Blue By Ninety - Jay Hill Talks Defense

Episode Date: August 21, 2026

Welcome to Rise to the Victors, your daily start with Michigan sports on the Blue By 90 network with Trevor McCue and Darnell Porter.In this episode, Trevor and Darnell break down Hill's latest fall camp press conference and what we learned about a Michigan defense that could once again be one of the strengths of the Wolverines.The entire fall camp defense is now installed. Rod Moore is stringing practices together. Michigan's biggest preseason question at linebacker may have more answers than expected. And several young players are beginning to force their way into the conversation as Hill and his staff prepare to transition from camp into game preparation.🏈 IN THIS EPISODE:• Jay Hill's latest Michigan Football fall camp comments• Michigan has installed its entire fall camp defense• Game planning for Western Michigan and Oklahoma is coming• Are Michigan's linebacker concerns disappearing?• Rod Moore strings together four consecutive practices• Shamari Earls continues his breakout camp• Michigan's deep group of pass rushers• Mason Curtis being treated like a starter• Hill's philosophy on game-day adjustments• Can this become one of college football's elite defenses?Rise to the Victors is your daily start with Michigan sports on the Blue By 90 network.Join Trevor McCue and Darnell Porter every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday morning at 10:30 a.m. for Michigan Football news, analysis, recruiting, basketball and conversation about everything happening around the Wolverines.Subscribe to Blue By 90 and turn on notifications so you don't miss a show.

Welcome in everybody. It's another morning. It's time for Rise to the Victors here in the Blue By 90 Podcast Network. Trevor McHugh here, joined as always by Darnow Porter. Super excited yesterday we broke down Jason Beck's press conference and again what I thought was some very candid and insightful comments. Jay Hill more of the same really good detail given by him yesterday and some stuff that I think answers a lot of questions that people might have had. And I know some new questions have emerged from some things he said as well. But I think we can kind of connect the dots on those things. And then some intel, if you will, specifically Rod Moore. He's echoed something I've been saying since January, basically.

So interested to talk about that as well. So Darnal, how are you doing, man? I'm doing great, man. It's another where we now 10 days in is our 10th episode or maybe 9th because I think we took a day. off but super super excited to get to it I felt all warm and fuzzy because the goat or at least my goat Charles Wilson agreed that we're giving out good content yesterday shout out to to the man the myth the legend Charles Wilson for tuning in and tapping in with us but I'm feeling good man we're two Saturdays away from

real football I mean it just felt like yesterday we were saying happy New Year's and now we're about to be two Saturdays away from football. So week zero next week and then we get right to it the week after. So I'm super excited. I'm pumped and ready to go. It feels like it shows up fast and then it goes even faster. So yeah. But all right, let's get into it because this can be a loaded one.

My biggest takeaway is something that got me very, very excited was he, he being Jay Hill, defensive coordinator, said that the defense. is fully installed. So recently, Rod Moore said they're about 80%. I think that was right at the start of camp. But he said they are now 100% of fall camp defense installed. And the next step is to start talking about Western in Oklahoma. We've heard a lot about the complexity of the scheme.

I think he specifically talked about that too. We'll get to that when we get into more with the linebackers, but that he feels the linebackers are ahead of schedule. and there's a lot asked of them. Like so, we're going to get to that, but the scheme is installed with them as well. So,

I mean, I'm excited about the defense anyway because of the players and because of Jay Hill's scheme and a lot of the things we've talked about and we'll talk about, but man, that's really good to hear.

Two weeks out, he's like, oh, yeah, we're done. Yeah, that doesn't mean, we're not going to see the full book right out the gate, right? There's still, there's still going to be progress

throughout the year. But, man, that was a real. really nice thing to hear. Yeah, it goes back to what we've been echoing since we started this show, right, is how much Winningham has invested in his staff. And the reason why I'm bringing up the staff is because when you have top-tier copors at Oot position, it makes it a whole heck of a lot easier to install what

people may deem as a comp a complex defense, right? And so, when you have the Stockton's of the worlds and Yeah, you have you have the Woodenheim's mac up with your linebackers, you got two D-line

coaches. You got Jay Hill, who's also a secondary guy that can help out with the amount of the amount of coaches we have in the secondary is insane, right? Our secondary should be lights out. We got a cornerbacks coach, we got a safety's coach. Our DC is a DB coach by trade, right? I saw something that I thought was freaking awesome and like this tells you how hard this staff is working. I don't know if you saw yesterday, but the whole defensive staff wished the corner we just got, I think he's

last name, Tobert. I think he ended up getting hurt yesterday in the game. But he's planning in Ohio. Huh? He came back in. Okay. He played in Ohio. He played in the game in Ohio. Real good team. Matter of fact, it's Marshall's former team, right? They played in the Bangal Stadium. And they wished him good luck. But if you go back to that video,

there's like 50 people in that room. I was looking at just grinning like, oh, my God. Like, like, they are locked in, so it makes it a lot easier to install, because you as a D.C., you're just trusting your guys. You're giving them what they need to install, and you're moving on, right? So how that helps you in the future is when you're game planning, the whole playbook is to your disposal. So what you may show at Western, you can show something totally different at Oklahoma

because you haven't got that deep in your playbook. You can mix and match things. And then you can also, if you want, save a little wrinkle, right, towards the end of the year for your bigger games, the Indiana's, the Penn States, the Ohio states, the Oregon. So I think it is huge. And I was grinning near to year when I was watching that press conference back. Because I don't know if we've had a D.C. that's been more candid.

I don't remember Jesse or Mike being as candid. And I know Wink was not as confident when he came in his first year, like, Sam, we got 100% of this stuff ready to go. We're ready for the season. Right. So kudos to jade his staff, man. I tip my hat to them. And like you said, I'm grinning ear to ear and ready to see what that looks like. And again, I know people, we keep talking about the hesitants and see with hype.

Like, this isn't even a hype thing. This is just a stated fact, right? we don't know what the execution looks like in games that's again that's what matters and that's the big part of the equation but him being able to say yeah it's installed that's just the truth and it's a good thing right so he also mentioned you know i think about concerns we talked about line back around and on a lot this off season um and i continue to mention like i really like Troy Bowles as a guy coming into his fourth year we spent two years at Georgia look good when he was out there and that you know staling went healthy and here we are he's been getting hyped up a ton and was um mentioned yesterday

quite a bit as well and chase taylor they're high on and nobes that former fringe five star before he got hurt blah blah blah feel good about that group he actually mentioned that he thinks there's six linebackers now that he feels really comfortable getting out there um not going to hypothesize on the other two or how much they'll play but that that position is so interesting and I think the question that got raised yesterday he talked about a base defense where there's three defensive linemen three linebackers and four dbs and I think people immediately were like oh three three five and when he first got hired and I looked at the depth charts and stuff I was like well what what is this exactly and I've struggled when people have

been like hey who's lb one I'm like I don't really know how to answer that because he uses what he calls a Sam, a Mac, and a rover. Right. And I pulled up some PFF numbers to try and get people an idea of how versatile these defenders are and how they're used. And there's a nickel too, by the way. So there's still, like for starters, they're listing 12 or 13 guys, right? Kind of similar to some horrible years where he was like, okay, we got 15 starters. Right. So the guy that really sticks out to me is Isaiah Glassger, who's listed at the Sam, 6-5-240. He played 815 snaps last year. Okay.

Of those, 330 were as a run defender. 135 was in the pass rush where he generated 20 pressures. Jack Kelly, the other linebacker who played the rover, so the other outside linebacker, 29 pressures. Okay. And both of them, Glassker, 350 snaps out of 815 in coverage. Jack Kelly, 287 snaps in coverage, right? So these linebackers are doing everything, and they're being moved around a lot as well. They're playing on the line. They're playing back. They're lining up like typical inside linebackers. They're doing, you know, the standing

edge thing. So I say that to say, it'll be interesting to see. I still think the base is a 425, there's a lot of nickel, but we've talked about how versatile he wants to be and moving guys around. That's going to happen with the current linebackers, and I'm going to put two things together here. It really intrigues me with Mason Curtis, because he talked about Mason Curtis basically being a starter as well, and Rodmore's health will get into it. But I wonder if we're going to see Mason Curtis up on the line, playing a big nickel, back at safety, lining up almost like a linebacker at times, right? It's going to be interesting to actually see how the snaps roll out.

And it's probably going to take four or five games because it's going to be game dependent when it comes to the personnel. But I'm not I'm not freaking out or thinking that means anything. Like he's been very, again, candid about how much they've been watching 2023 Michigan's tape and how much the scheme mirrors that and how the corners are going to be I don't know, blah, blah, blah. So I don't think there is anything super enlightening there in terms of the defensive scheme. Just kind of a reminder that this is going to be a very versatile defense.

And guys are going to be rotating a lot because they're going to have so many multiple fronts throughout a game. So we're, let's see, 10 minutes into the show. So I feel like this is the best time for me to give my RAM for us. Hey, you. Right. So, uh, there's a multiple of teams, 49ers, Eagles, Rams, dolphins, that run this kind of hybrid 425, right?

So just so you guys, sorry for the people that'll be listening back on the podcast, but just so you guys can see a little bit about what Trevor and Jay was talking about. I did see people 100% freak out when they saw him counting up, the people and they say, well, my coach can't count. He only gave us 10. So this is what it, this is what you will see a lot of base, probably Michigan run. A lot of teams like to run this because it lets them stay versatile by running like a nickel defense. But it gives them enough players on the field that can.

make plays if you're in the run game too. So usually you'll have you, your biggest guy, which is going to be your nose tackle what I was telling Trevor in our show prep for us with the Rams. This is Puna Ford. Then you have two D tackle sledge edges here. And then your linebackers who are actually can play edge, they're outside linebackers on the roster, but they're playing edge up against the line, right? sometimes these guys drop in the coverage.

Some guys, these guys are here for run support. Depending on them, they match based upon what the offense throws out there. And that's why this 425 has become such a popular defense in the NFL because it allows you to match up based on the personnel that somebody is putting out on the field. So this is what it could look like, right? You could have a single high safety up top. And then you got corners playing looks like man on the high. outside and then you got these guys kind of muddying up the box now i'm pretty sure if these guys

was spread out you have maybe either a linebacker showing because i think trevor said one of the one of the linebackers had like 150 past defenses so i'm pretty sure what happens is if those tight ends spread out then you bring in those linebackers to check those tight ends in the slot great thing about what it seems like j heel does is his game planning is based upon what he sees from a team in what they like to do, right? So he knows Utah likes to run jumble a lot. They like to run that rhino. So he's matching personnel.

Now, when we get into, when we get into film study with Toski, I'm going to have some plays where BYU played some teams that were more spread out. And we'll see how Jay Hill attacks when there's more spread out. I would assume he'd probably take a linebacker, one of those linebackers off the field, that edge would kind of play back in the zone. And you're dependent on that pass rush to get home, right? That's what it really boils down to. If that pass rush gets home, it makes the life of your corners and your safety is a whole heck of a lot easier.

So, yes, he can count guys. He was just misspoken, but this is his base defense. This is what he runs. So I just want to put some minds at ease when it comes to the trivia. Yep. I had the mute button on. When somebody says base, too, like I think people immediately think, oh, base defense, that means 80% of our plays, right? That just means what everything is built off and modifies off of, right?

So that doesn't mean like this is what we're running primarily or whatever. That's just this is the base set. So even just from a terminology standpoint, every other position that's added, moved, whatever, is off of that base, right? So I'm going to go a little bit out of order just because I mentioned him here. But, you know, he said Chris Bracey and Rod Moore expects his starters at safety, but also said Curtis playing significant snaps. And it reminded me of as successful as this staff was in the transfer portal in terms of like, you know, as soon as we knew, like, which coaches were coming from what staff we're pulling up rosters like okay who can we get right like getting a candy store and i know the big name right out the gate people were excited about

especially with jay hill was um phautau satualla i think is how you do it um and he was that safety that can come up and play linebacker you know six four two 15 and he seemed he was obviously going to be a great fit whatever j hill was doing and blah blah blah right Right. Guess what Mason Curtis is currently listed on as the roster? Six four, two, fifteen. On the dot. Six, four, two, fifteen.

So him starting to hype him up now that he's been healthy and playing at hunting camp, look, I'm not saying he's going to be what Falotow could have been, but I think that, like, it's easy for me to connect dots now and go, okay, he got his hybrid guy. He's looking for it. that safety spot. Yeah, it makes sense. I mean, sometimes you can't get everything you want,

so you have to plug and play. A lot of people ask me, and this is not Michigan fans, a lot of people who watched us that roof of other teams, like, hey, what's going on with that Mason Curtis dude? He on the video game making all the plays. Is this dude going to play this year? And I'm like, he might. I mean, he's pretty good.

So I think he's a really underrated player. Oh, yeah, absolutely. I'm a big Mason Curtis fan. Absolutely. And that's why the, the, like you said, the different variations off the base makes a lot of sense, right? Because now you can kind of disguise, if they see Mason Curtis on the field, they may think we're one thing, but he, because he's a part of the base, we're actually in something else. So that's what helps with the disguising and showing one thing. but when you post staff, it's another thing.

So I think Jay Hill is in the kitchen. He's cooking with his staff. And I think I'm ready to come over for dinner. Nice. See what they serve. Yeah, because if we're talking about 3-3-4, right, and there's the 11th player missing in that, when Curtis is on the field,

he could be the nickel, 5th EB, he could be a third safety. He could line up like a linebacker, and we're in a traditional three, four, he can line up on the line. And now we're doing, whether you call it a three, you know,

people go back and forth between five, two, or, you know, three, four with standing edges, whatever, he could be three or four different things for you on the field, right? So that's right.

It gets really intriguing. Dead horse at this point with Rod Moore and his health and is he going to play and blah, but I've said pretty consistently for me, I heard very early in the offseason in the spring in summer that he was looking really good. He was feeling really good. He was ahead of schedule. And like all the optimism around him, I said, okay, good, you know, obviously rooting for him. But for me, it's play a game, get through a week of practice, play a game, get through a week

of practice, right? The entire grind of the season. And Jay Hill specifically said yesterday that he has now practiced for four consecutive days, his longest stretch in quite some time. So fully healthy, feels great, just hit the mark of four days of practice for the first time in a long time, right? So that's what we're dealing with getting a full contribution from Rod Moore this year. He's, again, building up for that grind. He said he's better physically every day, increasingly comfortable in the defense. He said, we have them at full speed. 100%.

He makes us better for sure, right? We know that as a leader, as a player. Rod Moore's a, and I said this going back to. years ago. Rodmore is a Michigan legend forever, whatever he does. Right. And if he can play this year, that obviously elevates the defense, even when he only played like the 20 or 30 snaps last year, right? Like immediate impact. Just seems he's one of those guys, Greg, you just beat me to it. Smartest safety I've ever seen. He's one of the most pure tacklers I've seen. And the dude

is literally always in the right spot. His football IQ is off the charts. And we saw it as a freshman in 2021. Kind of came out and over. People forget, like, all the hype around Dax Hill. And it was Rod Moore initially that came in and made a big impact. So look, I'm not trying to be like Debbie Downer with this. I want the dude playing every week. I hope he does massive Rodmore fan like say he's a legend forever. But just so people understand, you know, where we're at in his process. He's literally Bryce of the defense. He's the quarterback. He's been that since he's been in that position.

When Michigan defense is the great, second day, good, Rod Moore instructed a lot of the coverages, a lot of the audibles. So it makes sense that he's definitely a mispresent. I'm happy that he's able to spring those practices forward. I feel like it couldn't happen to a better guy. Most people with the type of injury history that he's had over the past couple years would have probably walked away. It's a lot of rehab, man. Yeah, he fought to get back and hopefully he stays healthy and, you know, the fruits bear from the labor that he's had to deal with.

Because I think Rob Moore can play at the next level. He's just got to put together a healthy season and put some more stuff on tape. Side note real quick, because I know that this has been a talk. talking point and the alert just came through to my phone. We'll probably talk about it Monday. But the court has now denied last of 22 their fifth year eligibility. So all those NFL guys that was hopping in the portal are now no longer eligible to play at the college level. So just wanted to throw it out there because I know a lot of people that's been a hot topic. Everybody's been talking about. Is it fair? Should they be allowed to do it?

So the court now has come out, reversed the strain order, and root in favor of the, I guess, the NCAA. But back to Rob Moore. Super, super excited to hear that from Jay Hugh. And the one thing that I think I want to highlight is he said, if he can, he said, we have them at full speed. and he has the defense 100%. If we have him at full speed and he has the defense 100%, he makes us better for sure.

I think that's an important statement. I think the coach is telling you like, hey, if this guy has everything that we need him to do and he can play 100% healthy, this takes this defense to a whole other level. So it's very excited to hear that. Sorry, I'm looking at this now and I'm trying to, I probably shouldn't make too many opinions

until I can fully digest it. Yeah, that's why I did. There can obviously be another appeal, and it's interesting. The state court cases are versus the federal and the antitrust and all that goes into that. I still think what we'll see, depending on where it goes, if there's any stability from a court case, I've been more interested in the basketball side, though, but I wondered if the NCAA, which they kind of implied, we saw it basketball last year and bringing in some of the G-League guys. basically saying, hey, we might not be able to tell you these guys are ineligible right now.

But if they become ineligible as we go through this legal process, we can vacate the wins that you played those players, right? And I know coming into this, there was some concern about a ghost transfer portal where dudes could just not enroll at school in spring and enroll a new one in a fall and join the football team, right, and not have to enter the transfer portal. And what the NCAA did was put in penalties. If you do that, they can't penalize the player, but they can penalize the coach and the team. Right. So we'll be interested. So again, I don't want to get hung up on this. But just because there's two comments here.

One, stupid not to just grandfather that class in. And they should have never announced that new rule until after the fall sports seasons had started. They did it on purpose. So the NCAA wanted chaos. They're begging the federal government for help, saying basically, we can't control this. Look at all this chaos.

We need antitrust exemption, blah, blah, blah. They could have waited to put that fifth year out. They knew this was going to happen. Right. So they're throwing bombs on their own mess because they wanted this chaos. And it's the end of the end. CAA, I don't know if they're more corrupt or stupid, but they did it on purpose. They knew absolutely that this was what was going to happen.

And yeah, they could have just said, hey, 2022 is you're all good. Knowing full well, then that would have brought up transfer portal issues and everything. They knew exact, which is where SMHSA or no comment. Yeah, it has to be about mission. Yeah. I don't want to spend too much time on it, but. Yeah, they've been doing this. This is a pattern.

And like I said, we can save this for Monday show. But this is a pattern in the NCAA. And Monday, when we have a little bit more time, I'll point out how what they did for this transfer portal ruse should surprise you because they kind of did the same thing for the NIL when they first started that. Yeah. But like I said, we can.

Yeah. You remember 21? They said, fine. You on NIL? We lost this huge case. Here you go. No rules. Nothing.

There you go. I have it. This is what you wanted. Yeah. I don't know. You probably saw the look on my face. I had a big light bulb moment. Somebody who would be literally the perfect guest to talk about that.

I'm going to reach out to him. I don't want to say who it is in case he can't come on, but literally the perfect person to have come on and talk about this for Monday. So I'm going to look into that. All right. Let's get back to Michigan. So some players that got called out. as risers or exceeding expectations that maybe aren't top-of-line obvious starters coming to the year,

but maybe people were excited about. One I've mentioned a ton is Shmari Earls. Jayhill said he's taking a great step forward, playing at a high level. I've been talking a lot this year about his ability to play outside corner on an island, not only raising the ceiling for Michigan this year, but you start thinking about him as CB1 next year. and what that means for Smith Snowden being able to play more nickel, what that means for Zeke Berry, being able to play more safety,

give me Shamari Earls. I don't know if I've been asked more about any player, but I'm pretty sure that it's Ben Nate Marshall is the guy I get asked the most about and where he's at in the process. He got called out as somebody who flashed. Dom Nichols continues to get called out as somebody. Lugard, Eddick Pai, who is one of my favorite prospect,

since he came here. Absolute freak if he can put everything together. And then the freshman, Tariq Boney, and Carter Meadows, have done unbelievable things, he said. So that corner spot again continues to, I think people are underrating Jire Hill, Zeke Berry, Smith Snowden, and Shamari Rolls as a top four. I think that could be an elite secondary.

And then the defensive front, we'll get to detackles in a minute here. But the defensive ends, a healthy John Henry Daley, a rising, been hyped all offseason, Dom Nichols, still Cam Brant in there in the rotation. And then, hey, the Marshall's coming up. Edick Pay is coming up. Oh, yeah, we've got these freshman Boni and Meadows. For a defense that wants to create pressure and then force turnovers to hear what we've been hearing

about the pass rushers and the secondary. Again, it's hard for me to not get excited about the hype that's coming out. But those are the names I love hearing getting hype from the defensive coordinator. Yeah, he even, and I know we kind of skim past it, but I saw from the showrunner notes that he even talked about linebacker, right, with the transfer we got in, which I thought was it. Yeah, I kind of blew over that in our linebacker discussion. But yeah, Stanley continues to be more.

and more hype as he's healthy. Yeah, we just add that on to what into this group because I think if this group, I mean, when you, and we'll break it down, I know I'm putting a horse before the cart or before the water. I don't know how that saying goes. But when you think about it. You can't have the horse in the water when the carts lose. But when you think about what Jay Hill said he wants his defense to me.

every position you just brought up, you have to win at those positions. You got to have a violent D-line. Your violent D-line helps mask any weakness that you have from linebacker, and then you want a good secondary because of your secondary can give your linemen more time to get to the pass rushers, which they already probably don't need. That spells for a recipe of greatness, right? So if I'm a quarterback and already in my clock think I only have two seconds, two and a half seconds. But I got Shamari Oros, I got Smith Stodden, I got Jaya Hill, I got Bracey, I got Rob Moore locking up to secondary.

And they give me an extra second or extra two seconds. Now we get, we at the sack party, right? Everybody coming in to get a sack. So it works hand in hand And it's encouraging to hear because a lot of the guys that you brought up I don't know if you remember this Trevor But these guys was highly recruited These are the people that we were excited about when we got their recruitment

Like when we got Nate Marshall everybody was a static We didn't think we was getting Shamari Earls We thought he was going to South Carolina like when we got those players Everybody was cheering like oh my God We're spending money in NIL. We're getting these big five-star people. Well, especially with Earls, right? When he flipped from, oh, my gosh, was it Virginia first?

Virginia. Where was he first when he went to Georgia? Why can't think of it? Unbelievable. Anyway, he basically said he wanted to go to Michigan, but he can't. The NIL is just not there. And that was like the first big turn in the more era was like, they got the NIL figured out and got him to flip back to Michigan or to Michigan.

That was a huge deal. And winning named Marshalls recruit me. Yeah, you're 100% right. Like, we just was, we were grinning in and ear. We spent money. We're excited. And IIL is here. And so now we're saying the fruits of that labor.

Now there's new. It's from South Carolina. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. It was South Carolina because I, everybody thought he was going to South Carolina. That's, that was the last two. It was us in South Carolina. It was just like the Walker deal, right? Julian Walker deal.

So it's exciting to know that those guys. It's where the PTSD I can get from a recruitment when you just say his name. Like you said, it's all like Julian Walker. And I was like, ugh. I mean, I raise you Julian Walker and I'll say nod to hears. But that's for another day. of it. That's my PSD.

But, but, but yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. So I think. Helicopters.

Black hugged out. But yeah. It's always good to hear those are the guys that's emerging because we are a young team. And you want to see what that young talent is doing. It seems like it started to develop into the players that we thought that they could be. and the more they play this year, it keeps me feeling great about next year.

And once again, I'm not trying to push off this year saying it don't matter. I hope we make the playoffs and we make a run. Oh, yeah. But next year, I'm about to have a team full of sophomores, juniors, and a few seniors, and all of them will have at least 24 games under their bill. At least 24 games.

And we're talking about some true freshmen, maybe they rise up on a deaf chart and they don't have the experience. But at the important spot, I'm going to have experience and I'm going to have some battle tested dudes and it's going to be year two in the system of offense and defense. They're going to know it like the backwards and forwards of their hands. I think that team will contend for a national championship. That's how highly I think of that team, right? Of course we got to get there. That's cool. But the fact that they're going to get to play this year, play this tough schedule, right?

You and Bucrose, big Bucrose talked about how tough the schedule is. That's going to be a war room for them next year. Right. And so that's why I'm high on that team, but I'm also high that this team can do something this year also. I'm just not expecting it. Next year, depending on how this season go, next year I'm going to go into that season expecting. I'm just really excited. And again, for me, I'm with, like, the pushback we got on that schedule show,

I don't know if it's like, like saying Michigan has a tough schedule when they literally have the second toughest schedule in the country, isn't complaining or anything. It's just true, you know, it's okay, right? And I know people, too, it's like, we got to adapt to the expanded conferences, man, and understand that like 10 and 2 into a 12 team expanded playoff is okay. That's a good thing, right? Like, we all want 16 and all, but like, you know, hold on. Look, 2021 could happen.

They could win being competition for a big time. I would love that. I'd be happy for that. just going off the early information we have, right? And seeing who breaks out this year and who exceeds expectations, like you said, and what we're building towards next year as well and just this year. But, like, in the past couple years, like, Dom Nichols didn't play enough last year, and he should have.

That was a problem, right? We saw that at a lot of different spots where it was like, man, we're not getting these dudes out there. defensive tackle. When people talk about it looks like depth is there because of numbers, but who's going to rise? Like, it's kind of crazy that we haven't seen some of these guys sooner, right? So how they rotate them and how they use them situationally,

especially at defensive end where, like, I keep comparing JHD to Hutch, not that I think he's going to be the second overall pick next year. But just when you, if he wore a 90s, I think it'd be hard for people. Like he would look a lot like him, right? And he plays similar. Same kind of spin move that how it uses as well. Just a bigger, more true defensive end, right?

Nichols is a big, strong guy. Lugard is just the length, right? His arms and height and Meadows, too. What did Meadows finish out at for roster? Is he 6.5-250 or something? Or six. Yeah, what is he? I don't know.

Yeah, another month. And Nate Marshall, again, the speed that he can bring to the edge. So if they can rotate these guys with little to no drop off, if they can go NASCAR packages, and have JHD or Nichols lining up at DT and bringing in a Marshall and a Meadows on the outside, right? Like, it's just really exciting because, again, these coaches don't name guys on accident if you haven't noticed that. Like when the staff names somebody, it means something. And they're saying the positives and they're saying, I'll go with negatives, but concerns, right?

So when they're talking so positively, you even line backwards, yeah, there's like six dudes. For him to call out these guys at edge, though, again, very, very intriguing. And throw in girls, throw in Mason Curtis, man. Meadows is finished out at 6, 7, 252. That's crazy. Yeah, that's insane. He's going to be so good.

Yeah. People forget. He was, I mean, I know it doesn't matter. He was ranked one spot ahead of hider. I know. Just to give you a little bit of comparison. The other person that he brought up, Nate Marshall, yeah, picks three, 248.

So a little shorter, but weight-wise, still around me. Yeah, just a different type of player, too. but yeah and that's crazy to think about man like those two guys jhd's off to the NFL after this year maybe don michael says a great year huh are we sure he better be if he's not that's a problem man look we we say i i will say this normally i agree with you but in this new n i'll air he's going to have a degree though and i don't know in two years of all-American level you know i want him to be so good this year that he has no choice but to leave

yeah i agree with you that's the that's the thing that i would pray for but i just i'm just either way but my where i was going with it whether stay go the idea that a red shirt's i guess there's not really a term for redshirt anymore but third year nate marshall second year carter meadows next year after after they get to play a bunch this year. Absolutely. Right. And Lou Guard in there and Boni in there and whoever else gets added to the equation.

It's crazy. It's crazy. We're already a little over. So I did want to talk about this, though, because we've kind of touched on it throughout in terms of the scheme and the goals. And Hill outlined this. And I thought this was really, we talked about, can this be an elite defense, right? These were the benchmarks that he mentioned yesterday.

Under 85 rushing yards a game. Under 100 pass efficiency rating. Win the turnover margin. And this one got me. Seven combined sacks and takeaways per game. They were hitting those numbers were pretty dang good, he said. That one sticks out to me, the seven sacks and takeaways. Because sacks are drive killers and obviously takeaways.

we know what takeaways are and winning the turnover margin. What sticks out to you here, I mean, either in totality or individually, but having those benchmarks out there, having a coach that actually like just talks about numbers like that, I don't know. Again, I'm getting mentor vibes, but what sticks out to you when he's talking about, speaking of mentor vibes, I lied,

I have one more thing I want to say after this, but what sticks out to you from those things? So let me ask you this question. Give me those stats again. Under 85 rushing. All right. Under a 100 pass efficiency rating. Win the turn of origin and seven either combining sacks and takeaways get seven per game.

So the reason why I ask you to bring that up again is because those numbers, I don't know if there are. to the T I have to do a little bit more digging, but go look at like, go look at when we get off the show today, go look at 2023, 22. I'm sorry, 23, 24 defense for Michigan when Mentor was at the helm, or maybe mentor was at the helm 22, 23. You'll see similar stats. Like, very style in the run. I think the teams averaged about 90 yards when it was all said and done. You'd keep your passing numbers down. We gave up a lot of yards, but remember what I told you, mentor is a defensive coordinator that's going to let you go in between the 20s,

and then once you get inside the 20s, he's going to lock you down and pretty much lock you out from scoring a touchdown. So that's encouraging the year. The bed don't break. That's encouraging the year because what he's basically telling you is we're going to stop the run, and then we're going to force quarterbacks into uncomfortable conversations with our situations with what they have to do with the ball. And when we get to a point where we got them in third and long,

we no longer have to worry about them running a ball because we've done our work on first and second, and now we're going to pin our ears back and we're going to let loose the Carter Meadows, the Nate Marshals, the John Henry Daley's of the world, and we're going to go get the quarterback. We're going to hunt the quarterback. And that's the type of defense that you want to see.

and and pressure equals sacks and takeaways right so constant relentless pressure and and coverage right be having a secondary in place to make plays when the quarterback does make the wrong read on disguised coverages doesn't see the linebacker who was shading up dropping back et cetera right so all right so all right sorry I did one of the last thing mentor when people talk about jessie minter the big obsession was always what the halftime adjustments. The guy's a mastermind at halftime. And I haven't really brought this up in a long time because there's been no reason to. And I think people always like envision a half time adjustment as like they're going back

there and maybe they're quickly watching plays or whatever and he's like coming up with something on the spot. Okay, let's do this and let's do that. Okay, perfect, right? Like that's how they envision it. And then I remember Peyton Manning on like one of his shows was like, I never know. what people are talking about with halftime adjustments. There's no such thing and blah, blah, blah.

And I was like, what, that's weird. So I think what gets lost is there's a game plan. And smart coordinators have a game plan that isn't horizontal. It's vertical, right? So if this, then that, if this, then that, right? And then this and then that. da-da-da, right? So you come in with your initial plan and then you adapt as you go, right? Jay Hill said on his adjustments, 90% of his game day adjustments are anticipated before kickoff.

You can't reinvent the wheel in the heat of the moment. So if you're, I don't know, let's say a defensive coordinator named Don because there's been two. and well wake's first name too uh if you're in the game yes and player x whatever is doing this to you and you're on the sideline going okay well what if we did this what if we did that okay no let's right you're already cooked right so what Jay Hill is saying is by series, by quarter half, whatever, I've already got these adjustments laid out, right? So when we go in at halftime, I'm not saying like get out the whiteboard and come up with something new, right? Hey, we game planned this. We're moving to this.

It's already part of the plan. We're adjusting based on what we've been doing previously, but this isn't new, it's not a drastic change. It's part of the plan. The adjustment is, right? So he just, again, like, he's unimposing. He's not a scary, intimidating, right? He, again, the hill to mentor vibes. He just strikes me as somebody who played.

You brought up DB mentor, same thing. Just somebody who played and has been around football a very long time. and is just very smart and calm and self-aware. He's aware of his team and he's very self-aware. And it's a very nice presence to see on defense. And again, I know it hasn't happened yet, but I am just very confident in Jay Hill's scheme and him as a coordinator and how this is going to translate to actual football.

Yeah, so two things to come and wrap this up. Sorry, I rambled for 40 seconds, cerebral. That's the word. Oh. So two things. One which is speaking about the game plan is definitely true, right? I remember telling people a couple years ago when what's the guy that was the D.C. was a day's first D.C.

Jim Nose. When Jim Nose came into the conference, I know for a fact that Michigan had staff dedicated. to breaking down Jim knows defense, understanding the ends and outs what he likes to do against what personnel. And what Jim basically created was he had two game plays, right? He had the first half game play and the second half game play. We come out in the first half over those two quarters and Jim does this and he stifles what we're doing.

Then we're going to switch the game plan number two. We're going to look like a totally different team in the second half. Not that the players will be different, just how we execute, right? fast forward what a lot of people don't understand about what made Jesse mentor and this is one of the things that I wished and I can't think of the guy's name anymore because he didn't come he stayed at BYU

but what Jesse Minter had was a Rick Mentor and if anybody in the chat or watching the video understands Rick Mentor was a very key staff member one Jesse's dad right warmer DC what Rick used to do is

Rick would go into the booth and he would plot plays that the offense was running and give Jesse a halftime basically summary or report like hey they're doing this

this is how we need to adjust maybe instead of running this coverage we make it look like this coverage but now we flip it and we run this coverage right so those are the micro have time adjustments that are done it's not meaning you're going to throw the whole playbook out and you're not going to run this stuff because that just doesn't make sense and it would be too much for you to put on a college athlete to learn now j heel has a rick mentor i mean a a rick mentor in his back pocket unfortunately that guy decided to stay in b yu and help them continue to run j hale's defense at b yu But he had an analyst who a lot of us, and I don't remember his name, but I know me, Treb, a couple of the guys, but we heard the Jay Hill was coming. And we heard this guy possibly was going to come too as an analyst.

Wasn't it? Yeah, I think it was Patterson. Yeah. We were excited because we were like, oh, snap, we're about to get mentor. We about to get mentor 2.0. This is his Rick mentor. But Patterson ended up staying, and that's okay. but I like the goals I think if we can have a defense that's doing that couple that with Bryce

doing what I said he needed to do yesterday taking the next step of consistency now I don't feel as bad we're watching you in Boutros because I watched it again yesterday because I was just so enamored with the graphics and everything and I'm like if this defense can be be what Jay Hill wants it to be. And the offense can be what Beck wants it to be. I think this team is a 10-and-2-tame. I'm ready to go on paper and say it. I think they can beat Oklahoma.

I think they pop both Indiana and Penn State. And I think you come down to those two games where I think those two teams have more talent than you, not saying that they would automatically just win those games, but going to Eugene is going to be tough. Going into the shoe is going to be tough. And so I wouldn't pencil those in the Ws, but if this team can, if that defense is playing like that,

they're holding rushers under 85 yards, they're keeping the passer, a fishing rate at 100, and doing the things that Jay Hill wants to do. And then on offense, Bryce is giving you 24, five to 2,700 yards, in the 20s on your touchdowns and single-digit interceptions, I think this team, along with your running backs,

can be a 10 and 2-3. We're going to learn the names as the season goes on. And I think we'll start hearing about secret weapons and things like that. But to your point, again, with this coaching staff and how big it is, and Michigan now saying with the expanded rules, like we're going to treat the previous analyst roles as assistant coaches as another coach. And we're still going to have assistance and analysts, right? And we're not going to put up-and-comers in those secondary roles, right?

We're going to go get a Tyler Stockton to coach safeties, who's been a defensive coordinator before. And Tyler Stockton is going to have former Michigan player Brad Hawkins helping him with safeties. and Guilford's coming over to coach cornerbacks. And guess what? Former Weber State cornerback and Jayhill Disciple, his name's Eddie Heckard, coaching with cornerbacks this year. Another guy that I don't think anybody,

sorry, I'm bouncing around and make sure I get this right, but even Kerry Coombs coaching special teams, who's been a defensive coordinator, who's been a cornerback coach, right? And then really underrated higher, Brian Nour. so Brian has been a coach for 40 years I think right his title is assistant special teams coach and he's been a head coach a defensive coordinator a co-deensive coordinator he's coached at he was at air force for a long time I believe he's an air force grad as well but there's guys

all over this staff that throughout the week are helping with green prep and helping with one-on-one coaching and practices and so on. And then on game day are bringing 10, 20, 30, 40 years of coaching experience to the sideline, to the booth to help the coordinators to help the head coach with exactly what you were talking about, plotting things as they're happening in the game. And again, it's a big reason the wit hire has looked so, so good, has been the staff that they've built, not just working down with the coaching staffs and the analysts and the assistants and et cetera, but we've talked a little bit too about the working up with the front office they built as well. I don't know. I know people we talk about the eight and four, the nine and three is the ten and two, but like if you're not excited about the foundation that's been built here for the next year, too, three, whatever. I don't have to tell you.

Bro. Larry Black is our defensive coordinator. I mean, who's our D-Line coach? Defensive tackles. Yeah, defensive tackles. Was Vanderbilt's Co. D.C. Like, think about that.

Your D-Line, your D-Tackle coach, co-D-C. Lewis Powell, who coaches your edge, one could say he was going to be the D.C. if you Utah under the guy is there now. Of course, he calls the defense there.

Stockton is a former D.C. Guilford is Jayhills right hand man. Woodingham's son coached under Sprags, who's looked upon as one of the better DCs in the NFL. So he's understanding what that looks like. Like the amount of knowledge, and then you go on the other side, I just saw it. They added another assistant runnerback coach.

So you got Fred Jackson who's been there for forever. It's filled like 40 years, right? Him and Alfred both have been running back coaches. And then you got somebody to help them. You got two wide receiver coaches. Jim Harding has an assistant who's been an O-line coach that came from North Dakota State, I think, or one of the smaller schools up in that area. So, like, all Witt has to do is be the CEO.

I know this must be great for him. He just got to coach, we need you to call a time out. He gets to be like an old school football coach and a very modern college football because the business side of it's all handled. And yeah, it's crazy. They built out a tremendous staff. And I think we're set up.

I've been saying this since he's been hired. The adults are back in the room. It feels good to be on this side of it. and two weeks from now I can't get here quick enough. The Western Michigan game right now. They can't get here quick enough for us to see the boys. But I know we're over, but we had a lot with the Jay Hill thing. Yeah, I knew this would be a long one and that's okay.

Then we had, I keep checking my phone. I'm sorry, I'm hoping. I was hoping I would get the text back in time that I could confirm. Let me check one more time. Not yet. Okay. I'm going to shoot for something Monday. Yeah, just like to y'all are here on Monday.

Yeah, I'm going to shoot for something. I think that would be good. So as far as moving forward, obviously Saturday is a big day. Probably the most important scrimmage of fall camp. We'll be interested to see what things come out of that, what we hear. I know you know somebody who will be there. I know a couple people, so I'm hoping come Monday. This last scrimmage was very as expected.

So it was like we were coming in like, well, you know, what do you want me to tell you? Bristianian? Hyder looks good. Like, you know what I mean? So I think especially O'Line, we might get some depth chart clues coming out of Saturday, hopefully. But so big, big, big scrimmage coming up for Michigan football.

And then, yeah, a few more days. And then we're flipping and we're talking game prep. Yeah. Western weekend on the rise and then obviously quickly turning to Oklahoma. So we will be back next week, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. Try to be here live at 10.30 a.m. That is variable, as you guys have learned this week. But hopefully start to see some more structures we go.

But big week next week because Darnell will be back with Toskey, the goat, no cap, cutups. I've had a lot of people asking about cutups. I know people are thirsty and excited for that. So you guys will be back. And then, yeah, all over the channel, Justin and Joel posted their video yesterday. If you missed Boutros and I from Wednesday, Michigan Weekly, full breakdown of the schedule, really got into the weeds on that, enjoyed that show.

Tons of stuff available for you here on Blue By 90 if you're looking for Michigan content. We're picking up, like Darnel said, we're getting very, very close to real football and games. So exciting times to be a Michigan fan and exciting times to be here at Blue By 90. We appreciate you guys. Another good week, second week. Excited to build some routine with you folks. But we'll see you Monday. Have a great weekend.

And like I said, hopefully we have a big show for you. I'll let you know on social media right away. Social media right away if I can confirm what I'm trying to pull off. But either way, we'll see you guys by day. Rise to the Victors.