Blue By Ninety - Blue By the Numbers: Back to Football

Episode Date: November 2, 2023

Tanner and Brian are back to discuss a crazy couple of weeks for Michigan football. They talk the initial CFP rankings, give their mid-season awards, and more.

All right, and welcome back to Blue by the Numbers. I'm Tanner Wooten, joined as always by Brian Bouton. Brian, how have you been? It's been a minute. It's been a minute. I'm doing good. Doing good. You know, living in the news cycle daily with our team here, but yeah. Yeah, man. So to give some transparency, the reason we haven't done a podcast since, what, Minnesota? So after the Indiana game, I was there. It was wet and rainy. And I don't know. I thought initially that I had just gotten a sore throat from the rain and the cold and all that fun stuff, but ended up not feeling too good that week,

so we ended up not doing one. Also, Michigan won 52-7, as has been the case most of this year. And then after the Michigan State game, obviously Michigan was 49-0, we texted and it didn't make sense to do a podcast with everything coming out because you know the moment we click publish after recording, something was going to happen, something was going to break. So we kind of really wanted to allow ourselves some time to collect our thoughts, to let this play out. Now, you make a great point, Brian.

It is playing out in front of us on a daily basis. There's a daily article, multiple articles a day, some wrong, some have been proven wrong, more so on the kind of the intel inside the University of Michigan with regards to Jim Harbaugh's contract talk, and we'll get to that. But there have been false things in the media. And so who knows what's right, what's wrong with regards to the sign stealing allegations. I mean, a lot of this is coming from Pete Thamel, and I don't doubt that he's got great sources somewhere. Somewhere he's got great sources, but this is also the same gentleman

that did not verify that Lene Kikua was not a real person. So I'm just saying, let's let this thing play out through the NCAA system. We're watching it play out in real time though. It's very interesting. Yeah, it's interesting is the key word. It's frustrating. I feel like obviously Connor Stallions is a crazy person.

And I think it's pretty clear that he was doing a lot of nefarious stuff and whether it's on a CMU sideline or, you know, buying tickets for his friends on the country, you know, but a rogue agent does not make a bad program, you know? And so, you know, I think it's, I think it's becoming more clear by the day that he was everything that we thought he was, but all the signals coming out of Ann Arbor, you know, whether it's the contract talk or all the confidence from every source out there that knows anything, that the program feels very comfortable, leads me to believe that, you know, our coaching staff's in the clear. So, you know, it just stinks that this is playing out in the news cycle and that, you know, in the social media world that

people don't take time to understand nuance, understand specific details. It's like, here's the headline, let's react. Yeah, no, absolutely. And I think your point about being a rogue actor in this quote unquote scandal, which is hilarious what we classify as a scandal nowadays. I mean, it's almost like the equivalent of a celebrity, you know, doing whatever, you know, very minor, minor task. And it's a scandal. It feels very TMZ.

It feels very coordinated. Now we don't, we have a hunch. I think all of us here in Ann Arbor and in the Michigan community have a hunch where a lot of this is coming from. There's no proven factual evidence as of yet, but I'm very curious to see. Proven publicly. But, you know, I live in Ann Arbor and just heard in passing today that I think that UM feels good about this. And I think that's backed by the fact that they're willing to so quickly accelerate back into the contract talk with Jim Harbaugh. So, again, we're going to get to the contract stuff later on down the road. I don't think anything else has come out.

I think really the biggest thing in this story right now is whether or not that is Connor Stallions. I mean, here's the thing. That dude was bald in team photos and he was bald on September 2nd against ECU on the sideline. September 1st, Central Michigan versus Michigan State in East Lansing. The gentleman that people are saying is Connor Stallions has a full head of hair. If this brother went and got a toupee, like I've seen some of those videos on TikTok, man. We kind of joked about it a little bit earlier, talking about balding and stuff. If this guy went and got a full head of hair, you can go and do that with some of the glue you get out there, man. I don't know.

I have no idea. But that gentleman did have hair that we're looking at. If that's the case, this guy's a lunatic, Brian. There's no other way around it. And I don't want to just crap on the guy, he put michigan football in a really bad spot really bad spot he's a great i mean i think he's legitimate regardless of how this whole thing shakes out i think connor stallions is a sociopath and i don't say that lightly i don't say that to be i mean the levels of studying the guy sleeping in his car donating plasma to fund all this stuff is crazy um i am

of the opinion the opinion that that was 100 counter stallions at central michigan uh you know i've waffled i've gone back and i think and i think it helps michigan's case that it was him but if it was enough times past this is a huge story someone would have risen their hand someone in the central michigan program like no that's dave That's the equipment guy. That's, that's the uncle of, you know, our left tackle or something. So the fact that nothing has come out, I am convinced. And again, I don't have any evidence other than, you know, more than you do or anyone else does that it was or wasn't. But in my mind, that was him. Yeah. Just, you know, I've gone back and forth, you know, any given moment. I'm like, I don't know. And then I'm like, maybe I could see it.

And it's just so far-fetched. And this whole story is so far-fetched. And I think real quick, you know, I've mentioned on the show, man, I didn't play at the Big Ten level. I didn't, you know, I didn't play collegiately. But I've been around football my entire life. And I can tell you in high school, you deal with – I mean, you know, I remember seeing coaches from other coaching staffs watching us, you know,

on a game. And there would be times we played on a Thursday. The team we were playing next, they were playing on a Friday after practice. They may have driven down the road. Come check us out. My whole thing with this situation is, one, stealing signs is not illegal. Two, it is a rule that was implemented for cost-saving measures. And three, if high school coaches can figure out a system to not get their signs stolen,

but college coaches making $10 million plus a year can't, then maybe you should look in the mirror. And you can use wristbands. You don't have to use these signs. You can use wristbands. You can have five to 10 sets of wristbands that you use, and you can change them at halftime. You can change them after the quarter. That's the great thing.

And these coaches also have shot down numerous times the NCAA trying to implement trying to get it to a vote to have the green dot helmets like they have in the NFL but these coaches one they like to steal signs and two as Matt Rule pointed out they don't want to teach their quarterbacks to have three different play options and it's a lot easier for them to just have the signs come in. So again, if Connor Stallions and Michigan did something, there certainly should be a punishment justifiable by what the crime is. In the NCAA's own words in 2021, it provides a minimal competitive advantage. And my whole thing is, is when you talk about stealing signs, you're not getting their whole

playbook. You're not getting their game plan. Your players still have to go and make plays. You also have 40 seconds on the play clock. You're not getting the perfect defense for these plays. You just have a hunch, right? And so I think the people that are saying Michigan cheated their way to Big Ten Championships, one, it's a lot of Ohio State, Michigan State, Penn State fans, and maybe some Notre Dame fans thrown in there and some fans of other big programs that just hate Michigan. That's just not how football works. It's just not how it works, man. You got to have guys that can block, tackle, make plays, make throws, play good defense. Like it just, it's negligible, the impact that this has. And that's what's so frustrating about this whole

thing is you didn't need to do it. Right. Well, I think, you know, the other thing is, I think I read, you know, there was a study, 68% of college Division I football teams have someone on their staff whose job it is to steal signals. You know, and so that's not really in question, although the, you know, the B-level fan, the novice, the casual fan doesn't realize that. They don't understand nuance that I referenced earlier. You know, this year, in terms of margin of victory, the number two team in the, there's only one team in the country that's beating teams by more than 25 points per game, and that's Michigan, and they're beating people by 34.8 points a game. So the gap between them and number two is so big. They're smashing people. Rutgers, huddles, Nebraska, huddles. Michigan State brought people, you know, caught the plays, quarterback run to the sideline, and they smashed all those

teams. So, you know, sign stealing was not an issue. Ohio State, you know, the Ohio State fan base that says, well, the reason you beat us the last two years, Ohio State publicly came out before the game last year and said, we think Michigan has our signals. We're changing all of our signals. They said that before the game. That refutes any notion that that sign stealing impacted that. And if it still did, then Ohio State's morons for not changing it. They felt like they knew it. So here's the thing for me, is we could go round and round and this conversation's going to go on for a really long time by our fan base the thing that stinks for me is the majority of fans out there are casual fans and they'll never take the time to understand nuance you know you live in ann arbor

so you're surrounded by i live in orlando florida surrounded by a melting pot of college football fans people that are casuals, people that are serious fans. And all they know is what Paul Feinbaum tells them. All they know is what, you know, the talking heads say. And so, you know, this era of Michigan football is tainted, you know, by the casuals. And casuals dictate the conversation, really. You're never going to convince a diehard Michigan fan

that Ohio State's really good. You're never going to convince a diehard Michigan fan that Ohio state's really good. You're never going to convince a diehard sec fan that the big 10 could be better at something. Right. So those you're never going to change and influence those people, the people that make the overwhelming kind of narrative, believe it or not is the casuals. And those are the people that don't take the time to understand all the points, excellent points that you made. And so it's just a bummer that it's tainted. You know, it's a really good football team, a team that's going to probably set an NFL draft record,

and only a couple teams have had more guys drafted in this era than the Michigan Wolverines. They're good because they're well-coached. They're good because they have great players. They're good because they have great team chemistry. And so the fact that it's going to be tainted by whatever level this had on it is really, really frustrating for me as a huge machine. Yeah, that's that's the that's the big issue.

Look, I can take a ribbing all day long. I get it from people. And I have I have a group of friends. I'm going to Nebraska this weekend for a wedding. Really good buddy of mine who is in my wedding. I'm going to be in his and I'm going to group chat with all the grooms groomsmen. And, you know, they're all Nebraska fans. They already give me a ton of shit, man.

And I can handle it but i you know and i know when to kind of know that it's that it's trolling me and looking for a reaction because even though we're almost pushed we're all pushing 30 um we still act like we're in high school and i always tell those guys that um because i was the one to react when i was younger and you know being the lone michigan fan in the state of nebraska at the time when i lived there um but you know i've already started to get it, man. And I got it from my father-in-law. You know, I'm seeing it on Facebook from people. I'm like, do you even know Ball?

Like, you know, like it's just – it's really unfortunate. And you're right. I mean, I'm very proud to be a fan of the University of Michigan. I'm very proud to live in Ann Arbor. I'm proud to have seen this team as many times as I have since I've moved back to Michigan last year. And that's really frustrating because I take a lot of pride in being able to say go blue to somebody in another part of the country and rock the block M and feel good about my

team. I still do, but it's almost like now you're just going to hear it. And that's, look, that's a first world problem, man, because I'll tell you what, at the end of the day, all I care about what Michigan does is that they have good kids on the team. They graduate, they go to class, they win games. And that's what they're doing. At the end of the day, if you want to talk about competitive advantages, let's talk about teams buying players for two to three to four or $5 million.

Like that's a competitive advantage and a disadvantage. And we don't talk about that now look i understand where i do to a certain extent understand where people are coming from but to say that this is similar to the houston astros situation where that was from top down understanding that they were cheating in live moments and understanding that a curveball is coming or a fastball or whatever breaking ball, it's just not even in the same conversation. Like we're talking about potentially allegedly recording something that's broadcast nationally, something where 80,000 to 100,000 people are at most games that everyone has a smartphone.

And Dave Portnoy, love him or hate him, I know he's done some things in the past with Barstool that are not so favorable. I think he's funny. I also think he can be a bit much sometimes. But his point of going to the Wisconsin-Ohio State game and uploading the video of the Ohio State sideline to Twitter, that's what we're talking about. And look, if Connor Stallion is with the CMU-MSU game,

it's a little bit different. If those were Ray Bans that have cameras in them, that's crazy. But, I mean, you're spot on, Brian Brian this whole thing stinks sucks for Michigan fans sucks for the players man I really do feel for them in the coach because because the more that comes out I still feel like nobody really knew and if anybody else knew I feel like it's probably low level maybe people that were interns that you know could be looked at as under Connor Stallions right you're not going to be having a ton of direct reports at the analyst level he was at, but maybe some of those interns. So I think what's going to happen, because we're going to move on from this,

I've talked about it ad nauseum on every single podcast with my friends and family that are Michigan fans, so I'm sure you're sick of talking about it. I'm sick of talking about it. But I think what's going to happen is Connor Stallions will receive a show cause. Now, depending on what more information they find out about him it may be two years it may be lifetime i really don't know i think his career in college football is probably done either way um and i think michigan will probably receive a fine maybe they find him the amount that it costs to implement the technology and the helmets

to not have to deal with this that's's a fair punishment, right? Michigan can certainly afford it. It may be probation, but the people that think that Big Ten's going to come in, knock out one of their national championship contenders, I don't know what to tell you. This is a business. The new Big Ten commissioner is a former Fox executive. Michigan right now is good for ratings, and that's what these conferences care about, and that's what college football is at the end of the day now. It is a TV business. It is a TV show, reality TV. I mean, you talk about subscription services out there paying loads of money

to be able to put Michigan on TV. Guess what? Michigan already has a huge fan base. They have a lot of eyeballs. They're going to have even more against Purdue. I'm surprised they didn't try to throw this one on Peacock, man. Get them numbers up. But I think that's what's going to happen.

Absolutely. Yes. So yeah, I think that's, what's going to happen. And, you know, it's going to be a few years of, of, you know, mudslinging from, from rival fans. Like there always is anyways. And I think, you know, at some point as a country collectively, we will move on. But that may not happen until Jim Harbaugh is no longer the coach at Michigan. So who knows when that'll be though. So again, we, we kind of teased it. We'll get to that because we do have some other stuff we want to talk about college football rankings. It is November 1st here around six o'clock in the evening as we're recording

this last night. I don't know about you, Brian, do you watch the reveal? Cause I don't, I don't, I don't care. I get it on Twitter. I just see it when it comes out. I don't, I don't watch the talking heads. I watched it past. It was Halloween night at my house. I was with the family a little bit. And so I was watching on the phone, but not really listening. The top six were the exact order I thought they would be. So I've kind of watched it. And when they rolled them out the way that I thought they would be, there was no surprise. I didn't need to hear the people on that show talk about why it was what I

thought they were. So did I watch it live? Yes, without sound and just saw the names come up on the screen. But, yeah, it rolled out exactly how I thought. Yeah. My thing with that whole committee is I want to see more consistency because if you're going to credit Ohio State for their resume you can't knock Florida State for theirs right because their win over LSU is one of the more impressive wins so far this season I mean LSU has two losses but they're

what number 14 number 15 um I couldn't figure it out because the image that I saw had their logo by 14 and 15 last night for LSU um but you know in Florida State look Clemson's not ranked but they beat Clemson on the road um and if you're going to reward Ohio State at number one then I think you should put Florida State at number two then because Florida State has one of the better wins uh you know in the country right now of the undefeateds uh you know you can certainly talk about Texas went over Alabama but Texas dropped a game to Oklahoma now Oklahoma Oklahoma's dropped a game. But yeah, Michigan at three, whatever. Everything's still in front of this team. Nothing changes with it. Maybe it's a little bit of a chip on the shoulder. And I always preface it when I talk about this type of stuff in terms of motivation. Look, it's not like Michigan wasn't going to play their asses

off in November, right? It's judgment month. It's Penn State. It's Ohio State. You got Purdue and Maryland sprinkled in there. But maybe it's that extra motivation to say, hey, you know, Ben Herbert wants 12 reps. Let me get 14 on this one, right? I'll push this weight a couple more times. Let me go hard. Let me get another rep in. Let me get some more sprints in after practice. Maybe it's just that extra edge to say, you know what? You want to discredit us in the college football rankings? You want to discredit us because of whatever outside noise. Fine. But we're going to show you how good of a team we are. I'm hoping that's the reaction.

And I hope it's a galvanizing moment. And this team's already so tight knit. I mean, you know, we hear things just from some of the connections we're lucky enough to have about how tight this team is and how much they play for each other. But again, I just, and that's real. That's real. Like the people we talked to, that's real. That's not like a lot of teams say they're tight.

Every, every team throws around brotherhood and family. This team's this team for the last few years is different. Look at Donovan Edwards, man. You think this season, and I know you know this, but just to the listeners, does anybody think this season has gone the way that Donovan Edwards would have hoped? No, no. He hasn't been able to put up the numbers and we're, you know, I still think he's going to have big moments and he's going to cement his, he's already cemented

his legacy as a, as a Michigan legend. And I think that he will have a couple more moments that will be really proud of Donovan, but hearing him talk, seeing him on the sideline, it's just one example of these guys. They don't care. They don't care about the stats. I mean, they want to get to the NFL, right? It's important. But you look at Donovan Edwards and the way that he's handled kind of a difficult situation personally for him on the field just speaks to the level of maturity that this team has and the brotherhood that this team has.

It's really, really awesome to watch. And this has been by far my favorite stretch of Michigan football in my lifetime. You know, I was born, I was born in 95. So I don't have the 97 team to look at, you know, I was, I was, I was two years old then. So this team though, you know, been through 06, 16, you know, the 18 team was pretty good. But these, these three teams, man, 142, 143, 144, I mean, make you proud to be a Michigan fan. So I'm really hoping that this is just a galvanizing moment for this team, this coaching staff, and everybody associated with the University of Michigan.

I wish I was going to Purdue on Saturday night, Brian, because I would love to give Jim Harbaugh just a huge round of applause. Because, again, all the stuff being thrown on his name and all the rivals and all the people at ESPN and all the talking heads just blowing air, just blowing hot air is all they're doing. I hope that Michigan Stadium is just roaring on Saturday night because it's the last game before the game for Michigan to be able to watch these guys in person at the big house.

A lot of these guys are going to be in the NFL. So I got off on a bit of a tangent there, a bit of a monologue, but I just, I get fired up about this team, man, because they represent everything that's good in college sports. These guys on the field. Yeah. Yeah. Well said. I think, you know, the only thing I would add to your commentary about the college playoff

rankings is I prefer us to be ranked below Ohio State, 100%. Like I was hoping two, three weeks ago, I'm like when I hope when these playoff rankings come out, Ohio State's ranked above Michigan. I just feel like most teams, but particularly this group of guys, do better being disrespected, do better having people doubt them publicly, privately, whatever. And so, you know, it's exactly where we want to be.

Like Michigan being number one, I think would have been, you know, as Nick Saban said, rat poison. Like be number two, be number three, number four. You know, I'd have been really upset if we were number five, but number three is like the sweet spot. Like let's go, you know, everything in front of us. You know, I like where we're at. We're in the perfect spot.

I mean, it's been nice. We've had a lot of weeks the last few years being in those playoff rankings. It's nice being at the top of the pedestal, and, you know, I'm excited. And to your point about Purdue, I know it was a tangent, but, boy, I feel sorry for those boys coming up from West Lafayette. It's going to – you have to imagine it's going to be a bloodbath. And, you know, as we saw against Michigan State, we had a score to settle there.

There's nothing personal against Purdue. But with everything going on, you've got to think they're going to lay the hammer. You know what I mean? Like, they'll put the backups in, but they'll keep throwing it. They'll keep running it. I mean, it's going to – you know, unless something crazy happens, I expect a total bloodbath. 100%, man.

And, you know, these guys are mature, like I talked about. It's a veteran-heavy team. You've got a lot of guys in their third fourth fifth year in the program that have only been around a winning culture over the last three seasons right and so they know what's important they know what to focus on and i think when you look at this team and this coaching staff they know what the prize is they know to have tunnel vision the only thing that matters right now is coming to work every day keeping up with school work because it's still college football right but you know making sure you're you're taking care of business on and off the field and not getting caught up in all this bs and turning off twitter um you know disconnecting i wish i could uh but

i'm sure these guys have a lot more willpower than me because they've got a really big goal that they can get to and this is the best chance chance that I think Michigan has had in 25 years to win a national championship. And so, you know, I have no doubt that guys like JJ McCarthy and Carson Barnhart and Trevor Keegan and Zach Zinter and Drake Nugent and Blake Corum and Will Johnson, and I could list everybody on this team, Mike Sainer still, Mike Barrett, you know, everybody. They're locked in. They're ready to go. And I do agree that Purdue we're going to see.

But I feel bad for the Boilermakers because I think this team's got a statement to make. They had a statement to make in East Lansing, and they sure as hell made one, 49 to nothing. So, again, this one isn't personal. No real issues. You know, I like Ryan Walters, man. I think he's going to be a good coach. He's a great defensive mind. He gave Michigan a lot of

fits in the Illinois game last year. Had me, I was on my honeymoon watching it with a bootleg VPN and a free trial on sling. And I was, I was clenching up, man. That was a little scary. So, you know, but he hasn't been able to get his players in there yet, year one. But I agree. I think Michigan is going to come out ready to go. So we talked about the college football playoff rankings. Let's go ahead and slide into some midseason awards. Midseason.

I guess we're a little bit over 50% of the way through the season if Michigan is able to do what we think they can. Sitting here at 8-0. Want to give out some awards, man, some superlatives. We've not talked about this. We don't know where each other is going to come. This is great. No, I think, you know, let me get back to our thread because we have what we're going to do.

So we're going to do four categories. Let's go ahead. Brian, who is your freshman of the year? Freshman of the year. You know, we haven't played a ton of freshmen candidly i think there's one guy that comes to mind for me immediately um so i'd love to know what you're gonna say because it may be the same guy i feel like there's two freshmen that have played well and that's samaj morgan and uh darren waller dj waller's played uh darren waller dj waller's

played a fair amount uh over there on the other side. Oh, man. But, I mean, it's got to be Samaj, right? He's had some nice punts. He's had some nice flashy plays. He's got us all excited. I mean, you think of the past few years, we've had some freshmen play a lot of minutes and play big roles.

That's not the case with this team as talent is there, but I think he's the clear choice. And excited about what he can bring. I mean, he seems flashy. We don't really have another guy like him. I mean, Tyler Morris sort of, but they're not the same guy. Tyler Morris is more of just a shorter, good slot receiver, where Samaj is that shifty, make guys miss.

And, man, he pops. So he gets my vote. Yeah, I was going to go with Samaj as well. DJ Waller, though, real quick, oozes first-round potential, man. I mean, he's like 6'4", 230 running. I mean, he had a go route that he defended against Michigan State. And, you know, I looked at Justin. I was like, who is 13, man?

I thought it was Josh Wallace at first, you know, 1-3, 1-2 on the numbers. And I was like, oh, that's DJ Waller. And I just got giddy. I was like, Oh, that kid is a baller. So he's going to be a player, man, under the radar kind of kid, but Samaj local Michigan kid, West Bloomfield. You know, he's got a couple of touchdowns this year. He's been shifty. He's shown some really good, you know, promise in the, in the past game, but also in the return game as the kicker Turner. So, you know, he had that that back shoulder catch um was that against rutgers i believe where he was interfered with still had the touchdown and then he had the touchdown against indiana had some nice catching runs against michigan state so yeah i think samaj is is that guy let's move on who is

your defensive player of the year you know i think there's one guy that's my clear number one but there's a few guys that have had flashes that ain't good but it's got to be mikey yeah zero like he just in terms of gain you know mason graham had he not been injured probably been tough not to pick i mean he's been dominant he's been there but he's missed some time um but mikey's just game in game out i mean like, you know, he's got the two pick sixes and he just makes a, he's a presence. He's throwing the ball all the time. I think, you know, and a guy that is one of the better Michigan stories, right? A guy that starts a wide receiver, moves the defense back here that you think, okay, maybe play some snaps when he

doesn't. And he's turned into a team captain and just an amazing playmaker. And I think he's the clear choice for me. Yeah. And I'm actually, I agree with you, but I'm going to go against the grain just for sake of, you know, entertainment value. And I'm going to go with the guy you mentioned, Mason Graham. I think Mike Sanders still is the heartbeat of this team. He is a fantastic football player. I love what he brings. He's a day two pick in my opinion. You know, with where the NFL is and slot nickel corners are very important. But I'm going to go with Mason Graham, man, the sophomore out of California, just been a, just a wrecking ball. You know,

I have a big affinity for defensive linemen that were great wrestlers. Mason Graham was a great wrestler. I mean, I, you know, you can't see it, but in my office, I have my high school Jersey framed with my state championship medal and I wore 68 because of Mike Martin. So I've always had a, had a warm spot for those kinds of guys. And man, he might be one of the best defensive tackles I've ever seen at Michigan in my lifetime, you know, over the last 28 years, he's just been unblockable, unguardable. And he's always making plays even with one hand. So yeah, I could, you know, Mike Sanger still,

Mason Graham, Chris Jenkins. I mean, all these guys have been phenomenal, and you could give it to some of the edges. I mean, there's so much talent on this team and on this defense. But, yeah, I'm going to go with Mason Graham, just kind of to go against the grain a little bit. So on the flip side of the ball, and spoiler alert, we are not going to have the same guy twice. So our offensive player of the year is going to be different from our MVP. We will talk about our MVP.

So if you get up in arms, just fast forward a couple minutes if you really need to. We'll talk about that guy in our next award. But offensive player of the year, man, who are you going with, Brian? That's a tough one because we're not making our MVP. I think that will be our one consensus pick on MVP. Yes. I'm probably going to go with the pick that someone's going to surprise people. And I'm going to go with Zach Sinter. I feel like we're

running the ball amazingly well, the balance of passing, rushing. JJ has tons of time, and he's clearly the best player on that line. And I've always believed football begins and ends with the offensive-defensive line, like you were saying. And I agree. And so, you know, you could obviously not steal on your thunder, but Blake, you know, leads the nation rushing touchdowns. Roman Wilson has been great. You know, the two headed monster tight ends good, but I'm going to go just, just for the sake of going against the grain a little bit, I'm going to go with Zach center just because, you know, he could have gone,

he could easily gone in a third, fourth round pick last year, easily without any risk of that. because, you know, he could have gone, he could have easily gone in a third, fourth round pick last year easily without any risk of that. And, you know, guards are not picked in the first round. So third or fourth round pick is kind of peak guard range. So he, you know, he, he risked a lot to gain little, right? Like his upside in the NFL draft, a guard that goes the second round is a really elite guard. And so,. And so the fact that he came back and has just anchored a really strong offensive line, he gets my pick. Yeah, I could definitely see it going there. You mentioned the tight ends, man. A.J. Barner, we've been talking about him.

Dude, we haven't talked about it since the Michigan State game. Oh, my God. That guy is a stud. He's a fantastic blocker. Colson Loveland, continuing to get better. Blake Corum, we know who Blake Corum is. But I'm going to go with the guy you mentioned, Roman Wilson. Just his playmaking ability on these JJ Scramble drills.

You know, he had a Scramble drill touchdown against Michigan State. He obviously had the Moss against Nebraska. Anyway, he's got 10-11 touchdowns. I think he's tied for third, maybe tied for second in the country with receiving touchdowns. Somehow not on the Blitnikoff watch watch list even though there are guys on there with 200 yards receiving i don't know i mean he doesn't he's not gonna put the raw numbers like some of these other guys in past heavy offenses are but um you know for my money he's been he's

been damn good he's earned the right to wear the number one he wears it well he represents university of michigan i know you know he does his vlogs and stuff and he just seems like a great and he's going to be a guy that plays in the NFL. I don't know if he's going to be as effective as this guy, but really reminds me now, especially wearing the number one, reminds me of Deshaun Jackson, just that deep, speedy threat, and I think he's going to thrive in the NFL. I think he's going to be a really good wide receiver too somewhere, but I'm going to go with Roman, and now we're going to get to the most valuable player so far for 2023 for the Michigan Wolverines. Do you want to say it at the same time?

J.J. McCartney. I don't think – Number nine. There's no debate. It's unbelievable. I mean, again, we didn't get to talk about the Michigan State game because of everything going on. I was there.

Man, these throws. Was that throw across Cal Halladay's helmet? Oh. talk about the Michigan State game because of everything going on. I was there, I mean, these throws, that throw across Cal Halladay's helmet. I mean, the anticipation, the arm strength, unbelievable. The throw, I mean, a lot of throws on third and longs where he had to get outside the pocket. I mean, his ability to scramble and get outside of the play design when need be, it's almost like, do you blitz him? It almost, it's almost like do you blitz him? It's almost like it's better when he's blitzed. And I also saw a stat, Brian. I don't know if you – you might have sent it to me. You're the stat guy.

But on, what, third downs this year, JJ is 19 of 20, and all those completions have gone for a touchdown or a first down? I did not hear that. That's impressive. He also leads the country in percentage of throws that go for a first down? I had not heard that. That's impressive. He also leads the country. He also leads the country in percentage of throws that go for a first down or touchdown just in general. I heard that on the athletic pro football podcast. They were talking about their quarterback three where they had JJ. I got JJ as number one quarterback in this draft class because you look

at the intangibles, you look at the arm strength, you look at the playmaking ability. I just, again, he's not going to put up the raw numbers, but this kid is playing at such an elite level right now. And I think Michigan puts more on the plate of their quarterback than, than a lot of those schools. Right. I mean, I, I don't know. I mean, Caleb Williams, unbelievable talent, make some boneheaded throws. Drake may he's really good. Drake May is really, really good.

He's a good player. But, man, I just – Bo Nix has been a stud. Yes, yes. But I think with J.J. and how he translates to the NFL, I think he should be a top five pick this year, well, in 2024. You know, what's funny about that is I don't disagree at all. I think, you know, people came into this year thinking Caleb Williams was Patrick Mahomes 2.0,

that Drake May was, you know, insert whatever comparison you want, the number two pick in the draft. And so that kind of gets set in stone, gets set in people's mind. But if you were to just erase history and said football started and this group of quarterbacks started this year and you used this year only as your measuring stick i don't know how you definitely would choose jg over caleb williams he has traits he has big plays but he's done so many i've watched a lot of their games a lot of his plays he does a lot of stuff that would just frustrate me to no end his footwork the cable real quick i want to get your thoughts caleb williams footwork i've always thought he plays flat-footed a lot

and i think that leads to some velocity coming off his throws. Some of those throws against Notre Dame, he's just lobbing them up over the middle of the field to a linebacker, to the safety for Notre Dame. The kid from Omaha, Nebraska, actually. I think it's Xavier Watts, I think. I think that might be his name. But just, you know, look, JJ had a three-interception game. He certainly did, but it wasn't in a big moment. It was in a game he won by 25. And so, you know, in every other game, he's got no picks and not really a ton of turnover-worthy plays either, right? I mean, last year there were times where he'd get away with things.

This year I can count maybe on my hand where I'm like, ooh. Like the throw against Indiana to CJ where he had to fit that in and it was behind CJ over the middle. That one was a little hairy. But even the throw against Michigan to CJ where he had to fit that in and it was behind CJ over the middle. That one was a little hairy. But even the throw against Michigan State where he fits it into Barner over the outstretched hand of a defender from Michigan State, that's a throw that tells me I got a lot of confidence in my arm. I know where I want to put the ball and he ain't touching it. I know how quickly he's going to get there and I'm going to fire that thing in there. So I just feel like JJ's playing really clean ball. command of the offense is impressive all the offseason

hype I mean it makes sense right year two is a starter you're the incumbent you know you're the guy there's nobody looking over your shoulder you've got the keys of the program he's delivered on every front so far you know the other thing that's maybe surprised I think even for some of the fouls things as closely as I do and talks to people and, you know, knew about, you know, some of the Cade McNamara issues before they got out to the public, how great of a teammate he is. Like, you know, I mean, the guy's done in the third quarter essentially every game, and he's out celebrating the defense.

Like, you mean, a backup safety makes a play, and he's the first guy on the field to give him a high five. Like, you know, and people can say, hey, he knows the cameras are on. Well, the cameras are on every team in the country every week, right? Like that's not new, right? Big boy football, there's cameras on. So if that's true, then every quarterback does that every game across the country. And the fact of the matter is we don't see that. We don't see the starting quarterback in the fourth quarter of a 40 point game running out to the field to give a, you know, a first time, a guy getting his first time getting that real action, making a

play. I mean, it's just, it's clear that it's, the guys love him. When you see other guys on the team talk about J.J. McCarthy, every team has to talk about their quarterback, right? And everyone gives the platitudes of, oh, he's a great leader. I'd love to play with him or whatever. The genuine excitement, guys' faces light up when they talk about JJ. So not only, you know, he earns the MVP because of his play on the field and playing at a level that we really haven't seen at Michigan ever, right? We've seen some dynamic playmakers, but in terms of just we're all playing the quarterback position,

we have not seen someone play at this level statistically by every empirical measure. We haven't seen it. But also the off-the-charts leadership. He's been spectacular. Yeah, no, absolutely. And I'm fortunate enough this evening to be doing some content for Blue by 90. And I believe that there will be a quarterback from Michigan, not JJ, but a guy in that room.

And I can't wait to ask him, what kind of teammate is JJ McCarthy? Because I'd love to know. I'm sure it's going to be gushing and just talk about how good of a leader he is. So that's going to be dropping on Blue by 90's YouTube page and on Spotify. So definitely check that out. Very excited to do that. So just a little cross sale plug, I guess you could call for the network of Blue of blue by 90 we're just you know doing things over here um so yeah jj our mvp and real quick um because i actually got to get out of here to go do that soon so jim harbaugh wall street journal has an article that his offer is rescinded rescinded is a it's a word that means a certain thing means you pulled it back that

didn't happen that's been refuted by everybody from sam webb to chris ballas to josh henske to johnny bacon to all the insiders that are plugged into university of michigan absolutely absolutely jim harbaugh now fast forward what we're 48 hours 72 hours from that article that came out on a sunday night just had to – I turned Twitter off. I was like, I'm going to go to bed. We were watching a movie. I was like, I'm just going to turn my phone off, not look at Twitter. And it turns out things are moving in the right direction if you're a Michigan fan with Jim Harbaugh.

Sounds like – and again, we kind of touched on this when we talked about the sign stuff feel pretty good that michigan feels good enough of what the information that they have all the all the you know all the proof and evidence that they may have from the ncaa and otherwise that they're willing to stand behind jim harbaugh that santa j ono is is willing to say hey this done. That's been reported that he's the guy saying, let's get this done. And I think people overestimate, you know, Ward Manuel and, you know, him and Jim Harbaugh don't like each other. I don't think that's the case. I think everybody's on board is what it sounds like, from the regents to the athletic director to the president to all the heavy hitters

in the University of Michigan. They're on board with making Jim Harbaugh the highest paid coach in the Big Ten, potentially in the country. I've heard 12 a year. I don't know where that would put him, but that would put him top three in the NCAA, I'd have to assume. So what are your thoughts on this? Because I'm fired up about it, man. Because, again, if Michigan knows what they need to know and they're still confident and willing to stand behind Jim Harbaugh, then let's ride.

I mean, I love it. I love Jim Harbaugh, then let's ride. I mean, I love it. I love Jim Harbaugh as the coach for Michigan. Unless we find out something that he was the smoking gun behind the scenes and knew all about this, that changes it a little bit, but I don't think that's the case. Listen, for the last two-plus years, the only team that's had more success on the field than the University of Michigan is Georgia, and they've been a powerhouse, and they're awesome.

Fine. But nobody's had more success on the field than the University of Michigan is Georgia. And they've been a powerhouse and they're awesome. Fine. But nobody's had more success than Jim Harbaugh. And I think what's great is he's a guy that we know we're getting, a really good football coach. But you look at what's happening at Clemson, right? Like Dabo Sweeney's had a ton of success. And his failure to recognize the changes in the game, not embracing the transfer portal. You know, the one thing I was frustrated about with Coach Arbaugh a few years ago was, you know, holding on to the Madisons of the world, the Don Browns of the world. He realized that he needed to change and adapt to who he was as a coach, who he was with his players.

And he's changed the environment of the program. He brought in all these young, dynamic coaches, really made it a player's program. You know, whether it's the end of the game and every person wants to talk to him. And this is, you know, it's not a bit when you do it every week. I mean, he politely answers the question and then turns it over to whoever the player of the game was. Hey, talk to JJ. Hey, talk to Mikey. Talk to Donovan. Talk to Will, whoever. And he does that players first. And he continues to adapt. I mean, I think, you know, his success in the transfer portal the last couple years,

he clearly resonates with parents. And I think the only reason we haven't recruited a little bit better is that fear of him leaving to NFL. I think, you know, if you're an opposing team, an opposing program, an opposing recruiter, what do you use? You use doubt. And you say, hey, this guy's talking to insert NFL team and he opposing program, an opposing recruiter, what do you use? You use doubt and you say, Hey, this guy's talking to insert NFL team and he's gone, you know? And so he signs a long term contract. And I think that just cements, you know, those questions, it takes away that,

that those issues on the recruiting trail and, you know, let's keep this train rolling, you know? And, uh, I I'll be so excited when he signs that deal well and you have to think too you know when there's contract negotiations from jim harbaugh he look he wants to feel appreciated he wants to feel loved and what better way to do that than to make him the highest paid coach in the big 10 conference now jim harbaugh's made a shitload of money in his in his life and i'm sure he's got a lot you know some financial advisors and he's done well in the market as everyone has done over the last 25 years. Right.

I'm sure he's not, he's not flashing, right? Well, he's got Lululemon now. So, I mean, the money must be nice.

Yeah. So, but you know, I think the contract negotiations more come from a standpoint of, look, this is the standard, right. For my baseline pay,

which is great and have the incentives in there. But I also am just hypothesizing here, you've got to think that there's a big budget for the assistant pool. Get those guys some bumps in pay. You've got to think there's NIL stuff. He's not dumb. He's not Dabo Sweeney who, look, Dabo won two national championships with generational quarterbacks.

But Dabo Sweeney who look Dabo won two national championships with generational quarterbacks but Dabo has not adapted right he's not adapted to the transfer portal they don't take transfers like that's a thing they don't bring incoming transfers and that's why they're four and four right now so Jim Harbaugh has always been a guy that's been at you know the forefront at least recently right he's kind of learned like hey I can't do this the same way that I did at Stanford or with the 49ers or even in 2016 like I got got to continue to adapt. He's been it. He's been vocally at the forefront of changes. Now, right now, it's revenue share. Right. Like he's he's out in front. He was the first guy to bring up, you know, basically allowing a one time free transfer for players. You know, he's always been about the player. So I think he's going to be out in front of these subjects. And I think that's why he's been able to have such a renaissance. 2020 was rough, man. I loved Jim

Harbaugh, but I was upset. I was not happy. But I also, and you can see my tweets on this, it's timestamped. I did say in early 2021, I said, hey, if Jim Harbaugh's a guy, let's go hire a badass defensive coordinator. Let's revamp some things and let's, if Jim Harbaugh's a guy, let's go hire a badass defensive coordinator. Let's revamp some things and let's go see what happens. And we have seen what happened. Michigan has lost three games since then. So I think that the contract, my whole point there is that it's not Jim Harbaugh jockeying for more money for himself. It's for his assistants. It's the NIL pool. It's all the things that are going to keep Michigan competitive. So just pray this thing gets done. Just, you know, I pray that all this nonsense, you know, starts to fizzle out. I think it has. I mean, I don't know. Real quick, because

we're going to get out of here. But man, it seemed like somebody at ESPN sent out a memo today that we got to shit on Michigan football because a lot of guys changed their tune. Stephen A. Smith is talking about it. I mean, the NBA just started. We got Stephen A. Smith talking about Michigan. That's crazy to me. So I don't know what your thoughts were, but I saw a lot of negativity coming from ESPN today when nothing else happened. Nothing has happened in the last 24 hours, really. Yeah, you said it early on, and it's almost pointless to belabor at this point, but it sure seems coordinated. A memo went out because every ESPN talking head, all of a sudden, you know, people that had been defending Michigan, you know, all of a sudden flipping the script

and saying it's the most atrocious thing in the world. And, you know, one of Stephen A.'s points was shame on the Big Ten for not punishing them. In what world does anyone, even if Michigan's caught them, completely guilty, in what world does due process not play out? Like, it's crazy to me, you know, that they're calling for like the immediate beheading of the program. It's like, come on, let's, you know, let's, this is the United States of America. Like, let's make sure something's right. You know, the fact that they're just, you said the word, and I think it was very apropos, is it seems coordinated. Like there was a memo, you know, one talking, you know, it's like when you're on the political

campaigning trail, you get to talk. It feels political. It seemed very coordinated today. And I'm so over it. Like, you know, what I do for a living, you know, like that stuff, I'm immune to that. Like, yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you. It's been, it's been weird. You know, I just, yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you. It's been weird. I'm over it too. I don't know. Today was really weird for ESPN.

But they want to get a second SEC school in because they don't have a contract to broadcast Big Ten games anymore. But also, what punishment is going to be laid down when you haven't completed the investigation? Precisely. You don't have all the facts. How can you lay down a punishment right now? And also, the Big Ten is not going to, hey, man, if I'm Michigan, if I'm one of the heavy hitters and the Big Ten tries to do something, say, try us.

Try us. See what happens without us. We'll go to the SEC. Right? I'm one of the heavy hitters and the big 10 tries to do something, say, try us, try us, see what happens without us. Yeah. We'll go to the sec. Right. Like Michigan is the cash cow, Michigan, Ohio state or the cash cows. I don't care about USC,

UCLA coming in Michigan dwarfs, those four West coast schools coming in. Good luck. If you try to do anything to ruin this season. And I hope Michigan has the, you know what to fight back on that kind of stuff yeah well said i think we're gonna get out of here brian uh great to be reunited my man always fun doing this uh thank you to everyone listening we'll be back after the purdue game looking forward to watching uh just michigan football man just getting back to bi-week

you know came at a weird time with everything coming out. So ready for these guys to get back on the field, man. Talk with their pads. And yeah, we'll be here this time next week. Go blue, baby. Go blue.