Blue By Ninety - “I was just living my dream” | Former Michigan Captain and Current Bengals Assistant Jordan Kovacs

Episode Date: November 11, 2025

Chris Wormley and Jordan Strack are joined by one of the greatest walk ons in Michigan football history and current Bengals Assistant Coach Jordan Kovacs.

Welcome in. It is episode 11 of Stadium in Maine with Big Worm and Strack. I am Jordan Strack. That is Chris Wormley. We've got new episodes every Tuesday throughout the football season. We are teamed up with Blue by 90. Make sure you go share the pod with your friends so that we can keep growing this thing on YouTube or Apple music or where you know, all you get your podcast, the whole thing. Just share it with your friends. Tell them to give us a chance. You can also follow us on Instagram. You have been working so hard on Instagram and I'm so proud of you. Stadium. and main pod. You can go follow us there. And we've got to build that base up a little bit because you're working really hard, put a lot of good stuff on the every single week. Yeah, I'm just glad that the Blue by 90 guys share all of our stuff because getting two or three likes crushes the soul,

crushes the soul once I'm, you know, putting in, you know, 25 minutes on, on a single video and it gets, you know, two views. So appreciate those guys over at Blue by 90. Yeah,

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You know, we've got the. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's on our page right now. Is it? Okay. So it's on Instagram. I think it is. Yeah. BSN Sports, Jersey's gear equipment, team pride, BSN Sports has it all, the one-stop shop for

every coach, athlete in school across America. BSN Sports makes easy to design, order and deliver everything. team needs to play like champions visit bsnsnsports.com today bsn sports the heart of the game uh all right so the wolverines getting ready to head to rigley we are going to get to that in a little bit but we're going to mix things up a little bit this week we're going to throw our guest to the front of the show uh and this man is like when you talk about michigan man this is the kind of guy you're talking about the ultimate michigan man uh how about uh we welcome in right now Jordan covax There he is.

What's up, guys? A four-year letter winner at Michigan after being a walk-on. You played for Rich Rod and Brady Hoke and coached under Harbaugh. So you saw a little bit of everything. Currently the secondary coach for the Cincinnati Bengals, your seventh year now coaching in the NFL.

How are you? How are things? Doing great. Doing great. Enjoying the bye week. So we have a little more time this week. But doing well, man. Doing well. Just in the thick of the season. yeah so good to have you on three northwest ohio guys across the pod right now Toledo tough baby 419 represent Jordan that is

listen when you're saying i'll say when you're saying jordan make sure you we know which one you're talking to today i'll call him cova i'll call him coach covacks do you think the NFL is ever going to adopt the the two by the two by games or the two by weeks because i feel like college has gotten it right you know college has two by weeks now and it gives your guys a chance to get healthy, especially towards this, you know, the last second, you know, third of the season. Yeah.

Do you think the NFL is ever going to adopt that? Because I think it would be great for players to get healthy. I wouldn't be surprised, especially with the rate that they're kind of extending the season. I would assume that's the next step, you know, is to add a buy. But we'll see. I'll take as many buys as we can get. I know the players feel the same way. It just gives you a chance to kind of mentally re-rack and just, you know,

go hang out with your family a little bit, but also get some stuff done at the office. and just find somewhat of a balance to the crazy life of a coach. Oh, yeah. Give us an update. What is it like to, I mean, you're now a full-time, like, legit NFL coach. None of this analyst stuff. Like, you're legit now, man.

Like, what has that been like for you? Yeah, I've come a long way since being a football intern under Coach Harbaugh at Michigan. It's been fun. It's been a lot of fun. I think I knew early in my career that I wanted to get into coaching that I didn't want to get too far away from football. So, I mean, it's just been a blast, just being around the guys. And, you know, obviously nothing can top being a player, but it's about as damn close as you can get.

So I've enjoyed it. All right. Take us back to your high school days at Clay High School. You were never like a superstar. You were a good, solid high school player, but you were never like a superstar. How in the world do you go from being at Clay High School to eventually, getting to the places you got and to play in the NFL and all of that. Yeah.

That's a loaded question. You kind of took a shot at you a little bit. I think you did, more didn't it? You know, I think that it probably took, it took a lot of grit. It took probably a lot of delusion. I think when I was playing at Clay, I just always, you know, I grew up a huge Michigan fan. So I just had it in my heart that one day I'd play football there. And I just never wavered.

And it was just a matter of kind of getting my foot in the door. And certainly a lot of things had to fall my way, but I just knew that if I just, you know, kept believing, continued to work my ass off, just did things the right way that, you know, eventually I'd catch my break. And, you know, you don't always catch the break. But when you do, or if you do, you got to make the most of it. And I think that that's kind of was the story of my career. Before Worm goes here, while we're on the Clay High School thing, there's a kid from Clay High

High School right now that has become like the talk of all of college football. The quarterback at Pitt right now, Mason Heinzel, was, I mean, he kind of had a similar-ish story to you coming out of Clay. Didn't have those big-time offers. You know, we thought he would be going to Toledo. And he ends up going to Pitt, and he's now the talk of all of college football. Have you been watching his story? How cool is that been? He's doing a hell of a job.

You know, obviously, I followed him from afar just being another Clay player. But he's doing a really good job, man. And I didn't know how quickly he'd become a starter. And, you know, certainly you never know if a guy's going to end up starting because the college game is a lot different than high school football. But he's, I mean, he hasn't flinched since the day he's stepped foot as the starter a few weeks ago. And he just continues to throw for a lot of yards.

I mean, makes the right decisions. He's throwing a lot of touchdowns, man. Mason's playing well. So he's off to a hell of a start. He's just got to keep it rolling. Yeah, when you talk about the delusion in. And I feel like every football player that continues or wants to be the best at what they're doing has to have that sense of delusion. And I feel like I have that as well.

And I think it's a healthy dose of it because you've been around some guys that, you know, they might be a little too delusional. But yeah, you kind of touch on a little bit, but talk about just that day-to-day grind of not that you're coaching, but, you know, that day-to-day grind at Michigan. And then when you're in the pros, talk about that sense of delusion that you have to have to just put the pads on. after a two-a-day practice or a hard day down in Miami when you were playing with the Dolphins and talk about that sense of illusion a little bit. Yeah, well, I think the first and foremost, it starts with your passion for the game.

And I think that at Michigan, I felt like, I mean, I was just so passionate about Michigan football growing up that every day to me I was just living my dream. So like while some guys kind of carried themselves into the 6am workouts or the two-a-days with all guys. here we go again. To me, I loved it. And it was just another opportunity to wear the winged helmet. And I know it sounds corny saying that, but like that was my approach. And it was just about being where my feet are, just continuing to work at my craft, continuing to try to get better

and just more than anything, just like, what can I bring to this team to help them get better? Because that's all I really gave a shit about in college. And, you know, that's kind of my approach as a coach as well. It's just about teamwork. It's about being in the moment, winning the day, you know, going one and all those porny things that you hear about that coaches say, but really, ultimately, that's what you're trying to live. And I think that that helped me ground myself as a player in it. That was always my approach was just, you know, trying to get a little better and just being happy where I am. Absolutely. What was the recruiting process like for you? Because I know you didn't have the big offers or anything like that. What was the recruiting process

like for you when you were in high school? Yeah, there wasn't, there wasn't much of one. I think I had, I had a lot of Division III interests. And like I'm telling you, Strack, like, all I gave a damn about was I just wanted to play football at the University of Michigan. That's all I cared about. And I think, like, even my parents thought I was crazy. But I think there was a D2 school, Hillsdale College, that had interest in me. And I basically more or less, I said, okay, I'll go and visit and work out just so I can get a scholarship. And, you know, we can make a decision from there.

So I went up there in the winter. I worked out for them. I thought for certain I would get a scholarship offer and nothing. Worked out, radio silence, never talked to me again, thought, hey, I could maybe, they offered me a walk-on opportunity at Hillsdale College. So, you know, maybe that kind of answered your question as well, where I'm like, that shit just kind of pisses you off and it like creates this edge and gives you this chip on your shoulder that you don't want to lose.

But yeah, that was more or less my recruiting process. I was glad they didn't offer it because that just gave me, more motivation to try and just get my foot in the door at Michigan. And, you know, my parents were always supportive. They just said, hey, if you can get into school there, you know, we'll figure it out. And they stood by me from day one. And, you know, sure enough, when I did get accepted into school there, went to student body trial and made the team, you know, things worked out well.

But earning a scholarship after a couple of years, certainly helped. But you didn't make you. Yeah. Right. State tuition, yeah, exactly. Yeah, I owed a couple years of out of state tuition. That was my first expense I had to play. You didn't make it the first time you tried out, though, right?

Like in 2008, you tried out, but you didn't make it then because you were banged up or something. Can you walk us back to what happened there? Yep. So my senior year of high school, I kind of had a banged up knee, which I think, you know, I finally just accepted. I just have bad knees. So I had an arthroscopic surgery, they cleaned it up, and then I tried out in the fall of 2008, my freshman year at Michigan, first day of school, 6 a.m. tryouts. And, you know, long story short, I made the tryout. I went back the next day to pass my physical, and I failed the physical.

I probably gave a little too much information about the prior knee surgery, how it still felt. And Paul Schmidt kind of said, hey, can't let you talk. play until you get your knee fix. So, um, you know, I went back home. I had the second arthroscopic knee surgery. They found the tornuscus. They cleaned it up. And then I had to retry out. I sat out that season, was just a student. It had to retry out the following January. And, um, from that point on, I made the team for good. Man. I mean, I saw a lot of people would have would have quit by then, you know, they just like, eh, I got, I got, I got into Michigan. I, I, you know, it's a good, I'll just, you know, study and I'll go to games on Sundays.

Yeah. We talked about that delusion is just something that it's gotten you this far. You know, it's like, let let it ride a little bit and see, see what can happen, you know. Yeah, no, I just had a dream. I just wanted to chase it. I think maybe if I would have failed that second physical, that might have been it. I think I would have gone to Toledo. I would have been a preferred walk on there, but it all worked out how it's supposed to work out.

Hell yeah. Did you ever get bitter, like, at any of, like, you know, not getting the offers and, you know, getting sent away in, in a way, like, did you ever get bitter? bitter about any of that kind of stuff yeah shit pissed me off still pissing me off like i think like you find like you find ways to like um to just keep that edge and and use use it as fuel uh in whatever way you can and i just found my ways to do that for sure insane insane go ahead word you uh so you've been with the benglenal for seven years which in in the coaching and in professional sports is an eternity

most guys, you know, traveling or, you know, get moving their family every other year. Yeah. Coach gets let go, this and that. What does that stability meant to you and your family being able to be in Cincinnati now for seven years? Yeah, seven years is an eternity in this league. I think it's been just such a fun ride. You know, ownership here is outstanding. Obviously, like, they've given us a long leash because we, I mean, you talk about we won two games my first year here. then we won four the next year

and then three years into this thing more times than not owners they fire guys if you win six games in two years but Mr. Brown and the family they stuck by our side and sure enough in the third year we went to the Super Bowl so they've been by our side step for step, you know

strive for stride with us so it's just been such a fun ride to really build this thing from the ground up and just to establish that foundation in the first couple of years and then, you know, it's not always easy. You know, there's ebbs and flows to this thing, and it's just about, you know, staying the course, just not riding the wave

and just trying to find ways to continue to get better. So it's been a fun ride. I don't know how long it'll last, but it's sure as hell, it's been a fun ride. Going back to Michigan, when you were named a team captain, did you like ever, I have two, actually, I didn't think about this, two former Michigan captains on the screen right now.

That's right. Yeah. Was that like the ultimate like, holy shit, how cool is this moment for you to be a captain at the University of Michigan? Yeah, and I don't want to speak for Wormley, but I always felt like that's, you know, being elected as a captain by your peers. I think that's probably one of the greatest accomplishments you can ask for as a player, as a leader. Yeah, I think that was probably, you know, one of the greatest moments in my athletic career was being named captain. Yeah, I remember when Tom Brady came and spoke to us in 2014, he said that was his greatest accomplishment. And this guy had won, I think, five Super Bowls at the time and, you know, was already kind of solidified as the greatest quarterback, greatest football player to ever play the game. And when he came back and said that him being a captain at Michigan was his greatest athletic accomplishment, I'm like, man, like, I've got to do anything I can to become a captain of Michigan.

Michigan. It was cool. And, you know, like you said, your teammates vote on it. It's a, it's a, it's a peer voted on accomplishment and honor. So, yeah, that's, that's one of the, one of the greatest things that I still hold on to is, just knowing that I was a captain at the University of Michigan. Yeah. No doubt. No doubt. Um, your dad played at Michigan for Bo, right? And he, and he was a later a grad assistant, I think, for Bo. Um, is that kind of where this whole thing, the whole Michigan thing started for you, I assume. Yeah. Without a doubt. was like brainwashing strack. I mean, I'm talking from day one. I mean, we had, we had season tickets to Michigan football games. Yeah, I mean, absolutely. And we would, he worked in the weight room there too. So after he got done playing, when he was getting his master's, he was, he was working in the wait room under Mike Gittleson, who was one of the first strength coaches in college football history. So we'd go up there. We'd meet with Mike. And I mean, every,

every home game, I couldn't wait till Saturday. I couldn't wait to go up to the big house. I mean it was I was obsessed track so still am but yeah that's certainly where the the delusion started I listen man I get it like I remember like I never I was obviously never good enough at sports to play at Michigan but like I get it like the first time you go up there like there's something about the air in Ann Arbor like it makes you become upset I went to a hockey camp one time at Michigan and that's when I fell in love I was like seven eight years old and I went to a hockey camp and I'm like holy cow this is the greatest thing that's ever happened like you just I don't know, man.

You just like, you get addicted to it. It's crazy. No, you do. And, I mean, it's funny when we would go up and we go in the weight room and Mike Giddleston, I mean, Mike was crazy. My dad would tell me all sorts of stories about Mike, but he was big into the machine lifting and he would, he would reward the players that would throw up with Michigan shoe strings. So it was like a huge accomplishment.

If you threw up in your workout, you got these shoe strings. And I'll never forget, you know, one of my visits up there. I must have told him I wanted to play at Michigan one day but Mike came out with like this railroad tie and he said when you can when you can bend this railroad tie you'll be strong enough to play football at the University of Michigan so I took that son of a bitch home damn near every night just tried bending that thing never bent it

but it worked out that's so good man that's so good who did you look up to when you were when you were playing at Michigan And when you were a young guy just trying to figure this whole thing out, you know, you're a walk on, like, who are the guys that you looked up to? That's a great question. Probably one of my favorite teammates of all times, Brandon Graham, just the way that he carries himself. I mean, this guy, you want to talk about, like, passion for the game and just having fun doing it in an outstanding teammate. It's BG.

I mean, he's, you know, from afar, I just loved watching BG and just the way that he led. And I want to say my first year playing was BG's junior senior year, but I mean, he was big time. And he just took me under his wing, just kind of, I just always thought he was an outstanding leader. So he's certainly one of the guys that I looked up to for sure. But you never talk shit like he's like he's one of the mad shit. I like it, though. It doesn't matter. Yeah, it doesn't matter who you are.

All the time shit talkers, right? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. He doesn't stop talking all game. I love it. He'll let you know, yeah. Yeah. Jordan, for, do you get to watch Michigan football at all?

I mean, besides you maybe watching certain players, you know, I'm feeling. I follow from afar, yeah. I follow from afar. Yeah, I still try to catch damn near every game. But it's, yeah, not nearly as dialed in as I used to be able to be. Yeah. It's just hard. We're always on the road, you know.

Or when you're on the road, you're trying to watch it on the plane. You're trying to catch the highlights. Bad Wi-Fi. Bad Wi-Fi. Yeah, sometimes you get on these planes. They don't have TVs. That happened to me once the, it might have been when you were there, Worm, the Michigan, Ohio State game, might have been 13.

What was your first year? 14. 12. 12? Oh, that's right. Yeah, you were last year. That's right. But 13, the game that went into overtime, I mean, we were taken off, and this thing was just

about to go into overtime. So I had no idea for two hours what the outcome of that game was. Oh, man. Brutal. Yeah, it was brutal. Yeah. I know. As being one of that, I guess, I guess I kind of coined Rolder and Sullivan as the exciting whites.

As being one of the exciting whites, the OGs of Michigan football, at least in the past, you know, 20 years. What can you say about those two linebackers and how they've kind of ascended this year? They're fun, man. They're just fun to watch. They're sideline to sideline players. And you can just feel their energy. You can feel their leadership. It's really a fun defense to watch.

I think Wink's done a really good job with those guys. So they certainly have some pieces to build off of them. So they've been a lot of fun to watch. Who's your all-time favorite Michigan player? Charles Woodson. Of course. With Northwest Ohio guy, like it has to be, right? Oh, yeah.

I'm pretty sure. Like, I used to wear, like, I had like this number two jersey. And I remember, I don't know if it was for school pitchers or what, but I would go and steal my mom's gold chain and wear it to school, just so I can look back Charles Woodson. he was my favorite he was my favorite that's hilarious um you you played at michigan i mean you experienced everything at michigan i mean you went from the rich rod years to the hoke years and then you were there with harball can you i mean you're one of the very few that probably can

describe in detail what it was like for all three regimes um how different was it from one to the next to the next. Yeah, they were all relatively incomparable. I mean, yeah, they're just so different, so different. You know, obviously, Rich Rod, first of all, like, I mean, frankly, if I had come in under Brady or Jim Harbaugh, I probably would have never stood a shot. But Rich Rod's a guy that was a former walk on himself who really gave me my first opportunity.

And obviously, like, they were a little deficient at the time. And so there was a great opportunity for me to kind of. like kick the door down there and um you know then i played obviously under coach hoke and um really you know we were talking about what made me want to get into coaching and it was probably being around a guy like coach hoke just like worm out i'm sure you feel the same way but he's just a guy that like you feel like he's a father figure he's so much fun i just thought he was an outstanding leader um i just thought he brought a lot of joy and fun to the game and i thought he did it the right way. And then, yeah, learned a lot under Coach Harbaugh, man. Just how as a coach, your players can

take on the identity of you, you know, and I just always have just thought Coach Harbaugh is just one of the greatest coaches of all times, especially in Michigan football history. But a guy that just preaches toughness, physicality, I just, the way that he sees the game, I think, you know, I see it very similarly. So all three of those guys I certainly have learned a lot from, just not only as a player, but coaching under.

So it's been, you know, quite a spectrum of Michigan football over those three guys. And, you know, I also, I was coaching with Jerome Moore there, too. And Sharon's, you know, before, you know, anything,

he's an outstanding person. So he's, and he's doing a hell of a job. Um, you guys both also, you and Worm both also have a really strong connection to Greg Madison. Um, you guys can both share your love.

for coach Madison. What was it that you both kind of loved about him? Maddie, I thought he's an outstanding teacher. I mean, I thought he's just very black and white. You knew where you stood with him. I mean, he would shoot you straight. I just thought he was just an unbelievable coach, an even better person off the field.

You know, I keep in touch with Maddie to this day. You know he genuinely cares about you. He's a guy that really, when I got into coaching, he was the first guy I reached out to. And he took me under his wing. I worked my first two years, I was football intern, but I was really helping Greg Madison coach defensive line, which I had no idea what the hell I was doing. But he taught me how to see the game, how to coach D-Line, and how to see good technique. And it took me about at least three

months to kind of realize what I was watching. But he really, you know, from a young coach, really took me under his wing and certainly indented to him. Yeah, I mean, I would say the same thing. like I learned, I think, more from him in terms of just technique and how to play on the defensive side of the ball, not just D-Line, but, you know, where the linebackers are, where the safeties and cornerbacks are going to be. He taught me a lot of the game of football, and then I got to, you know, use that moving forward in the NFL, but it was my birthday a couple weeks ago, Jordan, and he, uh, he messaged me on Anne's Facebook account and was like, happy, he was like, happy birthday to my favorite six

technique. And I was like, oh, thanks, coach. I appreciate that. He has my number, too. So I don't know why he didn't just text me or give me a call, but I thought that was funny that he had to specify six technique. But, uh, yeah, Coach Madge is one of the good ones, even though Michigan fans probably aren't too happy with him going to Ohio State.

Yeah, it's a tough decision, I'm sure, for him. Yeah. No, you know what's what you talk about technique. I mean, he's the ultimate, like, fundamentalist. And, you know, I think every, every coach has all these cool drills where they're using all sorts of equipment and they're changing it up every day. Maddie used, I mean, it was the same drills every day. You're working the escape.

You're working hitting the sled. It was the, you're working your get-offs. You're working your pirate steps. It was the same drills every day. And that's something that I'll never forget as a coach. Just like, you don't need to make it too complicated. Just get good at the little things and drill them every day. And, you know, it's certainly something I learned from him.

We'd get like a grade sheet, you know, at the end of the game, or, you know, Sunday when we walk into watch film. You know, you'd have like a TFL on a play. or a sack on the play and you'd still get a minus because you didn't use your hands properly or you didn't shut off how you were supposed to I'm like, I just stopped him on third down what do you want for me, coach?

He's like, you know, Coach Maddie's voice he's like, it's not good enough. Not good enough, yeah, that's exactly right. You just play it over, especially if you had a bad play. He would just play it over and over and over. He wouldn't even say anything, Strach. I mean, you just, it would just be dead silent and the guys would be like tried not to laugh up front.

Yeah. That, you know, it made us all better. So I give a lot of credit to Coach Maddie. He's one of the good ones. He is. Love it. Yes, he is. I want to ask you, so we always ask people that have been around Jim Harbaugh.

Do you have a good Jim Harbaugh story? And we've had some really good ones this year from different guys. Do you have like something that stands out to you, a good Harbaugh story? Oh, there's so many. and listen i wasn't there i wasn't there in person i've just heard the um the mormon tabernacle story where he's wearing his i we hadn't heard that we go ahead yeah this was maybe his first game at michigan right when you guys went out to utah and played yep and um rumor has it that the team is like all they're getting a tour of the mormon tabernacle and um all of a sudden you just hear

the click, click, click, click of Coach Harvall's cleats in this church. I thought, is that real? Yeah, yeah, it's real. It's like the most, you know, it's like the most holy Mormon church in the world. You know, we're in Salt Lake City. We have like an extra day out there because we're playing, you know, kind of like a mountain west team. So, you know, instead of being in the hotel, let's get out, let's go see what Salt Lake has

to offer. And we're, you know, we take a bus to the tabernacle. And it was a beautiful building, you know, the church. was amazing seated like 20,000 people but you know it's dead silent and it echoes so it's just like you like Jordan said click clack click clack and we're like what the hell is this and it's you know jim's jim's wearing his adidas cleats in this you know holy church and it just echoes and we're like oh man oh my gosh that he you know he is he is one of i mean he's just himself which you know there's you learn a lot i mean i've just learned i've been fortunate to be around such good

coaches and coach harball being one of them i mean uh he is who he is and he is himself and that's that's the most important thing you know oh yeah it's it's yeah he no he's certainly one of one from all the stories we've heard and all those things um there have been some really good ones throughout this year uh and i i appreciate it um all right so i wanted to go back i wanted to ask you um is it true in 2008 did you actually after you didn't make the team did you actually go sit in the stands for every single game that year yeah yeah i'm pretty sure yeah yeah just watched as a fan i mean yeah my dad would come up we go to the games or i think i had some season tickets as well some student tickets so yeah i was just a fan that

year that's that's wild to me um and and like were you watching knowing like i'm gonna be out there next year and do you remember do you remember the first time you came out and jumped and were able to hit the banner yeah i almost took my head off i mean the banner is a lot lower than you especially when you've got some adrenaline going. Oh, yeah. Oh, man. Yeah, Zoltan Mesko did that once. Just jumped a little too high.

And then when one guy falls, it's like a domino effect. And then the next guy start piling up. Yeah. But yeah, did I watch knowing I was going to be playing next year? I mean, I think, yeah, in my mind, it was, I was certainly, you know, fueled. And that was my mindset. I know that. You know, I didn't know how exactly it was going to play out,

but certainly was going to give it a hell of a run. do like did you ever get tired of people like people kind of thought you were like michigan's rudy did that ever like did you ever get what so yes he is people have thought what are you talking about yeah he's like michigan's rudy he like rudy didn't get like two plays i understand starter and captain playing the out of no who said that at the beginning he kind of was but i'll take it as a compliment because rudy is one of my favorite movies of all time so I'll take that yeah to hell with you worm I don't care like that's a thing like when he was first worm he literally didn't make it his first time as a walk on he came back a second

time as a walk on and made it like yeah it's a cool story you see what I deal with coax I'll take it no I know track I'll take it it it's fine I mean I play with jordan when he was a senior he was the big dog he was the captain it wasn't it wasn't always that way worm eventually he was the man Yeah. Like, I get it. I get it. It took a minute. It did take. It did take a minute. When you look back, like, are there moments that you, like, cherish more than others? Like, what are some of the, like, what are your best memories? Michigan, Ohio State game 2011 would certainly be one of them.

Yeah. I would say Michigan, Michigan State 2012. I would say the Sugar Bowl. from what yeah from what we remember i mean that's a fun game and that's an awesome venue right there that that's a good one um but i think like for me like those games are awesome memories but what you like what you really miss is like just the camaraderie the teammates like those things that you never really get back i think that stuff's fun and then certainly like you value all the the hardships the things that you had to overcome like the adversity like there's a lot of a lot of great memories, man. It was just such a fun chapter of my life

and something that probably has molded me, you know, into the person I am in a lot of different ways. Give us some good away from the field stories. Like, we've heard, we've heard some good ones this year. What did you, what animal did you guys have worm in your apartment?

No, that was, that was Jack Miller had a pig with La Wuan. With the one house. Yeah, La Wai. Okay, so do you have any, like, good away from the field stories that you can share? I don't think there's any that are like, that are shareable

I mean oh boy you have to go back there's a lot of good memories at Ricks I know that I don't want to get anybody canceled but yes if you have something

if you have something where you can pull back the curtain we would take it it would be all right you know I don't know if there's anything that jumps to mind off the field but a lot of great memories

on the field all right we won't we're not gonna we're not getting anybody canceled here on the podcast today I like it that's good idea

all right so we want to play a little game here basically you've seen these grids on social media or whatever where you can like pick your all-time Michigan team and hopefully Justin's listening and throw the graphic up for us. So you can go through and pick your all-time favorite Michigan team. You're going to get 15 bucks and we've got all these guys listed

and you can go through and you can go through a picket. So it looks like this. You're going to have a pick a quarterback, two wide receivers, a running back and a tight end, you get $15 total. We're going to let you go, and then Worm and I will do it once you're done. So as we go across that quarterback list, you got J.J. McCarthy at $5, Chad Henney at $4, Tom Brady at $3, Denard at $2, and $1, Kade McNamara. Where are you going to go to start off your list at the quarterback position?

I think Brady is a steal at $3. That's, I mean, that's a lot of wins right there. I mean, he's just a winner. Even in college, I know, you know, he had some adversity there. Sure. I'll take Brady at three. I'm going Brady at three. And that's like, I love Denard.

I just think that there's a lot of value there with Tom at three. Okay. Okay. Go to the running back position. Let me read these for you. You've got $5. Blake Corum, $4, Tyrone Wheatley, $3, Mike Hart, $2, Hassan Haskins, and $1, Daveon Smith.

Ooh, Mike Hart, $3. I'm up to six now. Yep, you're up to six bucks. All right, let's go. Wide Receiver 1 here. You've got Braylon Edwards for five, Mario Manningham, Nico Collins,

Jason Avant, and J.U. Chesson at $1 for that first wide receiver spot. Yeah, give me Braylin. So hold on these. It's five bucks. Yeah, then you're in a, okay, okay.

These wide receivers are not interchangeable, huh? No, no, no, no. You got to go, we got to go one line and then the other line. Give me Braylin. All right. Give me Braylin. I'll take it. Yep.

Braylin for five. You're up to 11. I'm up to 11, so I've got $4 to spend. Yeah, four bucks left. Yeah, so, yeah, you can go three and one. You can go two and two. That's up to you. Is that a cold down there?

It's cold, man. That is a bit, that, you already know what I'm doing. Great. Okay, I got another wide receiver to pick, right? Yeah, at wider, your other wide receivers, you've got Desmond Howard at five bucks, Anthony Carter at four, Amani tumor at three, Jeremy Gallin at two, and Roman Wilson at one. Yeah, you can only afford to one. Give me, JG.

All right, you got $2 gallon and then $2 for Cogar? Give me Cogar, hell yeah, Toledo Tough, let's go. That's right, man. That's the podcast right there. That's what I'm talking about. That's how you do it because, so you at Tom Brady, Mike Hart, Braylin Edwards, Jeremy Gallin, and Kevin Coger, that's a good, that's a really, solid list. That's a really solid list. I like it. I like it. Good job. Thank you.

All right. Justin, you can pop that off for a second. Then we'll, we'll come back to it. Jordan, listen, man, I really, really appreciate you doing this. I know we, uh, um, we know you're busy. You're big time in the NFL now, man. I'm not big time. I promise you that. I'm trying, but I'm not, I'm nowhere near it yet. I promise you that. All right. You know that you know the only thing that's left to do for you to complete the, the all-time Michigan circle is to come back and someday be the head coach at the University of Michigan, right? Maybe someday.

Maybe someday. All I know is I'm happy where I'm at right now. I'm just going to keep working. All right, all right. I appreciate you. I appreciate you guys. Yeah, no, thank you guys for having me. No, thank you so much and keep killing it, man. I appreciate you guys. Yes, absolutely. All right, let's, Jordan Kovix, one of my all-time favorites.

just obviously an unbelievable dude his story is like the ultimate michigan story like it's just it's such a cool story the way that i mean war could you have imagined having to try to go go it that way as a walk on no that's crazy i mean that that takes i mean like we i mean the delusion like you got to you got to have you got to be strong-willed at 18 19 years old to be told no come back sit in the stands watch all the games still have that in the back I'm like, I'm still meant to do this. You know, he was, he was one of the guys that I looked up to, knowing from, he's from Toledo my last year,

or my first year, he was, he was a fifth year going on his last year, my first year. And when I told my ACL, he was one of the first guys that reached out. Really? That freshman year of 2012 and was just one of those guys that always was checking in, always was making sure that, you know, I was, I was staying up with the rehab, making sure that, you know, you can go a lot of different ways when you, when you have a major injury like that, especially in college.

And he was one of the guys that, you know, he could have been selfish and focused on what he had to do. But as a captain and as a guy from Toledo, he made sure that I was, you know, for the most part, staying with staying the course. He's a good one of the good ones. But it certainly wasn't Michigan's Rudy. No. Dude, do you not remember when he first came onto the scene?

People literally were like, that was like a thing that people did when he first came onto the scene, man. yeah you got you got a that was that that movie was like that was like his last game or something like that you weren't even born when rudy had you have you ever even watched rudy yeah he's what the guy was from the hobbit or whatever is lord of the reins i don't know like it's a good movie but like can't compare somebody who played in the NFL for like five six years to a guy who made one play oh my god no listen man like that wasn't the point and he went to know the game like i don't know whatever I love you for that. Oh, God. All right. Should we pick our teams now? You want to go do that?

Yeah. Can I go first? Listen, I would love for you to go first. Go ahead and we'll throw that back up on the screen. All right. So go ahead through the quarterbacks first. You got JJ, Chad Hennie, Tom Brady, Dinard, and Cade McNamara across the top row. Where are you going?

I'm starting off very similar to Kovacs. I'm going Tom Brady three. $3. I think that's a steal there. Brady, I think he won the Orange Bowl or something like that when he was at Michigan. Yep. Beat what, Bama? Beep Bama. Good game manager. Yeah, I think $3. Tom Brady is a steal. All right. Well, where are you going to this wide receiver one position? You've got Braylin, Mario Manningham, Nico Collins, Jason Avant, J.U. Chesson. I'm going, I'm going Nico Collins on this one. for three bucks. I'm saving my money for someone farther down the list, but what Nico Collins is doing now in the league,

that just makes me wonder, like, what would he have done if he had a quarterback at Michigan? I think Brady would have been that guy to get him the ball. He could take the top off of defenses. He's, you know, 6, 364, can run like a gazelle. Give me Nico Collins in the wide receiver one position. Okay. Uh, wide receiver two position.

You've got Desmond, Anthony Carter, Amani Tumor, Jeremy Gallin, and Roman Wilson across the screen there. I'm still trying to save some money here. So I'm going Roman Wilson with the $1. Okay. He, um, he's one of those guys that underneath routes, the slot position, shifty, crafty guy, get you get you big, you know, third down conversions, third medium conversions. Uh, he's the type of guy that I want to, uh, to kind of open up the middle of the field when Nico Collins is going deep. Okay. I skip the running back position because I'm dumb. So let's go back

to the second row. Blake Quorum is your $5. Then Tyrone Wheatley, Mike Hart, Hassan Haskins, and Davian Smith. And you've got $6.7. You're at $7. I said $6.7. Sorry, go ahead. $7. So I've $8 total. Okay. I'm going, I'm going, Mike Hart here. I'm going, I'm going Mike Hart. Okay. One of my favorite players of all time. 50 carries a game. Michigan's a running school, a running football team. He's going to, especially when you get to, you know, 30, 40 runs a game with him. That's going to open up the play action pass with Brady and Nico Collins to get those big chunk plays.

I like Mike Hart here. All right. And then your tight end, you've got $5 left for your tight end. I assume you'll use all five of those. You got Jake Butt, Colston Loveland, Devin Funches, Kevin Coger, and Zach Gentry. what kind of to listen Kevin Coger went to Whitmer High School the same high school you went to

he went to Michigan the same college you went to you love Kevin Coger you have to go there right you're going to save some money what am I going to do with the three bucks I can't even go to McDonald's and buy a cheeseburger I'm going to go to McDonald's and buy a cheeseburger I'm going Jake butt

the greatest tag in in Michigan history he's going to be the QB's best friend I think when you got Brady Mike Hart Roman Wilson Nico Collins and but I think that's the ultimate Michigan offense right there for 15 bucks. It's a, I don't know if you can top that. All right.

Well, I'm going to give it a shot here. Let's see. All right, here we go. Let's see. I'm going to go a QB across the top. I'm going to Nard. I'm actually going to go, I think $2 for DeNard is an incredible steal. When you go back and look at the stats, like you look at the all-time Michigan stats,

dinard's stats actually are comparable or better than almost everybody that you would think that he's better than the way just i i just he was so far ahead of his time too i think if denard played today he would be even better than he was and he had a great career yeah i think i think going on going you know especially in today's day game like two two bucks for denards is a steal so i thought you're going to go Cade McNamara, but you know I wasn't going Cade McNamara. Beat Ohio State won a Big Ten title? I mean, he did. He did. And if I was on the steal, that's a steel. That's a steel. Ballard is a steel. Yeah. And if I was Don Thomas, then I probably would have picked him, but I'm not. So I didn't. All right, wide receiver

one, I'm going to spend my big chunk here. I'm going with Braylin. I just think about all those big moments that he had when it was a. a big game, nobody could cover him. You needed to win at the end, nobody could cover him. He was the prototypical, big time wide receiver. He's the all time leading receiver in Michigan history, all time touchdown receiving leader in Michigan history. I'm going brailing for five bucks, so I'm at $7 there. Here's where I'm going to take, and maybe surprise some people. I'm going to go $2 and take Jeremy Gallen here. I think he was as underappreciated as anybody at Michigan.

Go back and look at the all-time stats. I mean, Jeremy Gallen had an incredible Michigan career. You want to talk about, you know, some big moments. Remember that game against Notre Dame under the lights where he made, he made some, the big catches. I loved Jeremy Gallen. I thought he was an incredible, incredible player, had a great career. And for two bucks, I can't pass that up.

That's $9. He pairs up nicely with, uh, with Braylin, you know, brother and kind of kind of the nico collins uh roman wilson kind of pair like i like i did but yeah i could see why you went both of those guys yep absolutely great and that was it was a compliment there so i'm at nine dollars i've got six bucks left and i'm going to do the exact same thing that you and coax did for three bucks i can't pass on mike hart i just think i think what mike hart did from a a just like courage you know needing wanting the ball in all the big moments being able to take over a game.

I love Mike Hart. He's one of my all-time favorite Wolverines for three bucks. I'm going Mike Hart, and that leaves me three bucks left. You're going to save some money? I am not saving money. I'm going to go Devin Funches. I think, you know, when you look at, now you look at past catchers here, I've got Braylin and Gallin, and I think Devin Funches is an unbelievable compliment to that.

I mean, he was a, he was basically a wide receiver playing tight end. I just, I loved the way that Devin Funches played. I really, I did. You know, he got to the league and he had a sneaky good NFL career too. So that's where I'm going. Dinarg, Braylin, Jeremy Gallen, Mike Hart, Devin Fonchis, that's $15. I think that's a pretty good team. I thought she would have went, JJ, JJ, J.J.

Corem, spent all your money with those two guys and then. And then just, just bargain basement shopping the rest of the way? Yeah, Cogar, Avant, Roman Wilson. and wouldn't one would have been decent you know hey that would have been a good team that would have been a good team too there's a lot of different things you can do and i so i i hope people that are listening or watching the pod i hope that we'll go and we're going to you know we'll post all this uh on our socials i hope people will go and uh share your teams pick uh pick out your your 15 dollar team uh we'll throw this up on uh Twitter and Instagram, just the graphics so people can go and respond and hopefully we'll get

some people to click on that. But I think that was a fun little exercise. I think that was good. Yeah, fill in time during the bye week. You know, we got, didn't get to talk a whole, didn't get to watch a lot of ball this week. The wife and kids made me get out of the house because there was no Michigan ball on. Man. You know, I had to be a dad.

I had to, you know, the wife, you know, she made me get out of the house, which is okay. It was good to see, you know, the snow, played in the snow with the kids yesterday, made a snowman, out of the house. Yeah, it was good. It was good. It was good for the soul. It was pretty good packing snow, too. Yeah, it was heavy, wet.

Heavy, yeah. Through a couple too hard at my five-year-old, and she wasn't too happy about it, but we had some hot cocoa afterwards, so it was good. Bill's character, right? Yes, sure does. I love it. Big plans this week, worm? yeah we'll see we'll see if i make it out to chicago or not um okay the plan is maybe well hopefully not maybe i don't know we'll see we'll see yeah yeah a lot can happen the next 24 to 48 hours so we'll see

yeah we'll keep the people updated there uh michigan drive to chicago if yeah if i had out there yeah uh listen big week uh michigan's played on big noon kickoff uh they're at rigley field against Northwestern. I'm, I actually am kind of, like, excited to see, like, the spectacle of Wrigley. I think it's kind of cool. You know, I'm not a huge fan of these, like, baseball stadium games. They're fine. I think what's kind of cool, what I think is going to be exciting is to watch that it's going to be,

it's going to basically be a Michigan home game. Like, Michigan fans are taking over Chicago. So I think that's going to be kind of cool that you basically get an extra home game out of this whole deal. I think it's kind of, do you think it's cool, or do you like the baseball stadium thing or no? Yeah, especially if you, would, would I rather play in Chicago, like in the city at Wrigleyville, at Wrigleyfield, you know, in Wrigleyville, whatever the little neighborhood is called, or would I rather go to Evanston, Illinois?

Like, no. I used to, we, I played at Northwestern twice, and I hated playing there. The grass is like six inches. The stadium holds like 25,000 people. It's, Wrigley Field is going to be cool. It's an iconic baseball stadium. It's got a lot of history there. And I think the fans that are going to be there are going to have a great time.

They're building their new stadium at Northwestern. They've got that temporary one, like right on the lake, which is like, it's really, I mean, it's pretty, like it's cool. Are you mad? You didn't have the grades to get in Northwestern or what, man? Why are you hanging on Northwestern? They have a terrible field. I don't know.

Am I bad? Okay. I don't know if I had the grades to get into Michigan either, but football helped. You Cardell Jones, that thing, right? I can come here to play school. Come on, man. All right, let's talk about Northwestern a little bit. They played USC really tough.

Like, they actually played them pretty tough for the most part. They won at Penn State. They beat Purdue 19-0. Remember, Michigan just struggled with that Purdue team. We just watched it. I mean, listen, Michigan has to show up. This is not a rollover and go win game. You have to show up to.

go win this game yeah they got to they got to they got to they got to put especially coming off of a buy where you you probably look look back at the last few weeks and look at what you did well maybe put some new wrinkles in um rested the bodies up hopefully get get some of those guys healthy that were hurt against Purdue um they got to come out they got they got to they got to make a statement um i know the college football playoff committee is looking at all these games and and and you know if they're 10 and two and they beat Ohio state at the end of the year then they look back at some of these games and they didn't beat the teams that they were supposed to beat in a big enough margin. That might hurt them getting into playoffs. But they need to take care of business this

week, not win by three points or five points or, you know, two points. They need to come out and win by more than, I'd say more than 10 points for people to feel decent about it. Yeah. This is a don't mess around type game. Like, don't let them stick around to the fourth quarter. Don't let, that's the one thing I don't want to see is, is mission. kind of, you know, here's the thing. If they go 10 and 2, they beat Ohio State. Michigan's getting in the playoff. There's no doubt in my mind that that's going to be the case.

But right now, listen, Northwestern and Maryland, road games, technically, you better buckle up and be ready to go these next two weeks. There is no looking past these games for Ohio State because if you don't win both of these games, the Ohio State game doesn't mean shit. That's just, yeah, it is what it is. So, like, you, these are games you can't look past. And I think, you know, Michigan has to really buckle in and go play. Yeah, they got to be peaking at the right time.

And this is November ball where you've got to be taking those strides and beating teams that you're supposed to handedly and peeking for that, you know, that 12th game of the season against Ohio State because that's, that's what everyone is looking at now. That's what, that's what this team is playing for. And there's a lot on the line, not just that last game of the season, but these next two coming up as well. It's a lot on the line for these boys in the next three weeks, which it's going to be fun to watch. It's November ball in college football. Yeah, for sure. Sheron Moore, it sounded like was talking. It seems like Cole Sullivan will probably be ready to go this week, just kind of reading the tea leaves from what Sharon was saying.

Barham and Rolder, maybe, maybe not. Justice Haynes isn't going to play. so I mean it was a good time for the buy this team certainly needed the time off hopefully that will help going into this week getting some of these guys a little healthy at this time of year everybody's got some nicks everybody's got some bruises yeah yeah i mean everyone's hurt everyone's playing sore um but yeah if you can get those guys to be to back in in playing health condition that's huge especially the linebackers um barham rolder Sullivan those guys have to be healthy, especially at that game against Ohio State because you want all your firepower

when you're playing the best team in the country. So they're going to need those guys, not just these next coming weeks, but that last game for sure. Absolutely. All right. Anything else before we get out of here? That's it. I think my team, my ultimate offense would beat you in Kovacs. It was fun getting to talk to him for a little bit. He is not Rudy. I know he's white. I know he was a walk-on, but it's just. there's a couple things that are that are the same but it's like i could find some things similar to rudy and and me so i don't know covex is not it's just not he's just not rudy i don't know i don't know why i'm getting so fired up about that but i don't listen that really pissed you

it really pissed you off this is disrespectful you know all right all right did your did your daughter i was going to say something the face of the snowball yesterday and you're still I was going to say something, but I'm going to, I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. I'll keep my comments. Wow. Okay. Okay. I was going to compare you to somebody and it would have hurt your feelings.

I think I know exactly where you're going to. All right, worm. I hope you have an incredible week. You too. I can't wait to see you back here on the pod next week. I'll be here. All right. That's going to do it.

Make sure you tell all your friends, we have a lot of fun here on Stadium and Maine. share this thing and go on social media if you haven't already. Give us your ultimate Michigan team. And that's going to do it. Thanks to Jordan Kovacs for his time. And we'll see you next week back here on Stadium in Maine. Go blue.