Blue By Ninety - 247sports Brice Marich recruiting update

Episode Date: November 19, 2020

Recruiting Insider, Brice Marich of 247sports/The Michigan Insider, joins the show to talk all things recruiting for 2021 and fills us in on some amazing JJ McCarthy recruiting stories. Crack a cold one and enjoy the show. 

This is the University of Michigan. Touchdown, Michigan! That's the reach of Michigan ball! They can court extra pass. And it goes for the win! The three-pointer by Jordan Poole! Down the sideline! Peebles-Jones!

Touchdown, Wolverines! Alright, welcome back to Blue by 90. I am here as always with Jack and Kalen. And today we have a special guest with us today. Bryce Marich of the Michigan Insider in 247 Sports. Bryce, how you doing today? Doing good, guys. Appreciate you guys having me on you know I think what's the most shocking is just some of these guys are not developing the way I kind of thought they would I think in terms of the corners I mean that's just you know those guys

used to be wet on rice I mean it was just like you knew they were gonna not they're gonna lock up everyone and I think Michigan would really hurt them, and this is with any team, but especially with Michigan, they had to change a lot. It was when they had, you know, Nico Collins opt out, and then they had Ambry Thomas opt out. And so that kind of pushed everyone to spots that maybe they weren't ready for, and you're kind of seeing that. So the other thing is kind of in the trenches.

I mean, that Wisconsin game game it was just like it and it kind of looked like varsity versus JV it just it was like I mean it was you you could see what team was bigger more physical and it was every play so yeah it's rough yeah I think that was was the front seven for Michigan just not being great is very surprising because that has been Don Brown's, you know, bread and butter is obviously he's had a good secondary to back it up. But Michigan has not been pushed around for 350 yards in a long time. So that was super surprising. Obviously, Michigan has Rutgers coming up.

So we're not going to deep dive into position-by-position battles for Michigan versus Rutgers because I think you'd all tune out right when we started that. But I did want to ask you, Bryce, is there a shot that Rutgers – does Rutgers have a shot to win this football game this weekend? Absolutely. I mean, how can they not? They beat Michigan State, you know, and I think, you know,

I think the big thing to watch with this game is can Rutgers get pressure on Michigan? Because when you watch the Rutgers-Michigan State game, they absolutely were getting in the backfield every play. I mean, they caused seven turnovers. When you watch the Michigan State-Michigan game, it was like nothing. It was nonexistent. And so now you've got to factor in Aiden Hutchinson's not playing. Plus, you've got to factor in possibly Quiddy Paye's not going to play.

So I want to see if they can get any rush and on top that can they also you know establish the line of scrimmage and get a push and kind of own it you know and whoever the quarterback is and kind of help them out yeah i think that this um this has an opportunity for michigan to finally like have a a breat. And although Rutgers, they're not as big of a, you know, breather game as they usually would be. You know, it's kind of crazy that we're only two years or sorry, four years removed from 78, nothing against Rutgers. And now it's a 10 and a half point spread.

It is. And a lot of people are going to be betting on Rutgers, because why wouldn't you take your chance? Jack's betting on Rutgers. Shit. Dude, I should have done it last week. I should have bet against Michigan last week, but I'm going to do it this week. I mean, night game in New Jersey? Hey, the crowd...

We don't even know who the quarterback's going to be, right? That's true. I don't know. Yeah, if there's no... There's definitely not a reason to watch this game for Michigan, but there's really a reason to watch it for Rutgers. Rutgers has become kind of a fun team to watch. They fully embrace the fact that they're not that great, so they just run wacky, wild, fun plays.

So watch it for the Rutgers. Yeah, they've got nothing to lose, that's for sure. If they can come out and Greg Sciano beats Michigan State and Michigan in his second stint with Rutgers, I mean, they're back 100%. If he beats Michigan State and Michigan in his first year back, I say we hire Sciano. Bring him to Michigan. Hell, yeah.

Why not? Why not? Fire Harbaugh. Bryce is like, get this guy out of here. This is a good podcast. I'm sure we'll have to get your take on Harbaugh a little bit later, but, like, everyone's beating that horse to death. I mean, it's just like it's all that anybody's talking about,

but it still gets the clicks of course. So the one thing I did want to get into, cause you are a recruiting guy is after Michigan gets absolutely walloped by Wisconsin, all these guys, including JJ McCarthy, like at the forefront of it, come out on Twitter and social media and all these interviews, and they're go blue all the way, 100% committed. They believe in this coaching staff still. They are like all in. Nothing's deterring them. Were you surprised to see that,

or were you thinking that that is kind of how all these guys were feeling the whole time for me i personally wouldn't feel that way you know i kind of would be like i'm not sure if i want to jump on this boat but they don't look at it like that you know two two things with this visit week and a half and i wanted to see how they're going to take it was are they going to look at like this program's failing it's they're not developing these players what's going on are they gonna look at it like an opportunity we can come and play right now because we see the product on the field is not that great but we know they've done it before it's not like zordich again he's the corners are struggling but it's not like he hasn't sent guys to the NFL this is just a one

year this is 2020 it's a crazy year lots happening so it's not you know it's like with the offensive line they've lost four stars to the NFL plus you got Jimmy Mayfield who's now hurt you just inserted a bunch of new faces and on top of that what people have to understand, too, is a lot of the guys you're seeing play are sophomores or freshmen. So this is an extremely young team. And the recruits, from me talking to them, are kind of encouraged by that because they're like, listen, that just shows Harbaugh's willing to play us right now. And we want to play right now. So it's a positive, personally. And looking at the secondary, too, and when you factor in recruiting,

I mean, I've seen a couple things where people are ready to put in crystal balls for, and correct me if I mess up his name, is it Damani Jackson, the five-star DB? Yeah, that's correct. And then there's a, what is it? Is it Will Jackson or Will Johnson? Will Johnson. So who's local guy?

And those are, I mean, it seems like those guys have picked up steam since they've seen kind of what's happened what's your take on that so with Damani Jackson he's a corner five star number three player overall in the country out of uh modern day high school which is I mean that's like a powerhouse in California if you're not too familiar with that school but uh so far Michigan got Christian Dixon who's a four-star wide receiver in the 2021 class who's teammates with domani jackson plus darian green warren who's a freshman currently on the team as a cornerback is from the school and he played on the same seven on seven team as domani so domani's got connections plus his dad was from youngstown, Ohio, grew up a Michigan fan. So he kind of installed that into Domani,

whereas his mom's a huge Ohio State fan. So he took more, luckily he took more to the Michigan side compared to the Ohio State side. And his dad, you know, from talking to him a couple times, he said, listen, I told him what Michigan used to be to Ohio State. It wasn't this way around where Ohio State's now kicking our butt all the time so Domani has got that installed in him and you know from when I talked to him he said I'm looking at this again as an opportunity to come in early play right away and he's a future NFL guy him and Will Johnson those are those guys there I said this on our

podcast but if you can add both them to your secondary it becomes one of the top secondaries in the country flat out straight from the top and so those guys are gonna plug and play guys basically you can put them in and will johnson his dad played for gary moeller i want to say in the early 90s so he's a legacy guy so that that's a plus but again you know both of them talked to me and they said listen we're going to be a package deal so they're looking at other schools it's not just michigan it's ohio state it's you know all the big heavy hitters are looking at them too so it could go either way michigan could possibly land them or ohio state possibly can land them you know it could go either. But I'm not saying package deals usually work because they don't,

but they seem pretty confident when talking about that. But, yeah, in terms of this weekend, Michigan really hit out the park in terms of just the guys made those connections. I think, you know, for the game for them, they don't look at one game or one season like it's over, like everything's blown up. I mean, if you look at Notre Dame with Brian Kelly,

he went four and eight, struggled. And now they've won double-digit, you know, games every season since. So I think they're looking at this more of like a hiccup where the Michigan fans are like, this is year six. You know, like what – is it just going to keep going down? And, you know, I mean, it could, but you're not sure. And at this point, the way they're recruiting, I want to say, this is the best Harbaugh's been recruiting ever since he got to Ann Arbor,

which is kind of scary because they're one of three. So, you know, for me, they got the number, I want to say, eight or nine class in the 2021. And this 2022 class could be even better it could be a top five class and like you said Will Johnson a couple crystal balls in favorite Michigan Del Monte Jackson if I had to pick a team right now I'd say Michigan's leading for him and I think he's the number one player in the country he's not rated but I think he's the number one player he's ready to play right now a junior, him and Will Johnson could play for Michigan right now as juniors.

So, I mean, Michigan's on some elite talent, and elite talent still likes Michigan. So that's really promising. Yeah, and I'm a guy who I haven't seen any film on either of these guys. I mean, what do they play? Do you have like a college comparison for them or even an NFL comparison? Gabriel or Dax Hill? That would be great yeah i don't remember what so our analysts will put they'll write their own like breakdowns and who they compare to but i want to say our midwest recruiting analysts alan true

compared will johnson to stephen gilmore i think of of Patriots so that's a good comparison Ohio State guy right I mean I'll take it yeah so he's uh I mean again I've seen them both play in high school they're both incredible talents they're both guys that can do quite a bit I mean they both can play several positions in the secondary and a big thing for them is they like Michigan because they fit kind of the playing stuff. They want to play that bump man-to-man coverage. And so you can see with Michigan, it's kind of like with basketball, beeline, it was like live by the three, die by the three. And with Michigan defenses, live by a man, die by the man. So it's you either get beats or you kind of hold them up. And so these guys can definitely hold them up if they come to Michigan yeah I'm I'm actually curious because I saw a photo uh with all of the recruits after the

game how big of an impact do you think J.J. McCarthy has been making on these recruits I know he's been really leading the charge uh I'm just curious if you've heard anything regarding how big of an impact he has. He's huge. I mean, he's a five-star quarterback. He's from Illinois. He transferred down to IMG Academy, which you'd think modern day is impressive. You look at IMG Academy, that team could probably be half of D1 teams. I mean, the whole offensive line line their offensive line is better bigger and stronger than half these d1 probably michigan's right now they might be so um and they actually have offensive linemen commit from img going to michigan and craig uh greg crippin but um no jj he's one of those guys where he's just personable he's likable he's a guy that's not

pushing you know when you think of a five-star you might think of e likable. He's a guy that's not pushing. You know, when you think of a five-star, you might think of egos. You may think of a guy that's, you know, I'm better than you. I don't need to talk to you, whatever. I run the show. And for a quarterback, it's sometimes that way, but he's one of those guys that, you know, we talk about our podcast. Steve pointed this out, but he kind of has like that Trevor Lawrence vibe to him where he's just like, just guys come to him. He's just like just guys come to him he's you know calm cool collected he's got everything he's focused and

he he looks like nothing's above him where any challenge he can take on and it's not a problem so he's the guy that you know when you talk to him too he's way beyond his fears super mature kid super level-headed and you saw that because he tweeted out a couple tweets, kind of telling the Michigan fan base, listen, stop freaking out. You know, I see what's happening too. I'm not like – it's not like I'm not watching these games too. I see what's happening. But look at what's coming in and look at our mindset coming in.

All these guys in that class are saying, we're going to change this. We're going to turn the tide. This is not going to happen anymore. And so he pointed out to us too, he's like, listen, I think what's impressive is I looked up a stat. Michigan hasn't been one in two, one in three since Boba Weiss. That just shows the excellence Michigan's had, that they've never been this record for so long.

He's like, that's what we got to be. That's what I like about michigan is because they demand excellence so he's the guy that he's a future captain he's a future two-time maybe three-time captain and i think personally he comes in he can compete for that starting role right away he's that good yeah and one of the big things that i noticed when when he did put that tweet out i was like man this kid's a fucking leader. And the fact that he's not jumping ship, like, right after, like, Michigan's having an office meeting.

I mean, he's bought in, right? Like, he's incredibly bought in. Dude, the kid's, like, 17, too. Right, and one thing that we talked about on the last podcast was just, like, leadership, and it seemed like Michigan was lacking that, whether it's fire, you know, from Harbaugh or whoever it is and 2020 is fucking weird but to have a kid like that that everybody can rally around which I feel like that 2021 recruiting class already has because he was the first major piece right I mean it's just incredible to have a guy like that on the team

I mean for him too what's impressive is this recruiting weekend, which was all put together by him, this is not something, so it's a dead period, which means during this dead period, these kids cannot go to the game. They cannot talk to the coaches. They cannot go in the facilities. So it's like you and me just driving up to Ann Arbor. We have nothing to do. Looking around like, okay, what do we do? And he hit up all these kids, set all this up, got them on mini tours, had them all watch the game at a bar and all this.

He set all this up. So you can tell he's all in. This is something he's trying to make happen. He's trying to bring the best to Michigan as well. Can we hire him as like a recruiting guy too like my god i mean he's he's impressive he's impressive that's like that's next level have you yeah have you ever seen we've obviously seen other we've seen kids go out and recruit other guys have you ever seen anybody especially at the quarterback position from a five-star guy that is going to that level, setting that stuff up,

and really, you know, going out making sure he has these guys committed? Usually quarterbacks commit early because they want to be the leader of the class. You know, so I think one guy that really comparable maybe, that was a little before my time, was Shane Morris. When he committed, a lot of guys followed him. And he was a five-star coming out of D'Lasalle. And a lot of guys were like, oh, it's five-star, you know, and stuff like that.

He really took on that burden of, okay, I'm the next future. I'm the Michigan quarterback. This is all me. But I think J.J. is taking that a step further. And it's kind of showing with those tweets and just like I said, I mean, I joked, he could be a motivational speaker. I mean, the guy's just so impressive. You know, it makes you run through a wall. You're like, this guy's, you know, it's impressive. And I think too, you know, who knows, again,

I'm assuming Cardwell would be the coach next season, but even not, I don't think he's the guy that flip. I know fans are like, you know, we should just keep him just for JJ. I don't even think he would flip. I don't think he's the guy that would flip. I know fans are like, you know, we should just keep him just for JJ. I don't even think he would flip. I don't think he would leave because he loves the university and the program that much, regardless of whoever the coach is. I mean, that's crazy, honestly. I think that is, like, very surprising. And like you said, Kaitlin, he's 17.

So, and what you said, Jack, where that's what it looks like we've been missing on the field it's it's very obvious that leadership is lacking and so I think that is a key piece and he at this point he doesn't have to be that unbelievable talent which we also think he is I've watched him at IMG the dude can run the dude The dude can throw. He can do it all. But the leadership factor is definitely necessary. So I think that he can make a difference. And like you said, he's going to come on and try to compete from day one. One thing I saw, too, which was kind of like made me like, okay, here we go again.

After this weekend, I saw multiple guys, multiple of these commits tweet out like, oh, we're the class that's going to finally make the difference, going to like put this team over the edge. And I'm like, all right, we've heard that from every goddamn class for the last 10 years, you know. Should we believe that talk? I know they're just guys that are trying to get, you know, hyped up about coming to Michigan.

Does one of these classes, either the 21 or 22 class, have a chance to actually be that class? With the 2021 class, I think, like you said, it's a broken record. It can be all talk, but I don't think that's the case with this because the coaches have been telling the guys, we plan on having you come in and playing right away, which is one thing I haven't heard since covering Michigan recruiting in a while. The second thing is a lot of these guys are enrolling early, so they're looking to make a difference and a step, you know, that means they're passing a prom. They're passing up certain things, you know,

where high school kids want to do. And now they're saying, forget that. I want to come learn the playbook. I want to get that strength and conditioning program and get bigger and stronger. So I think you got to have that mindset though. If a class didn't come in there, that mindset, I'd be more worried than not. So either way i think they have that potential though that's the key thing do i think they have that potential i think there's several guys that could come into play from day one i guess my question for you with

that 2021 class like we know the big names right we know mccarthy um edwards would be in that class if he does sign or commit to Michigan. Who's the guy that Michigan fans should look out for? Brandon Jennings, top 100 linebacker. He's the guy that can play sideline to sideline. He can play at space. He's a hard hitter. When he comes down, he wants to physically hurt you. He really wants to come down, bring the wood, and he's already got the size you're looking for at 6'3", 230. He's the guy that he doesn't really need that weight room. He knows what the weight room is already. So he's a guy that, and if you look at the kind of the linebacker play, it's been kind of inconsistent. So he's the guy that can play multiple positions as well. He's

versatile. He's like a Swiss army knife. You can put him anywhere he can do anything he can come off the edge middle whatever so he's got to look out for for sure all right so um so one thing i did want to ask too about um this team right now why we're seeing such a drop off because um michigan still you know the the stat that stood out to me and I mentioned this on our last podcast when we had Brandon Brown on but he Michigan I believe Ant Wright tweeted this out it was some staggering stat of like Michigan has 44 stars and two five stars or something and then Wisconsin Indiana Michigan State combined have 26 four stars or something like that, and that's it. So it's not a talent issue. It's obviously, like you mentioned earlier in the podcast,

it's developing that talent and getting them motivated and all that stuff. But I will say 2018's class from Harbaugh was his worst class. He was, I believe it was the 22nd class in the country compared to every other class he's had as a top 10 class. How much does that actually, how much do you think that affects what we're seeing on the field right now? How much of a difference is there between a top 10 class and a 22nd ranked class?

It can be, you know, significantly different. I mean, you look at a school like Alabama, there's a reason they're always at the top because they have top recruiting classes. There's a reason you see Clemson, Ohio State, because they're recruiting top five classes every year. But if you look at that, like you mentioned, that 2018 class, it was the low-rated class.

So if you're going to have a low-rated class, you've got to hit on some of those kind of guys. And so you hit on Ronnie Bell. He was a two-star from coming in for Missouri State for basketball, and now he's a starter. He's probably your number one wideout. You look at Hassan Haskins, who was a no one, and all of a sudden they kind of found him

and now he's probably your one of your best running backs would you say I mean he's averaging what seven yards a carry yeah so you look at him and then you gotta you know hit on some of these top guys in that class you had I want to say Jalen Mayfield it's gonna be a first round pick you got Aiden Hutchinson so the class wasn't that bad but it's what you can't you can't have that many misses and I think the problem with Michigan is if you look at some of the misses it's happened quite a bit in certain areas more than others so defense aligned they really hurt and now years later you kind of expect these guys that you recruit in 2017-18 to be third to fourth year guys instead of playing freshman right you know that's kind of

how you develop depth is you have those guys you know those seniors from a couple years ago develop now they're playing and then you sprinkle in like a five star something like that so that's why you look at the 2016 defensive line you had guys like taco charlton and that stuff and chris wormley but you sprinkled in a you know sophomore chase winovich and then a five-star rashaun garrion it's just super loaded but now you look at it it's like you don't have those senior guys and instead you're playing guys maybe that aren't ready at this point. So this kind of – the product sometimes you get. So it hurts when you miss on certain areas more than others. You're kind of seeing that at corner and at defensive line.

Yeah, and a guy like – I mean, obviously we have one upperclassman, right? Like Carlo Kemp on the D-line. But, I mean, there's a guy in Mossie Smith that I've been very anxious to see get on the field, but we haven't seen it. We've seen Chris Hinton, but Mossie Smith was another five-star D-lineman. Correct me if I'm wrong. Have you heard anything on him?

When you covered him, when he was being recruited, what do you got on Mossie Smith? He was a big guy. He's from, I want to say East Kenwood, so he's an in-state kid. He was a big guy. He's from, I want to say, East Kenwood. So he's an in-state kid. Yep. And he was a four-star, unfortunately, not the five-star product.

Still, though, he should be a talented guy ready to go. Yeah. Big thing with him coming out of high school is conditioning. It was his weight, keeping his weight in check. And so I think that maybe is one thing. And plus, like I said, maybe said maybe you know I'm not there at practice you know but from what I'm hearing maybe he's just not developing as quickly as some other kids you know and so he's kind of taking a slower path you know some kids aren't always going to be

a quick guy I don't know it's just I think it's one of those things with Mazzy where he just needs to keep keep at it simply you know I think he's a guy that could contribute but if he's not on the field there's a reason and I it's just he's simply not ready you know so you kind of need some of these older guys step up Dobbin Jeter um you know those type of guys who've been in the program a couple years and right now they're just not producing so I can do is keep chipping away hoping something happens at this point so I mean do you is that something where you would think that's on Sean Nua I mean obviously right he's the D-line coach he's supposed to be developing these guys but understandably there's got to be guys that just don't pan out do you think it's more Sean Nua can't develop them or do you think Mozzie Smith is just a guy right now that he's just not ready and also too he

hasn't landed any recruits on the from a de-tackle standpoint so I think that as far as Sean Nua goes I mean if anybody obviously Don Brown's on the hot seat, Harbaugh's on the hot seat, everyone's on the hot seat, but like, in my opinion, if anybody's going to go first, it's probably Sean Nua at this point. Yeah, so recruiting-wise, defensive tackle has been a struggle. I think that's pretty well documented. I mean, they just missed on Rashawn Benny, who is a four-star defensive tackle from Oak Park, Michigan. He just picked Michigan State over Michigan,

and that was one that Michigan really wanted. You know, it was a position in need, in-state guy at a talent-rich school right in your own backyard, and Mel Tucker, first year, beats you, and that's kind of the product, you know? That's the thing is some of these games to matter I don't think in this recruitment it was like the deciding factor but I do think it was the nail in the coffin which kind of put it away but you know if Sean he's you

know it landed several guys I think top guys like Brady McGregor he's landed Quinn Somerville a guy that Michigan would have never landed if it wasn't for Sean Nua and he's got quinn somerville a guy that michigan would have never landed if it wasn't for sean newa and he's got you know alex van someren in the 2022 class i'm really high on he's six three two eighty five and he plays running back for essexville garb and he just moves extremely well i remember seeing you you uh put, I think you were at that game, and oh, my God. I was like, this dude's going to play D tackle for us? He literally could play running back for Michigan, I think, honestly.

Play linebacker. Did he say 280? 280? Could you imagine getting hit by a 280 running back? Oh, my gosh. Moving, too. that's like the fridge jerome bettis 2.0 the bus i mean that dude though was like in your videos bryce like holy shit that dude moved so well for a 280 it was crazy he's a big dude and i think in terms of

you're gonna compete with all the high states and some and I think in terms of if you're going to compete with all the Ohio states and some of these top schools that's how your defensive line should look you need those guys across the board and so it's just the problem is they don't all grow on trees those type of defensive tackles as far as this coaching staff they're getting a lot of heat everybody thinks it's the coaching staff right now in my opinion they it's a lot of heat. Everybody thinks it's the coaching staff right now. In my opinion, it's a lot of the talent, not even just the talent, but I think the talent's there, but these guys just, like, aren't making plays.

And so I think it's a lot of that, too. Who would you say – let's just ask this. Who would you say is the best position coach at the moment, you know when you factor everything in recruiting development play calling all that stuff and then who would you say is the worst i know that was a loaded question that's tough i probably said the best i'd probably say ed warner i mean i know the offensive line right now is not looking up to par but he's recruiting again at extremely high level and that was one that Knox coming from Ohio State or Minnesota where he came from was he just not a good recruiter he's just not that good but in terms of his offensive lines he's always been one of the best offensive line coaches in the country

and so he's shown he showed that you know he can get guys to the league he can develop guys and he can bring in top talent and that's basically everything you can ask for a coach in terms of the worst oh that's it's pretty that's tough see this is where rose trying to trying to set you up and this is where you gotta you know you gotta duck and you gotta hit him with the uppercut right so who's the worst coach uh bob shoop he isn't even showing up to work he's not even there he got fired there's nobody doing anything so there you go bob shoop i'll take it sure yeah right. I mean, we've talked a lot about football here. I do want to get to a little bit about basketball

because we finally got the schedule. And I know you're not a huge basketball guy, but, God, for Michigan fans out there, it's like – It's what we need. Oh, we got – What we need right now, baby. I think half of Michigan football fans are hoping that the season does get canceled. But we have to, we, I know I said it earlier,

it's been deep beaten like a dead horse. But we do have to ask you about the, the whole, the whole Harbaugh thing. Just honestly, this whole coaching staff, it sounds like every single fan out there is ready to move on, right? But then every single insider we talk to is like, no, not quite yet. Maybe they personally think it's time to move on, but this administration apparently doesn't think that so where do you see yourself and where do you I guess where's your opinion and then where do you see what is actually going to happen in the next year yeah I just want to see a finished product I want to see if you know if they don't win a game kind of you know I'm not saying you

should get fired but you definitely got to look at his whole resume. You know, and I think, let's say they beat Ohio State, you know. Now is everyone still calling for his head? You know, it's like you don't know, you know, and he's recruiting at an extremely high level. And I know that shouldn't be why someone keeps their job, but you got to look at the full picture. You can't just, again, you know, what has he done? And at the same time, is the future going to be

better with him or without him I think that's the main question people have to ask before they just jump to conclusions yeah I think it's a it's a loaded question it's I I would not want to be ward manual right now I tell you what because um he has a tough decision ahead I think that he is is really you know backed into a corner here because of the contract situation because I in my opinion I really think that they are going to come out after this season and extend him because you can't not right you can't just let that as contract go out as far as recruiting purposes. That's like you're shooting yourself right there. That's a suicide mission.

And so I don't know. We've talked about it a lot. I think it's just so hard. I don't know how they come out with a win in this situation. Right now, I'm not a fire hardball guy. I'm going to get Don Brown out of there, see what happens with a different D coordinator, let it play out a little bit longer.

I mean, like you said, Bryce, earlier in the episode, Michigan's got a top 10 recruiting class right now for the next year with a five-star QB coming in. The next year is looking good as well. You got to keep the head coach around for that right or is it do you think that recruits are more looking at the coordinators that are playing for I think it's a mixture of both I think you know a lot of these guys too are looking at the school you know I mean I get your football players but the same time you know they want to see how's the campus life how's

just everyday living in Ann Arbor and I think that matters you know they want to see how's the campus life how's just everyday living in Ann Arbor and I think that matters you know school in terms of academics does it fit the right majors so I think there's a lot to their decisions other than just a single coach but yeah I think I could see Harbaugh maybe shuffle the staff at the end of the year that's a possibility too. Jack I'm glad you said that I've definitely taken a little bit of time this week to breathe meditate take a step back a little bit right uh you know sunday morning you know the only thing i did is wake up and then start talking about how pissed off i am about michigan football so i definitely came off you know very raw and fresh but uh took a little time to think about,

I actually think you're kind of on the right track a little bit more, you know, let's not just jump into like throw everybody in the trash and start over. Right. But you know, definitely something needs to change. Let's evaluate. Let's look at that. For sure. So, all right, let's get to more. So some more positive news here. Michigan basketball is, I believe, seven days away right now, right?

A week from today, baby. Next Wednesday, they will open up with Bowling Green. The schedule came out. I looked at the schedule. I actually tweeted this out right before we came on. Michigan, so the first part of their schedule is actually not too bad. They have like Northwestern and Minnesota a few times in their first part of their conference schedule. They play five or six non-conference games against the Mac schools and things like that. But then after January 12th,

all of their games, except for one are against top 30 Ken Palm teams. So I don't know if, if all of our listeners know what Ken Palm is, but it's essentially a computer data, analytic, analytic, you know,

take on how good each team is. And so it's pretty true when you look at his, his ranking. So either way, the big 10 is a gauntlet. It is like, Holy shit. Every team is going to be good. They have, I believe 10, 10 out of the 14 teams are in the top 40 of that of that camp. So, I don't know. What is it? What is your guys take on just like expectations? Because I know I've seen people put in like the top four teams are Iowa,

Michigan State, Wisconsin, and then Michigan's on that kind of next tier. I believe there's no reason not to put them on that top tier. And I want to keep their expectations you know realistic unlike mich unlike football i'm sick of just you know natty title or bus because i think basketball is in a different spot but what are you guys expectations for michigan basketball with livers franz wagner this really good recruiting class obviously michigan has a number one recruiting class coming in too but that's not going to play out this year go ahead go ahead and give me your expectations all of you Bryce give it give us your ears first so I want to say they went 18 and 12 first year under Jawan Howard so that's not too bad but I want to see main thing I want to say I think one of the struggles they really had was shooting

let's see how they can shoot the ball this year. I think if they can shoot it better, it's going to be a matter of can they put the ball in the basket. And I think it's going to be tough because they got a lot of new faces. You know, they got some transfers in. They're going to play pivotal roles and big roles for them. They got a freshman, Hunter Dickinson, who I think could potentially even start. You know, but he's a freshman, so you don't want to put everything on him. So I think they have the potential to, like you don't want to put everything on him so I think they have the potential to like you said get to that top tier it's a matter of are these guys gonna live

up to the hype and are they gonna exceed expectations and I think they got that possibility and that potential too but the only guy I feel 100% confident saying that is Franz Wagner who I think is gonna have first, first team big 10 type of year. I think he's going to have just an incredible year for them. So for me personally, I don't know what it is, but I don't buy into the hype with Franz Wagner. Even last year, I just didn't love him. I don't know.

This is like you're on an island. I'm on an island by myself not loving Franz Wagner. I mean, hope to God he fucking pans out, right, and he does well. But I know at the beginning of the season, I was texting my buddy Patty, who's a former basketball player. I'm like, dude, this guy looks like a fucking baby deer when he runs on the court. He's falling all over the place. And granted, it was the first half of the season.

He greatly improved throughout the year. of the season he he greatly improved throughout the year and apparently now he's a couple inches taller um yeah he fucking grew at age 20 or something like that he still grew two inches or one inch or something that's nuts yeah let me take that apparently well apparently men or humans grow until the age of 28, and I'm still sitting there at like 5'11 and three-quarters. Oh, you're hoping. 27th birthday is on Friday. I've still got a year, boys. I just need a quarter inch.

You just need those nice German jeans. Get to six foot. Use that eligibility. Maybe Jawan needs a student assistant. We can try and find you some HGH here or something. I'm sure we could find somebody. Put it in your spine. Like LA Fitness. You know somebody's in the locker room shooting or something like i'm sure we could find somebody put it in your spine you're just gonna like la fitness you know somebody's in the locker room or something i'll get i'll get on that deer

antler spray that ray lewis had man that's but anyway get back to get back to michigan basketball um i mean they come in 25th ranked team not super high expectations they've had a stretch now for eight to 10 years where they've been really pretty fucking good. And there's just momentum going with Juwan right now. New guys coming in. Shondy Brown, I think is going to be fucking awesome. It's great that he's eligible right away. Mike Smith, you know, I think we'll see. I think we'll see what happens with him, especially coming from a school like Columbia. Not as as much you know um you can't really get a real feel for that like we could be sean dree coming from the acc but um like you said bryce hunter dickinson man he can be a guy that plays right away and i think he might and he's got a great leader to look at and austin davis

man fucking love big country and i i think mich Michigan basketball is going to have a solid year. And what I love more than anything about basketball season, you lose a couple of games. You're fine. You can lose 10 games. They're going to the fucking playoffs. You're going to March madness. That's that's my favorite thing. So it's, it's like if Michigan basketball loses the game,

it's not like the world is over the world's ending. So that's my, my favorite thing about Michigan basketball. But I think they'll be solid. I think a top five finish in the Big Ten is realistic. Yeah. Maybe this is me outing myself here. I don't care. You can come at me on Instagram or Twitter or whatever.

You know where to find me. But last year, i probably watched collectively like one and a half basketball games so all right we what i'm looking forward to this year is the fact that this is like a brand new team so yeah that's fantastic man from where I left off this is going to be awesome so I'm jumping right into Juwan Howard year two with awesome class this is going to be sweet for me so if you're like me and you took a year off let's go guys see the thing is like being a Michigan basketball fan is so much better than being a Michigan football fan. So much better.

So much better. There's so little stress because, like you said, Jay, if they lose a game, whatever, there's another one on Saturday. And they're bouncing back. And they have exceeded expectations in nearly every year. Every year. And so, whereas Michigan disappoints every single year um I definitely think they're going to be a top five team in the Big Ten the Big Ten

is going to just everyone's going to beat up on each other like the winner of the Big Ten uh championship uh regular season at least is going to have like five or six losses probably honestly because it's just going to be tough and so yeah um I don't know I I'm a I'm very confident because if we can have somebody that comes in like uh and plays the Xavier role um I think Mike Smith and Eli will probably share it a little bit um I everyone hate I think people hated on Xavier Simpson kind of like Shea Patterson was hated on. He did everything. No, stop that.

I love Xavier Simpson. I do love Shea too. Okay, never mind. Go back. Go back. Relax, relax. I cut you off. Well, any of your points are not validated

because you said Franz Wagner is not good. I never said that. I never said that. I said I don't see what everybody else sees in him i was about to shut oh yeah you nobody like the nba scouts yeah they're not they don't know what they're talking about so um i i just think that they need a leader like xavier was yes he wasn't a great shooter which did you guys see at the at the? I was just about to say that. He was like a top 10 three-point shooter. Yeah.

He was shooting like 74% or something from spot-ups threes. Yeah. At their last, like, shoot-around in the NBA. I was like, who the fuck is that guy? Like, what? He did nothing but improve from every year at Michigan, improving his three-point shot. That's true. I mean, last year, I could probably look at the stats and probably look like a fucking idiot but

he had to be one of the top three four three-point shooters on michigan's team last year yeah i mean there's only five starters so if he's yeah there's guys coming in you know like top four you know the fifth one is john teske so hey john teske was money his junior year last year not so much make a single through three his senior year anyway so um yeah i think that they're going to be solid we'll uh we're actually going to have a couple uh michigan uh basketball people on as guests next week so we'll get some uh some more inside info hopefully um but yeah I'm excited. Like, we need something else to distract us from this football season, guys.

It's just, I mean, I have to, like, honestly take a break from Twitter because Twitter, I know, Bryce, you're on Twitter all the time. It's like at this point people are going to, I don't know, man. I don't know. People are going to off themselves if uh if things go keep going bad so yeah it's bad i mean yeah like you've said with basketball it's like you know that's the thing with basketball too i like basketball personally more is you can be down by 12 that doesn't mean you lose the game right you know you can make a run and you're

back in and all of a sudden they can make a run and then you make a run. It's just, that's a lot of momentum at best, but with football, it's like, you know, by 21, it's like, yeah, it's, that's about it. Pretty much over. Yeah. Unless it's an action on like a Tuesday night. True. Which I do love me some action. I think there's some on tonight, honestly, that I'm going to be watching. Oh, central Western central tonight. Yeah. Oh shit. I'm about to turn that on. But I was going to say, we that I'm going to be watching. Oh, Central Western. Is it tonight? Yeah. Oh, shit.

I'm about to turn that on. But I was going to say, we can't forget about Michigan Hockey, boys. Yes, sir. You're right. 2-0 on the season. Blew out Arizona State. Sorry, Josh Christopher. Arizona State was a top 15 team.

And they're playing Wisconsin tomorrow night. We're recording this Wednesday night. They're playing tomorrow night. I'm going to tune in. I don't know about you guys, but I said earlier in the year, I think it was like March or April, that I'm going to try to tune into Michigan hockey a little bit more. Yeah.

They're solid. They've always been pretty solid, man. I need to get back into Michigan hockey. I used to be a huge Red Wings fan back when they were on top of the world, but I got to get back into hockey. It's a fun fucking sport to watch. Michigan hockey, I think they have a really good class in here too now. Freshmen. I think three of the freshmen got drafted or something like that.

Yes. Definitely worth a watch. Yost is sweet, dude. Go into a game and – Yost is the best atmosphere in college. It's so sweet. College anything. We just need the Yost people to go to the big house you know fire up before yeah yeah

we need anything we need a lot of help those cardboard cutouts aren't doing shit in there honestly just wait till you see chrysler your boy that's what i was sitting there like. It was like this. I did like 20 push-ups, and I was like, Heather, take my picture real quick. Swole as shit. Yeah, good for you. That's where you've been at any time, huh?

Oh, man. We'll wrap it up there. Bryce, thank you so much for joining us today. Plug yourself here. Plug your Twitter, your website, all that stuff right now. It's just Bryce Marich. It's Wolf and I, B-R-I-C, and then last name M-A-R-I-C-H. You can find me on Twitter,

and you can find me on 24-7 Sports on the Michigan Insider. So we've got a lot more coming out of this big visit weekend, and hopefully we've got some more good stuff for our Rutgers win. So we'll see. Big, big Rutgers win coming we'll see big big Rutgers win coming up this weekend uh folks all right boys round table you betting you betting Rutgers with the spread or you bet Michigan I think it's what 10 and a half right now head and a half oh that's a good ending to this episode here that's that'll be our zero to 90 so uh we'll go around

um let's start with Jack. Go for it. I mean, I'm betting Rutgers 10.5, right? Worst case scenario, I lose the bet, Michigan wins. Cool. I'm good with that. I should have done it fucking last week. I need to start betting against Michigan. I've talked about this all year long, and I still haven't done it. I need to start betting against Michigan,

so either way I'm happy at the end of the night. So I'm going to bet Rutgers plus 10.5. And Michigan could still win, and I could still win the bet. So there's an opportunity for a double happy there. Kalen, what do you got? Yeah, I'm not a big gambler, but I mean, I

think Jack's right, honestly. I mean, betting against Michigan at this point, I don't know why you wouldn't do it so yeah take ruckers take the spread i i'm gonna go honestly i would i'm gonna take the under in this game this weekend i think it's gonna be a shit show I think that nobody's going to score. Honestly. I don't mean zero to zero. Have you seen our secondary?

Oh my god. Yeah, I've seen our secondary. Did you see our offense? We scored 11 points. Rutgers scored what? 28 against Ohio State? I'm taking the overall. I'm going to parlay it. I'm going to take the over and Rutgers 10. I'm taking the over. They legit did that. I'm taking the over. I'm going to parlay it. I'm going to take the over and Rutgers 10 and a half.

All right, relax over there. You don't even – you're going to be out of money after Friday anyways. I already lost 50 bucks last week. All right. I think I will take Michigan. This is a turning point in the season, boys. We're back. We're back.

Oh, man. Oh, you're the optimist. It was like you and Jack switched places. What the hell? We did switch places. All right, Bryce, what do you got? End it for us here. Shoot.

I mean, this is going to be Rutgers Super Bowl. I look at every team. I think – the thing is, you know, I look at every team that Michigan plays, and it's like their Super Bowl. Maryland, this is going to be their Super Bowl. It's going to be every team, Penn State, who knows. So, they're going to have a win., and it's like their Super Bowl. Maryland, this is going to be their Super Bowl. It's going to be every team, Penn State, who knows. So they're going to have a win, so that will be their Super Bowl. It already was Michigan State.

Yeah. I mean, Michigan State doesn't care if they win another game at this point. So, I don't know, dude. I mean, that's a good point about how State Rutgers game. I mean, they're going to pull out every trick play against Michigan. They're going to do everything. They're going to do onside kicks. Maybe first kick might be onside kick. I don't know. You know, Rutgers is going I mean, they're going to pull out every trick play against Michigan. They're going to do everything. They're going to do onside kicks. Maybe first kick might be onside kick. I don't know.

You know, Rutgers is going to try everything. So, I'm going to take the under. I'm going to take the under on this one. Under? That's no fun. One under. Man, I hope you guys No, I don't hope you guys are right.

One more thing. quick roundtable. Joe or Cade on Saturday? I'm glad you asked that. I was about to say the same thing. I feel like it's got to be Cade, right? He had a perfect fucking drive. And I don't care if it was one drive, but it was perfect. We haven't seen that out of Joe Milton milton all year again i love joe his fucking his fucking ceiling is is is a 20-story building right

but we just haven't seen i mean there's wide open guys there's just wide open guys that he's missing and you know give kate a shot i mean i'm glad they're doing open competition this week we'll see what happens but i think it's got to be Cade. Got to be Cade. Man, this is so tough. I wish you didn't ask this. I mean, Cade did have a really solid drive. And then he also kind of didn't have the most solid drive.

But Joe didn't have the most solid night. So, oh, God, this is so tough. I'm going Cade just because you have nothing to lose. Put Cade in. No, fuck that. I'm going Dan Valari. Fuck all of you.

Yeah, baby. There you go. There you go. Will Sessa. There you go. Bring it back. Will Sessa. There you go. Bring it back. There you go. Bring it back. 60 or 70.

Oh, hell yeah. Bryce, who do you got? So I've heard, you know, both have been taking a lot of reps in practice, and I think we're going to see both. I think it's going to be a mixture. I could see more Kate starts and Joe has the second half. Or you just go with the hot hand. You know, I mean, it's kind of one of those things.

But I'd be shocked if I didn't see Kate play for sure. After all, I think Kate's going to definitely play some. I don't know if he's going to play the whole game, but he's going to play some. Yeah, I think that they'll probably go back to Joe to start the game um just because it's not it's not what I want I'm not saying that but I think that like they're they've invested too much at this point they I mean they literally made Dylan McCaffrey transfer because of this guy so like they they I know he hasn't performed, but he wasn't terrible before

the Wisconsin game. So I think they've invested too much into him at this point to just make a change off of, you know, a quarter basically, or a half of, of play. And so not that I think that that's the right move. I just think that they are going to say, Hey, we need to give this guy another shot. He's too talented for us to just like bench him for the rest of the year i still think that kade will will come in at some points um i don't know is kade on the same talent level no right like there's no way i mean depends how you evaluate talent right i mean look at the fucking money balls that he threw on that drive. The confidence we saw out of him to throw those balls was nothing.

We've seen that on Joe a couple times. Maybe fucking 50%. Cade was like, every time he dropped back and he threw the ball, he looked fucking comfortable and he looked confident in the throw he was making, man. I don't know. Can we talk about something? I'm not getting paid $7 dollars a year to make this decision but yeah but the guy who gets paid seven million

dollars doesn't make the fucking right decision a lot so you know what's funny we were arguing last episode we recorded about joe's terrible throw to um blake quorum yeah man i didn't even remember the play and we were arguing over it. I get fucking nightmares about it. Did you go back and watch it? I went back and watched it. I was like, oh shit, that was a bad play. Well, yeah, because you were defending Joe and you're like, that's on the coaches.

I'm like, what are you talking about? I'm glad you went back and watched it. I went back and watched it, but I went back and watched it at Stephen Toski, reviewed the play, and he says this is a play design where as a coach you have to be telling your player dude he's going to be open literally just float it so it's literally totally on joe if if they told him that right exactly you gotta just be floating this to him uh and so it was funny because because i had no idea what play we were talking

about and here i was arguing i mean i mean blake corma had nothing but blue turf why he was wide open yeah yeah you could have thrown it fucking underhand 100 yeah you could have thrown it left handed through your legs yeah yeah all right i i think we we tried to wrap this show up like 20 minutes ago. It just kept ranting. So we'll, we'll try and wrap it up now again. Bryce, thanks again for, for coming on. You can follow him at Bryce marriage on Twitter. You can go see what he writes at two, four, seven sports.com at the, at, or is it the michigan insider dot com as well yes yeah perfect all right so um he's on there with with guys like sam webb and some of those other guys um uh alan true

and steve wilfong are putting in good crystal balls for us right now so we'd love to see it um so yeah thanks again for coming on uh hopefully we can have you again at some point when we're you know speaking of better things for Michigan football appreciate it guys appreciate the time having me on as well