Blue By Ninety - FALL CAMP! | Michigan's BIGGEST position battles? 21st Century Michigan Football Mt. Rushmore

Episode Date: August 2, 2024

Justin and Tanner talk the start of fall camp, the best parts of fall, break down some key position battles for Michigan football, and try their best to come up with a Mount Rushmore for 21st century Michigan football.

All right. Welcome back to Blue by 90. I'm Justin, joined by Tanner today. And it is August. It's the calendar flipped and I can feel football here. I'm fucking pumped, dude. I'm pumped. I'm with you.

The thing that I always, and I mentioned this in our last show, but there are certain weather things and natural occurrences like cicadas, like jim harbaugh cicadas thing like i'm surprised i haven't heard that quote from him right but you hear the cicadas you get up the grass is a little wet you got a little got a little frost on the ground we'll do on the ground whatever and you're like oh you just feel it you just feel the energy in the air the students are going to come back here soon which they make ann arbor kind of go it's nice when you can go to like breakfast or lunch and not wait forever but i also like miss them almost like getting run over by me because they're not paying attention on state street so it's going to be good to have them back like the buzz is in the air when they're back and

so like that's when you kind of feel it when you go into ann arbor and the students are back and there's kids that like the kids are out on their porches playing beer, die, beer, pong, whatever it is at this point. Um, like it does feel different in Ann Arbor. And I love like, even as an adult, I'm living vicariously while I drive by and watch them. Cause it's like Wednesday at like 2 PM and they're just like beer dined it up and I'm like dude I've I would kill to be you oh 100% I always get my hair cut at coaching for right on State Street so whenever I go there I'll be like walking in like especially during August like welcome week right as the students are moving in also I once scheduled an appointment on move-in day unknowingly and it

was the worst experience of my life um but like i'll walk in and i'll just see there's a house across the street um and they're always out there with just like a home depot table playing beer pong and i just feel like i'm squidward in the meme looking at spongebob and patrick because i'm going to get my hair cut and then i'm going home to do nothing yeah you know so like yeah to your point living vicariously through them but at the same time you know we get after a little bit you know yeah we do a little washed uh but saturdays in the fall home game like we get after it uh but yeah you can definitely feel the the the weather shifting although it's still been super hot but you can kind of feel some of those things that give you the vibe that it's football season and i know a lot of high

schools are starting their two-a-days one of my best friends is a high school coach in Ohio, and they started today on the first. So you just kind of can tell, like, football's coming, and, you know, you're starting to have those conversations with the people that you talk about, you know, whether it's Michigan football or whatever. Like, you have those conversations. Like, my uncle and I, that's how we kind of stay in touch. And yesterday the phone call was, like,

who do you think the quarterback's going to be? Talking about the team, the schedule. Like, you just start to have those conversations more and more and you just know the season is literally right around the corner i mean michigan plays a game this month yeah that is well that's that part's kind of weird too that it's august 31st i know in reality it's like a day earlier than it normally is or whatever and i think it might have been august 31st last year too i don't know i can't remember how do calendars work i think it would have been september 1st yeah that

does sound right i maybe i don't know hard enough to fully know i'm not super in tune with like when labor day falls every year because that's when it's gonna be you know so um what i do know though is uh we had a meeting with North Peak Brewing, so I poured myself a Hale IPA for this podcast, which talk about feeling like football's back. Drinking a Hale IPA and talking Michigan football, that's football's back. I think when it comes to fall, the beverages you drink, you just feel a certain way when it's a little cooler

yeah you may reach for the hail ipa hail ipa is great 365 days a year correct but there are a little better yeah and like i'm a big cider guy so like um blake's hard cider they come out with their caramel apple they have an apple pie one pie one. You start to get those seasonal drinks. You get the pumpkin latte over at Starbucks. I don't really partake in that. That's more of a thing for my wife. But I know that that means football's coming. And it pairs really well with the fall. Like I mentioned on another podcast, I love hoodie weather. I love flannel weather. Let me wear some jeans. I'm not sweating my ass off like this is the best time of the year not only just for football it's a big part of it but like all the things that come with fall are like my favorite things well it it is um but i hope you don't take

offense this it's big guy season it is paul is perfect big guy season 100 where you you know everyone's been all summer long it's been right, you got to take your shirt off. Got to get on the boat. I'm worried about like, all right, did I do enough pushups this morning? Because I definitely have not been working on the abs. So that is kind of like, as I've gotten older, instead of trying to like have my abs, I realized like it's really hard. I eat like shit.

I drink all the time. Like I'm not gonna have abs so i've just been working on getting my chest bigger to make up for it so it's like okay his chest is at least proportional enough instead so that's that's been just a little tidbit for you for anybody out there as you're getting older this is not just a michigan football podcast this is a all-encompassing and And, you know, sometimes we talk about whatever the hell is going on. We're educating. We're educating out there.

But then you flip the calendar to fall, and it's like, all right, now I can fill out that gut a little bit if I need to. You know, you can put the hoodie over top. The tough thing is those early games. It's hot. It's hotter than hell are you kidding me that's that's usually what happens is i think in my head it's fall because it's september right and then you get in the stadium for that noon texas kick and it's gonna be boiling i i'm not sure if

my body is ready for that yeah man um I can tell you the last few like home openers and then maybe the second third home game of the year just like I'm just tan like I get burnt and then I tan really well so um yeah because it's like 90 degrees um so you know thinking about the weather with fall camp like it's a really good way for these guys to you know go and get conditioned I did read though Justin, I'd love to know your thoughts on this, but I read that Michigan under Shroem Moore is kind of adjusting its fall camp schedule to being a little bit earlier in the morning to avoid some of the peak temperatures in the mid to late afternoons.

So hopefully it's a way to kind of keep guys fresh, but then also are they going to be ready for that that 90 degree kickoff against Texas on September 7th? Yeah, I mean, I do. I believe they are practicing more in the morning. I don't know, like exactly what their camp schedule is, to be honest with you. But my gut says that they're going to be ready for it no matter what. I mean, I think they're going to be they're going to be ready for it no matter what. I think so too. I think they're going to be fine. I think it's more of an us issue because I look at pictures of like Will Johnson and Colston Loveland and Alex Orgy and on and on.

They do have abs. So like 8 to 10 to 12 sometimes it does look like that. Well, I'm really excited to kind of see how Justin Tress does taking over as a strength and conditioning coach for Michigan after Justin Herbert left. I think that was a big part of Michigan's run over the last three years was was Herb coming in and really getting this team to kind of look the part. I don't know if you've ever had this thought, but pre 2021, I just remember watching other teams or even watching Michigan games where I'm like, man, Michigan just doesn't stack up. That's not the case anymore.

This team, when I watched, like, I don't know if you've been watching the Michigan made videos. Those are incredible that the athletic department puts out. Like they've crushed it this year on those. I'll watch those when I'm doing cardio at the gym or whatever. And we're just, I mean, we're just fitness guys, honestly. Yeah time. Yeah, I'm trying to get back in it. People think that podcasting is easy, but we're just in the gym grinding. 100%, yeah.

But these guys look ready, to your point. I think they had a great summer program. I know they had a really good spring too. Well, didn't Herb come back and say, that was something I saw. Herb came back and said there have been no, he like watched a workout and he said nothing's changed. There hasn't been any like step back or anything under trust, which is awesome to hear.

Which also, if there's any guy that I would choose that I know is not going to bullshit someone, it's going to be a strength and conditioning coach. So you know that that's got to be pretty spot on. He's not just saying that just to say that. He's not here to make your feelings, you know, make you feel good, right? Like he's a bit of a psycho. I think every strength and conditioning coach is, and that's a good thing.

So it sounds like Tress is also, you know, a little bit of that in him as well. So I'm excited to see those guys and, you know, what the work they've put in, you know, the little bit of that in them as well. So I'm excited to see those guys and, you know, what the work they've put in, you know, the moment the championship game ends. I mean, within a week or two, they're back grinding. Like they're back. Crazy.

They're back at Al Glick. They're in the weight room. And so, you know, they're working towards, you know, another national championship. That's kind of the goal now. That's the expectation, which is great to say as a Michigan fan. I love saying that, by the way. Absolutely.

The expectation is a national championship. I love that because for a long time it was like, oh, your standards are 9-3, blah, blah, blah. Fuck off. Our standard is a natty now. And I'll say that too. We keep just going at our boys down in Nebraska, but the standard is not being complacent.

No, I do think the boys, so as you said, the boys are reported to camp on Wednesday, so they're a couple days into fall camp at this point. I do think that the vibe I'm getting from the guys, from the program right now, is something that I really, really love. And that is, even though you're the defending national champions, you're, they're going into camp. Like we're underdogs. Nobody believes in us. And I love that from the outside media perspective, even probably some people in Ann Arbor, right. That are like, yeah, you know, we lost Jim,

we lost JJ, we lost Blake, lost all these guys. We can't do it again. We can't go back to back and you know, blah, blah, blah. I think a lot of these guys are going into camp right now, taking that to heart. And so I do think, you know, one thing I want to talk about was like the culture of Sharon Moore that he's, he's instilling right now. There wasn't really a step back in culture either. So there wasn't a step back in that strength and conditioning, but they're also, you know, I would have thought with everything that they lost, I would have thought, all right, are there going to be some locker room issues? Are there going to be some issues with, like, trust in the coaching staff? But the reality is it actually sounds and seems like Sharon has set the standard

for the culture side as well. And I think the guys have completely bought in. And my gut tells me that that's what this camp is about right now. Yeah, I think with Sharon, you know, the continuity is a big part of it, right? Because he's been here since 2017. So he has seen kind of the ups and downs that Michigan experienced before 2021 and then the high that the program has been on the last three years, you know, capping it off with the national championship last year.

So I think with Sharon, the other thing, national champ, 15 and 0. I wanted the 14 to go 15 and 0. Yeah. But now they have a chance to go 16 and 0 with the expanded playoff. That's true. That's true. But so with Sharon, too, like just listening to him, watching the interactions with players,

it's very clear that he is a player's coach. And so I think that's extremely important to note because the reason the culture has been so strong is that it's been player driven right you start in 2021 with with guys like aiden hutchinson um you know i mean you think about uh even blake is a younger guy you know kade mcnamara too you know we'll give him his flowers um there's so many guys that you can point to um it's kind of a turning point for the culture that said i don't want to be a part of michigan football like it was in 2020 right so you have guys that take it upon themselves to really help strengthen and lead the team as a player-led program versus a coach-led program now it's not to say that you can't do either but i think when you have a player led program, there's more accountability amongst

players, making sure that you are going as hard as you can every single rep and that when you criticize somebody, it's not you know, it's not taken any other way other than Hey, man, we need to get better. We need to go 100% every single rep, no matter what drill we're doing, no matter what lift we're a part of, no matter what meeting we're in, we what lift we're a part of no matter what meeting we're in we need to give it our all so i think that's going to be something that you look at with a lot of the guys that have been here for the last three or four years that are going to continue to make sure that that culture remains in place and then the hope is is that the freshmen that are coming in see it and it just continues and continues it's a cycle every single year that when those freshmen come in that they kind of get introduced and are taught how it goes and how it, how the standard is at Michigan. And so

by the time that they're seniors, they're doing the same thing to the incoming freshmen when they're older. Well, I think that that you, you've seen that, right? We we've talked about this where Aiden was the person for that as a senior while JJ and Donovan came in. Right. And, and they were, that was the bookend there. And I think that is continuing on. And I think that where you might not have as vocal guys as a JJ, JJ is not like super vocal, but he, you know, as a, as an Aiden Hutchinson, but I think what you have in this team is these guys work their asses off in the locker room. And so when you are sorry in the weight room. And so when you as a freshman are coming into the fold, you see what Kenneth Grant is doing in the weight room.

And I imagine it's pretty damn impressive. Right. But you see Colson Loveland, Will Johnson getting after it and how they go about their business. And they have, you know, Donovan Edwards himself has matured so much over the past four years, and I'm really proud of him for it. And I think that that is what these young kids are seeing now is, you know, a lot of these guys aren't as vocal. We know Dono, Dono's got a hell of a personality. He's definitely loud and likes to be around there. But I think that a Mason Graham, a Kenneth Grant, those guys are not super vocal, but they're going to go out there,

no bullshit, get their shit done, right? And they're not messing around when they need to get after it. And so I think that that's what you're going to see from the leadership of this group that we have right now is how hard they're working. And so I think that, you know, to be honest, I think this fall camp is incredibly important for the next five years under Jerome Moore. How do they set the standard for what's going on? How do they, you know, how do they go about their stuff? How do they on? How do they go about their stuff?

How do they study? How do they get in the meetings? How do they go out and practice? It really is going to set the standard because if there is any lapse in any of that, then these young guys are going to think like, all right, I can slack off a little bit. But I think that what I love is there are a lot of position battles going on right now where I'm willing to bet that guys are going crazy hard to win those position battles and so I think that it's it's you know my my what I think this camp is is it's like a lot of guys

going balls to the wall to get ready for this season come August 31st and absolutely man I mean obviously there's the big one at quarterback um that we can talk about there's some others though I mean center you've got two fourth year guys Greg Crippen Raheem Anderson that are that you know been kind of the next up and then Michigan goes the last two years and gets an elite center in the portal but those are two guys that have been kind of the next up. And then Michigan goes the last two years and gets an elite center in the portal. But those are two guys that have bid their time and probably could have started the last two years, either one of them. But obviously you go and get Olu.

I mean, I was just thinking, by the way, off topic, I was just thinking, I was like, man, if there's one guy I really wish could have got a national championship, there's a lot of them, but a guy would have been Olu because what he did to that center position for Michigan. But so you got two guys there that are, you know, big time recruits coming out of high school have been in the program for four years have gone through, you know, this will be each of their fourth fall camps. And, you know,

this is that kind of that moment when those guys are able to kind of take the reins. So you've got a big, big position battle there. What are the other ones that you're kind of looking at Justin? Those are kind of the two that really come to mind. I mean, I know quarterback's easy, but what do you think? Yeah, QB, I mean, everyone's talking about quarterback right now. I mean, we've been talking about the quarterback battle for eight months now, right?

But, you know, one that I'm looking for, looking at on the offensive side of the football, is the wide receiver position. I think it is a position where you're going to have a lot of new guys. You know, most of the production from the last two years is gone in Roman Wilson and Cornelius Johnson. And so what I'm looking at is where are some young guys going to step up? You know, you have Tyler Morris who obviously came on in the Rose Bowl, but the reality is of Tyler Morris is he wasn't a huge part of that offense until that Rose Bowl play, right?

And so now with him possibly being the guy, the go-to guy, how is that wide receiver position, how's he going to live up to that? And then you've got the young gun in Fred Moore that's coming up that didn't get much play last year, but a lot of people are talking about him. Our guy, Peyton O'Leary, love Peyton, talk about biding their time. Last year at this time, he was battling for time, even with the crowded wide receiver room last year, got some injuries during fall camp, which set him back pretty much for the full year. And so he's healthy right now. And I'm looking for Peyton O'Leary to make a stamp on that wide

receiver position. And then two transfers that are coming in, one that has been in Ann Arbor before, Amarion Walker. Let's see what Amarion can do. We really have never seen him as a wide receiver go crazy. You know, when he was actually getting some run, he was at the defensive back position as a sophomore here. Well, he's back now. He's a senior. He's wearing the number one.

What is Amarion Walker going to be like is a big question mark for me. And then CJ Charleston. You know, I don't know a ton about CJ, but I think that he's going to add depth. He's quick. I know that. He's a red shirt senior. So I think that he brings experience to that room too, which is a room that really, really needs some experience. So looking at, obviously, I haven't even mentioned Samaj. Samaj at the slot. Amarion Stewart as a freshman. Kendrick Bell coming in.

Yeah, we'll see how those guys all stack up. I think, you know, with Jerome Moore's offense being so dynamic all the time, you need a lot of different guys. And so I think I could see them going into these first few games saying, hey, we're going to roll with whoever's working, whoever's making plays here. And at the wide receiver position, it's going to be like, you make a play, you stay in.

Yeah, man, I mean, you know, I think Samaj is definitely going to be the guy that i'm most intrigued to see i mean you know the one thing that i was kind of uh had the thought of is i really hope that he's just hitting the jugs machine man because you think about uh electric with the ball in his hands but you got to catch the ball first and you know he had that big drop in the rose bowl i mean it all you know doesn't matter right michigan did win the national championship as we pointed out earlier um but like, you know, to get in the ball, make sure he catches the ball, make sure you, you, you watch the ball into your hands and then go. Cause he is absolutely electric. I would assume

too, we could probably talk about, you know, real quick later on, but I would assume that he's going to be the returner as well. I know, I know Morris had some of those duties last year along with Jake Thaw, but I think Samaj is such an electric athlete that he's got to be the guy. But then again, he had to drop on the muff punt against Alabama after Michigan had forced a big punt early in that game. So, yeah, Samaj, I'm very excited to see this year. I think freshman to sophomore typically when you see that big leap. But, yeah, Tyler Morris, really excited to see his progression

as a guy who's another year older in the program. You think about Freddie Moore. I mean, the thing about Freddie is you could just see he's, I don't know if he's got the highest top end speed, but man, he's quick to cut. He's quick to decelerate. He's got great change of direction. I think he's going to be a guy. He made some plays in the spring game. He got some run against ECU early in the season as well in the first game of last season. So excited to see him. And then, yeah, some of the, you know, I guess, quote unquote, newcomers, Amarion, we know he's a freak. You know, I don't know how much we've all seen of him at receiver because he spent the last year at corner, but coming back to Ann Arbor, you know, freak athlete, really excited to kind of see him.

Again, I'm with you. I don't have a ton on C.J. Charleston. But then I am excited to, you know, Omarion Stewart, big-time recruit coming in. I think that he's going to be – Omarion, Omarion. Like, we got to – I don't know. How are we going to – I mean, they're not making it easy on us. No.

So they're not making it easy. P- No. So they're not making it easy. P-Dawg, you know, love to see Peyton get some run. I mean, he played in the Big Ten Championship last year at receiver. He had a touchdown catch against Nebraska. So, you know, and then you've got Ronnie Bell's little brother, Kendrick Bell, you know, redshirt freshman. I don't know if he's going to be in there. But, yeah, there's a lot of uncertainty,

but also some guys that have made some plays in their career and you hope that they can be more consistent with an expanded role in the offense in 24. Yeah, I definitely agree. One other position that I'm looking for, which doesn't get a ton of talk out there, but it's the cornerback position. The reason it doesn't get a lot of talk is because we have the best quarterback in the nation. And a lot of people like to talk about Will Johnson and there's no doubt that they should. But who's going to be on the other side

of Will Johnson? And I think, you know, we had obviously a phenomenal secondary last year. And there still are some question marks with Rod Moore out too. So you're asking the question there. But I think that there is a very good chance that the redshirt freshman Jair Hill comes in and takes that other side for the corner position next to Will Johnson. And so I wouldn't be shocked at that. I think you also saw Michigan bring in a bunch of secondary transfer kids. And so you've got Amir Hall that is coming in as a redshirt senior. He's a transfer that could add some depth and add some experience. He was an All-American in the FCS level too at Albany. Right.

He was first-team All-Conference, second-team All-American. And as you see when you look at the NFL, like FCS guys can ball. Like there's no – you know what I mean? Like there's no reason that he can't come in and play well. I think that's going to be a good battle. And I think that even though everyone is going to say, like, oh, that – everyone's going to point to that as a weak spot of our defense, right, just because it's somebody new.

But I actually think between the two of those guys, you're going to have some pretty damn good talent over there on the other side of Will Johnson. Yeah, and you've got Ricky Johnson, who's a transfer, coming in from UNLV as well, who will be a fifth-year guy. So I think there's going to be a lot of competition at that second corner spot. I'm also curious on the nickel corner, you know, Mike Samuelsson's gone, as much as it hurts to say he is in the NFL.

I don't like to really think about that, to be honest. I, you know, what a guy. What a guy. But he's with the Washington Commanders. And, well, as you know, he just, you know, I can't even encompass it in words, he means so much. No, you can't. It's hard to put it into words.

It really is, man. No, but I think i to your point at the nickel spot does jayden mcborough step in there he definitely got some play last year while some other guys were injured um so he's like he's definitely the most tenured of um michigan's roster uh to step into there but what i do know too, is that Michigan really likes Zeke Berry as him coming in. So there's a chance. I wouldn't be shocked. So be on the lookout for Jair Hill and Zeke Berry to be both in there as underclassmen in that secondary.

Just don't be shocked when that possibly happens. Yeah, I was going to bring up Zeke as well. You know, every time he comes on the field, he just flashes. I mean, even his first game against Colorado State, I was actually right where it happened. He just, just the closing speed on a play that he made. I mean, it's Colorado State, right? And it's the, you know, late in the second half, Michigan's blowing him out. But, you know, he just pops athletically. Watching his high school film, I always was extremely impressed with, you know, just the speed that he plays with.

So he's definitely a guy that I think will get some run. I think Jade McBurroughs will as well. You know, he's a guy that, you know, had some injuries, but was really talked about, especially in 2021, leading into the Georgia game. And I think he tore something in those bowl practices, but was getting a lot of hype. And so he's kind of had to work his way back. But I think that he's a guy, I mean, he had an interception against Michigan State last year. So you can really kind of rotate these guys. There's a couple other transfers in the secondary that'll kind of shuffle in at the safety position. I think the thing that, I mean, it sucks regardless. It always sucks. But especially when your guy who would have maybe been your defensive captain goes out with an injury in

spring practice the thing that sucks really bad about that is that i think he could have played nickel and so michigan would be able to have even more creativity with their defense if you slide rod more down to the nickel corner spot um and then some of these guys that came in could kind of replace him as safety so um you know who knows i mean it seems like people are kind of talking about a potential for him to maybe work through that injury towards the end of the year. If there's a game that he wants to play and you know it's at the shoe. So I don't know.

We're not going to speculate on that. But that, I mean, man, if Michigan had Rod, this defense would be even scarier. But as it is, it still feels like a top five defense in the country. So you have Wes Walker coming in from Tennessee as well, who's a safety. So I don't know what those position battles look like because I think McCarty is so entrenched in the country. So you have Wes Walker coming in from Tennessee as well, who's a safety. So I don't know what those position battles look like, because I think Macari is so entrenched in his position. And I'll be honest, I haven't looked at like, where does this guy play? Where did he play at Tennessee? I haven't really kind of looked at that. But there's a lot of

talent back there. Obviously, they got Mangum from Michigan State as well at safety. That's going to be a guy that I think is a longer-term play as well. But he's going to get some run, too. So, you know, a position that kind of – you know, at corner, you're still a little unsure just because Jair Hill hasn't played. For that second corner, obviously, you know what you're getting with the best player in the country. But, you know, they did a great job in the – you know, after the spring portal.

Yeah, the spring portal, too, like to go and get guys that are going to be depth pieces. They really kind of loaded up the back end of the defense. That was a little bit of a concern. Obviously, you have Will Johnson. You got Makari. Even before Rod's injury, that was kind of it. You were unsure of these guys, but you went and got some guys that have played big-time ball. I'm honestly really excited about Amir Hall.

I can't wait to see how he kind of translates. I mean, he's an All-American. FCS guys go to the NFL all the time. FCS guys can play. All the time. I don't know. I'm like a big playoff. I watch a lot of FCS ball because there's nothing else on.

I love Montana State. You had to be like, I'm a big fcs guy and then you had to stop yourself because you knew people would be like dude who's big who's a big fcs guy no you almost like outnerded yourself yeah no but i like i love watching uh the playoffs man and that's legit football like that's really really good football and the same thing too like just to add on to that point like you can find guys that can play in the NFL at the division two level, maybe guys in the NAI level and even in the D3 level. So like you can go and find legit football players at every level of college football. So I'm really excited about Amir Hall, man. Like I think he could be a big piece for us.

And we saw it last year with Josh Wallace, right? Like they're not the same player, you know, different size, different height, but like coming in from UMass, which let's be honest is basically FCS to come in. And he was huge. I mean, think of all the plays. Am I wrong? No, you're not wrong. Okay. But think of all the plays that Josh Wallace made last year. And especially he was gigantic for Michigan. So I actually, to your point, I truly believe that those transfers that they're bringing in on the secondary will be the difference for Michigan on the defensive side of the ball. There will be times when we are relying on Amir Hall and down the roster there. I think that there will be times that it's like,

all right, we've got Wesley Walker, Amir Hall, Jaden Mangum, and Ricky Johnson. And it's like, all right, we have them in the rotation here. And I think we're going to point to a time midway through the year where it's like, all right, we're freaking really glad that we got those guys. So I'm pretty excited about that. Is there anywhere else on the field that you are looking at for for depth chart battles i know you talked about the center position anything else on the old line um i mean

it feels like pre is gonna start miles hinton's gonna start right so you have your left side of the line um then you got gol how do you right guard um he's a guy that played really well when trevor keane was out and then didn't play much last year. Let me tell you something. First of all, I love Gio. Gio, I do agree with you. I think he's going to start. But I believe as the new rosters came out on mgoblue.com, Nathan Afobee was one of the guys that gained the most weight.

Which is only good only good but i yes that is good for an alignment when guys lose weight it's like oh is he faster is he quicker off the line right but then when he adds weight it's like oh he's stronger he's beefy you know you you do it's it's great for if they're on our side then it's great if an ohio state guy is gaining 25 pounds i'm like oh what so he didn't do anything he's just coming in overweight um but but yeah i i'm just i i wanted to throw that out there because i did see that uh nathan afobi he's only a redshirt freshman so he's still young and i expect yo al hadid to'm just saying, you know, maybe he makes a push there. That's also when your redshirt freshman is putting on 22 pounds,

that's a good thing. That's a really, really good thing for the future. Yeah, and I mean, you know, we joke about it, but like most of the time it is good weight gains, right? Because they're in a controlled environment. Like they're not, you know, they're always checking in on their weight. They're working with the nutritionist. Every single day. Abigail O'Connor, right? She does a great job

from what I've... She's awesome. Also, she had a great tweet the other day at the barbecue at the Big House because they... In the past at the barbecue at the Big House, we got roasted for having hot dogs and chicken tenders right

it was it was not an unbelievable spread this year they literally did a pig roast she had a whole pig they had barbecue they had all they had all of it she put out a tweet of the plate and said roast me now yeah i saw that with double entendre double entendre no great entendre. Roasted pig. No, great tweet. Yeah. My thing, though, is always with that is, like, first of all, who cares? But second of all, like, I'm sure they have, like, multiple selections. And high school kids gravitate towards the chicken tenders and hot dogs. I like chicken tenders. Yeah, what's the problem?

I don't know that there's a problem. I love chicken tenders and mac and cheese. So I agree with you that 100% the, the, like when they were roasting Michigan for the spread, it was also like Ohio state fans that are just chronically online and don't have anything better to do. And honestly, at the time didn't have anything better to talk about.

Cause we had just kept beating them. Yeah. They're probably the same ones that are like, Oh bet you're you joined twitter in 2021 as if that's like i see that so much by the way like why why is that the new thing like could somebody not have gotten a twitter until like well you're not allowed to be a fan without a twitter i wasn't aware of that stand that um and then i asked somebody today i was like who cares like what is what does this even mean and they were like you obviously care and then it was the sharon crying gift and i was like all right this person's you know um well we talked

about that one too where the sharon crying gift is a literal compliment because it was after one of the most pivotal moments of our entire season that we won and led to a national championship but yeah well you know um sure more has a 100 win rate in the game so um right tackle andrew gentry i'm so excited about him like he's he's a 23 year old redshirt sophomore was committed to virginia um went on his two-year mission. And he was a top 100 recruit, like big time recruit. Like a lot of us were disappointed that he chose Virginia because, you know, Bronco Mendenhall was at BYU, right?

So, you know, there's a lot of connections there. And Bronco Mendenhall retired. And so he just finds out during the middle of his mission, and they allowed him to contact, you know, for Michigan to call him. And he's like, yeah, I'm coming to Ann Arbor. So he's been here three years now, coming on his third year. Those missions, they're not really able to work out the way you need to to stay in shape. So probably a lot of rebuilding going on with his physique.

But, man, you watch his high school film, just nasty, mean streak, just pancaking dudes. He's 6'8", 330. He's gigantic. I am so excited for him. Even Preeb are so big. Like, I am just so excited for him. And actually, you want to know who's even bigger than them is Miles.

Miles is probably the biggest player on the team. KG. KG. KG is pretty fucking huge, too. But, yeah, I mean, honestly, though, like, I though, there will be some O-line battles, I'm sure. I mean, you've got some guys like Jeff Percy. He started against Rutgers a couple years ago when Ryan Hayes was hurt, I think. You've got some older guys. I mean, Evan Link is a redshirt

freshman. He's a guy that was a big-time recruit. Like, big time, big time. So he may be the left tackle next year um but then you've also got younger guys like andrew sprague who was a big time uh recruit uh blake frazier like there's so much talent in the o-line room like it's so nice to talk about it in this way versus like 2015 when you're like yeah even later, I know we were talking about the O-line, but, like, the D-line when it's like Ben Mason's our nose guard. Those are some dark times in our life. Well, so that's a good segue, though, Justin, because obviously Kenneth Grant, Mason Graham,

and then you've got Ray Sean Benny who kind of slides, you know, a couple different spots. But I'm really curious. You know, Michigan likes to rotate, and I don't know if Wink Martindale is going to want to do that as much as they have. But Michigan even, the whole Harbaugh era really liked to rotate D-line and keep them fresh, right? So a guy like Mason Graham can come through and get a four-yard tackle for loss in overtime

against Bama, right? So I'm really curious. Trey Pierce is a guy that I've been big on since he committed. He's kind of more of an interior guy. I'm really curious if I want to or it might be E.K. I don't know. Is it E.K.? I don't even know, to be honest. He was a guy that he was a guy that committed right before 2021. So this is his redshirt junior year. And we were all just like, oh, my gosh, like a defensive tackle size, defensive tackle.

He hasn't played a lot. So I'm curious what the development has looked like there. I believe Michigan flipped him from Colorado. There's my recruiting mind working. But, yeah, there's some other position battles too. Like who's going to be the – Yeah, Brooks. He's a redshirt freshman.

So I wonder if some of these guys are like a year away you know just need another year in the oven um but like at the edge position i'm really curious like we've heard a lot about keshawn bennett at times and it's always like he's a year away he's a year away well is this the year and then tj guy's been getting hyped up by a lot of his teammates as well so like who's like tj i i think tj is gonna have have a pretty big breakout year I wouldn't be shocked at Eno Eta either well he beefed up I think he's going to slide to the Chris Jenkins role so he's going to be like a 5 tech

because even when he came in he was like 280 and I always thought typically you can kind of tell how big a kid is they're just going to put on weight from the strength and conditioning and the nutritional program. Then they get to college. Like he's going to be a guy that slides in, but you know, if he can keep that quickness that he showed in his high school film,

like he's going to be a guy in the future. And then like linebacker, you know, obviously Jay Sean Barham coming in from Maryland. And then Ernest Hausman in his second year after transferring from Nebraska, like those are going to kind of be the two main linebackers. But then Jimmy Rolder is back, hopefully healthy. He had some injuries last year, but I liked a lot what I saw from him his freshman year.

You've got Jaden Hood, who's been in the program a little bit longer. You've got Jason Hewlett. Christian Boivon. Wait, how do you say it again? Boivon. Very fitting with the Paris Olympics right now.

But, yeah, there's a lot. I mean, you know, we're nerds, so I look at, like, the depth chart and stuff, and there's a lot of guys that I'm really excited for. Like, I think about the third tight end, too. Like, I don't know how Michigan sometimes will go 13 personnel. So, like, obviously it's going to be Colson, most likely going to be Marlon Klein, and then is it going to be Zach Marshall, Deacon Tonelli?

Is Chris Moore going to get in there? What does it look like? I like Zach Marshall. I think he's up and coming. He needs to probably put on some more weight and get a little bigger. He's good in NCAA. Great in NCAA. I think Marlon Klein, I have been told by multiple people,

including Colston Loveland, Marlon Klein is the best athlete told by multiple people, including Colston Loveland, Marlon Klein is the best athlete on the team. I am excited. Freak athlete. I think he's a great athlete. He's going to be a great tight end too. So expect everyone. I don't know about everyone. That was probably a bad choice of words there.

But a lot of people I'm assuming were like okay barner's gone now who do we go to because i think barner also very slept on a very good title of aj barner his ridiculous there are 10 teams plus in the big 10 that would take aj barner's tight end one right now i'll tell you that um but i don't think there's going to be that big of a drop-off. I think Marlon Klein is going to have a pretty damn good year. I'm pretty excited for him to finally have his chance. So I'm pretty excited. All right.

We want to move on to a different topic here? Yeah, I think we covered a lot of that. And I'm sure as more intel comes out that we'll we'll discuss that as you know we get uh sound bites from the coaches that's how you can kind of tell like hey who's ready now versus who's ready a year from now like if you listen to those pressers and like kind of like understand what those coaches are saying you can kind of get an idea of like what they're actually saying versus the pitch speed. You want to know what my favorite thing was of Jim Harbaugh, though? Because he, you know, it like – It's Harbaugh, everybody.

Well, yes, it would physically hurt him to like give away information at all. And so he'd get – somebody would ask him like, so who's, you know, who's really showing out? And he'd literally just name the entire roster. He'd go – and it wouldn't even be in like a smooth way. And I'd honestly be very impressed at his ability to just be like, rattle off 20 names just off the top of his head. And that was,

that was one of my favorite, favorite hardball isms for sure. Which again, I'm very excited. Like I think Sharon's super well-spoken. He's done really, really well for being somewhat thrown into the position that he's in. But it'll be interesting to see what Sharon gives in terms of information.

As you know, I also saw. Okay. So for Jim Harbaugh, Justin Herbert went down with a plantar fasciitis uh um injury right yeah um which is tough for for the chargers for sure um but i the chargers tweeted out the injury and i was i'm just thinking like somebody had to have the conversation with jim to be like so coach we have to like tell the world that this happens we'll actually put it out and he's like why the fuck would we put that out there like what why would we ever do that and like him probably learning because he's been out of the nfl for quite some time him learning like the new

protocol that you have to just like put out injuries like that like it's very funny to me because obviously we know that that that was hurt it hurt him to do well how many times would you see when the big 10 incorporated their injury report um like two hours before kickoff like how many times did you just see like 20 guys on there so many guys anybody freak out anybody who had a hangnail was putting on, put it on there just to throw people off. Yep. Oh, so good. All right.

Um, this is something that I, it actually started from a conversation I had on the golf course with a couple of guys, uh, a few weeks ago. And I wanted to bring it to the podcast here because it's a good conversation.

It's a good conversation. Um, tough, tough conversation. And so I think I want to go through our Michigan football Mount Rushmore. Now we're going to start, I believe, where do you want to start? Do you want to start at the turn of the century or do you want to start at like in 1980? Because I think I don't want to go all the way back we talked about this you know i don't know tom harman um i'm sure he's on the mount rushmore um great player iconic 98 did a lot of things got the standing ovation at the shoe as you said um i i i'm gonna i'm gonna

make it more modern than that so So can we start at 1980? I do like the idea of doing the 21st century, but I'll defer to you on this one. All right, all right, 21st century. There we go. Well, that's what we're doing. Dude, it's your thing. It's your thing, dude. Hey, I gave you my opinion and said you could make the decision,

and that's the decision you made. This is going to be hard. It is going to be hard. All right i i think we gotta it's we'll go snake draft style but you can still choose like whoever you want you know what i mean we'll just go back and forth okay um all right what who who's your first pick who's like your no-brainer is going on there uh blake horn that's so easy it is easy i i think it's easy um i mean he is absolutely like he he's the he's the biggest piece to that uh that national championship run so i definitely agree with you um all right so i'm i'm also gonna go blake horham so blake horham's on mine as well okay are they just gonna be the same because like i don't know maybe i am

wrong like 2000 like so you have like 2000 to 2007 and then you just have a bunch of dog shit and then you have 2015 until now yeah so you're basically actually like what you're like 16 years of football 17 years um i think the 1980 thing makes it a little bit harder um but you are like you're we'll keep going let's keep going let's keep going we'll see how this goes okay i think there's you know what i'll say this too i think there's gonna be some guys that could be on this list after this year that another year wow okay i like that i mean there's two top five picks on this team so there to be like – so 2000. I'm going to throw it back a little bit, and I'm going to say Braylon Edwards. Okay.

I mean, you have to. His three years as – his sophomore, junior, senior years were all ridiculous. That is a fact. He was an absolute god when he was here. In 2003 against Ohio State, he had a huge game to win that game. And in 2004, we know what happened at Braylon Fest. I mean, you know, he was – that was also kind of my coming into football. I agree.

That was – the Braylonwards was me becoming a michigan fan yeah i was 12 years old and that was like i'd always been a michigan fan but that was when i was like i was yelling at my dad like we have to be in front of a tv on saturdays yeah i was so in oh three i was eight and that was the first, like, football season that I, like, remember. Like, I actually was like, oh, I remember these games, and I remember Michigan kicking the shit out of Notre Dame at the big house. And I always remember, I lived in Indiana at the time, and I remember one of the local newspapers on the front page said,

big flop at the big house, and it was Michigan 38, Notre Dame nothing. So that was always one of my fondest memories. But yeah, that, I mean, Braylon was absolutely ridiculous and I think you got to put him on there. So, gosh, I don't. This is hard. All right. It is hard because, okay, then also from that same era-ish,

do you need to put Mike Hart on there? He's the all-time leading rusher. Did you forget about Mike Hart? No, I didn't forget about Mike Hart. But my thing is that Braylon Edwards beat Ohio State. I know. That's tough to say. I love Mike Hart, but, like, that matters.

So this is where when we got into it, it's like, okay, where do you rank a national championship plus beating Ohio State, but then Mike Hart, all-time leading rusher, right? Obviously, 4-0 versus Michigan State, that still holds some stuff, right? Like, I don't know. I mean, I'm just saying. I mean, I know, but Mike Hart was on the 0-4 team as a true freshman, right? So he does have a Big Ten championship, but Braylon Edwards has two.

So, like, I don't know. And there's going to be some tough conversations with this. This may be more difficult than i had imagined um but i so all right so um i agree so my i don't know if my card's on mine i was just throwing it out there okay okay so right now i have blake quorum my next pick is going to be aiden hutchinson okay is that can we Can we agree on that one? 100%. Okay. He is like the key figure in the turnaround. Right.

He literally is it. And with my third pick, I'm going to pick Aiden Hutchinson. Okay. Okay. I mean, he's second in the Heisman. If he picks that ball off against Ohio State, remember when he was like a fingertip away? If he picks it off, that's his Heisman moment. Or if Bryce Young

loses against Auburn, he might have won the Heisman. Literally. You have the MSU sack that is in the end zone. Should have been a fumble

the whole thing. Aiden Hutchinson is him. He he's, he's the key to it all. He turned it all around. And when you like watch him, when I watched him at Michigan in person, I saw him a few different times, but even his freshman year, I went to the Michigan Nebraska game. He had a sack just as a true freshman. And he's younger too like he was younger for his class like just the the physical traits you could always tell he was going to be a really

good one i didn't think he was going to be the second overall pick should have been the first overall pick but thank you trent balky um trent balky has done so much for my football fandom um you know one with disagreeing with jim harbaugh and letting him walk and then picking trayvon walker in 2022 so appreciate him but like when you watch Aiden Hutchinson, just maybe the best college football player that I've seen. And I've seen, I mean, I've seen a lot of different guys, but like, I mean, I've seen Marvin Harrison Jr. I see a lot of different guys in person.

I just, the way he would, just the way he would move and his athleticism, like you could just tell like that guy is going to play in the NFL for a very long time. And I just saw he was number 22 on the NFL top 100 list. So I'm going into his third year. So yeah, dude, just a monster. Yeah. You have to have him.

You have to have him. That's where I'm like, I'm like the lore of, of these people is half of what gets you on that rush mark. Right. Like it's not all just stats. And that's why I do agree with you. Unfortunately, I don't think Mike Hart's on there.

Yeah. I love Mike. Cause you know, national champion, three-time big 10 champion, uh, as a, as a coach,

um, did again, did win as a player, but you know you know, it's tough, man. It's tough because you know what? You make your pick, but then I'm going to talk about on my last pick. There's some guys that I'd love to throw on here, but I just can't. I mean, JJ has to be on there, right? Make your pick.

JJ. All right, so you got one more. I know you. You got one more So we both have one more So Yeah I mean he's also a big part of the turnaround Right and like I'd love to talk About Denard here Because Denard was a very bright spot

I mean a Chad Henney Like There's like okay This is where so Dan Patrick P puts it this way when he comes to talking about the hall of fame is he's saying it's the hall of fame it's not the hall of very good there are a lot of very good guys and i think chad henney and mike hart are very good and are they you know are they legends in michigan? Absolutely. Yes. But when you have to go down to four, it makes it tough.

It does. You know, a guy that might've been here had he stayed at Michigan is Drew Henson. You know, he, I mean, he started in the late nineties, but in 2000 went into Columbus. I mean, he played out of his mind in that game. That That's a game that I had to go watch highlights. I was five years old. So another guy that you could put there. You could talk about Chris Perry. Obviously not as accomplished as far as statistical records as Mike Hart, but in 2003 with a damn good back was top five in Heisman voting.

What about other defensive guys in this century? Lamar Woodley. I mean, Jabril. If Jabril wins that 2016 game, we might be talking about him differently. Probably, yeah, because then they go to the playoff, and who knows what happens because they were a really damn good team that year. So, yeah, I mean, yeah, Lamar Woodley. Gosh, Leon Hall, Marlon Jackson.

I'm trying to dig deep here. There's so many guys. I mean, a lot of people don't think about him too fondly because of, you know, a penalty in the 2006 game. But Sean Crable was a damn good football player at Michigan. Gosh, man. Mike Martin is a personal favorite of mine i love mike martin like that's i wore 68 in high school because he was one if luan isn't like there at that specific time he's probably up there right yeah you jake long

obviously um yeah you had me thinking defense there for a sec but yeah jake long you know uh mario manningham's up there but again it's it's accomplishments right it's like you know so um yeah i mean 2016 gosh so what we did but yeah all right so you had so you had blake jj aiden and yeah i'm going with jj i didn't say that but yeah i'm going with jj All right, so you had Blake, JJ, Aiden, and – Yeah, I'm going with JJ. I didn't say that, but yeah, I'm going with JJ. So Blake, JJ, Aiden, Braylon Edwards. I think we're probably going to have the same.

I think we're probably going to have the same. But then it's like – I mean, dude, think about last year's team. Mikey. Both Mikey. Bro, Mikey. Mikey. Like how is Mikey not on this? You know – I mean, dude, think about last year's team. Mikey. Both Mikey. Bro, Mikey. Mikey. Like how is Mikey not on this? You know what I mean?

Like – If we did a Mount Rushmore from 21 onward, he's on here. But since we went to 2000, like there are a couple guys. Damn it, dude. Mike Samer still is one of my – we talked about him earlier. One of just my favorite Michigan players of all time. I mean, to go from receiver for three years to then being the best nickel corner in the country for two straight years is ridiculous and the big plays that he made it every single game at the

biggest moments every time he came through fuck um damn dude dude i want to have mikey on here man i'm but then i don't want it to just be four guys from the last i i know there's some recency bias that definitely sets in here but so the thing that i've always said to myself is that when i you know when we purchase a home and i want to have a basement like i want a man cave i always said that i would have three jerseys and it would be two nine and ninety seven after the last two years i was like well i've got to throw number zero in there. That's how I feel about Mike Samuels still. He's that guy. I agree, man.

It's tough. When we did this with my buddies on the golf course, it was back to 1980. You have to have Charles on there. Of course. You have to have Desmond on there. You can even have Anthony Carter on there. I mean, he didn't

want a Heisman, but I know, but like, you know, but he's... So, like, this got even harder because, like, you had to... I personally put Aiden on there because of everything we said. He changed it all.

But then, like then you're choosing between Anthony Carter, Blake, JJ. There's only one spot for six different guys. Yeah, and it's tough too. Because when you look at Anthony Carter, every time I go to his Wikipedia, just to look at

I say every time, but when I've gone to it, it's ridiculous. Because two-time unanimous all American. He was the first team all American in 1980. So he's a three-time all American, two-time unanimous. He was a big 10 most valuable player in 82. He's a big 10 player of the year in 82. And he's the three-time first team all big 10.

He's one of the 50 greatest Vikings. So we're talking about his NFL career, but like, I mean, a guy before our time, right? Like, my mom was, like, elementary school. But, like, you know, got to give respect where it's given, where it's due. And that's a guy that is one of the legends at Michigan. John Wangler was throwing footballs to him. So shout out John Wangler, the GOAT.

Yeah, dude, it's a hard discussion. So if you're out there listening, have this discussion with your buddies as you are sitting around drinking beer, getting ready for Michigan football this year. Or if you're going to tailgate for the first game, this has got to be a point of discussion because it's hard. So as you can tell, I don't even think we ended up with what we have because as soon as we said what we have, we're like, actually, I don't know.

So, we'll see. One last guy I want to throw in there that, you know, is probably not on this list, but David Mulk was a monster, won the Remington. That's the tough part about linemen, too, is like, you know. Zinter, he's like all these guys. Dude, Zinter, like talk about lore of Zinter. Like, I mean, he's perfect, right?

Yeah, four-year starter, like All-American. Yeah, man, it's really tough to boil it down to like four players because there's so many that make it go because you have 115 guys on each roster for the last 25 years. Just going back to 2000 is super hard. 100%, 100%. So you'll have that conversation with your boys, with your crew, and let us know in the comments what you guys think.

I think that'll wrap it up for us today for us you can follow us at blue by 90 on twitter instagram facebook at blue by 90 podcasts on youtube and blue by 90.com we appreciate you go blue go blue