Blue By Ninety - Blue By The Numbers: Breaking down Michigan-ECU

Episode Date: September 6, 2023

In the debut of a brand new show, Tanner Wooten and Brian Boughton break down Michigan’s performance position by position using PFF grades and giving their thoughts on the Wolverines 30-3 victory over the Pirates.

All right, and welcome back to Blue by 90. This is the first episode of Blue by the Numbers. I'm your co-host, Tanner Wooten of Blue by 90, joined by my good friend, Brian Bouton. Brian, how are you? I'm doing great. Good, good. Great first week and ready to rumble.

Yes, yes, a lot of football. We're recording this Monday afternoon, so we've still got Duke and Clemson tonight, the last game of the weekend slate for week one. Then we turn to NFL, where I have my Lions hat on, ready for the Lions-Chiefs game. But very excited to talk about Michigan, East Carolina. Just played on Saturday. Michigan won, pretty convincingly, 30-3 with a late, late field goal from East Carolina to keep their non-shutout streak going. Hey, they had a streak

of 300 games of scoring points. Go for it. It's a little bit more sad when a Penn State does that, as we've seen in the big house, but if East Carolina needs to get some points on the board, I'm A-OK with it. So, Brian, I don't know about you, but it was very exciting to have football come back. I'm very stoked to be back in the big house. Brandon Justice and I of Bluebird 90 were both at the game together. Basically, a lot of the Bluebird 90 folks were there. We had a tailgate, had a great time. So, Brian, next time you're able to get up to Ann Arbor, we'll have to get you out there. But what we're going to kind of do in this podcast and what our vision is, is to talk through some

of the pro football focus grading that the Michigan players receive week by week and give our thoughts on what we saw in the game and what we saw from our rewatches and just kind of see if that lines up and just give you some more in-depth analysis on some of the play from the Michigan football team. So, Brian, I know you've got the PFF grades. So if you want to kind of start talking through position by position, well, that's kind of the format that we're going to go for here on this show and just kind of talk through each position group, how we felt about the performance. If, if what PFF gradings kind of,

you know, sync with what our thoughts are and how we feel about what we saw on the field. That's kind of how we're going to position this. So we'd love to know, I'm assuming JJ had to have had a very high grade. And JJ was the highest graded quarterback in the Big Ten with a 93 grade. I don't think we've had a quarterback performance ever in the PFF era graded that high. And his

total QBR was one of the best in the country, one of the best of all time, actually. So he looked spectacular. I think, you know, the game that people were hoping to see, we didn't get exactly what I think most of us were looking for, but as it pertains to JJ, he was dialed in. He looked as good as anyone could expect. I mean, I thought he looked so poised. He made tough throws in contested spaces, but didn't really seem to take that many risks either. It's like a unique balance of making calculated throws into tight windows versus making bad decisions. And I thought he was as good as we could expect.

I mean, we get that level of JJ this year. I like our chances to beat anyone. Yeah, I mean, a 93 rating, not surprising with how well he was throwing the ball. It was very apparent from where we were sitting and then even more apparent on the rewatch. And I've watched his – NBC Sports had a YouTube video of all of his completions. I wish it was all of his throws. I mean,

there's only four incompletions and one of those was a drop. One was a great play by one of the back seven defenders from ECU to break up a touchdown to AJ Barner. But I think the thing that I really love seeing, and obviously you know who they're playing, the caveats do apply, but the subtleties in which he moved in the pocket, it was just night and day

from this time last year, where you knew he had the talent, you knew he had the arm, the legs, you know, he's a total package at quarterback. But I think what I really took away from this game was his ability to just make those small movements in the pocket step up. I took some notes on some of the plays that I love from him. I mean, there was a lot of NFL level throws. Early on in the first quarter, there was that throw to Roman Wilson right after Wilson had the, I don't know, I thought it was a drop from the stands, but looking at it, the DB made a really good play. But he went back to Roman on a deep out to the wide side of the field. And I mean, it's's NFL throw on the money on a rope. In between two defenders.

I mean, just where only his receiver could catch it. I mean, he had a few of those. He had a couple of the Colson Love them that way, too, that. Yes, he just was dialed in. And I thought, you know, I've always been a big JJ fan, but the step that he's taken from the end of last, you know, peak JJ last year to game one. And again, it's one game, but what we saw was spectacular.

I mean, it was as good a quarterback play as we've seen it in a Michigan uniform. Yeah. And I mean, the, the pocket presence, again, it's all just about command of the offense, command of the pocket. You know, people think he got away with one where he got up in the pocket, but the rule is, is you have any part of your body that's on the line of scrimmage, you can throw that ball. And that throw to Roman Wilson on that touchdown, I mean, it's a bang-bang play.

Looking at the replay from Peacock, I couldn't tell when his foot crossed and when the ball left. That's why they didn't change it. It was the call stood. But just his ability to kind of navigate the pocket, he had another throw to Roman Wilson on the run for a touchdown. I think his most impressive throw was the Cornelius Johnson over the middle. I believe it was in the late first, early second quarter. I think it was our second drive or third drive, second touchdown drive. He had pressure in his face. He's on his back foot and just fires it

in there to CJ, puts it on the number. And I mean, there's just so many throws we could talk about. I don't want to spend all day talking about JJ, but really impressive performance from a guy who you wanted to see take that leap. That's a very good first step to showing that he's taken that proverbial leap in year two as a starter. Yeah, two additional thoughts on JJ. One, he, you know, him being an athlete, former hockey player, he likes to put his head down and run. And he had a few occasions to do that. And rather than doing that under the situation where we didn't need him to run and make plays, he kept his eyes downfield and made some really good throws under those situations

where he could easily run for 8, 12 yards. And I thought that showed maturity. One nitpicking thing is some of the ball handling, the fumble on the goal line, some of that ball handling stuff. That's a part of the ball handling, the fumble on the goal line, some of that ball handling stuff. That's part of the position. And so they'll clean that up. But all in all, A-plus for JJ this week. Yeah, and we can talk about that as we move on to the running backs.

So Blake Corham, first game back from injury, thought he played relatively well. I had a difference of opinion from watching it in the stands versus watching it on the TV broadcast. In the stands, I thought he looked a step slow. I thought he looked a little bit hesitant, but honestly, when I watched the replay, Brian, I thought he looked like Blake. Like there's a little bit of hesitancy because look, it's his first game back from a pretty major injury where it required surgery and six months of rehabilitation. But there were some plays.

I think once he started to get going, you know, he had that nice – well, he almost took it to the house from about 40 yards out. He had a nice, I think, 20-something-yard run on their first drive for a touchdown. I think he's back, and I think they're going to just keep – you know, they're not going to put as much wear and tear on those tires as they did in 2022, which is a great thing for him and his NFL draft prospect, but also for this team to have him ready for the Buckeyes in November.

So I thought Blake played really well. I thought Donovan played pretty well as well. So I'd love to know what their grades are and how you felt about their performances. Yeah, I thought Blake did a little bit too much. I think one of the things, he always has that little jitterbug action that he does and is spectacular at, but what made him so effective last year is when the hole was there, when the lane was there, he was decisive, he put his foot in the ground and it took off. A couple times it seemed like he did a little bit too much and it cost him. Interesting, in the game on Saturday, Don Edwards played 50% more snaps

than Blake and just didn't have as many opportunities but they both created out pretty similarly you know Blake Corum is the all-time last season is the highest graded pff running back here ever so we're used to a really high grade there but he graded out at a 71.8 on 24 snaps Donovan Edwards on 37 snaps was 68.5 so um you know I I thought they both looked good i think i was you know one of the my personal goals for that game is i wanted to see them both go over 100 you know just the greed of you know knowing the level of opponent and knowing the identity of this team did i want to see jj play well of course but i was really hoping to see them both snap off

some big runs and kind of solidify that off-season chatter of being the best running back duo in the country and you know while they both look good and and i tend to agree with you on the blake i think blake's going to be blake and you know just had to get the knock the dust off and he did that um i thought they both looked really good one thing i don't know if you saw the mike hart press conference but he was ecstatic of about khalil mins. He said he thought he played great. He graded out very similar to those two in limited action, said that he picked up a couple blitzes really well, thought that he got the most out of the runs that he had. Watching it on TV, I didn't see that per se,

but I do trust Mike Hart and his evaluation over what my eye test. Yes. That's interesting. I think there was debate by a lot of fans. Is it going to be C.J. Hope, Stokes my eye test, you know, attention. That's interesting. I think there was debate, you know, by a lot of fans. Is it going to be CJ Hope Stokes, excuse me, Benjamin Hall, Cole Cabana. And, and the fact that, you know, Mike Hart was pretty adamant that Will Mullings is RB three at this point. So, you know, it looks like we have a three headed monster going.

Yeah, absolutely. So Blake goes and we'll try to give the, the raw stats too but blake goes for 10 carries 73 yards in the touchdown uh he had that long run of 37 yards he almost got to the pylon uh donovan not as efficient 12 carries for 37 yards they have a 14 yard rush i thought i can't remember if the 14 yard one was the the cut that he made but man he had a cut where he he kind of came in and then back out to the left side of the field. And, I mean, it looked like that Purdue run where he just had a guy in a phone box and made a miss. So that jitteriness from Donovan is there.

And he's a guy who's been getting better under Mike Hart with his vision, with his kind of jump-cutting ability. I think if that continues to grow, he's going to be a very dangerous running back this year. I already think – like, I personally think he'll be a first rounder just because of the catching ability um and we'll talk about that as um you know he had four catches for 33 yards they did a lot with him in the passing game um with some screens i know they were trying to get him involved with some jet sweeps so obviously why did him everywhere yeah and i know ecu was really stacking the box i mean there was and and so i think what michigan likes to do is, you know,

try to test themselves in those scenarios for later on in the season in a game where, hey, if Michigan wanted to put up, you know, 73 points like Oklahoma did or score 81 like Oregon did, hey, guess what? They certainly could have. But I think that they like to test themselves in real game scenarios, get practice in, and be ready for later games in the season that are more important. So, yeah, it was really exciting to see Blake and Donovan on the field at the same time.

Kind of talked about that, but really encouraging to see them trying different things. Absolutely. Absolutely. And then the wide receiving core, you know, we were down a few guys. I was surprised to see Cornelius Johnson. All the talk all week was that he probably wasn't going to go. He looked just fine.

You know, it seemed like every time he was out there, he hobbled off a little bit. So I think he was a little bit, you know, he definitely didn't look 100%, but he's such a pure outrunner. And then Roman Wilson, the three touchdowns. I mean, he gets the number one jersey. And it doesn't take long to be apropos that he's the guy wearing it because he was great.

It fits. Yeah, it fits. Yeah, Roman had six for 78 in the three touchdowns. Kai was open all game long. There was a touchdown that got broken up because of a PI on the corner that JJ put on the money. Oh, yeah. And, you know, Roman was in position, and he got held,

and they called PI for the 15-yarder. But he was open all game long. I think he ended up scoring later that drive. Anyways, I'm not exactly sure. It all kind of runs together at this point. I've watched the highlights in the game a couple times. But Roman was fantastic. CJ was awesome.

He had that – you know, one of the throws that JJ was a little bit off on was behind and above CJ. But sometimes you need your receivers to make a play. You're not going to make perfect passes every single snap. So I thought those two as the seniors were fantastic. Yeah. And Frederick Moore was the third leading of the team. So Cornelius Roman graded out the highest in the team with a 77.6 grade, which is a solid grade for wide receiver, not stellar, but very solid Cornelius Johnson at 70.2 and then Darius Clemens at 65.2 and Frederick Moore at 60.2.

And then we had a few other guys get some snaps. But the core looked solid. I mean, it seems like they have a diverse group of receivers. I know they really like the freshmen. Yeah, Freddie Moore looked great. He looks like a natural pass catcher wearing number three. He looks like he's going to be a really solid option. I want to say that I did see Tyler Morris in the game, but I i don't believe he recorded a catch i don't know how many snaps he played but he's another 10 snaps and i was like i did not see him out there for 10 snaps we were

talking about it all week and you know in the various group chats and you and i talking and you know just michigan fans that i talked to like there were supposed to be 10 to 12 guys that were not going to play and right even will johnson up, went through warmups, had no problems. So thankfully, all the injury talk, it's okay. It's just boo-boos coming from fall camp. I mean, you got 30 days of basically two-a-days, you're going to get banged up a little bit. Sounds like they hit quite a bit. Yeah, well, some teams don't hit as much and you see that on the field in October. So I'd much rather Michigan go through, Hey, you're going to get a little banged up,

but having an easy non-conference as they do, you can kind of afford some of that. So yeah, I thought the pass catchers from a receiver's perspective were really good. You know, obviously the, the tight ends and Max Bredesen had a catch at the fullback position, kind of, I guess, classified as an H-back, tight end, whatever you want to call him. You know, he's in the Poggi role. He seems perfectly suited for that role, right? And the 44 suits him as well.

Talk about numbers fitting just right. I mean, you know, he is kind of a classic fullback in that build that he's got. I'm a big fan of him. Obviously, his brother was a very good football player at Michigan under Jim Harbaugh. So, you know, nice to see him get a catch and run. And definitely, you know, nice to have that kind of safety blanket from the fullback position on those boot rollouts to the right that JJ is so effective with.

You know, if there's coverage downfield, he's got a dump off guy, which he looked pretty natural catching the ball and running outfield for 14 yards. And all the talk in camp was that he looked great, but we just hadn't really seen it. He was spectacular. field for 14 yards. I mean, all the talk in camp was that he looked great, but we just hadn't really seen it. Yeah. He was spectacular. And I mean,

for a walk on to be that level of a contributor, what in his third year, I mean, you know, it comes from a football family, you know, I believe their older brother played baseball at Michigan. So the Bredesen family is no stranger to having some success at the

university of Michigan. But yeah, I mean, I was very, I was very pleased with him. Colson Loveland looks like he, you know, Brock Bowers didn't exist, could probably win the Mackey, but I think that's just going to be like a lifetime achievement award to Brock Bowers. So we've reached the level in just the first game of his second season at Michigan where we have to stop being surprised

when he makes spectacular catches. It seems like that guy rarely makes a routine catch. He doesn't drop anything, but it seems like every throw that makes a routine catch. He doesn't drop anything, but it seems like every throw that goes in his direction is contested, and you think there's no way he's going to catch it, and he continues to come down with it. The kid is just a stud. I mean, what did Harbaugh say during the spring that he doesn't know how good he is? And, you know, sometimes that tends to be hyperbole, and Harbaugh can get a little over-complementary of his guys, but when it comes to colson loveland i mean that guy is the real deal and we need to stop uh being surprised when

he makes great plays yeah i mean you you know you think about the the lineage of elite tight ends in the nfl you know gronk kelsey um you know kittle now mark andrews i mean he feels like that kind of guy hey you know dj hawkinson just got paid with the Vikings. I'm glad it's not the Detroit Lions paying $17 million for a tight end. But I digress. So I think he kind of feels like that kind of guy. I mean, some of the catches that he made were contested. And, you know, obviously the one that I think back to,

the Ohio State touchdown was huge, but he was so open. But that Purdue touchdown, I mean, he went up and got that. And it feels like he's got that ability on every single play. He's a guy who can be a red zone and goal to go kind of threat in the passing game. Just put him out wide on a corner and just say, hey, good luck. I mean, there's just so many possibilities with the type of athlete that he is, size that he has the physicality he plays with what was his grading from pff i have to think 71.9 their grading sometimes confuses me i know the blocking is a part of it and he had some issues blocking there was there was he was only he played 27 snaps which is not as many as i would have guessed 21 of those were past place he was only on six block plays which means that all those the less you're in there if you make a

mistake on a block the more it counts right right so i the less you're in there, if you make a mistake on a block. The more it counts, right? Right. So, I mean, that's my guess. If we had to look at a breakdown of play-by-play, snap-by-snap, that there was probably an issue there because his receiving grade, it has to be spectacular. I'll tell you, speaking of the tight end position,

across all the skill positions, running back, wide receiver tight ends, Cornelius Johnson had the most snaps at 41. Checking in at number two was A.J. Barner with 37. He got open. He was open on that corner route. Yeah, he just, you know, he didn't make a presence that you could see in terms of stats, but obviously they trust him out there in both. He was out there for 18 pass plays and 19 running plays.

So I think they see him as the more diverse guy in the run in the pass game. And I think we'll see a lot of him. And just because he wasn't very active in the passing game this week doesn't mean that won't happen in the week's ahead. No, I mean, he played at Indiana, and we saw how just putrid that offense is under Walt Bell in Bloomington on Saturday. But, you know, I think he's a guy who, you know, again, he was open on that. You know, J.J. would have had to have made an NFL-level throw, and he didn't. Great play by the defender from ECU on that one in the right

corner of the end zone. But I do think Matthew Hibner is a guy that we saw in the spring game have a nice catch and run. I think he's a little bit better of a blocker, really just feels like another schoonmaker. I think Michigan's gone from, I mean, Sean McHugh to schoonmaker, maybe now Matthew Hibner, who feels like kind of that dual threat from a receiving perspective and in the run game as a run blocker. So I think he's going to get some run. I know he's been a little banged up, but I thought he played well in the spring game. Yeah, but you've got a few options there at tight end, which is very exciting.

I'm really curious, though, to transition to the offensive line, because I think there were some communication issues that you saw. And obviously there's three new starters at the moment. Carson Barnhart at left tackle, but you know, he was at right tackle last year. So, you know, effectively three guys in different positions on this old line surrounding Zinter and Keegan. So we'd love to know how these guys fared. I know a lot of them got some run. It looked like Miles Hinton was the starter at right tackle. But I think, Brian, and you can tell me your thoughts, I think what they're going to do is very similar to the quarterback job last year.

They're going to rotate guys, and they're going to see who the best one is, the best fit, the best five, and go from there. Because I thought Miles Hinton looked a little shaky, and obviously this is his first year coming over. Not a ton of time on campus with the program within the playbook. So, you know, I think Trent A. Jones looked a little bit better. I'd love to know what PFF said about these guys. Yeah.

So, you know, my observations were, I was surprised to see Hinton starting number one. And I thought, you know, that first drive when, you know, we get the punt goes down at the one or whatever two yard line and we couldn't get out of there. You just think that that offensive line and our reputation history the last couple of years that we would just force our will there. And the fact that that didn't happen was a little concerning. Now, obviously, JJ had a lot of time. So their pass blocking was great. But the run blocking, the identity of this program left a little bit desired.

And I'd be willing to bet that it was the lowest graded game from a PFF standpoint versus any game we had as a unit last year. The starting five was Miles Hinton, Zach Sinter, Trevor Keegan, Carson Barnhart, and Drake Nugent all played 58 snaps. So they kept that unit together out there at the same time. Trevor Keegan was the highest graded at 71.8. Carson Barnhart was second at 69.5. Zinter at 66.2. Drake Nugent at 60. And Miles Hinton at a 50.4.

Trenton Jones got a lot of run. He was a 57.1. And then I was so surprised because I was really expecting the offseason news of Ladarius Henderson and all the NFL-type hype that was around him. They only played him nine snaps. So I'm hoping – what I'm hoping to see is what you alluded to, is that next week we're going to see some different combos. Yeah.

And Henderson's going to be starting at that left tackle spot. So that's what I'm hoping for. But you don't play nine snaps, create it out okay. But nine snaps, tough to tell. Yeah. I think you'll see Henderson at left tackle, Trent Jones at right tackle. It's, it's, you know, those were kind of the two groups. I know Zach Zinter has said that he loves playing next to Trent Jones.

So I don't know. I find. Jones grading really interesting because I thought he played much better than Miles Hinton. I thought he was moving some guys, especially when they brought him in as kind of the sixth lineman. So, again, I think PFF, what they do is a really tough gig to try to grade, you know, 133 FBS teams or however many there are. I mean, I understand that. And then grading the sixth out because Trent A. Jones, you're right,

came in as that sixth lineman a lot. That's a unique position. How do you grade the responsibility there and assess what his real responsibility is on those plays? So, yeah, that's a tough grade. I agree with you because I thought he looked pretty good. Yeah, I don't. I liked when I saw him and, you know, slowed down a lot.

Well, I had heard something just to give the listeners some context, and, Brian, I don't know if you know this stat, but last year between Michigan State and Iowa, there were or no sorry there was there was 12 there were six per Iowa per Michigan State that graded higher overall on PFF than Trevor Keegan so you know I don't know I mean sometimes they're just a little off um and that's okay but this is why we you know talk through this and give our thoughts on it. I thought the old line, look, they were running into an eight, nine man box all day long. I mean, I mean, it was just all day. I mean, that's really what it was.

You could see it from the stands. You could see it on the film. And so, you know, they look, they ran for, I think, four yards of carry. And a lot of those were kind of brought down by the first three plays inside their own three yard line on their first drive. And then those four straight plays at the goal line trying to force Donovan Edwards to get a touchdown right yeah right so it's like am I gonna worry not really when I was watching at the stadium I was a little I was like I'd feel a lot better if we could go just run this down their throat but at the same time if it's a true game that Michigan needs to win if you're

gonna stack the box they've shown what is going to happen there, right? And so the balance that this offense has really allows it to play complimentary football from the run and pass game, and then also JJ's legs as a runner, which were turned off, right? So I mean, if you see somebody bringing eight men in the box and they're just blitzing the A gaps, right? JJ's going to pull that and have 15 to 20 yards. I mean, so that doesn't concern me. There were communication issues, but it's Drake Nugent's first game. You know, I'm sure there were some issues last year with Olu that we didn't really talk about or think about because he was just so good.

So it's going to take time to gel. And, you know, when these big, important games come up on Michigan's schedule in November, these guys are going to be playing their best football. They're going to know which five they want to roll with. So I feel good. And I thought there were some, you know, some good moments. There were definitely a couple of times where you saw some guys get, you know, a little bit confused or on the, you know, not on the,

I think I saw a triple team at one point. So, you know, maybe some, some communication issues, just making sure we dialed down the playbook. But I thought it was fine. Yeah. I mean, you know, I think what you hit the nail on the head was, had J.J. not played as good as he did, that ECU game plan of stacking the box and putting eight, nine men up there could have created some problems.

But, you know, when you have a quarterback playing as well as J.J., and, you know, if you're a defense preparing for the Wolverines in the next few weeks, you can't go with that strategy because you're going to pay the piper. And so, uh, yeah. Yeah.

And I mean, you know, uh, the reads were turned off, right? I mean, you looked at a JJ, JJ will kind of let you know if he misread something,

right? Like in a, in a real game, like if he gives the ball and that end crashes down and he knows he had, you know, 30 yards of green grass, he'll let you know by his reaction right and you didn't see that because it was turned off right they turn those off for this game they'll probably turn it on if it's you know gets a little hairy against somebody uh maybe you know some of those closer big 10 games and you think they're going to be and then obviously the big game so all in all um i feel good i think

there was a lot of a lot of things to work on, but ultimately they'll get it done. They also are missing Sharon Moore. So I definitely think that they're going to continue to improve. And I think they'll, I don't know if they'll be as good as last year. I know some people were saying that might be better than last year. We'll have to see with Drake Nugent and how he comes along compared to Olu. But I do think that there's so much talent here and so much depth that they're going to be great. Yeah, they'll sort it out. I agree.

Yep. So defensively, I thought Michigan played pretty awesome. Yes. 235 total yards. I don't know how much of that came after the starters were out. I will say on the offense real quick because I wanted to talk about it. Michigan, I think, had 402 total yards of offense. I think they had like 380, like seven minutes left in the third.

So they obviously pulled the dogs off. Again, if they wanted to score 80 and make it look beautiful, they could have. But defensively, I thought Michigan was stout. The linebackers had me very, very excited. Josh Wallace may have cemented himself as cornerback number two. And the D-line, I mean, you know, they didn't get home. But the interior D-line, oh, my gosh, Kenneth Grant. I mean, that guy, I mean, he's our Jordan Davis, right?

Yeah. So, I mean, I'd love to hear the D-line. I can't imagine the edges graded out too well, but I do think in the run game they were great. They also got held a lot. I mean, there were quite a few holes that the Zebras missed on Saturday. So what are the grades and what are your thoughts, Brian? Well, I mean, I agree. The, the defensive, uh, front was looked great. I mean, let's, let's face it.

The three biggest stars in this defense are Chris Jenkins, Will Johnson, Rod Moore, and two of the three didn't play. And so, uh, you know, you, you had guys stepping up and that, you know, all three layers of the defense, uh, that matters. And it matters. And so I thought they looked really good. I thought Keyon Saab, and we'll talk about that in a minute, played really good. But as it pertains to the defensive line, defensive tackle,

Kenneth Grant graded out an 85.5, second highest on the team behind JJ. He was awesome. I don't know if you saw the replay, but there was one play that it was a run up the middle, and they took it to the outside. And Kenneth Grant didn't make the tackle tackle but had – who made the tackle? I think Sabme made the tackle, but Kenneth Grant was right there. I mean, all the way across sideline at, what, 360 or whatever he was. The interception, he caused that.

So he stunted, came around the guard, and the closing speed at 360 pounds for that large of a human was unbelievable. I didn't see it as much so on the field, but watching it on the replay of the broadcast, I mean, he gets to Garcia and Garcia has to throw it off his back foot. It ends up being short and that's where Mikey's able to undercut it with the interception. And I just, watching that play, was like, this guy is, I mean, I don't really know if there are enough adjectives for me to talk about this guy. And I also don't want to make him seem like he's the greatest football

player of all time. But, my God, this guy is just a freak of nature. And I can't wait to watch him develop. I mean, he's a sophomore. He's 19 years old. So, he is a beast. And I'm not shocked that he was the highest graded guy but man yeah he's he's gonna be a ball player for us i mean we replaced mozzie smith who a lot of games graded out as one of our highest graded defenders and was a force in the

middle and so you know when you look at a team that's two-time defending big 10 champ and you replacing an important piece like that feels pretty good to have a guy come in and have a grade that's reminiscent of a Mozzie Smith's best game. He might be Mozzie plus. He might be Mozzie plus, right. I mean, speaking of all the streaming apps that we've got now, but, I mean, goodness gracious, this guy. Again, I'm just gushing over him. But, you know, I love the defensive linemen and offensive linemen. They don't get enough love, in my opinion.

So, yeah, Grant's going to be a monster. I thought Jenkins played well. What did Chris Jenkins grade out at? Chris Jenkins graded out 68.7. The defensive tackles didn't – the interior guys did not grade out that well. Ken Grant was 85.5. Chris Jenkins 68.7. And Mason Graham 63.6.

I mean, ECU had nowhere to run the ball, so I don't know that. You know, I mean, I don't know. I mean, I don't think there was anywhere that they had really much success at all until the starters were pulled. Again, I thought the whole – just the defensive line played great. I thought the front seven as a whole. I mean, the whole defense was fantastic. So, you know –

It was a game where the edges weren't needed, right? No, no, they played well down the line. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they played well down the line. You know, there was, there was a couple, you know, pass rushes, but nothing crazy. They were getting the thing with ECU. They were getting the ball up quick because they knew they were not going to hold up. So, you know, again, kind of same with the offensive line, not really worried about the edges and generating pressure. But, you know, it was great to see Kenneth Grant get some pressure through the interior. So I think that's going to be a big boost. And I think, you know, they're going to find their rhythm. I think Derek Moore is just too talented not to be, you know, an all big 10 level of defensive end. And I think Braden McGregor is the same way.

And Jalen Harrell is very solid. He's a much better run defender and honestly much better dropping into coverage on pass plays. And Josiah Stewart, you know, obviously comes from the American Conference or maybe the Sun Belt of Coastal Carolina. I'm not sure which conference they're in. So maybe just an adjustment period. But, you know. No, shifty.

He was, I mean, you know, watching the game, he was right there a few times. Yeah. What's interesting is going into the game, you know, Harbaugh alluded to the fact that he thought he had four edge guys, and the four guys played almost identical snaps. You know, they rotated those guys in. I mean, the difference between the guy that got the most snaps and Braden McGregor at 26 to the guy that got the least,

Josiah Stewart, at 18, it's only eight snaps different. They rotated those four guys around quite a bit. I thought T.J. Guy, when he was in there, he flashed. Yes, he did. He Yes, he did 10 plays, but he showed up. You know, one of the few camp darlings, Keyshawn Bennett played a little bit and I saw him on one play flash,

but I didn't see him really do much. I've heard he's a year away still. Yeah. And you saw it, but you can see what they see. He's, he's, he's got like that quick Twitch.

I see it, but it's, he's not ready. Yeah. Yeah. I think those are both – TJ Guy and Keyshawn Bennett are both Don Brown recruits. That's correct. So pretty great hit rate with those guys, those three stars from the Northeast. I believe both of them are from the Northeast.

So maybe one last gift from Don Brown because, you know, hey, look, rough 2019, 2020, but the guy knew how to recruit pass rushers. So, yeah, I think those guys are definitely, you know, a year away, but, you know, get some good run in. That's why, you know, sometimes you get a lot of crap for this non-conference, but being able to get so many guys to see the field and gain valuable experience is invaluable. So, very excited to see those guys continue to progress.

They'll have two and maybe three more opportunities, maybe four. I don't know. Who knows how many guys are going to travel to Nebraska, but the schedule doesn't really get tough at least until October. So, yeah, what about the linebackers? Because speaking of Nebraska, Ernest Houseman flashed for me. I thought he was all over the field, and Junior Colson looks like, again, you know, opponent caveats apply, but you saw what you wanted to see from Junior Colson

in a similar way of you wanted to see just proof of taking that next step, and I thought that he was all over the field, and I think that he is going to have a great junior year and play his way into upper part of the NFL draft in 2024. Yeah, I think this is the most excited I've been about a Michigan linebacker unit in a while. As good as our defenses have been, I don't think we've been really that stout at linebacker. We've had some studs at the position, but as a unit, I don't think we've been as exciting and as talented as we are right now.

I mean, Colson, like you said, Hausman, he just brings it. I mean, the intensity which he plays is really fun to watch. I thought Michael Barrett, like you said, Hausman, he just brings it. I mean, the intensity which he plays is really fun to watch. I thought Michael Barrett, the role that he plays in the defense, I mean, I think he has some limitations, but you get him out in coverage. I mean, former safety, former defensive back, and it shows. I think those three, I think we're in really good hands there. Colson and Hausman both grade out 76 plus 76 and 76.1 both played the same amount of steps 27 and 26 i mean those are solid grades for linebackers again in limited action um with what they were asked to do i thought they highlighted the game for me on defense was the linebackers

not because you know kenneth grant played great and i thought kian sob who we talked about a minute was a real shining star but as a unit I thought the linebackers were just spectacular. Yeah, yeah, very exciting. I mean, you make a good point as you were talking, and I was trying to think in my head of the last time there was just studs at every linebacker position, and Lamar Woodley, Prescott Burgess. I mean, Lamar Woodley was more of an edge rusher,

but before it was kind of used as an edge rusher. I think how far back you just went. Right? I mean, yeah. Yeah, think about how far you went back, right? I mean, you know. That's the unit I was thinking of an edge rusher, but before it was kind of – I think how far back you just went. Right? I mean, yeah. I mean – Think about how far you went back, right? I mean, you know – That's the unit I was thinking of actually, so. Yeah, I mean, you know, I think in 2016, you know, you had Mike McCray who played pretty well.

Obviously, Jabril was a Viper, so kind of a hybrid. I mean, if you count Jabril, then yeah, that's a different kind of guy. I was never that big of a Mike McCray fan, but yeah. Yeah, I mean, Ben Gideon was pretty solid too. I don't know if he, he played a long time with the Vikings. He might still be in the league, but yeah. Josh Ross, Devin Bush overlap with Peppers was pretty good, but they weren't, I just don't think they were this. No, no, I don't. I definitely agree. You know, I mean, I think you think about Devin Bush and Khalid Hudson,

again, throwing that Viper position in there, maybe those guys, but again, it's just to your point, you have to kind of, you know know do some mental gymnastics to think about a group this talented and obviously we got to see them in a full season but i think ernest houseman had his best game last year as a nebraska corn husker in the big house um i remember being like who the heck is this dude and funny enough he's a he's a freshman out of columbus nebraska and you know two or three months later he ends up at michigan so um yeah very exciting to see the linebackers. Jimmy Roelder, did Jimmy Roelder get much run? He didn't play.

I wonder if he was hurt. He was hurt, yeah. He was out. Because he flashed last year as a true freshman. I think he's going to be another ball player. I mean, just another piece of depth. I mean, if you look at his early snaps in 22 versus what he did against Ohio State later in the season, the growth was monumental. So very excited to see him under Chris Partridge and just all these

linebackers in general. No disrespect to George Hilo, but I think Partridge is a little bit better of a linebackers coach. So I'm excited to see these guys continue to grow under his tutelage. 100%. And then defensive backs, if I told you a week ago that the leading snap getter on the Michigan defensive backfield would be Keyshawn Harris, you just said what? I would have been very surprised. Color me surprised.

Bubble wrap? Bubble wrap, yeah. Right. But I think the story there, I mean, Mikey Sandristill is – Stud. Stud. I mean, I think, you know, that's – he's kind of – to me, he's sort of in that same

vein as what I was saying about Colston Loveland you know when he makes that position switch I think we need to stop being surprised by seeing him play so well yeah week out he just every week makes great plays he's around the ball on almost every play he's just such a stalwart on the defense he was the highest graded uh or no second highest Kian He was the highest graded – or no, second highest. Keon Saab was the highest graded. So the guy making his first career start grades out that well. I thought Keon Saab was everywhere. Keon Saab's a big-time recruit. It was a recruitment that going into 2021, Michigan had lost to Clemson.

That's right. If anyone remembers that, but then you fast forward, Michigan wins the Big Ten, goes to the college football playoff. Brent Venables leaves Clemson as their defensive coordinator to become the head coach at Oklahoma. He opens his recruitment, and he falls in our lap. And, you know, a guy that didn't get a lot of run last year, but I'll tell you what, watching him on Saturday, just he looks the part.

You know, he was a former five-star recruit. I think he was a five-star at some point in the process. You know, maybe top 100, top 50, whatever. He was definitely top 100. Yes. I mean, just, you know the the athletic flashes are there um the play he made on to punch that ball out from jalen johnson the georgia transfer the ecu receiver um was fantastic just a veteran heads up play to get that ball out um and that ends up taking three points off the board, at least because they ended up having to kick a field goal there. And it was from like 52 yards. So he, you know, just a huge

impact with that play. I thought he was fantastic. They tried to test him on the first drive and he was there and he just was fantastic. Yeah, he, you know, I've been seeing your thoughts, you know, oftentimes when you're in the stadium and in person, you can kind of get a better feel for size and speed. And, you know, even on TV, he looks like he's bigger. He's big. He looks fast. I mean, he's a presence back there. And so he's more comfortable of being in the right places.

I think he's going to be just an absolute force. He's a big, big athlete. Yeah, go ahead. Well, you know, Makari Page, Rod Moore, really good. But I don't know how you keep keon sob off the field i don't i don't think you do i think you continue to play him um i think he's a guy who's going to get a lot of run because he's going to be a starter next year um i think same with how many snaps does zeke berry get i'm very curious 30 okay because i didn't i didn't

notice anything but sometimes you don't notice something from a safety. It's very, very good. Kind of like the same thing with you don't notice a long snapper. That's a good thing. So I'd have to go back and focus specifically on him, but I know that he flashed some last year where he had some closing speed that made you go, whoa. So, I mean, those are the safeties next year. I think they're in good hands because I think – well, you know,

potentially McCarty going to the NFL because I think he may have another year after this year of eligibility. But I think Rod Moore is one of the top safeties in the draft. And Rod Moore is a stud. So we didn't see him, but I've got a picture of him in Jackson Smith and Jigba button heads in my office here to my right. It just embodies everything about Rod Moore. I'm going to go on a love tangent for

Rod Moore because three-star from Ohio, they recruited Latham Ransom over him and somebody else as safety in that class, I want to say. And Rod Moore is just a football player. He will get his nose dirty. He will come up and play in the box. He will make plays on the ball. He's very, very good at being a safety. He'll play kind of that deep center field safety spot very well. Just a football player. So very excited to see when he can get back on the field. But I mean, you think about this, this kind of this, this safety room outside of the corners. I mean, just, just football players, man. And that's what I think about this culture in Michigan that they've built under Jim Harbaugh. It's guys that love football. It's guys that want to compete. They love to compete. They love to be, you know, in the mix and just

be in the building every day getting better. So I think you're seeing that from this group. And I think you're seeing it getting passed down because I thought, I thought Macari Page was very physical in the run game. I thought Sab was very physical. So you've got a lot of guys that are very talented. And I think that's obviously a really good thing to have that much depth, especially in a sport like football, where I mean, you know, you get banged up and it's tough to play through some stuff. So to have that level of backup is huge for Michigan this year. So it was very exciting to see these guys play so well. I feel like, you know, to the, listen to you talk, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a more physically, physically imposing defense in terms of personnel.

I mean, that linebacking core that we already talked about brings it. Will Johnson, how many big hits did he have last year? He didn't play. Rod Moore's a physical presence. And Saab is a beast. I think Zeke Berry, I echo all the sentiments you have about him. Mikey. You're going to walk away needing ice bags ever playing this defense this year. I mean, there was a play that Mikey had where the guy caught the ball but I mean he wasn't going

anywhere Mikey's 5 foot 11 190 pounds I mean I mean he's not a big guy by any stretch so yeah very physically imposing defense you know they look like an SEC defense ultimately so um yeah I thought the safeties played well um Would love to know because Josh Wallace is a guy that I want to talk about. Yeah. Oh, yeah. First off, I think the rule that took away his interception is just dumb, that if you're out of bounds and you touch a – like, I don't know. He was never out of bounds.

He made the play. I don't know. I just thought it was dumb. Yeah, I mean, so it's the same rule as if there's a fumble and the defensive player touches it while he's out of bounds. The ball is dead, goes back to the offense, right? It's kind of that same rule. It just doesn't – I don't know.

I think it's stupid. So he made an unbelievable play. I mean, we were in the corner of the end zone where that kind of happened towards like the 40-yard line. I mean, I was like, there's no way he caught it, right? And they showed no replay in the big house. Brandon and I were both confused. And then the officials come over.

We could tell because the defense for Michigan was on the field. The offense had come back off. And they just were like, it was incomplete. And we're like, oh, he must not have caught it. Well, then I come home and I see that he fakes the catch. I mean, unbelievable. But you know what my favorite play from Josh Wallace was? There was a run to his side of the field.

And he bodies the receiver. He extends his arm and just shoves him to where the running back's going to cause a pileup and basically make probably a five-yard gain into a one-yard gain. He's physical. He looks the part. Obviously, it's ECU again. But he just looks like a guy who's played a lot of football because he has.

And he's played under Don Brown who, look, whatever you want to say, Don Brown knows football. He's a good coach. And I just think that he is going to fit in perfectly. So I'd love to know what his rating was. I'm very excited to hear about Jair Hill because I thought he looked pretty good too. And obviously, Keishon Harris got all the way. Very well.

He graded out at 73.77 so just to kind of give some perspective kian sab was the highest grade defensive back at 78.5 mikey sammer still was 78.2 uh josh wallace 73.7 you'd ask about zeke berry 69.2 jai your hero 65.9 on 17 snaps so he played a fair amount all the defensive backs played a lot uh You know, McCarty Page actually played eight, nine defensive backs that played more snaps than McCarty Page did on Saturday. Just to go back to McCarty real quick, on

the play before Mikey's interception, he lit poor receiver up. He had to come... It was rough. He had to have the trainers come out. I mean, he just bodied him. I mean, he's just a big, rangy safety. Did he come off the field? Because he looked a little shaken up too.

I know he did. Yeah, I thought he came back in. He was very early on. I remember seeing him throughout the game. But, yeah, I mean, I know he was another guy on the injury report. So, must have just been working through some stuff. But, yeah, Josh Wallace, I think, is undoubtedly your CB2 right now. I think Jair Hill is a guy who can play his way in there.

How much did McBurroughs play? How many snaps did he get? McBurroughs played 19 snaps. That's good news. Starting five, really. McBurroughs was right there. Him and Quentin Johnson both played a bunch. They played a bunch.

They played Jair Hill a bunch. They played DJ Waller a fair amount. I love that, yeah. Waller, just off topic, because I don't think he's going to necessarily contribute a ton to 2023, but I think that guy has – he's so lengthy. He's rangy. I am very excited about him playing corner at Michigan. But I think McBurroughs playing 19 snaps is a very good sign.

Obviously, he was – I believe he tore his ACL leading up to the Orange Bowl in late 2021 in preparing for the college football playoffs. So I'm very excited to see his continued development. I know he wasn't full strength this time last year, so he was a guy that they looked at as potential up-and-comer. So very exciting to see him play 19 snaps. And again, I didn't notice a lot of these guys, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

It's absolutely true. I think before we start to wrap anything up, the special teams, I thought some of the decisions, I was really surprised to see Jake Thaw as our punt returner. I wasn't, because I'd heard that. I'd heard he was great, but still with all the talent and all the guys that you think

of that could potentially be back there and he was solid back there I guess but it just was just I was surprised to see him back there despite all the buzz and camp you know we hear that every year of guys like Peyton O'Leary and then once the games start those guys don't see the field so I guess the hype I heard around Jake was I thought was going to fall into that and we were going to see Roman or Carmelo. And maybe it was because of the opponent that they put him back there. We'll see. I think it's going to be Carmelo English.

He looked very shifty. He looked very natural catching the ball. I don't know what he looks like as a punt returner, but I think Freddie Moore looks just so natural catching the football that he's looked so shifty. I wouldn't be mad at any of those freshman receivers getting back there um and being the punt returner because it's a very important job as we know um and we've been very spoiled in the past with you know i think about jabil peppers

like if there's one guy at like a non big time position that i could just have at michigan forever it'd be jabil peppers returning punts and it's not just because of the cool touchdowns and great returns. It's because he knew when to catch the ball and saved Michigan a lot of field position. I don't care about the big plays on that, to be honest. I mean, they're great, but I really want a guy who knows when to go catch the ball and save 30 yards of field position. A hundred percent.

And Jake Faw is not any – I wouldn't say it's his fault here because they were just punting screwballs, man. Those punts were awful. And the first one, I believe, hit off the ECU defender. So, you know, just not really a lot of opportunities to field punts for him. But we need to make sure that's shored up because even A.J. Henning would get a little risky sometimes. Very good on the big play capabilities, but sometimes I just want to not worry about the punt returns.

Because those are the things that'll get your blood pressure up. Absolutely. And then all the hype leading into the game that Alex Orji was going to be returning kicks and not to see him back there returning kicks was a little disappointing. I was excited to see him. No. He might, you know, the PFF doesn't count snaps on special teams. I'm sure he got some special teams run, but I didn't see him. I want to see him in a Tebow role, to be honest.

Oh, for sure. Just a bruiser at – you know, I mean, I don't want to take JJ off the field, but I worked for Florida in 06, so, you know, might as well. But, yeah, overall, you know, leaving the stadium, I was like, oh, we didn't score that many points. And this is another point we can talk about real quick. But the clock does not stop after first downs anymore to set the ball. So that's cutting about – I think I saw that it was 7%, 8% in week one this year compared to last year.

We've lost about 7% or 8% of snaps. So you look around the country and, you know, I was like, Oh, well, Michigan only put up 30. You know, we fumbled at the, at the one could have had 37, you know, missed the field goal and an extra point could have been a 41 to three ball game or whatever. It looked better, but it's like, I've kind of learned at this point, I don't care how pretty it looks. Just give me the win and let's move on, survive in advance kind of mentality. Um, but you look around the country, I mean, Georgia was in kind of a rock fight for a little bit with UT Martin, right? And so you think about it, Ohio State obviously didn't look great

against Indiana, who big ten opponent, but not very good. So all things considered, I mean, Michigan did what they needed to do outside of that first drive where they're on their own two or three yard line and then the fumble at the goal line where they're trying to force feed to give Donovan Edwards a a touchdown they got whatever they wanted and i want to talk about this brown what are your thoughts because i thought that was one of the better two minute drives i've seen under jim harbaugh um in the last eight years to get that field goal in before half with like i think maybe a minute on the clock to drive you know 40 50 60

yards with jj through the year i thought it was awesome so simple and it wasn't so easy it was it and it wasn't you know sometimes you get lucky on broken plays. Like I think of that Florida State-LSU game last night, and there were just some, you know, that two-minute drill at the end of the half for LSU. I mean, they just went right down the field. Yeah. You know, there was just precision.

It wasn't some fluke play, a missed tackle. It was just really good play calling, really good execution, good clock management. I just thought – I agree. I thought it was a promising sign of good coaching and good execution by the players. Yeah, so overall, again, Michigan, to recap, wins 30-3. J.J. McCarthy looks like a star,

looks like a guy that could end up in New York in December. So I'm very excited. We've got UNLV coming up on Saturday the 9th. So just a – I mean again you know five days away here on the the long Labor Day weekend so we're getting close to more football NFL starts on Thursday so just a lot of good things happening this time of year man I know Brian you're down in Florida but up here starting to get hoodie season you know it's part of where some flannels some bonfires so weather started to cool off. I think it's going to be 72 is the high on Saturday.

Perfect. That's football weather, baby. Best time of year, man. So, you know, very happy with Michigan's performance. Is there anything else that you'd like to add before we wrap this up? No, I was very excited. I think they did what they had to do. You know, you don't have some of your coaches.

You don't have Harbaugh there. You have a ton of injuries. And I thought they did. They were in total control the entire game. Would I have liked to see them score a few more points? I guess, sure. But they were in total control, and they took their foot off the gas in the latter parts of the game.

So, yeah, great week one performance and just as excited today as I was a week ago about this season. That's what Michigan does. They don't need to run it up to look pretty. It doesn't matter. Just go out and win all your games and everything will take care of itself. So, well, everybody, thank you so much for tuning in on either YouTube or Apple Podcasts,

Spotify. You can follow us at Tanner Wu Tang. You follow Brian at BB's Big House One. Check out Blue by 90 at blueby90.com on Twitter at blueby90. That'll do it for this episode of Blue by the Numbers. Thank you so much and go blue. Go blue. Alright.