on thinking it was two two v two you know just trying to i remember you know at the time i was tennessee fan so you know so i was in the middle of tennessee's big losing streak to alabama turning it on freshman mode and beating alabama by 90 with a five and seven tennessee team um you know so yeah it brings back a lot of good memories. And then just being in a video game is something I think every dude wants to do. How cool is it to say you're in a video game?

Yeah, no, that's tight, man. Have you played the new one since it's come out? Have you had time to do that? Of course. Man, what do you think, man? I think it's pretty fun. Michigan is, dude, you get alex orgy out there you got donovan you got colston i mean they're marvin klein who's gonna be tied into this

year like they got some dogs on that game and then obviously the defense like you could just run cover two man and they're not really doing anything he's got will johnson locking out half a field oh i don't even run i don't even run cover two man i run straight man with uh cole sullivan blitzing off the edge if you don't slide if you don't full slide your line it's a sack every time um and then donovan good lord donovan will get me an 80 yard rush and then the next play i'm on one yard line he'll fumble that's gotta stop yeah they gotta fix it man pro tip, Bunch X Nasty has mesh traffic with Donovan slipping out. Dude, that's what Michigan ran in the Rose Bowl for Blake's first touchdown

and then Blake on fourth and two on their game-tying drive. That play is money. So anybody playing with Michigan online, definitely use mesh traffic because it's a little OP, but it's a lot of fun to use. No, I usually – see, it doesn't make any sense but if they're in a two if they're in a too high shell i'll send donovan on some type of swing route to the back side and it will open it will open up marlin to the field side drag and i'll hit marlin 15 20 yards every time i think i run mesh 65 of the time because i am i'm afraid of throwing a pick so i'm gonna run mesh and I'll hit Marlon 15, 20 yards every time. I think I run mesh 65% of the time because I'm afraid of throwing a pick.

So I'm going to run mesh, and I'll hot route Donovan out on a swing route just like that, and, you know, we'll march down the field 15 plays. I don't care. I'll run duo in your face all day too. It's a lot of fun, man. So, Eli, hey, man, I really appreciate it. Really looking forward to seeing how your senior year turns out and seeing you get into Ann Arbor, man. Where can the people find you, man, I really appreciate it. Really looking forward to seeing how your senior year turns out and seeing you get into Ann Arbor, man.

Where can the people find you, man? They'll throw out your socials, whatever. Find me on all social medias except Facebook because I forgot my password to Facebook. It should be at Eli underscore Owens 19 for all of them. You know, hit me up. Drop me a follow. If you text me, there's a 90% chance I'll text you back.

I just don't know when that will be. So, yeah, man, you know, hit me up. I want to get to know the Michigan fans because I've got a lot to learn, and I'm ready to get this thing rolling, man. Awesome, Eli. Well, guys, go give Eli a follow. Appreciate everybody tuning in. Eli, thank you so much for your time, man.

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