Blue By Ninety - Getting Closer

Episode Date: August 20, 2026

Justin and Joel discuss Michigan's captains for 2026 and what position group they think is the most important to this year's success.

All right. Welcome back to Blueby 90, presented by Feldman Chevrolet of Highland. We are back. I'm Justin, joined by Jill Honigford. I think we're 17 days away from Michigan football here. We're recording this on Wednesday. If you're listening on Thursday, you'll be at 16. So you can, I mean, we're close to two weeks here. You can feel it. On a non-football note, Joel, I did just get this Michigan. and basketball national champ sign. So, I mean, is that not a sight of beauty of just two back to back right there? It is fantastic. It is fantastic. And, you know, just to keep them rolling, too, right? Let's fill the wall. Let's keep it going.

I mean, right up. We've been hot. We've been hot. That's for sure. So, yeah, man, it's feeling like football season. I feel like we've said that the last couple shows. But, yeah, I mean, we're getting a bunch of updates. from camp here.

And it feels like, again, with every highlight clip, whatever you see, did we talk about the Savion Heider one last week? I can't remember. You did not. I mean, I know that I think we talked about Bryce Underwood to J.J.J.W. Canaan last week. The one that I saw this past week was Savian Heider just demolishing a sled. I want to, for the people that aren't on a football field very often,

I want you, Joel, to explain just how heavy and how, like, perfect, you have to hit those sleds to be able to move them. Yeah, it's one of those things that it's way harder than it looks. Like, it is so much harder because if you hit it off center just by a little bit, it'll completely spin. And, like, the sled, you get under it. Like, I remember myself, you know, you look at a, sled they put weight plates on it you're like no big deal it's going to slide on the turf and then you get

underneath of it and you're like holy smokes this is no joke you know what I mean and uh I remember when we saw savi on in person I was like oh yeah he doesn't look like a freshman running back like this dude is stacked up like he is big and uh it's a lot harder than it looks um it's also probably not as fun as it looks either uh it's like sometimes the sleds are a little old you feel bolts in them. It's not great. But yeah, that was sometimes the pads, there's like nothing left to the to the pad. And then you're just like, all right, I'm just drilling straight metal right now. Yeah. And then when the pad goes bad, then they bring in the GAs and give them hand shields. And that's even worse because some guys don't lay off on this GAs. And so they end up on the ground.

It's a mess. Everybody's yelling, stay up. It's just a catastrophe. Yeah, that's not good. I mean, GA's, shout out to the GA's, a very underappreciated group of people. Just the volunteers in general. Like just any of those, the support staff is just like the most underappreciated people. So if you, you know, if you're a fan that sits outside the tunnel or, you know, outside of Schembeckler Hall or whatever, give those people some love too. You know, give them a high five. That's the other.

Yeah, give them all. awesome love. They're out there before and after the players are. They're getting it done. They're doing the nitty gritty. True blue collar workers of the football team. Shout out to those guys. Shout out to the bag holders. 100%. But yeah, I mean, Savian, what he did to that sled, I think, without like really getting underneath it, that was like, you know, it's basically supposed to be like a blowby type of situation where you kind of just like, you know, touch it on the go. And he, he moved that thing. So I mean, he definitely showed like, I think that he's going to be a perfect, you know, he really does run like Adrian

Peterson where it's like, okay, he's got speedy, he's got agility. But then like, if he needs to lower that shoulder, he's definitely sticking his nose in there. Right. And he's got the body to as well. I also think this is a sign that he is ready to hit somebody else. Oh, I love that. I love that. Now, you can't tee off on your own teammate in practice like that. That is very frowned upon. It happens very rarely.

But that is a sign that this man is ready to run somebody over. And I think we're going to see a lot of it this year. I really do. So that's exciting to see. I know the feeling you're after. week two of camp. It's the hardest week. It's where you're doing the most hitting. You still can't see the light at the end of the tunnel yet. And probably some more fights in practice. We don't, I don't know that for sure, but you would have to assume. I mean, it just gets chippy. You're with,

you're going against the same guy for the hundredth time in a row. And, you know, he probably gave you a jab or something on the, on the last play. And you're like, you're both just dehydrated. You've eating the same sham food for, you know, three weeks in a row. Like not and to your point, there's no light at the end of the tunnel. Like I think it's good to have a little chippiness of like, man, I, you know, I, you want your guy, again, it, it can't escalate to like a full off, full off fight. But, um, it, I do like the idea of like a little chippiness that like, I'm not going to take any shit, you know, I'm like, I'm standing my ground no matter what.

So, um, yeah, man. And I hope that's happening, to be honest, because I do see our team with a little bit of edge. You know, you see Jordan Marshall come into the podium and talking about, like, yeah, we, you know, we've got some edge to us. So I like it. And with that, I want to talk about the captains in the leadership council that was announced this week, too. So the captains on offense are Jordan Marshall and Bryce Underwood. And then on defense, it is Trey Pierce and Rod Moore. So shout out Rod Moore, a three-time captain, I believe for the first time, or if not.

There might have been like in the 1800s a couple three-time captains, but you just never know. But I think that they've really got a great group of guys that are leading this team right now. Yeah. I also think it's a good sign that the captains that they just elected, now keep in mind, those are voted on by the players. That's not a coach's pick. They're voted on by the players. Those are the same captains that we had during the spring.

So to see the consistency, good sign, right? Like these guys have obviously adopted the culture that Whittingham and the staff have brought in. They bought into it. And they're holding other people accountable to it. I do think it's funny that when they mentioned Therod Moore, he's a three-time captain, he said the only reason I'm a three-time captain is because I've been here for so long. And I can relate to that. I was not a three-time captain. But Rod Moore and I share the same experience of six years at the wonderful University of Michigan. But yeah, I'm excited.

I think the captains this year are legitimate. I don't think it's a popularity contest. I think these are guys that we have seen in the media leading the team and understanding the importance of the culture at Michigan. We obviously heard that Bryce Underwood has matured mentally and physically, which is awesome to hear, right? I mean, last year you look at him and he seems, you know, a little immature just in, like signing autographs when the game's not over, right? We don't, we don't need that on the field. We need a guy who's supporting, you know, whoever's in the game. And I think we have that now. I think we have a good group of guys who are going to bring people along. In addition to the to the captains, we have the leadership council. I don't know how,

do you know how many guys specifically are on that? It is 16, I believe, on the leadership council, and that is counting the captains. So 12 on top of the four captains. Yeah. And so for the listener who wants to understand the leadership council is they are essentially the bridge between the coaches and the rest of the team, right? They communicate back and forth. So it's not a, that wall between the locker room and the coach's office is not nearly as thick as it would be in most facilities, right? They're deciding on, you know, certain punishments if guys do something wrong. They're also choosing what uniforms they're going to wear on Saturday. That's kind of what they're comprised of, and it's just a larger group of the overall leaders. And I would like to mention Nico Androgette,

on there a guy that we talked about on the last episode being a big team and you know stepping in filling that joe taylor kaden colissar role it appears to be that way so um obviously a lot of a lot of names on their familiar names but yeah i've i've got a couple things for you joel one um how do you feel about a sophomore bryce underwood as as a captain obviously you know i think that you know majority of the time a quarterback is going to end up being a captain. But even I believe JJ was not a captain. So, and JJ, one of the greatest Wolverines of all time, amazing person, human being leader. But he wasn't.

So give me your thoughts on Bryce as a sophomore being named captain. Yeah, I think you could take it one of two ways. So the way that we did it when we vote for captains, it was always junior, senior, and then obviously your fifth, six-year guys. But you had to be to that level of experience to be able to have the honor being named captain. And I respected that. And I know, like, obviously, JJ was in a position where if that wasn't the case, he would be voted captain, right? But that wasn't how he did things. He was on the leadership council, and that was his opportunity to be a captain.

captain, but he wasn't able to be a team captain. And so I do like that format. Like, let your captains be your, you know, more experienced guys who've been around the game longer. Now, you've got to be in the building for a little bit to like know and know the gist of what goes on from day to day and through, you know, you got to get through a few camps and through through a few seasons to be like, all right, I feel comfortable in telling somebody else, like what to do. Yeah. Yeah. Now, I will say the fact that they all voted him captain, you know, both, I don't know if they voted him in spring or if that was the coaches, but he was a captain in the spring and now for the season, that's a sign, right? He's obviously,

there's no mistake that he is a leader. And, you know, congrats to him for being named captain. And I'll credit to him and his leadership. And is there somebody else that could have stepped in and taken that role as the second offensive captain? I don't know, maybe. I mean, there's probably some offensive linemen in there that come to mind. That could step in and be captains. Obviously, those are your foundational guys.

But all in all, I don't mind it. I don't mind it. We'll see how all that plays out. The title of captain is a C on the chest, and that's really it doesn't really change. the type of player that you are. So I don't mind it. He's obviously, I mean, he's a leader of the offense, right,

just from an ex-as-o standpoint. And so for those two to align, I'm okay with it. I think he, here's what I'll say for Bryce. He's going to have to continue to earn that from both his teammates and the coaching staff. This is not a, hey, I got through spring and fall camp, you know, I'm the captain now and whatever. No, you still, I think especially as a sophomore, and this goes for anybody, but especially as a sophomore, you need to continue to earn that because it's not just a named thing. It is, it is a role that like, you know, a Max Bredison was he was born to be a Michigan captain and he embraced that. And it ended up being who he was as a human being.

Right. Right. And so I think that Bryce needs to continue to think that way of like, listen, I need to earn their trust in everything every single day. And I think that that will make him a better football player. If he goes out and he's not just like, hey, I'm slinging the ball. I'm playing football. If he's like, hey, I'm the leader of this program, I think that will make him a better football player by the end of this season. Yeah. And to your point about, you know, years in the facility. and just games under your belt, you know, high stage, high pressure moments. He's had one season of that and a questionable season where there was a ton of turmoil.

So it can't be a, okay, I'm the captain. I have all the leadership under the belt. I get it. You know what I'm saying? Like that's not how it works. You know, you have a lot of guys around you who have a lot of that experience and know how to, you know, handle those moments. So it shouldn't be a reliance on Bryce.

to handle those intense moments during games where it's coming down to the wire. Everybody should be chipping into that, helping out. And he should be absorbing that as well and then reciprocating that as the season goes on. For sure. So a couple more things. One, JJ Buchanan and John Henry Daly both are on the Leadership Council as well, where it's a different world in this transfer portal world. me wrong and you have to adapt to it. But what do you take from two guys like that? Obviously,

John Henry Daley is, you know, a grad transfer, I believe, if not a senior. But those guys have only been in the building for six months, essentially, right? Maybe a little bit longer. What do you think about naming a guy like that a captain? And then the other question would be, you know, what does that say about those guys that they were trusted to be that person after only that short amount of time? Yeah, I would say, you know, when you look at the role of captain, you would view it as, you know, who is going to speak up and vocalize and be a standout in terms of leadership for the team.

The leadership council would be, all right, what group of dudes are going to go to war for this team? Okay, so guys who are just going to get after it because JJ Buchanan does not seem to be the most vocal guy, which is okay. But obviously people think that he's going to go to war for the team. And he's going to lay it all. He's going to dive for balls that, you know, are going to be close to the sidelines that maybe he doesn't have to dive for.

And I think that's a huge testament to that. And a good way to look at that situation is just guys who are going to go to war for the team, which as a Michigan fan, you love. Like you love to see first year guys transfers come in and then ultimately get voted onto a leadership council, right? They're, they're buying into Michigan. They're buying into the team and not doing it for themselves, right? They're not just coming in and saying, all right, well, I'm going to get mine. I'm going to make sure that I have my sacks or TFLs or I'm going to have my amount of touchdowns. Like they're bought in to the team, which is exciting,

right? You'd like to see that because that's not always the case. A lot of times those first year guys are just trying to figure it out, figure out, you know, how I fit into this team. But obviously they have done that and more. How do you view it as somebody who sees these first year guys comes in and now are on the leadership council? Yeah. I think it's a tough thing, right? Like you look at Michigan basketball this past year and, you know, most of the guys are

transfers that are that are winning a national championship. And so in this day and age, like you're not going to be able to avoid having those guys as leaders in your room. Like it's just going to be what it is, right? So as much as, you know, I'd love to have it be what you touched on where you have to be a junior or senior, you have to be in the building for three, four years to be a captain, it's just not going to be how it is moving forward. So I think you have to adapt.

I think it speaks volumes to be able to establish yourself as a leader in less than a year. And whether that be through your performance on the field, leadership off the field, your character, et cetera, et cetera, that's super difficult. It is incredibly hard. To be able to gel with people, you know, just in general from a, think about a new employee, a new coworker that you're working with, a new friend, a new neighbor. Like, it takes time to get to know them and all that. And so I know these guys spend a lot of time together that helps, but, man, I just like,

I always think about, you know, thinking about the transfer and the new kid on the block. You know, you kind of look at them like, all right, you're not kind of, you're not really part of our team quite yet, you know, and it takes some time. So to get from that point where you're the weird kid standing in the corner in this locker, you know, the new kid, the new kid in school to all of a sudden you're leading. I think that speaks volumes. And, you know, we spoke to JJ at the Feldman Chevrolet of Highland signing day, you know, super mature kid. I think to your point, like pretty quiet. But I think that it seems to me like both him and John Henry Daley, let the talking,

you know, happen on the field. Right. No, I completely agree. And I do think an advantage that they have is the fact that they're coming with the coaching staff. So they can be the bridge for the guys who have been at Michigan to understand how those coaches operate, right? They're essentially connecting the dots for the guys who have been there.

the coaches know them and can also use guys like John Henry Daley and JJ Wuchanan to communicate to the players because they know those guys. So I think that plays to their advantage most definitely, but still keep in mind that even the leadership council is something that's voted on by the players. Right. Yeah, 100%. So I think both those guys are obviously going to be huge assets for Michigan this year. John Henry Daley was named a preseason All-American, first team. he was an All-American, I believe, not a year ago because he was injured, but two years ago, I believe it was. And so, yeah, they're going to be great. Last thing on the Leadership Council for me, Jair Hill, a guy that was, I don't even know what it was,

but he was like off the team and changed numbers from 20 to 35 weirdly during the end of the season. And so, and, you know, I've known him personally in the past. You know, I think that he is, he likes himself a lot. And, you know, but as a lot of guys do, he's a corner, right? Like corners just have that personality. But I think that it shows tremendous progress for him to now be named to the leadership council by his peers. So I think that that's a kid I'm looking at.

like, man, he's been talented ever since he stepped, you know, onto this campus. Don't get me wrong. Sometimes that works against you in terms of your character and your development and, you know, all that stuff. And so I'm really excited to see him now, you know, on a leadership council and be voted, you know, whether that be by his peers or, you know, by the coaching staff and probably a little bit of a combination. I think that that one to me stands out just because we've seen weird stuff with him in the past.

And I think that he, you know, even with penalties and stuff, like I think that a new coaching staff could be huge. And this could be a step for him where he takes, you know, a step from being, all right, I'm just a really talented kid, but I don't really have it all figured out quite yet to, oh my God, that is an NFL corner. And he could be in the draft, you know, a year. from now. Yeah. I would say we talked about before whenever coach Witt came in, that he was going to be bringing his culture and implementing it and that we heard initially that it was, you know, very buttoned up, which is what they needed for sure. But what we talked about was how some guys

were going to accept that and embrace it and some guys were going to resist it. And we saw the quarterback, the LSU transfer, he ended up leaving. Now, we don't, I don't, maybe we do know why now, but he's not there anymore, right? And a guy like Jair Hill is one that you wonder, okay, is he going to buy into that new culture where, you know, the standards are a little bit higher, they put up with a lot less, or is he going to resist it and fight it? And clearly, we have our answer now, right? Like, he's completely bought into it.

and that excites me to see him on the field this year just in terms of the penalties, right? And keeping his head. Like, obviously, the team views him as a leader. So is he at a point in time now where he's able to keep his head, even though, you know, maybe sometimes he gets beat deep or gets beat on a crossing route, whatever it may be, is he able to come back to the next play and lock in? And it certainly just objectively looking at the leadership council would seem that he has, you know, grown into a man, I guess you could say. Rather than a college kid playing football,

he is now a man of the sport and a Michigan man, if you will. Yeah. All right, I said last thing already, but I'm going to say last thing here. The one thing that I think is very important to note when you're talking about captains in the leadership council, I personally, I didn't play at the University of Michigan, you did. I personally think it is an incredible, honor to wear the block M, to wear the winged helmet. And there are some guys that I've known that I want to just like shake and be like, dude, how many, do you have any idea how many kids would, would die to be in your position? Right.

Just to put this uniform on one time and run out of the tunnel. Right. And so there's that. And then there's the next level honor of being named a captain by your peers wearing the winged helmet. And so I really hope, my hope whenever I see the leadership council, the captains, et cetera, like, I hope these guys take this as seriously as possible. Yeah.

Because it absolutely is a serious duty and a serious role. Because this is something where you are responsible. I mean, I don't want to put so much pressure on the kids, but you're responsible for millions of people watching every Saturday. they're either happy or sad, you know, and I'm not saying that that's on them, you know, 100%. Maybe some people should, you know, have some other hobbies, myself included, you know, but I think that that's where, like, I just, there's, there's got to be so much pride in, in this situation. And I know that you are one of those people that did take the pride and just even throwing on the helmet every Saturday.

No, you're absolutely right. It is an honor. And like when you break it down into percentages of, if you go from high school to a power for college, like very small percentage can make it to that point and then become a starter and then become a captain. The percentage is very small. So I agree. I hope they understand and embrace the importance and the significance of being a captain and of being a leader. Maybe this sounds old fashioned, but like, it's just so important.

It really is. Like, we have seen the effects of having poor leadership. It's been very evident in the past. And the hope and what we're seeing is that that has passed. And now we have solid leaders. We have guys who are going to go to war, keep their head on straight, whenever, you know, we're coming down to the wire and the games where, you know, you can have your Jake Moody against Illinois and 21, just hammering field goals and keeping

the team alive. Like we need all of our 22 guys, offensive defense, 11 on special teams to be that way. And I think that like, let's be honest with ourselves. If we go undefeated this year, I will be absolutely shocked. I'll be the happiest man alive. Don't get me wrong, but I'll be absolutely shocked. These guys are important for when you do have a loss, how you bounce back. Right. Right. You know, that's 2021. And you'll lose in devastating fast. in East Lansing, and either your season is absolutely derailed or you rattle off, you know, however many in a row and go win a Big Ten championship and beat Ohio State for the first time in a decade.

You know, that, those, these guys are the difference between that, to be honest. So speaking of important guys, I wanted to have a little debate or discussion with you on who are the two most important position groups this season? I want to pick up one on offense, one on defense, where you believe that this position group is either going to make or break Michigan season this year. So why don't we start, let's start with defense. We'll start with the defensive side of the ball. What are your thoughts? My opinion is the secondary in its entirety.

I think it is so pivotal that we don't get beat deep more often than we should. It's going to happen at some point in time. But if these guys can just be locked into their fundamentals and lock these guys down on pass rocks, and if we can get turnovers in the secondary, it is going to greatly increase our chance to win the game. I think that's extremely important. Obviously, like for the listener, obviously we think all the positions are important. But just in terms of last year to this year, which one do we think is super important to have developed into a high quality position group? I think it's the secondary defensive backs really in their entirety.

We saw some last year a lot of switching in and out, testing different guys there. If we can get just a solid group of dudes who go out there, they get their job done, they do it well, they force turnovers. it's going to put us in a very good position to win a lot of games this year. What is your opinion? I mean, definitely the secondaries up there, they need to be improved. There's no doubt. Even going back to the tackling from last year's Oklahoma game and the USC game where, even in the run game, the secondary is just so important at that next level.

And those are the things that I think that, you know, know, you hope under Coach Whittingham to just see so button, so much more buttoned up, right? Where, you know, the difference in the USC game and the Oklahoma game literally comes down to tackling in the second level. Yep. I mean, that's either, you know, the USC game became a blowout when it should have been a one score football game down to the wire. And it was because a fourth string walk-on running back. And I'm not hating on walk-ons, right? But you let a four-string walk-on running back tear through the secondary.

And I watch a lot of our defensive backs, you know, just whiffing and running downhill at a thousand miles an hour and not breaking down, et cetera, et cetera. So they are incredibly important. The group on defense that I'm going to say is the lineback and core. And I think that there's been a lot of talk. through camp that this is like the weakness of the of the whole team um i know that some of the team has come to the podium and said what are you talking about we got some dogs in there all right come prove it you know you you got to come prove it if that's the case but i think just in general to be to be fair on paper you know you really don't have any all american all big 10 type guys uh you know

you're looking at Troy Bowles and Nathaniel Ousubotang, you know, those types of guys. You know, obviously, Zeke Berry comes down and plays a little bit in the linebacking core. And so I think that this group, we've seen a lot of Nathaniel Staling, too. His name has come up that he's had a really good camp. this group is really, really important because, as you know, it's, you know, the quarterback of the offense, they run the show. And I think that we've got more talent, I would say, in the front four, in the back four. And so I'm looking for this middle core to kind of round out that defensive group. And I think it's the same thing, right?

It's tackling. It's can these guys get off blocks? Can they make the right reads, take the right angles, and make tackles? because that's what we need them to do. The defensive line is going to take up the blocks. We know that. Those are big dudes. Their host is going to have to double team them.

But can the linebackers fill and make tackles? Can they stop the run on third and two, third and three? That is going to be where this question is answered. And you're right. There's no star-studded name. For years, we've been blessed with great linebackers. Heavy hitters. Jimmy Roder last year, who's on the Lions now,

was a dog at linebacker and a guy who would, sacrifice his body on the field. And that's a guy who, you look at him and you're like, there's no way that's an NFL linebacker. And then all of a sudden, he's impressing in Lions camp, which that Lions team, I know their defense is not as good as their offense, but that's going to be an NFC North favorite, you know? So like I think that what I'm looking for is a guy like a Jimmy Roller to be like,

all right, you're not, you know, you're not on paper. the star-studded five-star type guy, but like, we need you to do your job this year. That's what I'm looking for from that core. Yeah, no, I completely agree with you. And, you know, it might not be something that we get answered after game one, right? Like, it might take a few games, and that's okay. It can't take half the season. It can take, you know, one to two weeks.

I think they say your greatest improvement in the team is from week one to week two. So we'll find out in the first two weeks here what we got. back there. And hopefully these guys rise to the occasion. Hopefully they're prepared and they're dialed in. They're making the right reads. They're in the right place at the right time. All we need them to do is their job, right? We don't need them to do anything spectacular. You just got to do what you're asked to do. I mean, go back to the like the Bill Belichick, do your job thing, right? And that's where I do think that this coaching staff, both on offense and defense, has dumbed it down a little.

I hate to say the word dumbed it down, but they've mentally simplified it for guys of, you don't need to be an All-American for us to be really good. You just got to do, if 11 guys do their job on every play, we will do really well, right? And you saw the last two years, all it takes is for one or two guys to miss their assignment and the whole play blows up. I saw that constantly over the past two years where nine or ten guys would do really well, one guy misses, and then you're screwed. And so that's what I'm looking for.

Offensive side of the ball. I'll go first here. I'm going to go with the wide receiver core. I think that here's what I'm going to say here. I don't know that it's the key to our success in terms of like winning nine football games, but it's the difference between us winning nine and 11 football games or even seven to nine football games of if this wide receiver core can be really good or not. They are, we haven't had the talent that we've had on paper. You know, you see the JJ Buchanan's and the Andrew Marces of the world.

Like, they're just simply really talented football players. And so if our passing game can be as good as our run game has, has been lately. I really think that this group or sorry, this team can can take it to the next level. Yeah. No, I agree with you. I think the wide receiver room is going to be very important, but being a former offensive lineman and understanding the importance and how good our offensive lines have been in the past, I mean, all the way back, right? When we had Mike and when you, Mason Cole, Ben Bredeson, those guys, we have not seen that type of an offensive line really in the last two years. So I think right now we have the potential to have an offensive

line that is a true unit, right? We don't have to rotate guys in and out and figure out which pieces fit where. I think they have that figured out. But to see those guys like understand each other, they've been with each other now for at least a year, which is big for the offensive line. But they're going to create everything for us. They're going to give Bryce time. They're going to create holes for the running backs. And ultimately, when you get the running game going, then the passing game opens, and we can throw it to our receivers downfield and find out who they are. But the offensive line is just so important. They're the guys that make, you know, they convert your third and ones, your your fourth and goals. We need

that type of group up there. I think that we have it. Time will tell. but I'm excited for the offensive line. I think we've got a lot of dogs there, a lot of guys who like to get after it, and just kind of nitty-gritty play just with snot coming out of their nose, right? Like that's what you picture. We need to get back to that.

Absolutely. We need to get back to the dogs, to the hogs on the line. I also think to your point, like I'm going against what I said right now, but how many NFL teams out there have a really good quarterback, the number one draft pick type quarterback, and they have two really good receivers,

but their offensive line stinks, and they're the worst offense in the NFL. Right. You've seen that time and time again. I mean, for a long, that was the Detroit Lions forever, was they'd take a wide receiver with their first pick, you know, and you had Roy Williams and Mike Williams, and even Calvin and Stafford were, you know,

unbelievable, but they didn't have the offensive line. And you need to, you know, you look at what Joe Burrell is doing right now. Joe Burrell is a top five quarterback in the league, but he gets sacked every other play, and they still are drafting wide receivers. And it's like, it doesn't take much to learn. Like, you got to learn this stuff. So I agree with you. It all starts up front.

You can have the most talented running backs, quarterback's wide receivers at the end of the day. at the end of the day, your offensive line is going to set the tone. Right. But let me transition then on the wide receivers to our wide receiver three. I think it's pretty obvious that JJ Buchanan and Andrew Marsh are going to be our wide receiver one and two. But the battle for wide receiver three is deep right now in camp. And I know that Micah Simon went to the podium yesterday and was just talking about how many guys they're battling for that spot. We've got Jamie French, you know, a transfer from Texas, Celessi Moa, freshman, Channing Goodwin, who's been with the program.

Kendrick Bell, who's been with the program. You've got freshman Travis Johnson, sophomore, Jamar Broder. There's like five guys right now that I think could have a legitimate chance. hands at wide receiver three. And my guess is that they rotate that a little bit. You know, it's not just going to be one solidified guy. But to me, that's a really good problem to have right now. No, it is a great problem.

Like depth, nobody's ever complained about having depth. You know what I mean? The players maybe because they, you know, you could end up either third on the depth chart or seventh on the depth chart really quickly. Yeah, right. I mean, we got Kendrick Bell sitting in the third string right now, just from a number standpoint. He's the guy who's gotten a lot of time in the past.

The one guy who I am really excited to see is Celesa Moa. I am so excited to see him. I love a freshman wide receiver. It just gets me fired up like your Andrew L. Anthony's of the world. You know what I mean? There's nothing better than when they hit a deep ball. a deep ball touchdown, right? It's huge.

Crowds going nuts. And then you got Brent Musburger talking about the freshman wide receiver. And it's like, yeah, that's sick. Like that is what I'm talking about. So that is, that's my vote for who I would like it to be. Now, obviously, Jamie French, we've heard he's coming along. He's stepping into himself. He had an interesting spring.

But now he's starting to figure it out, which is exciting to hear. And like you said, depth is never a problem. We can rotate these guys around. we can figure out who sticks. And, you know, when you have JJ Buchanan going for a streak for a go ball, he can peel off on the sideline. And, you know, Channing Goodwin can step in and roll, you know. So that's a great problem to have.

Especially if we're going to get to a point, you know, Jordan Marshall talked about conditioning yesterday in his press conference. And that was something that you saw every single game in this past season of, the fourth quarter would come. And even when we were up, it felt like shit. And guys were, whether that was mental, physical, whatever, you know, we'd blow leads in the fourth quarter. And so that's something that, to your point, the depth on a really long drive, and, you know, especially if they're going to try to air it out of it, having guys that can just step in after J.J.W.

Kenon goes on a go route is gigantic because you're not missing a step on that. that long drive and that's how you know you keep the sticks moving right yeah i i saw that and they talked about how they finished practice with a 14 play drive uh now did that just give you PTSD yeah it does if you're a fan and you don't like understand you like oh you know 14 plays not that that's like six seconds at a time i can assure you that that is extremely tiring actually I remember I was in, now mind you, I was a bigger tight end, okay, let's put that out there. But I do remember, I forget what game it was, but I was in for probably seven or eight plays, and I was getting after it, and I was exhausted.

And we had a TV timeout, and I came off from the sidelines, and I threw up. So that's just a little insight as to how hard a 14-play drive actually is. I mean, by the end of it, your offensive line and defensive line are just leaning on each other. Like it's literally, right? Like, I mean, go ahead. Yeah, I think just like using that as a conditioning tool is going to be huge. They have like they pulled like the Navy SEAL 40% rule, right? Where you feel like you're exhausted.

You actually have 40% left in the tank and they're utilizing that. I'm excited to see how it's going to play out in the season. I will say I'm a little surprised. I was a little surprised that they're lack of conditioning, knowing that the staff was still from the tree of Coach Herbert. What happened there? I have no idea. But it's nice to see, it's nice to see from a fan's perspective

that those guys are getting after it in practice and getting a lot of conditioning. From the players perspective, you're like, shit, this is. Yeah, you're like, this is awful. Yeah, you and Colston Loveland had a little bit different bodies, I would say. Yeah, yeah. built the same to try and finish a 14 play drive but no i mean that dude that's the shit that wins or loses football games right if you can convert and you know especially um you know this past year again we talked about last week how important special teams is but last year we didn't start in positive

territory like ever right you know our our special teams just weren't good and we couldn't get uh you know we couldn't get good field position pretty much ever. Guess what? That could be the case a lot still. You have no idea. So you need to be able to start on your own 15 and score. You know, that's the reality of football. All right.

Last thing here that literally just popped up as we were on here. Michigan just announced they are going to have sponsors in the big house for the first time ever. This is, I'm sure going to be the hottest of topics. I personally am not a huge fan of this. I understand revenue and, you know, how this all works. I know the insides and outs of it. But Michigan just announced that Coke, Meyer, and Google Gemini will be sponsors. That will be featured in the big house.

They mentioned logos on the scoreboard and field pads. given us potential sponsorship placements. Give us your thoughts here. And we've only got a couple minutes, but give us your thoughts. Not a big fan of that. And I'm sure probably most people aren't. Michigan football is like if you look at the uniform, it's unmarked, right? It's just maize and blue.

And then you have the wing helmet. And that's really how the big house is. You see the brick. You see the M in the stadium whenever it's not filled up. It's just, it's very just traditional, basic. We're worried about the football. We don't worry about anything else. There's not a, now obviously they have more production with the lights and the night games,

things of that nature. So I'm not a huge fan of that. I also do understand that's the world we're living in. I think there's close to two or three billion dollars spent on NIL in this season in all of college football, which is unbelievable to think about. So do I like it? No. is the world that we live in, yes.

So let's roll with it. If it helps us win a national championship, then throw all the logos on there. I mean, the reality is we did just win a national championship in basketball, in large part to, you know, driving revenue and fundraising through NIL. Right. So there's that. I still think that you, when everyone's zing in, Michigan could have zagged again and

said, you know what? Everyone's doing a sponsor, Jersey patch. everyone's doing sponsors. We're not. I think that that would have gone over better with your fan base and your donor base than saying, all right, we're giving in so that we can get an extra $5 to $10 million. dollars don't get me wrong it's a lot of money i get it but at the end of the day i think that you can if you're michigan to say no we're michigan we've got 600 000 living alumni that'll pay the money if we don't have sponsors etc etc so um i hate to see it it was one of those inevitable things you just knew it was coming down the pipeline the jersey patch is going to kill me if that happens and I'm sure it will at some point.

They've teased it, blah, blah, blah. It's one of those things that, like, there's not even a Block M on the jersey. And now we're going to put a Meyer logo or a whatever logo on it. It just feels so sacrilegious. I hate it. We'll have more to touch on that. But, hey, football's coming.

And they didn't give us much time to, like, take this in with only, you know, a little more than two weeks out. So we see what happens when we step in the big house next, you know, in the next couple weeks. But, Joel, one final point, I will say completely unrelated to any of this. Davis Warren, former Michigan quarterback, Ohio State in the big house. He was named the starter for Stanford. Shout out the Davis. He is a dude.

He's the guy. Congrats to him. So wish him the best of luck. You're right. I got to shoot him a text. He is one of the greatest people I've ever met. in my life. Nicest man has accomplished more in his lifetime.

He had accomplished more by like the age of 16 than I ever will of beating cancer. And then he goes and beats Ohio State and Columbus too. I love it. Congrats, Davis. All right. For us, you can follow us at Blueby 90 on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. I believe Blueby 90 podcast on YouTube and Blueby90.com. We appreciate you.

Go Blue. Go Blue.