Blue By Ninety - E96: Brad Robbins

Episode Date: October 18, 2021

Michigan Punter Brad Robbins joins the show to talk bye week, improved team energy going into the 2nd half of the season, a very special cause he is raising money for and much more. Crack a cold one and enjoy the show. 

This is the University of Michigan. Touchdown, Michigan! That's the beat of Michigan ball! And they've got one extra pass. And it goes for the win! The three-pointer by Jordan Poole! Down the sideline! People jump!

Touchdown, Michigan! Go! People jump! Touchdown, Wolverines! All right, welcome back to Blue by 90. I am Justin, joined by Jack and Kalen, as always. And today we have another special guest, Michigan punter Brad Robbins. Brad, thanks for coming on. How are you doing today? I'm good. Thanks for having me, guys.

I really appreciate your time. Doing pretty well. Just got out of practice, so excited to move on, move forward into this week. It's great to have another bald guy on here. I know we talked a little bit about that before this. These two guys got two nice heads of hair, so I'm glad to have you on here, man. That's fine, man. We got the good-shaped heads for it, too so that's right good it's the uh it's the way to go

it's an iconic look with the shaved head but the full beard down here it is i like it when you you know when you got the helmet on the beard sticks out but then you take the helmet off and then uh you know it shines up top as well there you go yeah i've got i've gotten some looks from people on the sideline too just like man how old is that guy it's like i wasn't it's like yeah i played with chad henney i was i've been here for a long time oh man is that guy like a team dad or yeah exactly yeah yeah it was it was funny i saw you at the uh the like student night that one thursday night before when you guys came out and they had the uh like i don't know what it what they even called it but um you guys came and

talked to the students uh to the your classmates obviously. Yeah, yeah, the pep talk. But I was laughing because there was like a lot of freshmen that came out, and then you were the only guy out there that was kind of the senior leader. I think it was you and Josh Ross. You did look quite a bit older than most of the other guys out there. Yeah, there it is. That's pretty funny. I feel old too, man. I've been here a long time, but, you know, enjoying every second of it, which is awesome.

So, yeah, you guys just got done with practice, you said, and, you know, you're going into the bye week here or you had the bye week. You're 6-0. You guys obviously are feeling good.'s going great what is uh what is practice like right now are you guys just you know is the energy up and up and up or you know coming back off of a bye week it's got to feel good to have a little rest and and uh you know get it back rolling again yeah um so i guess two things from that is like i don't think you, in my 15 years that I've been at the University of Michigan as a player, that, you know, I've been a part of a team that's been as energetic and enthusiastic and as bought into, you know, just like the culture and each other as, you know, like as this team is right now. So I guess coming off those couple days you know or day or whatever it was of uh just

rest into the bi-week and then coming into practice um they were just like a well-oiled machine you know we didn't really skip a beat everything was uh you know better than it was before which is like most people will come back take a step down or most people will come back and you know like be the same and kind of just be like lulled like halfway through the season. You know what I mean? But it's like there's no lull. There's no, you know, skipping beats. There's like everybody's coming back as enthusiastic, if not more. And everybody's bought in.

Everybody cares for each other. It's just it's a positive place to be. It is a fun factory, I think. I like being there. I spend a lot of time there um and you know a lot of a lot of the incoming freshmen have also you know bought into that idea I'm sure you guys have like read the story of uh you know JJ and some a couple of the other freshmen you know coming back from away games and practicing and like 4 a.m and stuff like that um it just you know it really speaks volumes to me especially

as a you know fifth year guy who's been there a really long time and seen the good the bad and the ugly it's like seeing those guys come in and be the up-and-comers and the guys who are going to be you know the next generation of you know like michigan football players um yeah it's just really inspiring to me um but yeah i guess like i said coming into this bi-week i think the guys are more hungry than before which is you know certainly pretty rare so uh yeah i feel pretty confident feel pretty good and that and that's awesome too that you know like you said they're more hungry than they were you know the first what whatever six games right because this is where you're getting into the tough part of your schedule and you know you've obviously got

northwestern coming back at home first game back then you've got a potential top 10 matchup in east lansing and penn state and indiana and obvious ohio at the end of the season that's uh it's gonna be a tough road ahead man hopefully you guys do you guys talk about that do you guys is that like a thing that you guys go over where it's like hey we've got this part of the schedule going right now and then like all right after this bye week hey this is a gauntlet that we've got to really buckle down and get through um i mean there isn't like a a deep focus into that as far as like oh this is you know like looking too far ahead like hey this is we have this game this game this game this game it's more like let's see how many

times you know we can win one game in a row you know what I mean like obviously you can look ahead and be like hey like yeah we have a gauntlet coming up but like you know you just got to keep your head down and stay focused day to day week to week and you know take advantage of the opportunities that you get um but it is easy for you know people to look ahead and say like hey man like man you got this gauntlet's coming up like what are you guys gonna do but it's like within you know our facility and within our culture it's like very much you you know, day by day, hour by hour kind of thing. So I noticed that, that you're, you're not the first person who's talked about how great the chemistry is and

everything like that. But I'm, I'm curious, you're not the only Brad on the team. So did you and Brad Hawkins fight a cage match to see who gets to be Brad number one? No, so yeah, I mean I'm trying to think of a story that I had. Put your brain in a blender for that one. Yeah, no.

I'll be straight up. We haven't had a cage match for sure. People can definitely recognize me from pretty far away with my helmet off. But yeah, I'd say he's a, he's a little more athletically gifted than I am. But yeah, I don't know. I, I, I told that joke to a, I forget who it was it's like my freshman year I was like a freshman I was like trying to make a joke I think it was maybe like our old strength staff or something like that and uh I was like kind of just like you know getting through the workout and just like they were like yeah they were calling attendance like hey Brad like which

one of you is Brad and I was like oh wait there's two Brads like um I was like yeah me and him get confused a lot in the locker room like they can't really tell us apart like me and some of the guys were laughing and like our strength coach did not find that funny at all I forget which like which strength coach it was but like yeah I definitely had to run or do something because I thought it was funny I thought it was funny i don't know if he remembers it but that was like one of my like it was like one of my first experiences in like a division one weight room i told a joke and i was like no that's hilarious i was like you're like shit i'm now in division one i can't just like be the guy anymore i can't joke around this is the real deal yeah it's like i'm not in high school like this is different yeah more intense well we we do kind

of have a running joke on here that we talk about your guys energy about every single episode because it's infectious man it really is you see it uh obviously we've seen it in person in the big house but on tv and everything you know when you guys are jumping around when you're doing thunderstruck all that stuff um now as a fifth year guy you brad hawkins you know aiden hutchinson and all you know josh ross a lot of this the senior leaders as as the leaders of this program and of this team right now have you guys had a focus on that or what have you done to contribute to to really you know obviously we look at last year and we won't bs what last year was right and it just seemed like there were a lot of guys on

that sideline that didn't look like they wanted to be out there have you guys put an effort or what have you done to to try to change that and and how have you seen it you know how have you seen it change over time from last year to this year um yeah that is that is a uh a definite difference between last year and this year just like like i was kind of talking about like the buy-in and all that kind of stuff um I myself obviously as a punter have a little bit more time to think uh and not necessarily out on the field a whole lot um but you know one of my goals personally um coming into this year was um helping develop that culture and helping inspire guys rather than, you know, tear guys down and, you know, try to strip them and build them up. But rather just like building them up as they come and like helping them adapt to like college and all that kind of stuff and just being there for the younger guys. It's really easy within like the environment of just football,

130 guys to really just get, you know, lost within all that. Personally, I just hope to be like a light for younger guys and just hope to be someone who can, you know, like they can come to and ask advice, you know, maybe not on and off the field. You know, we have like a new punter who came in a freshman punter. I hope, you know, I can be a guide for him that way, you know, in another 20 years when I leave Michigan he, he can take over and be confident. You know what I mean? Right. So, you know, going into the off season, I believe,

you know, I can speak for everyone on this, that that was a point of emphasis, just emphasizing, you know, leadership roles in what that means to be a leader and how that looks to be a leader and how, what you can do and how, you know, being an older guy or being a guy who plays, how you can infect other people, whether it be toxic or whether it be positivity. I just believe we have a good culmination of, you know, the right guys at the helm and the right guys who have been there long enough who, you know, know what it is supposed to look like. And on top of that, just have the proper guidance of, you know, some coaches who have come in and are understanding, you know, the culture and just the reception of younger guys who have come in and who are all into the university of Michigan program. I think it's just overall a perfect storm of, you know,

a great culture. I think it's just all kind of, you know, flowing together, coming of, you know, a, a great culture. I think it's just all kind of, you know, flowing together, coming together, you know, there's a bunch of different factors that play a role in it. Um, but, you know, we've developed core values for our team, uh, for what we believe in, what we stand for. And, you know, those aren't just words and they aren't just things for our team that, you know, they're, you know, we're just going to say this, like, you know, we're just going to say this word and, you know, move on from it. It doesn't really, you know, have any effect on anything, but it's just something that you actually live up to and you can define and you can embody as a human being. Cause that's what it's all about. I think in the long run,

being someone who is empathetic and understands the importance of relationships for your brothers and you know, finding a reason bigger than yourself to play and you know, all that good stuff is just really helped. I think our culture and our program kind of come to fruition to what it's supposed to be i mean it's i know you're very old but that was very wise of you wise old man yeah look in the sound of a wise old man, that's for sure. Stroke your beard a little more. I mean, it's very evident. You can see it.

You can feel it from this team. And that's, you know, I think not only – obviously you can see the difference in the wins, you know, in the win-loss, you know, after every Saturday. But you can see just the guys enjoying being out there. You know, I've even said it, we were talking with Joel Honigford the other day, you know, coach Harbaugh looks like he's enjoying football again, you know, and there were times in the past couple of years, it did not look like coach was enjoying being out there enjoying football so um it's very cool to

see and I think you know there are guys out there yourself included but you know you see an Aiden Hutchinson out there and you see the passion in his face right when he is screaming and all that it's like that is so genuine and real you can't fake that right right yeah no that's it's exactly right i mean you'll see like dudes you know script these celebrations and stuff like that yeah like kind of do these things like they'll make a big play and do stuff like that but the one thing i've noticed that's like stood out to me is um when our guys make big plays it's like and i've heard people like chirp at aiden a couple times and trip it like josh a couple times like man you need to learn how to celebrate like

it's like but it's like so the thing is like it's so passionate and it's like so real that it's just like it's just like coming out of them the way it's supposed to you know what i mean like it's not scripted it's not you know something they work on on the side like you know these celebrations and stuff like that it's just likeed. It's not, you know, something they work on on the side, like, you know, these celebrations and stuff like that. It's just like raw emotion that you're seeing, you know, come out of guys who are passionate about what they do and love what they do, which is one of my favorite things. Love it. Love it. And the other thing that I I've noticed about this team, too, especially when you go on the road to Wisconsin and you go on the road to Nebraska and even, you know, in the Rutgers game, obviously you face some adversity where things

weren't going well for a good chunk of that game, but you guys haven't flinched under pressure, right? And so under pressure, we've watched Michigan teams in the past. Cade McNamara said it after the, after the Nebraska game where pressure comes and sometimes guys crumble. And it's not just Michigan. That happens. College kids are college kids. You know, even pros are out there. Pressure happens and it's a struggle sometimes and guys just crumble. You know, obviously you as a punter, you feel pressure every time you're on the field right so how how do you personally deal with that pressure and then how how do you think that relates to what this team

has done this year uh and they're a couple times and under pressure right um that is a good question I just think um I forget who said it to us but we would have these meetings during camp and like past Michigan, you know, legends have recorded like a zoom meeting or recorded something and they talked to us and gave us, you know, some wise words and words of advice. And one thing that stuck with me, I wrote down on my notebook, forget exactly who said it, but it was, you know know pressure is only evident when you know like someone doesn't know what they're doing like pressure only appears when you don't know what you're doing um me personally uh being a psych major like i was kind of saying earlier um and wanting to be a sports psychologist i and i try to tell guys this as well i think you need to work on your mind at least half as much as you work on your body I mean you spend countless hours in the weight room like pounding away like iron

sharpens iron doing all that kind of stuff but you know there's a lot of people you know you get to this point where like everybody every big football program in the United States is doing relatively like the same like the same thing like the same thing, like just working out and working out as hard as you can and giving your all as like the bare minimum. Right. So it's like when you work on your mental, that's where you can really separate yourself from your competition or, you know, from really anybody. Right. So I've really gotten into you know meditation and visualization and all that kind of stuff I spend uh like 15 minutes before each practice just visualizing situations I can be in like either in the big house or like at the practice field and um you know it's really

helped uh there's this you know helps deal with the pressure breathing all that kind of stuff they're like i no longer really feel pressure like i did when i was a true freshman like i was just out on the field kind of soaking in the environment and then just like hitting a punt rather than like you know being precise with my breath being precise with my target being precise with each little thing i do and then just keeping it simple. So when you're backed up and 90,000 fans are screaming at you, wanting you to shank the putt, you know, what is going through your head in that moment? So I have a – you know, I don't really hear the fans as much. Like I – especially like at Nebraska, I don't know hear the fans as much like i especially like at nebraska i don't

know if y'all have been to nebraska before but like that that environment was wild and it was loud and it was just like it was like i couldn't keep a smile off my face the entire time like i was playing just because it was so much fun like you don't you don't hear like crowd noise or specific people like yelling at you you just hear like a roar and it's like deafening it's like it's like a white noise machine pretty much to me right right um so i have like the same breathing technique the same mantra in my head and then i pick a target and execute so it's not necessarily like for me dealing with this like immense pressure of like situation it's just like all everybody in the outside world sees a situation like differently

than like a way like a punter or kicker would see it just because they're so honed in on like uh not like technique but just like a mantra like a breath and like focusing on what they need to do rather than like the overall like encompassing like, like the entire situation, you know what I mean? So, um, of course every punt's a little bit different, but, um, you know, I just, I don't, I've worked on it enough to the point where I'm not, I don't feel pressure in those situations. Well, you heard it here first Nebraska fans, Red Robins said that you are a white noise machine.

You're putting him to sleep no not necessarily that no they were they were loud um that was like i mean it was like penn state white out like loud it was it was it was comparable yeah um crazy yeah when it got to its loudest points um you know, like that you couldn't hear, like if you're just trying to talk to someone right next to you, you'd have to yell at them. But yeah, it was, it was pretty wild. That's awesome. I mean, that's cool though, that it's like you, you guys seem to embrace that, you know, we've, we've heard Valari talked about it.

Joel talked about it. Vistardis talked about it joel talked about it the start has talked about it where like make uh make your song our song right like make your noise our noise type of thing so um that's definitely mental as well um which is cool so um you know speaking of your uh your punting and what you've got going on. Obviously it's it's been going pretty well, knock on wood. We're not jinxing anything today. But you know, you've got something really cool going with what you're, you know, what you're donating and what you're kicking for this year. So give us a little insight on what you've got going on for uh each one of your kicks here right um so i'll just go starting with uh like what i'm what i'm donating i'll just start with the base um for every punt

i land inside the 20 yard line and for every punt that's 50 yards or longer um i am dating donating 25 for each of those things uh to the of M Rogel Cancer Center, which is specifically liver cancer center. And people ask why liver cancer and you know, why, why are you picking this specifically? That is due to a family friend of mine. He's one of my dad's best friends. And he was my hitting instructor growing up since I was like, you know, 10. He was diagnosed with pretty serious liver cancer. And this was just something I wanted to do to, you know, kind of commemorate him and honor him, you know, in the best way I could.

I didn't really tell him before I did it. I just wanted to do it and kind of make it a surprise to him, which was really cool to see his reaction and, you know, just be able to talk to him. But yeah, so I'll be donating, like I said, $25 for every punt inside the 20, $25 for every punt, 50 yards or longer. And paired with the UM Rogel Cancer Center, they created a page for me, which is victors.us slash pincancerdeep, and like I was saying previously, like, you can just donate, you know, it doesn't matter, any little bit helps, but I've had some people say, like, just hit me up at the end of the season, and you owe you know we'll give to you um or you could just you know I've had people just drop

in like 10 bucks and just say you know go blue thanks uh I appreciate what you're doing like it's really cool um but yeah there's really you know some some people ask you know what's your what's your goal and you know what are you shooting for? And like I said to them, it's just like, you can't really put a price on, you know, a friend's life. And, you know, I don't necessarily have a monetary goal, but I'm just, you know, shooting to really the end goal would be to keep my family friend alive. That's like, that's, that's the end goal. This money doesn't go directly to him

uh it just goes to the robo cancer center at ufm which is the liver cancer center um but yeah i feel like this is just the best thing i can do to honor him and his family and you've had some uh you've had some expensive games so far too so So obviously very, very cool, very cool moment, very cool, you know, charity that you've got going on, just a cool thing that you're doing here. And we will definitely be donating as well. We'll be putting out, you know, the link on there and we're going to come up with a couple different ways that we can get everybody joining in and try and get this. I see on your thing, it says 55 donors, $2,685 raise. You know, I think we can get that out north of $5,000 easy. So, well, you may not put a dollar amount goal on there.

We will. So let's, you know, if we can get to 5,000, I think here in the next couple of weeks, we got something good going. But yourself, you've had some expensive games. You're kicking it deep, my man. You're doing your job, right, which is really what it is. But, yeah, is there ever any time where you're like,

I don't know if I can afford it. I got to take some oomph off this. Uh, I can't go. I haven't had any of that. Uh, yeah, my, uh, you know, my, my parents said if it gets too crazy, you know, they might help out and all that kind of stuff. And I might go into debt. Who knows? You know, it'll be well worth it. Um, but yeah, there's, there's no remorse at all in any way so um i'm always happy to do that yeah man if you keep putting the way you're putting and you know taking his you know 20

more years of school you're gonna get a lot of debt coming out of it i'll play until they kick me out of here man right we'll keep you we keep you. We'll have you until they kick you out. Yeah, right. Love it. Love it. Yeah. I mean, the whole – your whole special teams unit has been just killing it this year, which, again, knock on wood.

But it's been awesome to see you guys. You know, obviously Jake Moody was – I mean, he was the man of the moment against Nebraska too so um do you guys are I'm assuming you're kind of one unit right there you're still yours holder correct yes sir yep and so yeah and so are you you know when when Moody's going out there to kick the uh the field goal at the end of the game in Nebraska. And it's such an important, you know, moment in that game to keep you guys in it. Keep it, you know, keep it going. What are you? You obviously talked a little bit about the pressure for yourself.

Are you coaching him up, too, in that moment, too? Yeah. So I let him do his thing. He is he's pretty man of few, uh, he's pretty man, a few words and he's always cool, calm and collected. Like he's, he's had the same demeanor like always. Um, so I let him do his thing. I think, you know, my job as, you know, an older guy is to just instill as much confidence as I can into him. Um,

you know, even if he has a bad day or whatnot, just keep instilling that confidence into him, which are few and far between. He doesn't have bad days, which is, you know, pretty if he has a bad day or whatnot, just keep instilling that confidence into him, which are few and far between. He doesn't have bad days, which is, you know, pretty rare. But he approaches the game with such, you know, consistency. Just in what he does, everything is the same. And he doesn't get rattled by anything either, which is great, which it needs to be that way as a kicker. Right. get rattled by anything either which is great which it needs to be that way as a kicker um right but no i uh i actually have drawings on the sideline for him which are pretty funny

just like just like stuff like if you get into like a situation or get into like all this kind of stuff there's there is like hey this is a big kick a whatever um i always have something you know like kind of drawn for him just like take his mind off of you know so like yeah take his mind off the mo like put it in perspective um I just like like I said I was smiling the whole time on the field I was just like it was it's such an exciting game and you know such a lot of fun to be a part of um but I just always like look back at him I have a huge smile on my face I'm like let's go man go, man. Like, this is, this is, this is all you. This is going to be some fun. You know, you're going to make, you know, 110,000 fans cheer for you, which is awesome. So, um, yeah, I don't know. He's just, just an elite dude, elite guy, uh, purchased the game with elite consistency. Um, and you know, I don't have anything to do with, you know,

helping coach him or do anything with him, which is, which is great. They said, you've got, you got some drawings. You're a pretty good drawer. You got a little like stick figures you're drawing for.

Yeah. So there's a couple of different ones. I'll keep those between me and him, but they, uh, they, they, they don't leave it up to the imagination.

Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I, uh, you know, there's like, there's some funny ones, just like inside joke, like, like just one word that's like, you know, made him laugh in the past or like something like that. Just like, I'll just like write like that word out and then he'll just like, look at it and he'll have like a little chuckle or like, so I'll draw like sometimes I draw this hold on let me get a piece of paper

i'm getting a live showing i love it i love this just like i'm imagining myself as moody right now it's our game it's our game plan so like keep it simple yeah it's like if we had if we had a wristband like a qb wristband that we open it up that's what it would say run that run that play yeah run this play every time for everyone listening at home it was a picture of a field goal post with a check mark in the middle of the field goal post and two x's on the outside telling him to kick it down the middle. I love that game plan. Let's, let's keep running that play. Okay. So he, he just like, he looks at it and he just goes, all right, let's do that.

So it's like, it just takes his mind off of it. And like, it's just one of those psychological things. Like it just, you just take a breath. It's like, Oh man, I feel relaxed now after I saw that, like that just made me laugh, you know? So it's pretty good. That's incredible. That is good. I mean, it is, you know, the kicking game, the long snapping game special teams in general is just such a such a mental aspect and you have to stay loose. Right. And it, and it does seem, you know, we've, I think Joel Honigford said this as well. You guys just like, you're very loose at all times. Like, you know even in

practice, he said like guys are, he's, he said, he's the jokester as well. Joel is, he's, he's definitely like one of the top guys on the team. It just makes you laugh all the time. We asked him who's the prankster, who's that guy on the team, and he took a pause. He's like, I think it's me. He's one of them for sure. It'll make you laugh. That's good. Playing playing loose obviously very important and it's uh i'm excited for you guys coming back home here uh against northwestern this week i think it's just going to be like a coming home party after those two big road wins and a bye week everyone's going to be juiced up

for you guys uh and you know obviously staying undefeated and and hopefully winning that game and heading to uh heading to East Lansing as well. So, by the way, again, one game at a time, but have you guys, you know, talked or looked at Sparty at all? Or are there rumblings in the locker room of that game being such a big game? So, I can only speak for myself. Like, I kind of showed on that drawing every play for a punter and a kicker is sort of you know you can game plan for like certain returners and stuff like that right but it's like every play is relatively like the same it's like a golfer it's like a golf swing there's

different swings and stuff like that so I can't speak for the other guys you know really looking ahead I think we're all kind of on the same page but as far as as i know like i know they have a pretty good return um that's all you're worried about it's about what i look for so it's like yeah well i'll just hang them high and kick them far like that's all i need to do put it inside the 10 not in the end zone like you make it seem so simple like you gotta simplify it at some times you know some some people get in their heads but yeah so if you had to make any tackles this year yet not this year you kind of like you know let no so let the rest of the guys do it or do you want to go for it like put a hit on anybody i think we only have two returns on the year.

And for a total of like 12 yards or something like that. Wow. That's incredible. I think we have the fourth or fifth. I think we're top five, like highest net punt in the country. Holy shit. We don't have a lot of guys returning a lot of stuff. The ball's pretty high. They fair catch.

Our coverage is really, really good. They get downfield. Do you buy, like, your special teams guys, like your coverage team, do you buy them dinner like Kate is buying the offensive line dinner too? So, at the end of the year, like, I have tallies. Like, normally – so, we haven't really gotten to this situation. But, like, coffin punts, like I have tallies like normally. So we haven't really gotten to this situation, but like coffin punts like inside of 10 punts right. So typically I'll like get the gunners like the guys who go down there and like feel the punts stop it from going inside the end zone, like, typically I will get those guys, like, either like demos like a breakfast sandwich or something on that Sunday when they come in or, you know something of that nature but it's like we haven't really you know gotten into that

situation i've just they've either bounced out of bounds or it's like a guy catches it inside the 10 which you know typically they're not supposed to do they're supposed to let it go behind them you know like once it gets like the 10 yard line and then our gunners are supposed to do their job um but yeah so they don't know that's coming yet but when it comes you know i'm sure they'll be pleasantly surprised but uh i don't know the where'd kate take them again it was uh Donating all my money. Job is out of my budget. The punter unfortunately doesn't have that QB deal. I tried to, I tried to get dollar shave club, but

I was like, I'm might be one of the only bald guys in the like NCAA. I'm not sure. Like, there's like, NCAA I'm not sure like there's like there's far between like there's like there's maybe a couple that'd be perfect that'd be pretty funny we'll uh we'll reach out to them too see if we can help you out I don't know anybody there but maybe it'll be funny so that's good oh so um you know looking forward a little bit obviously so do you guys have um i mean i know you guys have talked about goals of like win every game obviously that's a goal you know but and you've done that to this point do you guys revisit any goals mid-season? Because I know you mentioned the core values, which I know a lot of teams do that, right?

They'll talk about at the beginning of the season, what are our values, what are our goals? But then a lot of times after that day in camp, you never talk about them again, right? And so you mentioned it that, Hey, this, these are core values that we really, you know, want to actually incorporate into our daily and, you know, all that stuff. Have you guys revisited anything like that in the bi-week halfway through the

year? So we revisited just like where we rank in certain stuff, as far as like, I know within like specialty teams, we were just like where we rank in certain stuff as far as like I know within like special teams we're just like yeah we're you know looking at us compared to other teams within you know the entire country where we stand you know all that kind of stuff just kind of like a midway checkpoint just like seeing where we're at and seeing where we can improve um and Hutch talked about it today just like I think a big goal for a lot of the guys going into the bye week was reviewing the past six weeks and just looking at the little things.

And it's like, you know, don't fall in love with your stuff. Don't fall in love with, like, how good you, like, are now. It's like learn from these tiny mistakes that you've made and build on those. So as far as, like, I think you said you said like comparing, you know, to like other people, like other, other like people that we're going to play against or whatnot. Um, I don't think anybody's necessarily doing that and like looking too far ahead, but everybody's just kind of learning from past mistakes and then like applying them into these future

games going forward, which is huge. So I don't want to look too far ahead, like you're saying, but I do want to ask, because you did mention that you're from Columbus area and being an older guy on the team, I mean, have you seen any of the, like, preparation for Ohio State more so this year as opposed to previous years um so we did add like a like a part of our practice like obviously is like dedicated to that you know just like the the the ohio state or the ohio game you know um but and like there's been more emphasis on. Obviously you've seen like the picture it's,

uh, I think someone posted in our weight room. It's like, what are you going to do to beat Ohio today? Or what are you doing to better yourself? Um, so there's been this emphasis placed on that, but it's also, uh, we've talked about it today. It's like, aim higher. You know what I mean? Like, we're not just aiming, you know, to beat Ohio, you know. But we're aiming to, you know, win the national championship. That's the end goal for everybody. And that will come, beating Ohio will come with that. But, yeah, we haven't, obviously, you know, I can't speak for any other part of the team just like as

far as like looking too far ahead and um but i know we are taking it one game at a time uh one play at a time um with our newly developed core values that we created this year and you know they seem to be working um but yeah there hasn't been obviously like you said looking forward like i don't know i can't speak for coaches or other players and stuff like that like game planning as far as a punter is concerned you know i haven't i haven't game planned for ohio just because like i know i know the returner like it's it's their their return is probably going to be talented. Like, he goes to that school down that way. So, you know, my game plan is pretty much the same.

Just pretty good. And have you – so you are from Columbus area? Yeah, both my parents went to Ohio State. Oh, my gosh. I didn't know that part. So, how did you end up in Ann Arbor um so Drew Crispin was the punter uh at Ohio at the time uh he was one of my buddies and he was on scholarship um so he was like a year older and they weren't looking to offer a scholarship to any you know any younger

guys or really any of that like especially a guy who's younger than him um I've never really been a like die hard Ohio State fan like I was never growing up um my brother was um but I never really I always like to like oppose him like he liked the Browns I was like oh I like the Steelers you know like all that kind of stuff so um I was originally committed to University of Nevada and I was going to play both baseball and uh football and I was going to pump there and uh their coaching staff ended up getting let go after that season and um my dad kind of drug me to a couple more like kicking camps, like exposure camps. I was like, man, I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to go to these camps and ended up putting up really,

really good numbers for at these camps. And from that point, like forward, you know, big 10 schools started reaching out to me and talking to me. And I had an offer from like Illinois uh like Rutgers Navy Iowa a couple other like schools this way and uh you know Michigan called or I think Coach Harbaugh called like my dad or something like that and like told him that we had a scholarship available um and you know I was in like history class I was in like AP U.S. government my sister like text me congrats she's like yeah congrats I'm like getting an offer from Michigan I was like what are you talking about I was like

I don't have an offer from Michigan like what are you talking about I was like I was like they only offered me like a PWO or they only offered me like a walk-on spot like I don't know what you're talking about like this offer and then like my dad called me like a PWO or they only offered me like a walk on spot. Like, I don't know what you're talking about. Like this offer. And then like my dad called me like five minutes later, it was like, yeah, like coach called like, you have an offer to, you can go play at Michigan, which would be really cool. And I pretty much committed on the spot. Didn't even take a visit. I was like, yeah, I was like, ah, that's where I want to go. I was like, unbelievable school,

unbelievable situation. Like I'll be able to play and impact our team. And you know, it's only two and a half hours from my house. I made that drive today. So, you know, it was pretty good. Haven't talked to my parents in like six years. They disowned me since. I was going to say, what did your your brother say if he's a big ohio now he's always supportive of me uh just as an individual and he always makes the joke and like all all ohio people make the same joke and it's getting tiring and they're just like yeah we'd love to see you get out on the field and punt like we'll always support you punting because

that just means the team's getting the ball back right Right. It's like, oh, yeah, I haven't heard that one before. Like, that's a sick joke. It got to the point, like, I went to GameStop to, like, pick up a game or something like that. And it was like this, like, scrawny dude behind the counter was, like, chirping me for, like, wearing Michigan stuff. Oh, my God. Like, yeah, man, can't wait to see you punt.

I was like, okay. Like, what are we doing here? We need to get the heck out of Ohio. One day we're going to see a headline. It's like Michigan punter snaps and beats the crap out of GameStop employee. It's like, come on, man. I'm just trying to have fun. Like, I'm just trying to enjoy my time with my family back in Ohio.

Yeah. By the way, how was it back home? You know, I'm sure you got some family time, some of mom's cooking maybe. Oh, yeah. Was that nice? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I got to go home. I think my high school team beat up on a team.

Like, I think they won, like, 65 to nothing. Oh, my God. It wasn't the greatest game, but they have a really good kid on their team who's committed to Penn state. But yeah, we were watching the game and pretty much right on cue. My girlfriend was there too. She was like, yeah, which kid, which kid's going to Penn state? Like which kid's the D one kid. And like our quarterback made a toss and he like jumps up and won like odell beckham like one

hand and like it like falls on it then he ends up and like scores a touchdown i was like yeah that's the kid who's gonna play somewhere like that's that guy um but no we had fun um got to see my my grandparents which was nice uh my granddad's in the hospital which kind of stinks so i didn't get to see him he had covid and uh had like an infection he's kind of going through it right now but i think he's going to come out on the other side which is great um that's good yeah so i got to see my brother which was nice just had a new kid like 10 months ago or something like that so brand new uncle brad now yeah yep new uncle. So he looks just like me. We got the same haircut. So I can only tell he's a point two, right? Yeah. Yeah. Almost. Yeah.

So you said you were gonna, you were gonna play baseball too in Nevada. Did you try to talk to coach back at you at all about playing a little bit for Michigan? I didn't talk to coach backage at all, but I, the commitment I made to myself and to like my dad, I was like, look, if I end up being all American, it's like, I will go walk onto the baseball team. Like, I was like, but I don't know, like hindsight, like looking back on that, it's like, yeah, I think I've fallen in love with the sport of like football and like being a punter so I don't think

that would ever come to fruition like I wouldn't want to be you know a guy who's taking time away from like you know my main goal of you know I want to obviously help our team win big 10 national championship uh play for as long as I can in college and then eventually play in the NFL I feel like you know maybe walking on would probably take away from that yeah have you have you I don't know how this works or whatever but have you gotten any interest from the NFL or talk to anybody about playing at the next level yet yeah so I can't, I'm not sure what the compliance rules are with that, like who I can talk to and so my like my, I stay away from pretty much like everybody is like like I understand like right, you can talk to these. You can't like have an agent. You can't like talk to uh scouts um you're unable to do that but like you're able to hear through certain people like through the grapevine like you know what they talk about with you um what they talk about

with other guys and stuff like that um and i know when like scouts come they usually get the rundown on like all the older guys and the guys who are probably going to play. And I think I'm a part of that list, which is good. That's cool. So no, it's pretty cool. It's obviously something, if you told me, you know, like I thought I was going to play baseball in college up until like my senior year, really, I didn't start punting until like my sophomore, junior year. Wow. So I thought I was going to play baseball. So if you would have told me, like,

I was going to end up getting a shot at the nfl i would have been like yeah you're shot like i am going to play in the mlb like that's what's gonna happen that's crazy that's cool though that's cool um and so obviously we're pumped that you uh you ended up choosing michigan and we're able to get that offer um we'll we'll end it on this question what's your favorite thing about michigan um man that's a loaded question i like so i can break it up into a couple different different things. So I'll break it. I guess like the first thing, um, as far as like within our team, um, you know, I just, I'd probably say like the team chemistry this year and just like the

togetherness of our team and like some of my best friends I'm going to have for the rest of my life. And even like, you know, coach Harbaugh, um, just the commitment and the, uh, you know, the gratitude and, you know, the contagious positive attitude he always brings. Um, it was like, you know, one of the greatest things ever. Uh, I guess one of my like top moments, um, like with coach was even at like the Nebraska game. We were just like, I could see him like walking around. It was, it was tight situation. Like we were going to kick the game time field goal.

I think there was like a media timeout and I can see like coach walking around. He has like a, like kind of clenched like jaw, like, you know, a little bit like, all right, like it's time to go. And like I said, like the entire time I've and like i said like the entire time i've had this big like smile on my face just like man this is a lot of fun me and him lock eyes and i just hold the smile and then like he has this like serious face and then he just like breaks into a big smile and just like like yeah you can see like you can see like the relief just like ah like yeah this is why we want it you know know i mean rather than just being uh just like tense and like into it and just like

that that smile that we exchanged and then uh we just looked at each other for a second i was like yeah we got this coach we're gonna pull this one out and then all he said back is he just patted me on the back he said i know and then we went out kicked the tying field goal came down scored the day they fumbled and then kicked the game-winning field goal. It was like – it was one of, like, the coolest moments. So it was pretty cool. But, yeah, one of my, like, favorite things, you know, is obviously just, like, this team chemistry and buy-in

and all that kind of stuff. And then, yeah, I'd say outside of that is just the, yeah, I don't know. I don't think anything else can really compare to that now that I talk about it. That's pretty much it, yeah. I mean, it's a special place for sure. You know, we've heard a lot of people talk about, you know, what Ann Arbor is and what the University of Michigan is. And it's evident that this team feels that this is a special year, a special team, a special place. So it's very cool to hear those types of stories and continue it, you know, hopefully going forward through this

year. So give us, before we sign off, plug, you know, give us the rundown on where they can go, where the listeners can go to donate, and what they got to do here to help you out. Right. Yeah, so going back through it, there's a link in my Twitter bio, as well as my Instagram bio, uh, should be victors.us, uh, slash that's pin cancer deep, obviously all one word. Um, but yeah, you go to that website, um, you're able, there's a big, like donate now button. Um, and just like, for the record, like you don't have to commit to you know like yeah going broke like me and donating a bunch of money to a really good cause um you're able to donate just you know an amount that a time you know there's and there's also with that there is there also is no way to like commit to donating like over and over again, like there isn't a button for that.

Like, so you'll have to manually, you know, donate a certain amount for each punt, or you can just do, you know, like a one and done kind of thing. And, uh, below you're able to put your name and just like write a message and just say, you know, whatever you want to say, say your piece. But, uh, yeah, very fortunate to have the Rogo Cancer Center. They set up this website for me, which is huge. You know, I built my own PC, but it's pretty hard to build a website. I don't really know how to do that part yet. I haven't YouTubed that. One step at a time. Yeah, one step at a time. And then as far as finding the website, I'm sure they can find it on your Instagram and Twitter. So, right. So what's your, what's your username for those?

Yeah. So my Twitter is two underscores. So it's at underscore, underscore, and it's BR91. And then my Instagram is just two underscores. And then it's just Brad Robbins. Cool. Yep. So, all right. Head there.

And yeah, I see it on your Twitter right here. Victors.us slash pin cancer deep. So if you, if you can, if you have the resources, please help Brad out. You know, it's obviously a great cause to the robo cancer center and for his family friend, who's you know, affected by liver cancer currently and fighting that. So keep fighting the good fight. We appreciate you coming on, man. It's been awesome. It's been fun to watch you. You've been killing it yourself. Obviously the team has been killing it.

So I personally hope that your wallet goes dry this year yeah me too me too man i do too it'll be it'll be for a good cause so yeah i appreciate your guys time thanks for having me on uh it's an honor you know to be able to do something like this yeah for sure for sure um well maybe we'll have you on uh again towards the end of the year when this uh you know when this this dollar amount keeps going up and up and up so um we'll be excited for that for sure uh so go follow brad go uh you know give him some love on social media and then uh donate if you're if you're able to as well. And then as far as us, you can follow us at blue by 90 on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, at blue by 90 podcast on YouTube. And we thank you for listening.

Thank you for donating and all that. And with that, we say go blue. Go blue.