Blue By Ninety - E80: Clayton Sayfie - thewolverine.com

Episode Date: September 2, 2021

With just a few days till game day the boys bring on recurring guest Clayton Sayfie TW @csayf23 from the wolverine to break down Western Michigan and what to expect on Saturday. Crack a cold one and enjoy the show.

This is the University of Michigan. Touchdown, Michigan! The Beats of Michigan! And they've caught extra pass. And it goes for the win! The three-pointer by Jordan Poole! Down the sideline! Peebles-John!

Touchdown, Wolverines! All right, welcome back to Blue by 90. I am Justin, joined by Kalen. Jack is out today. He's got the mother-in-law's birthday today, and I think we all know how that goes. You can't really say no to to the wife's mom. So he'll be back later this week. You know, just a short break. But today we are proud to have Clayton Safey from the Wolverine dot com with us today.

Clayton, how are you doing? Pretty good. Excited. Three days away. So game week, it's got that extra juice here this week. I'm super excited. Yes, sir. Thanks for coming on, Clayton. I was sitting in the office today, too, and I was like, oh, man, I can't wait for Saturday. Definitely. Yeah, it feels I mean, it's just been such a long time coming.

I mean, I get excited every single year, especially like game week, it's feeling really real. But this is probably the most excited I've been for the game of college football with the least excitement I have for the Michigan team. Do you feel the same? Yeah, I think that's completely fair. It's probably the same for quite a few Michigan fans you know at the same time this Michigan team is going to be better

than they were last year so it's not like you know and that's obviously not a hard thing to do they were awful last season so you know I think that there's going to be that excitement still for Michigan see what they can do the expectations are low uh so they're kind of playing with house money but at the same time they they need to do some things and show some things this year so there's kind of that pressure piece but there's also just that excitement piece too for sure for sure yeah and I mean half of it is we're just excited to get that get out there and tailgate you know we uh we we announced it today on social media we announced it today on social media we announced it on our last podcast too but we are now officially blue by 90 presented by truly

um which is pretty fun so half of it really i mean you know you've been around you've been on the sidelines i'm sure and and on you know around the game in the press box and stuff like that you know i just i think people are. Even if the team isn't great, they're just excited to be in the big house with their friends out there tailgating, you know, just having that vibe back. You've got the positive vibes only hat on right now. You know, I mean, honestly, it feels like this Saturday and these first probably four Saturdays,

it's just going to be positive vibes. It's going to be feeling like we're getting back to real life, normal life. And so, I mean, even if the expectations aren't, you know, 12 and O for Michigan, I still think it's going to end up being, you know, good things for Michigan. So maybe that, that helps Jim Harbaugh. I don't know. How do you, how do you think, or what do you think Jim Harbaugh's mindset is going into this 2021 season? It's a great question. You know, you've seen him

make a ton of changes throughout the off season. So I think that, you know, that was positive. Number one was that he recognized that they had some challenges to overcome clearly after last season brings in a couple of former Michigan players as coaches. Brings in some younger guys. Mike McDonald is the defensive coordinator. I like some of the moves, but at the same time, I'm sick of talking about all these moves. Like you said, it's been a long offseason, literally,

because they didn't play since late November, and here we are in September, missing a bowl game and everything. So I'm sick of talking about it. I'm excited to see what the defense will look like. It's a new scheme, obviously. But Jim Harbaugh's mindset, I think it's he understands there's pressure on him to win more pressure than probably ever before in any stage of his coaching career. And how is he going to approach that? You know, we'll see. You know, he did a good

job turning around multiple programs, including Michigan. Kind of feels like maybe that might be his mindset this time is, okay, you know, maybe go back to some of the things you did before 2015, before his first season, you know, and try to instill some, you know, physicality into these guys. You know, a couple guys talked about a meeting just before spring ball. They talked about it yesterday, but it was a meeting that happened just before the first spring practice about how Jim Harbaugh told the guys that you can either get on the train with us or leave because, you know, we're going to get this thing going back in the right direction. So positive number one is that he understood changes had to be made.

Things had to, made things had to you know improve and you know they they claim they've had a great offseason I'm just ready to see it and I'll believe it when I see it just I'd add on to that as well I mean I noticed too that Jim was looking a little bit trim right he was looking in shape looking like Slim Jimmy out there pushing the uh sled so i mean i think that him being in shape and being able to be out there with his players you know being physical that rubs off on the team too so i'm hoping that you know that that vibe that i'm sure you can definitely feel when you're uh interviewing and things like that like i can feel that vibe through their social media page and whatnot too.

And I'm hoping to see that show up in the stadium on Saturday. Yeah. And even Cade McNamara said, you know, we got to talk to him Monday outside of Schoenbeck, their hall for a press conference. And, you know, somebody asked like, has Jim Harbaugh been, been different this year? And he said, yeah, he's been a little bit more different. You know, he has shown that he wants to win as bad as anybody in the building or more. And he's also gotten in better shape. And someone even asked about that. And he said, yeah, he's pushing the sled with us. And that does rub off on us. And as they always say, it's an old cliche,

but you take on the personality of your head coach. I think that's probably more apparent in college football than any other sport. He may have lost his mojo for a couple of years. That's certainly something that a lot of people have talked about. But now it's being talked about this season, how he's kind of regaining that a little bit. And maybe just switch philosophies. I think he might have delegated a little bit too much

to his assistant coaches at times in the past, maybe after his first couple of years here. But I think he's kind of realizing now that if he is going to bet on himself, he's got to be, you know, he's got to be not only physically in tip top shape, but in tip top shape as a coach, too. Yeah, I mean, I feel like everybody's question is, you know, where is that 2015-2016 Harbaugh? The old gym, right? That's like almost become cliche in the Michigan world now, you know where is that 2015-2016 Harbaugh the old gym right that's like almost become cliche in the Michigan world now you know and so I I think that where it was interesting what you said with

with him letting you know the leash giving his assistant coaches a little bit too much leash you know I wonder if he wrangles that back in and says hey the best time the best that we were here in my under my control was when I was controlling the offense 2015-2016-2017 you know it was old school offense but it worked that was when Michigan was at their best now they had a great defenses at that time as well so that helps a ton um you know and I think it's got to be probably somewhere in the middle all right Jim do your thing and that you've done in 2015 2016 2017 but allow it to grow into the world of college football uh you know today in 2021 because honestly college football is different even in 2021 than it was when he

first came in here to Michigan you know so um you know and I see that I I see that mostly in people talking about we're running the ball you know how many how many guys you probably heard it more than we did said our identity is to run the ball now and so a lot of people out there are saying, Oh my God, we're going back to, you know, we're trying to be Mike Hart and Lloyd Carr and Chad Henney. Well, guess what? If you actually look at Ohio state's stats outside of, I think it was 2018, they ran the ball more than they threw the ball. So it's not that play selection as much as how you run the ball they run the ball differently in zone reads and things like that rather than trying to run up the middle every time so it'll be interesting but I I want to hear your take just from what the guys have said and

on running the ball first and making that the identity of the offense yeah well first of all you're right they we've heard a lot of. Josh Gaddis said it before fall camp even started. We want to run the ball more. We didn't run it enough last year. And it's almost surprising that they're that forthcoming with that information. Trevor Keegan, who we expect to start at left guard this year, said it last night as well. He said, I just can't wait to run the ball more. Our identity is going to be running the ball, jamming it down people's throats. Now, you know, we'll see how successful the run game is. I think it has a ton of potential. Running back room might be the most talented on the team with Hassan Haskins, Blake Corum, and then the young guy, Donovan Edwards. The offensive

line, I think, has potential. It's going to take a few weeks for it to gel, in my opinion. That's why I think that just kind of being able to, you know, have the defense a little more up to speed than we expect or than you might expect out of a new system for that Washington game needs to happen because, you know, otherwise I think you're looking at a loss there. So I think it is interesting that they're going to run the ball more. Now, a key aspect of this is that last season they were down in a lot of games and they had to throw the ball a lot more than really they're accustomed to.

So part of that is like, hey, we're just not going to get down a ton in these games and we're going to try to, you know, keep things at least close, you know, be ahead and be able to establish the run. And you said it, some of those 2015-16 games for Michigan, I mean, they would just, it'd be, it'd be pretty close and even 2018 as well. And then they would just kind of impose their will on the other team. So I think that that's definitely something that Jim Harbaugh likes to do. So if he's getting back to his roots in that regard, I think that's a good thing if they can do it. But I do think one of the strengths on this team is the running back room and the offensive lines potential. So if those are one of the strengths on this team is the running back room and the offensive lines potential.

So if those are two of the strengths, lean on that maybe a little bit. And, you know, you never know what could happen. Yeah. In regard to the O-line there, I know for a while there were a couple question marks. And one guy that kind of I feel like has kind of appeared out of nowhere is Vistardis. Now he's a captain as well what do you make of that as somebody who maybe wasn't you know a main starter traditionally and all of a sudden is a starter plus a captain is that kind of just experience I think this is his sixth year is that his experience kind of taking the reins here? Yeah, apparently they call him Gramps in the

offensive line room. That's what Trevor Keegan said. You know, he started four games last year to start the season and then he got hurt and apparently he was playing pretty hurt in some of those last couple games that he did play in. You know, I wasn't overly impressed with his game, but again, he might have been a little banged up. But, you know, the center position, I think, is one of the most unique on the offensive line because he's probably not the most athletic center, you know, in that room right now. You know, he's definitely not one of the more athletic offensive linemen, but you got to be super smart. You got to be able to lead. They say he's the leader of that group. You got to be able to make the calls and identify the different fronts that you're seeing from the defense. So those things are important at the center spot, probably than any other spot. So if he's, if he's solid, they're solid enough. And he's a smart guy and he gets everybody rowing in the

right direction. Then I think that could be a good thing for this team. It allows Zach Zinter to probably play his most natural position, which is right guard, even though, you know, they tested him a little bit at center as well. And I like Andrew Stuber at right tackle. I think Ryan Hayes is a solid piece at left tackle. And then like Trevor Keegan or Chuck Filiaga at the left guard spot, you know, there's some potential there. I think that I'd rather have Keegan in there, you know, than Filiaga after what we saw last season. So I think Vistardis is the guy that gets these guys all going. And at the center spot, that's kind of the number one thing that you need. So, yeah, I mean, I think he kind of came out of nowhere maybe last year.

This season he was there and everyone kind of expected him to get you know pushed off that ledge but he just didn't so credit to him for going through the entire offseason recovering from an injury and still keeping that starting spot and I think the x factor for the offensive line is the new o-line coach Sharon Moore yeah right so you know what have you heard from Sharon have you been impressed he's obviously impressed us as a recruiter as a tight end coach I think he's a great guy I think he's proven himself but with him moving over to the offensive line and Ed Warner who I think most of us really liked Ed Warner actually were pretty surprised by that move what have you seen or heard from Sharon Moore that's made you impressed with this offensive line?

That was shocking, wasn't it, that day that that move happened? It was like, okay, you know, our Chris Ballas broke that news, and it was like, at first it was like, okay, Ed Warner's out, and they're going to move another position coach over to offensive line. And then it's like, oh, yeah, it is going to be Sharon Moore. And it was a little bit shocking. And Warner's kid was at Michigan at the time, right? He had just transferred in. So exactly. Yeah. So that, you know, that was intriguing and, you know, it was kind of late in the process. You kind of thought, okay, Ed Warner is a guy that you're going to hold on to. But then you start to hear things throughout the off season about how maybe he didn't work as well with some of the other assistant coaches on the offensive side of the

ball as you would have liked. And culture was one of the number one things that I think they tried to address this offseason. So that seems to make sense. Also wasn't as approachable from his offensive lineman as Sharon Moore is now. I mean, that is the number one thing that players have said about him is that they have input in the offensive line. And he said, hey, this is your offensive line too. This isn't just my offensive line. He also got the promotion to co-offensive coordinator. So he's going to have a big hand,

especially in the run game, you know, setting some of those pass protections. I like Sharon Moore. I think he is a good recruiter, as you mentioned. I think he's a good coach. Now, if you kind of remember, you know, some of the problems last season, and there were many, but just one of them was the tight end blocking, I thought was pretty lackluster at times. So that concerns you a little bit. But at the same time, it's, you know,

those might have been some individual guys making individual mistakes. I think Sharon Moore is a really good coach. That's why Jim Harbaugh promoted him. You know, there were rumblings that Oklahoma was trying to steal him away, but he got his promotion. So I like Sharon Moore, but man, it remains to be seen. I forget who said it might've been urban Meyer. And I don't like that, you know, that guy, but I don't know if you guys saw that he's been, he's being investigated today.

I saw your tweet. It was like, what'd you say? Is there a, is there a record for how many investigations one coach? Yeah. I mean, I mean, has any coach been investigated more than urban Meyer somehow? And how does he get away with it every single time? He's never been indicted on anything. It's just all investigations, allegations, blah, allegations, blah, blah, blah. Investigations,

health issues, retirement, comeback, and then people kind of forget about it. He's got the process down. Right, but I think he might have said the quote that the offensive line coach is the number one important assistant coach on your entire team. So it's not a small thing that

Michigan has a new offensive line coach this season. I think it helps that he's been on the staff and he has some continuity with kind of a younger group, knowing some of these guys and being able to just step right over, you know, basically one room over. Right. So I think that helps, but it is the most important, probably assistant coaching job on the team outside of the coordinators. So you have to get that right. And I will not, you know, really be able to tell you how good he is as an offensive line coach until we see it on the field, played the position at Oklahoma. So he understands it, you know, probably brought some drills over that, that he did as a player. And it's probably wanted to be an offensive line coach for some time.

He said he was still, you know, they do a lot of combo blocks with the tackles when he was a tight ends coach. So he certainly, you know, understood what they were doing from that aspect of things. But I'll believe it when I see it as well with him. And, you know, I want to be impressed by Sharon Moore because he is an impressive guy. Yeah, I mean, I think where the common theme is going to be prove it, right, for pretty much all around. It's like a nut up or shut up situation for Michigan football this year. That's for sure.

So, all right, before we move over to the defense as well and talk about them, I want to ask you just in general, there are so many things that go around during fall camp and during preseason, during the offseason, you know, things that rumors, things that people hear. Is there one thing that you can remember that was absolute bullshit from the inside that people on the outside said about Michigan football this

year so are you talking about something that someone from the outside said or or something that a player or coach said um it could be either one you can call bullshit on a player or coach and say I don't believe that yeah watch what you do Cause I don't want your press pass revoked or anything, but, um, or like, all right. Rumors are how people, you know, we're on Twitter and there's a lot of fans saying stuff, you know, people's perceptions would, you know, that could be bullshit as well. Uh, after you, you know, if you actually take a look at it from the inside or hear these guys talk, you know, one of those things could be BS as well. That's a great question. First thing that comes to mind for me is just kind of, you know, one of the top storylines of the entire off season, which was Jim Harbaugh's status. You know,

we were in kind of in limbo there for a few weeks, basically over Christmas break, right? Yeah. You know, is he going to come back? Is is he gonna take an nfl job are they gonna fire him you know is he gonna just retire and take a year off or something like that they decide to you know go with this unique contract structure where he has a lower buyout a lower base salary but hey you can basically make what you were making if you make the college football playoff and win the big 10 and you know, what, win 10 or 11 games or win your division, things like that. I think I'll call BS on this being kind of a one-year thing

and a one-year experiment going forward. Ward Manuel has said that there's not, you know, a win total that Michigan needs to see for him to be convinced that this thing is kind of going back in the right direction. And I actually, you know, I don't think that was just AD speak or coach speak. I think that, you know, they could win seven games or six games and he could come back if that means they've improved over the course of the season. That would be a huge disappointment.

I know their win total is set at seven and a half, so there's not a ton of, you know, people are kind of expecting it to be around there. But I'll call BS on the national media constantly saying that this is kind of a one-year thing and they can fire him after this season. They can. And I think there's a chance that they will if things go south. But I do think this is more of a two-year window. So I'm going to call BS on this being a firm you know win eight nine games I mean

I've seen national people say they have to win nine otherwise he's gone you know maybe in another circumstance that would be the case but I don't think so here um so I'll call BS on that I'm sure you guys have talked about that too but I was hoping for something crazy right i was hoping you were gonna come yeah someone said urban meyers coming to michigan you know like some absolute nut job well what about uh i mean you guys were i think i saw this from you guys were upset about the the espn analyst who suggested that michigan Michigan fans don't take things very serious. Our good friend Kirk Herbstreit, right? Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, we talked about this a lot on our last podcast, and I think you can see it from both sides, right? Where, like, I think that there's something where Michigan fans do I thought he it was a compliment to a lot of Michigan fans he said we have lives outside of football that's a good thing that's a good thing right um where you're telling me that all the Buckeyes down in Columbus yeah they don't do anything other than go to games or eat you know eat sleep breathe ohio state football um but i think that you know there's also like it does hurt michigan in a way where it's you know it may not be quite

as loud on a game day or something you know i've been to penn state on a on a white out i've been to ohio state it is loud as shit you know so there is something to that but also we see michigan twitter spend a day on michigan twitter you're gonna know that people are crazy passionate you know that's that's really what it is i agree yeah no i i saw his point and like you said it is a compliment he's saying talking about guys running businesses and things like that. But, by the way, you should be drinking a Truly. I don't know what you're doing drinking that. I know.

I know. Blur that out. I got Bud Light. Well, we can still see. The thing is, Truly is like a seltzer, so we'll still have a light beer option. That's fair. So, the Truly is all getting dropped off at at our at my house tomorrow so i'll i'm a truly guy from here here on out they're gonna back the truck up or what yeah i don't know

what i don't know what kind of truck he's got but uh they're bringing it here i don't know if i'll have enough room in the garage for it what's the over under for you guys for i mean it's it's a noon game so you got to start early um how many truly is he gonna have before uh i'm gonna say i mean because you got to think about you know we've got a new i got a brand new shot ski as well so we'll be you know throwing back some shots maybe some jello shots uh maybe a couple shotguns of Bud Light. So you got to factor all these things in, you know, beer bong. I'm going to put my truly solely, truly over under at about nine. Okay. That's before the game. Good.

Yeah, that's pretty good. Right. Shots and some Bud Lights possibly. I mean, it probably won't end up well. I'll be honest. I I've been, I've had two years ago for the Michigan state game. I was so, so, so excited for that game. Cause I knew we were going to kick the shit out of them. Uh, it was a noon game. I, you know, it was awesome. I got, I had way too much to drink and went into the game for about

half a quarter and had to go back out and sleep in my car okay so there's a good win though so you didn't have to worry about much yeah yeah what if a guy tells you to to sit down in front oh all right nine trolleys a few shots and a couple bud lights in where's that those are like fighting words to be honest like i'm not i don't want to be that guy that ends up on barstool that i'm fighting my own fans you know but i mean come on can we get rid of that stigma as well oh my god i can't even imagine the look on this guy's face when he says down in front row turns around his face is beet red from anger and the sun at noon it's gonna be awful oh god yeah that i i mean i'm i gotta wear that shirt that says you know no i will not sit down in front so they already know then like when

they say it to me they already know what's coming right that's true yeah set the expectation a little bit yeah i i don't like well i won't say i don't like those people because you know they're all michigan people we're all in the same community here but um yeah I don't understand the mentality I mean I'd rather stand the entire game than be told to like then have to sit down and you know worry about people behind me right so I like when you get in one of those sections where like everybody's standing at least on every like big play or big drive but yeah i mean it's i don't think we're asking to like stand for four hours straight right you can sit down when i mean jesus there's a timeout that's that last five minutes every like 30 seconds right the media timeouts are insane so i don't think we're asking too much to stand up while play is going up.

Yeah. And I understand some of the elderly people that go to the games. At the same time, though, it's like, well, somebody's got to adjust. And I think it should be the people – or the people that shouldn't have to adjust are the people who are cheering as loud as possible for the team that you guys are all rooting for. So I kind of miss it out in the stands to be honest being up in the press box it's a lot more cushy up there but it's not as exciting yeah i mean let's be honest too the product of college football on tv is pretty good nowadays so if you're at the game

you're there for the experience of that's true at the game right let's be part of the game that's a great point there's you can you can buy a 55 inch tv for like 300 these days and hulu costs you know 20 bucks a month or whatever it is you know like you can be you can be more economical and be comfy with your own chair and beer at home. If you want to sit down, sit in your, sit on your couch. If you want to come to the game to Kalen's point, that's where you're going to have to deal with what, I guess what bothers me the most is people that like, can't believe it

that somebody's standing up at a football game. Yeah. That's like, I understand. Like if somebody's being rowdy or standing, like, the entire time and being an asshole about it, I get that. It's the people that are like, oh, my God, how could they possibly stand up in front of us during a football game?

It's like, I mean, you have to know what's going to happen when you walk into a stadium on a Saturday. What do you mean you're cheering on your team when something's happening? Right? Like, it's not a – we're not golf clapping. We're not golf clapping, you know. I'm probably going to yell, let's fucking go, like, a hundred times. So, you just got to know that.

Do you guys think it's going to be – like, let's say, you know, a hundred and, you know, I mean, they're going to say it's probably what, like 110, no matter what, but let's say there's like 105. Cause I know there's some tickets still available for this game. Do you think it's going to be louder than normal because everybody was so cooped up for a year and they're, they're so excited to come back. And this should be a win, a Michigan win. Now, you know, take this whole, you know, all whole you know all out

of consideration if they like somehow get upset or whatever but i mean i think so yeah i think people are fucking jacked to be that's what i'm that's what i'm thinking too and i and i think people will be more into it people have sat at home for so long like getting out and doing things i think is is now like a new thing to a lot of people right so people will be willing to do it i i mean i'm not i think the first game will be pretty cool i think that washington night game though is going to be like flashback to 2013 notre dame are they bringing the pom-poms back you might have some intel tell me off the record all right well we'll we'll see we'll see we'll talk after this yeah we'll talk after this we'll see um but yeah no

yes though but but maybe but maybe all right um for the listeners out there a little tidbit um but yeah i mean i agree i think it's. I think people are hungry to get back. I think there are a good portion that are a little hesitant. I mean, 110,000 packed in, like, sardines, that's a lot of people. You know, so I understand it to an extent, you know, people that are hesitant. But I think there's also a significant portion that are just, like, you know, just ready, you know.

But the people that are going to be there, I think, are like, you know, just ready, you know, the people that are going to be there, I think are, are totally not, you know, not going to be hesitant to, to cheer and everything. So I think it's going to be, yeah, we've kind of actually talked about this, like this actually, this, this may sound bad. So, so no judgment here. We're in the judgment free zone. Okay. So I think that the people that aren't coming are the people – are the sit-downs. They're the down-and-front people. That's a good point.

And the people that are coming are, like, all in on everything. So I think this might be a decent shift in the fandom of Michigan football. That's a great point. And we want those people to come back, too, not the, like, crazy down-and-front because we hope this ends at some point and they feel comfortable. people to come back too not to like crazy down in front because we hope this ends at some point and they feel comfortable right you're right i think this uh in getting those types of people maybe even new people that are as rowdy as as you know you guys yeah to michigan stadium for maybe the first time or the first time in a while but those

rowdy type people uh could be big for like you said, maybe a shift in terms of the attendance. Pair that with a $25 ticket on StubHub too, that changes things. I do think that's a big part of Michigan State fans, for example, going crazier. It's a different demographic that buys a $125 ticket versus a $45 ticket. Right. Yeah. I mean, that's a, that's a hilarious little, just like shade at, and even I would extend it probably to Ohio state,

even though their tickets are super expensive, they're willing to pay all their money. That's like half their yearly income. Well, willing to pay all their money. It's like half their yearly income. According to Kirk, they don't even have jobs. Right. They don't run businesses. They don't have anything other than football.

And he also lumped for some reason, probably because Big Cat is a Wisconsin guy. He lumped Wisconsin in with them, which I would kind of put them more closer to Michigan. I agree. I agree. fun well it was just kind of funny with that whole thing too the question was about Texas and he straight up went to Michigan versus the rest of the Big Ten yeah I thought that was interesting whatever it's just Kirk being Kirk he's I actually I'm I like Kirk actually as far as a commentator goes I think he's usually pretty biased but the last two years he has taken big jabs at Michigan and you you made an enemy you made an enemy bud plus you know what fuck you Kirk you're win this against Michigan so suck it you're not gonna get me to say anything bad about Kirk I I do

like him as well but I just disagreed with him there to be honest no I hear you I hear you um all right uh so Clayton by the way is um as I said from the wolverine.com uh so you can check all his stuff out he's got articles that come out come out. What's your time slot at the Wolverine.com? It was 12 and 6 during the offseason, plus, you know, more sprinkled in. But now it's just all over. Just like shooting from the hip, basically, at this point. All right. Sounds good.

Well, he's got a bunch of articles coming out. You know, you've put out a lot of good stuff uh for the preseason here and i'm sure as the season goes along you'll be doing game recaps and previews and things like that so um check him out is it c safey 23 yeah c safe 23 c s a y f 23 little uh abbreviation so there you go c safe 23 is his twitter um and then at the wolverine.com uh is it what is it what's the uh wolverine twitter handle at the wolverine mag okay you can also get the magazine as well nice for the old timers out there there you go probably not too much of your crowd but i mean people still like a magazine i i like a hard copy. Yeah. So check him out at his Twitter and online.

He's got good stuff out there. If you're looking for not a bunch of people just rambling for a while, and he'll give some actual analysis and things like that. So moving on to the defensive side of the ball obviously it's a brand new coaching staff there and so you've been around them a little bit here in camp and preseason in the offseason so tell us a little bit about what this new coaching staff on the defensive side of the ball brings compared to the old coaching staff under Don Brown? Yeah, I think in addition to kind of bringing in a new scheme, a 3-4 defense,

they're going to mix up looks and all that. They've brought a little bit of juice to the defensive side of the ball. They're a little more relatable. And I know that's kind of a it's kind of a vague term, you know, that you kind of hear from these players throughout the off season is, oh, these younger assistant coaches are a little bit more, you know, energetic and relatable, and they're closer in age to us. So they get what we're going through. But I think that can help only if the scheme and the system and the adjustments that they make during the game and all of that work, then it can just be this added bonus. Because if you can get through to players, if you can motivate them and you're teaching good stuff

and you have substance behind what you're teaching, then I think it's going to be a great defense, you know, once they get more talent in. But I think that the number one thing I've taken away from this defense, this off season, as it kind of evolved is that they have answers to what the opposing offense is going to do. They're not just going to play the same damn thing. Every single snap of every single game of every single season. Wow. Crazy concept. Yeah, exactly. thing every single snap of every single game of every single season wow crazy concept yeah exactly and every single guy in you know we talked to Vince Gray the other night Jermon Green was at

the podium last week a bunch of especially with the defensive backs because everyone knows they played basically man coverage just about every snap under Don Brown and it worked for a while but then it started to not work and he started to not do anything about it. So all those guys have talked about how they enjoy being able to, you know, be a little more unpredictable on that side of the ball. Now they're still going to get torched if they don't have a pass rush. So I think that's going to be obviously massive, good start having Aiden Hutchinson there,

but you need other guys to step up. So that's the number one thing I've taken away is that this defense is going to look different than it did the week prior sometimes because they're going to evolve to what aggressive and you want to impose your will, but you have to, you know, the goal of defense is to keep the other team out of the end zone and prevent them from doing what they want to do. That right there by definition has something to do with what the offense is doing. So you have to be able to adjust. I'm excited to see what Mike McDonald's going to bring as a, as a play caller and as a guy who makes adjustments, not only at halftime, but, you know, throughout the course of a game in between series. And Jim Harbaugh said they've been putting him in a lot of those situations in

practice so that he's prepared and he's been impressed so far. I don't think if he wasn't impressed, he would be saying that right now, but, you know, you could kind of feel that the guys are confident in Mike McDonald. They're also confident in Steve Klinkscale as the defensive passing game coordinator. That's a key aspect of this as well. They're emphasizing turnovers. If you look at Kentucky and their turnover numbers the last couple years with Klink as their defensive backs coach, they've been phenomenal. And those haven't been uber-talented teams.

Those haven't been great. They've been pretty good defenses, but those haven't been great recruits that he's had there, even though he is a good recruiter. He's starting to get a few more of those guys, but he's recruiting to Kentucky when he was there. You know, now he has a little bit more talent and, you know, I think that's going to show during some of these games, but it's got to all fit together as well. And, you know, we'll kind of see how it goes, but at the very least, uh, Doug Karsh, um, the sideline man for the radio, uh, he was on the Wolverine podcast the other day and I was listening with John Borton, uh, our outstanding senior editor. And he said, at the very least, Mike McDonald, isn't going to be more stubborn than Don Brown.

And I think that's, that's quite a start. Wow. Yeah. We've heard a lot about guys like Mike McDonald and even Clink's Steve Clink still, like you said, but one guy I haven't heard too much from is George Hilo, the linebackers coach. Do you have any insight on maybe some of the development or maybe what we can expect to see from that linebacker for? Yeah, that's a, we were were I was talking about this with some of some of our colleagues in the media before our press conference today that we got to talk to Sean Nua and Matt Weiss who's a fascinating guy as well but uh we were talking about George Hilo he met with the media last week and he was so thorough and we were saying he was probably a

little too thorough where he might have got a talking to by the head coach or, you know, somebody because he disclosed quite a bit of information. This is a smart guy that understands defense, probably going to be a coordinator one day himself. You know, it was kind of one of those guys that kept rising and rising. He was at Maryland as not only the special teams coordinator, but the inside linebackers coach. I like, you know, his philosophy on things, this defense based on Mike McDonald being a former linebackers coach for the Baltimore Ravens, one of the premier franchises when it comes to linebackers in the NFL. You know, Josh Ross has said this defense flows through the linebackers. It's set up so they can, quote unquote, clean up or eat, as the kids say these days. But, you know, so I think that if you have that kind of defense, you're going to need elite linebacker play.

Josh Ross is in better shape than he was last year. I didn't think he looked quite healthy coming off of some injuries that were lingering the year before. And then the Kyle Green has come out of nowhere into the two or not into the two Hill Green has come out of nowhere into the two, or not into the two deep. He came out of nowhere into the two deep. Now he's the starting Will linebacker next to Josh Ross, who's the starting Mike linebacker. So that's a fascinating piece is that you have a guy that basically,

you know, said, hey, I'm going to just take this off season and see how far it can get me. And it's got him all the way up to the starting spot. But I think George Hilo again, we'll, we'll see what his unit does, but he seems to be a super bright guy and he is kind of that forgotten man, probably him and Sean Nua maybe on that defensive staff. Everyone talks about clink. Everyone talks about Ron Bell and me, rightfully so a great guy. And, you know,

obviously a former Michigan player. So you have that storyline in Mike McDonald. But George Hilo, if this defense is predicated on the linebackers cleaning up, then he better have those guys ready. And I think based on, you know, who he has there, a great leader in Josh Ross, a rising, you know, star type of guy like Nikai Hill hill green i think they can be pretty solid yeah and i i thought i mean watching them last year the linebacker play was poor there's there's really no other way to put it um there were a lot of times where i you know i'm i i don't know their exact assignments but i can assume most of their assignments from just playing football and they were missing assignments and then they were also missing tackles and just it just felt like they were not you know where

they needed to be um so i think just i probably somebody new in there um i know there were some walk-ons playing last year as well which doesn't help you know uh so i i agree i i think that you know between this deep people talk about these secondary right a lot of, you know? So I agree. I think that, you know, between this deep people talk about these secondary, right. A lot of like, you know, just because they got burnt quite often last year. But I think that the more important pieces of this defense are the, are the linebacking core and that defensive front, you know, if that defensive front under Sean Nua, you know, Mozzie Smith, if those guys, if, if Dom Nua, you know, Mozzie Smith, if those guys take off, which they have the talent.

I mean, that's the thing is, like, it's not like they don't have the bodies there. They do, you know. So I think that there are a lot of people out there, myself included, that are waiting for Sean Nua to kind of get that group together. You know, I think it was a little bit surprising that out of all people, Sean Nua got the, you know, got saved out of that crew. And so I'm ready, you know, if he's going to be the guy that, the one guy that kind of keeps his job on that defensive staff,

I need him to really have this defensive line take a big step. No doubt about it. The defensive line is, you know, if you count like those DNs are now kind of, you know, hybrid DN outside linebackers. But if you count them, it should be a solid group on the outside. The interior is a huge question mark. Can Mozzie Smith actually be that guy? We've heard so much about him that I'm starting to get, like,

a little scared that it's just all that preseason hype. Right. You know, and the same thing with Donovan Jeter. He's been getting hype, and he even said that. He said, I've been getting compliments from the coaches and my teammates for a couple years now. I'm sick of it. I just want to produce on game day.

So, at least he acknowledges that. But Chris Hinton's another guy. He missed some time during the spring cause he had COVID but you know, he's got to step up too. He, I thought he was solid at times last year, but he didn't play up to his five star potential. So you're right. There's the bodies in there with Chris Hinton, Mozzie Smith, if Julius Welshoff can take a step forward, if David Ojabo at the DN spot and outside linebacker can take a big step forward.

Sean Nua said today to watch out for Chris Jenkins, a second year player who, you know, I think has a decent amount of potential as kind of one of those outside D tackles in this 3-4 scheme. But I think the depth is still a concern. And let's say Mozzie Smith isn't who we think he can be or Chris Hinton, you know,

is just more of what he did last year then there's there's really not that next guy behind them so uh you know to be that guy I think they can they have a couple serviceable options but you need to have uh those guys be really really good because I am concerned about some of the depth all right well there's uh I mean we cover pretty much everybody i think the only only position group we didn't cover are the wide receivers which we've covered in the past i mean that's a uh you know a lot of weapons in that crew right and so um you know lastly last thing i wanted to ask is i mean let's just get to it what's uh what's your prediction for saturday specifically and then i mean if you want to give your season prediction as well let's just get to it. What's your prediction for Saturday specifically?

And then, I mean, if you want to give your season prediction as well, let's hear it. Yeah, so for Saturday, I haven't completely settled on a final score yet. I have to get that in for our site probably tomorrow. But I am thinking something close to what, like, you know, you could say this is just a cop-out answer, but something close to what the spread is, I think about 17 and a half. And then the over-under is what I think 60 or in the low sixties. Yeah.

So something around, you know, like a 42 to God, I'm bad at math, especially on the spot, but like, you know, I'm thinking something around 40 to 72 there you go um yeah what would that be i guess that would be covering and that'd be the over as well i guess i'm just an optimistic guy when it comes to the over are you part of the overs club oh i am i do have the jacket did you really from uh what game was it wasn't the Super Bowl because that was the one I lost out on but no I'm an overs guy I'm the positive vibes only I'd much rather watch people score than you know a game and be nervous the entire time and bet the under now that it's legal

in uh the state of Michigan so yeah maybe I'll go with uh Michigan to cover and the over. This is a Western Michigan team that I think is pretty solid. They're picked to finish fourth, though, in their own division in the MAAC. And everyone's kind of talking about, including myself, the stats that Western put up, including their quarterback, Caleb Ellaby, last season. But you got to keep in mind that those were against only MAAC opponents, so it was a little inflated there when you're comparing. It's like he was third in in the country in passing efficiency behind Zach Wilson and Mac

Jones who had you know especially Mac Jones historically good seasons yeah but he was playing basically in an entirely different league and then we plugged those stats into uh this you know so he didn't have that opener against Michigan or whatever it is, you know, translating to this season. So I do think that Michigan is going to win fairly comfortable, but this isn't a team you can really take lightly. I mean, Western could come in and beat Michigan too, which is the most middleman answer I guess you could possibly give, but the short answer is Michigan to cover and the over because positive vibes only.

Love it. Love it. it um yeah i mean honestly or eight and four for the season oh okay uh a lot of people have seven and five kind of that swing game for me is the washington game uh i'm a believer in michigan stadium at night in the magic that it can create uh michigan seven and two and night games at the big house since 2011, when they started playing them. And I think Washington has some question marks themselves. So I got Michigan winning that and that kind of, and then they're going to lose the obvious ones, in my opinion, Ohio state,

Penn state, Wisconsin, and then either in Indiana or maybe get caught in a trap game against Nebraska. Although that one looks a little bit easier than it did probably a couple weeks ago. So we'll see. Yeah. You know, in my opinion, there are two must-win games this year for Jim Harbaugh, and I think there are a lot of people out there that say,

oh, got to go 10-2, 9-3, blah, blah, blah. There are two must-win games for him to, like like if he doesn't win those games he should be left on the bus and that's Nebraska and Michigan State because Nebraska I think there are a lot of people that still hate Nebraska from 1997 you know and they're so bad they're so bad I watched them on last Saturday oh my god they are are bad. And the Scott Frost thing. People compare him to Harbaugh. It's like, dude, you have to – which is an insane, insane comparison. Scott Frost, what did Zach Shaw put it as?

Scott Frost needs to win, like, his next 51 games to get to Jim Harbaugh's record. Yeah, it's like 37. I mean, he's only won 12 games at Nebraska, which is just absurd. They've never had a winning season. So the comparisons are crazy. It's only because they're both former quarterbacks for their team. But, yeah, I think this is what somebody on Pardon My Take said this week.

The sneaky winner of the Nebraska game was Jim Harbaugh. That only is the case if he beats Nebraska like you said this year because otherwise the the storylines the national narratives I mean Paul Feinbaum will probably have an emergency show right talk about it so you have to win that game yeah I agree and then Michigan State I mean if they lose the Michigan State and they don't win 9-10 games or beat Ohio State even at the end of the season to kind of save things, I don't think this staff is going to be the same the next year. No, I completely agree.

Those two are absolute must-win games for Jim Harbaugh this year specifically. They should be must-win games every year. What do you guys have for your prediction? I'm sure you've done it, but I just maybe haven't seen it yeah are you five and seven yeah i don't think we have done our predictions we have not no we haven't yeah okay so for this weekend i mean yeah i think that caleb ellaby guy my concern would be like okay i'm not that familiar with western but my concern would be like him getting out of the pocket and then like lighten us up with his legs. Honestly, if that's what I saw, I'd be like, oh, OK, more of the same.

So I want to see us contain the quarterback. I want to see our corners, you know, play some good defense and keep the receiving yards down. I expect a couple big chunk gains, but overall, I would like to see some solid corner play. Final score, I think Michigan wins for sure. I'm going 41, maybe like 17. i don't know um and then as for the season yeah i would say this is cop out like eight and four it's a it's that's like people i agree with you it sounds like a cop out but like

it's the most educated answer you can give because that's what Michigan's been at. You know, like, I mean, here's the only the only thing I would say about, like, the people that say that the ceiling is eight wins or whatever. I don't think you can really say that. And, you know, like not to slam anybody, but like and know what you're talking about like, remember what a full college football season is like, because if you can win eight, that means you want a couple of those toss up type of games, the Indiana, you know, maybe a Nebraska, I almost would put in that category because it was on the road, but now they look so bad that I wouldn't, you know, a couple of those games or steal a Penn State or Wisconsin you have to win one of those to get to eight if you can win that it means you can win you know another one of those toss-up games so I don't think the ceiling's there now I'm not predicting I would probably say there's a better chance Michigan goes seven and five than they do nine and three with my eight and four

prediction but I don't think there's a ceiling on this team besides the, probably the slimmest possible chance of them beating Ohio state. And even that still like a percent chance at least. Right. So at least one. Yeah. Yeah. There's an earthquake or something at home. I mean, you guys got to be loud during that game. I mean, you can make an impact. So that'll be on us. I think that'll be on us. I totally agree though because I mean people are also I know you play uh you know uh it's home against Indiana correct yep and crazy yeah what's that that November stretch is crazy you got home against Indiana at Penn State

at or against Ohio State yeah yeah but I also I mean Penn State yeah they beat us last year but they were 0-5 going into that game you know it's not like they have a ton of momentum going into this year as well we're in a bubble we're in a bubble and every team has their own question marks that their fan bases are talking about exactly exactly you know people are pissed at Jim Harbaugh but people are pissed at James Franklin you know at the time. I don't think you can just count on Penn State. I don't think you can say in the same sentence, Penn State is going think you'd have to chalk up last year as to what it was and then say, you know, scratch it, clear it. Here we go. And let's see what happens.

I also think, you know, I think Indiana had a great year, you know, last year and the year before as well. I think that Indiana has a couple of great years, like once every 15, you know, and so I'm sorry. I like Tom Allen. I don't expect them to just be a Big Ten powerhouse all of a sudden, you know, so those games that I think that people are chalking up to absolute losses, they very well could be depending on what Michigan is, but I don't think they're full on outside of Ohio

state and probably Wisconsin outside of those two, like not every one of these teams is just like top 10 teams going, you know, with no questions asked. Right. So I think it's just going to be an interesting, we'll have to see how that plays out during the season, but like people are chalking up you know five big 10 teams to be top 10 essentially and be sweet and I just don't think that's the case yeah and that's why you make a great point that's why the Washington game the Nebraska game those early kind of you know the first half of the season those games are so important because then when you get to Indiana and some of the challenges down the road, you could, you know, if you win

those early games, you're going to have the most confident and the probably best Michigan team you could possibly have at that stage in the season. If they lose to Washington, lose to Nebraska, lose to Wisconsin. Yeah. Then, I mean, everybody's in play. You could lose at Maryland. Yeah. You know, they could lose to Michigan state certainly on the road so you know it's going to be interesting like you said that making the prediction now and putting a cap on things or saying that they can't do this or can't do that right now and we don't know I mean you you can't you can't do that at this point yeah keep the expectations low still so that we're still happy if things go well right but i mean i i just don't want to people i think there are a ton of people writing michigan off there are so many question marks that

it's crazy to just write michigan off at this point you know this early in the season you could kate magnum air could be fucking heisman i don't know i mean probably not yeah what if what if we went out right what if we what if we uh – who will think of all those other games? Yeah. They're not going to snag last year. Let's not get ahead of ourselves because Dan Valari is the Heisman. That's true. That's true.

That's true. He's going to be a Taysom Hill type, so. I mean, what's going to happen when we have two Heisman finalists and both of them are quarterbacks? I mean, seriously. Are you kind of mad that your boy is stealing your guys's like thing here with the podcast I mean he's got him doing a podcast too you probably have some you know mutual listeners I would assume we do I'm sure we do we uh we hope to have him on here actually here soon so uh we've been in talks we've been in talks a little bit um so we're uh

yeah hopefully we can have him uh and and maybe um what's his not song ellen bowman too yeah yeah no it'd be fun they their podcast is cool i i mean we listen to it as well they they have a similar vibe it's just like kind of shooting the shit you know i know what you mean i listened to like quite a bit of the first one and it has a chill vibe to it yeah for sure we'll be uh around the dinner table and we'll be eating that penne ala vodka exactly his grandma's his grandma's penne ala vodka yeah so all right so you can mark it down uh dan valari for heisman k Cade McNamara for Heisman, Michigan 12 and 0, Clayton Safey said it. That was his prediction. I heard it. So, all right. So go follow Clayton. S-A-Y-F 23 on Twitter, at the Wolverine mag on Twitter, at the Wolverine.com, I believe, as well, for all his articles throughout.

So check his stuff out. He'll have some, I'm sure, Western previews and some Western recaps after the game as well, including season previews too. So check him out. And then on our end, you can follow us at Blue by 90 on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, at Blue by 90 podcast on YouTube. And then check out Truly, of course.

We're presented by Truly as well. So we appreciate them. We'll have Truly at the tailgate on Saturday. So if you didn't see the post on Instagram or Twitter, we'll be out there in the Chrysler arena parking lot. So if you're a listener and want to come by, we will, we'll probably do a little live podcast early in the morning, maybe even two. So maybe Clayton can even stop by join for a couple of minutes and,

and add his input. And then we'll you know, we'll have the drinks flowing as soon as uh clayton leaves we'll we'll start pouring the drinks uh yeah i gotta work man i know i'm sorry i'm sorry maybe i will stop are you doing something for washington too because that's a longer tailgate have more time so yeah we'll we'll have a tailgate every week so every home game will be there in that same spot um yeah this week we'll start at about 8 a.m. Next week for Washington, we'll start at noon. So, yeah, you can stop by at any time, Clayton.

You're welcome. Even a postgame. Maybe Saturday postgame you can come by. You know, maybe we'll still be set up. But everyone that wants to can stop by. We'll be happy to have you. Food, games, drinks, all that stuff. And we are sponsored by truly.

So we, we're thankful for them for bringing the, uh, bringing the fun stuff. So there you go. Well, thank you Clayton for coming on. We really appreciate it. Um, go follow Clayton. Uh, he's got good stuff that he puts out. Um, but other than that, we will see you on Saturday. Go blue.