Blue By Ninety - Michigan Legend, All-American, Mackey Award winner, and BTN analyst Jake Butt | ELITE culture at UM?

Episode Date: August 16, 2024

Justin and Tanner are joined by former Michigan tight end and current Big Ten Network analyst Jake Butt joins to talk Michigan football in 2024, their elite culture, the difficult job college football coaches have in the current era of college football.

All right. Welcome back to Blue by 90. I'm Justin joined by Tanner today and we have our good friend that is agreed to come on again with us. So we're thankful. Jonathan Jacob, but is that is that the government name? It's actually Jonathan Dwayne. Jake is not even my Jake's not my name at all. So it's a fun fact. There's no Jake in it at all Wow it's Jonathan Dwayne yeah yeah all right my dad said my dad said Jake my mom wanted to call me Jake my dad said Jake was too casual to put on a business resume so he said the legal name needs to be Jonathan Dwayne we'll call him Jake and the funny thing is because I played football and now I work in sports media I've never made a resume so my goal now is I would

rather die than have to make a business resume at this point in my life like I'm committed I'm coming up on 30 years old the goal is to never make a business resume now for as long as that was. It's not the most fun thing in the world to make. You know, shout out. Exactly. Yeah, did they also know that your last name was Butt so nobody was gonna pay attention to your first name at all anyway? Like. That's a good point.

Well, here's the other thing. So my mom is Margaret Ann, okay? So Margaret, Meg is short for Margaret, Meg, middle initial is A,abuck so we just we just kind of leaned into it you know it's best to lean into it you know you know you guys know i just got married and you know everyone was asking my wife like are you gonna hyphenate it and uh you know she's thankfully said no it's just better you don't want to half half-ass it no pun intended you just want to just take it and go for it you know i like it i like it um well uh college football season is upon us

which means we're probably going to be seeing a lot more of you um not that i wasn't seeing uh less of you here because i follow you on Instagram as well you do awesome videos there so for anybody listening go check that out but back in in the studio at BTN calling games here quite the eventful 2023 season for you specifically as a Michigan alum watching that program and probably having to be like you're put in an awkward position i imagine a lot of times through that last season where like everyone's like what's going on how many people were texting you calling you or trying to ask you behind the scenes like dude what's his stallions real like what's what's the deal there like that had to be all season long didn't it oh

yeah totally and then the whole harbaugh like you know is he gonna leave or is he gonna stay and i'm just like guys you know i don't even think sarah harbaugh knew what jim's intentions were you know like that's just exactly who he you know that's that's how he is so uh it certainly makes it a memorable season uh and the good thing is is i I think it was Charlie Baker, the president of the NCAA. He even said, like, listen, this was a legitimate title and we can't you know, it'll never be taken away. So that Stallion's documentary is getting ready to drop. That's going to be really interesting, though. So I'm sure that was going to do big time numbers on that place absolutely yeah i think it's uh you know it's gonna be they're just gonna reopen all the different things that we somewhat put to bed

last year um but i mean okay going back to to last year too okay stallion stuff aside hardball suspensions aside where where does that team rank for you, that 2023 Michigan football team? Where does that team rank for you all time? I mean, you were pretty close to the program. You were able to be in Shem a lot, I'm sure. You called a couple games. You know, you look at the JJs, the Blakes, the Mikey Sainer stills, you could go on and

on. Where do those guys stand in Michigan football history? Just right off the bat, you say they're definitely in the conversation for greatest Michigan team of all time. Like, we can agree that. If you wanted to pick three or five, whatever the number is, you'd have to include them, 15-0 national chance. It's harder to win now than it's ever been.

It's harder to go undefeated now. But I think it's kind of like fine wine where, like, in time, those things that are really special get better. Like, as we zoom out a little bit and as we watch Mikey Sainer still have a great career, once JJ overcomes this knee injury and shows what he's capable of, I think Blake's going to be phenomenal. Some of those guys that were on that roster now going to the NFL, we'll see how special that team was.

I think in time they're going to be one of the great, you know, not like the early 2000s Miami, not like 2019 LSU. But I think that's one of the great teams of all time. And part of that is just the specialness of their character, their culture, understanding the transfer portal environment we live in and the NIL. And, you know, just we've all talked to those guys, just special dudes, seriously, even the off field stuff. Like it's not football, but I, when you're talking about the word greatness, the impact those guys had on their community, man, it really, it really, really was a special season. And they'll always have a special place in my heart.

Jay, what are your thoughts on this year's team going through a coaching transition? You know, you went through one yourself in college going from Brady Hope to when Jim Harbaugh came in. This one, you know, a little more continuity in place for the 2024 Michigan team. But what are your thoughts on, you know, being over a shim here recently and the guys that are stepping into those leadership roles and maybe some of those guys that are looking to take that next step, maybe moving up the two deep with some of the guys that have, you know, been recruited over the last couple of years or maybe some of the new transfers too.

Man, I just think culture is a huge piece of this. In culture, you know, the Lions are a great example of, you know, changing culture leads great example of you know changing culture leads to wins uh when we went from brady to jim like jim ran us into the ground but we changed our culture and uh you know that was a beautiful thing and i say that because there there isn't a pressing need for the cultures in place and now chiron's got the challenge of, he has to make this his, like he has to make it. He can't try to be like Jim. He's not trying to be like Jim,

but the culture's in place and he wants to protect that too. You know, run the ball and play defense. I mean, oh my goodness, that defense is absolutely loaded and maybe in some ways could be better. You know, that as good as Mike Barrett and Junior Colson were,

I know they're really excited about Jay Sean Barham and Ernest Houseman. Like that's the challenge for those guys. Can they be even better? That entire D line is, is an NFL defensive line. You got the best corner. So the defense is going to keep them in every game. The question is, is, is as we all know, I mean, it's no mystery, you know, they got to play Fresno State week one, and we're going to see who the starter is. And the goal is for whoever that is to play a really, really clean game

because the season is going to be set on course when they play Texas. That's when we'll find out about the culture. That's when we'll find out about Jerome Moore. That's when we'll find out about what this team's really made of. And that's kind of one of the fun things, too, is, you know, it was late into the season, Penn State, when we really got to learn about that Michigan team last year. We don't have to wait. We're going to know very early on. I love it. Yeah. And it's a little bit throwing, throwing these guys into the fire, including because usually you have three four cupcakes quote unquote

cupcakes you know at the beginning of the year where you can figure that stuff out they got to figure that out quickly and I think sometimes that can be like all right let's just go ball you we're not thinking about anything we're not going back and forth so it'll be interesting to see how that plays out

because you know it'll you have no option but to just go and play and i think that um you know for the quarterback position here obviously there you know we won't know until game one i think chiron's probably going the hardball route of like not you know we're not going to know until he trots them out on, you know, that first series there. Meanwhile, Ohio State today just named their Will Howard, their starter, you know, on August. What is it? Fifteenth. Right. So talk a little bit about the difference there in naming your starter early. And then what does it do for competition? Is there something to like, you know, are there negatives around not knowing who that starter is up until game one?

Yeah. I mean, a big piece of the quarterback is, it goes beyond throwing the ball it's leadership. And like you, you, the quarterback should want to seize the team and seize the huddle. And that that's the biggest advantage to me in naming a starter early is you're saying, you know, this is your team. The risk is if you name them, you can't go back because you don't want to, you know, flip-flop.

And if it's a close battle, you have to play the game that's being played by Sharon right now. But I also think you can't just say that as an absolute, you have to look at the character of the guys in the room and like, man, you talk to orgy, you talk to Davis Warren, you talk to Tuttle. Again, I go back to the culture that we talked about. Just generally speaking, like this team is mature and they understand what's at stake and they know, I I'd imagine for the deep,

the defense is going to take the field every time saying, guys, put, put any of them in, you know, put any of them in. We're not giving up a point like we're going to win every game. And then all of a sudden, you know, you're hoping that, you know, one of these guys steps up or a few of them step up. So it's to me, what's really interesting in this is I think Orgy plays regardless. You know, I think Orgy is going to have packages regardless. I just wonder how Sharon is evaluating this because, you know, on one end to that note, you say, man, we are going to be in every single game with that defense.

Sharon Moore saying that, you know, maybe orgy, I don't know. Maybe they look at orgy as a high risk high reward compared to a title right i know that's a narrative that's going around so so that's a question that that will have to be addressed by the quarterback uh by the by the coach and in the quarterback room as well but uh it seems like alex has taken big strides like you know i'm sure you guys have seen the reports like it seems like they're excited about his passing ability. The dude's got all the traits in the world. You know, and then I look at Davis Warren and Jack Tuttle as guys that are more than capable as well.

So I think they're going to be all right. I think they're going to be all right. The question is, you know, what's that ceiling going to be set at? Well, you know, they've got some weapons. You know, the receiver is a little bit younger guys that have made big plays in big moments but haven't done it consistently through a 12, 13, 14, 15 game schedule. But there is a guy that has done this.

And, Jake, you know a little bit about playing tight end, winning the Mackey Award. What are your thoughts on Colson Loveland? This guy looks like a top-ten pick, and a lot of people are kind of expecting a Brock Bowers-type season out of him this year. What are your thoughts on number 18? It should be. I think he should win the Mackey. I think he should be first team All-American.

I think he should play himself into the first round. You got 12 regular season games. You have a conference title. And then you have two or three rounds of playoffs. But just off the 12 regular season games, he needs to have six targets a game. I think that's the base. So that's 72 targets he should have, which puts him easily. He should have a minimum of 50 catches. If I'm, you know, calling plays for Michigan,

my goal is to get Colston to that 60 plus catch range this year. I think he needs to be involved early in games often. You know, a big thing about tight ends is, you know is you're introducing a new quarterback. Tight ends, we line up as an extension of the offensive line. So your proximity to the quarterback is more favorable too. Those are more approachable, friendly, quarterback-friendly passes. So all these things tell me they have got to use Colston early and often. And the good thing is I think some offensive coordinators struggle to know how to use traditionalston early and often and the good thing is is i think some offensive coordinators struggle to know how to use traditional tight ends that's not the case for michigan i think

they will get him involved yeah i mean that's what we've talked about that a little bit too you know uh even you know jj did a lot of incredible things there's no doubt about that he was a phenomenal passer for michigan but the reality is they made it easy on him a lot of the time, too, where they're dumping it off to Colston. They're dumping it, not dumping it, but they're going short yardage to Roman, you know, to Samaj. You know, I think that is something that Jim Harbaugh did, and he does really well with his quarterbacks. That's why he's been successful in the passes. Don't overcomplicate it. Make it very easy for your QB.

There's a ton to think about. JJ is 20 years old while they're going on a national championship run. You know, even though he's a unicorn of a human being and like, you know, one of the greatest to ever do it here at Michigan, you still want to simplify it. So I am hoping and thinking that that's what they're going to do for whether it's Orgy Davis or or Tuttle um so um okay flipping to the Big Ten as a whole first of all how the hell do you remember who's all in the Big Ten at this point

I think like you get on BTN every day and well first of all, I hope you got a raise because you have four more teams that you need to scout, talk about, all that stuff. But, like, just starting with that, I'm like, I didn't think about USC maybe more than twice a year or Oregon until they played Washington. Now, all of a sudden, they're in our conference. So, what's that like for your job specifically? It's crazy, man. I mean, just even at Big Ten Media Days, it felt big.

It's just you're walking around and wait, there's Lincoln Riley. Oh, my gosh, there's Dan Lanning. There's Jed Fish coming off an 11-win Arizona season. You know, Luke Fickle's in the conference. Oh, there's Matt Rule, Sherone Moore, right? I mean, you could just go down the list and, like, the quality of team. Like, there's – this is only addition. Like, the Big Ten was already a very healthy conference.

Now this is just adding. This is just extra on top. It is such a deep conference. Part of this now looking forward, like, you know, a team like Rutgers, don't need to apologize for it. Very favorable schedule. You know, a team like Michigan. Hey, buckle up.

This is going to be a challenging, challenging year. You know, like that's going to be the reality of the Big Ten where, you know, a couple years you may get lucky, but most of these seasons are going to be just a brutal gauntlet. And gosh, you know what that means? You have to be able to recruit. You have to be able to develop. Guys need to be college ready sooner. They need to be mentally college ready quicker.

Death is a big piece of this. I mean, if you win a national title, that's a 16-game season. These guys are in college. Like the whole game has changed. We talked about this the other day at work. 16-game season. These guys are in college. The whole game has changed. The national championship game this year is January 20th. Yeah.

I think that's after when they have to declare for the draft. It's absurd, man. It's August 31st through January 20th if you win the natty and it's just like okay this is an nfl schedule man that is like anybody that's complaining about players getting paid like they're playing a 16 game almost nfl schedule a lot of the time um yeah and so and to your point with you know with the gauntlet stuff you know Michigan's gonna

play number what three or four Texas week two and then USC week four like that that's a lot different than the schedule that we've seen for the first four games in the past so you know I mean to your point like I think depth is going to be a really big thing for a lot of teams, which honestly, on the offensive side of the ball, is a pretty big question mark for Michigan. Yeah, it's depth is going to be critical. And this is also where coaching, there is a premium on being a coach that has fluidity. If you're rigid, you'll snap in this environment. Like, Jerome, hey, smash. We want to be physical. Okay. fluidity you do if you're rigid you'll snap in this environment like sharon hey smash we want

to be physical okay but you know you gotta you gotta stay healthy like that you're talking texas week two you're talking usc early remember you still got donovan 30 carries every game right and you can't bang in practice either even you may have to bang you may feel they weren't physical enough but like how do you balance like in there's probably not one correct answer like that that's a big piece of this i'm not as concerned you know because assuming like i just like we just said i cover the conference and i think michigan people or maybe you know media pundits are downplaying michigan's offensive line and i can just tell you, I look across the conference,

I look across college football, there's not a lot of great offensive lines. And even though these are a lot of new faces, Giovanni Elhadi has played a ton of football. Miles Hinton played a ton of football. They've been high on Greg Crippen for years, dude. They've been high on him for years. And I can just keep going down the line.

I think that offensive line is going to be quality. I think they still have six or seven guys they can trust. The question is, is what about eight, nine, 10? I think Grant Newsom's a great, great coach too. So that to me, that's still a top third offensive line in the conference, certainly top half. So I'm not as concerned about that as some might be so from a broader perspective you know one of the things you mentioned i think i know where the answer is going to lead to but talking about depth how are teams going to manage depth when guys are getting massive offers to go leave to go be a starter as a sophomore at another team either in the same conference or a different conference and then to your point just now,

and I think it's going to lead back to culture, but Michigan has done a pretty damn good job of keeping guys in the fold, like Geo, like Crippen. They've had guys that have bid their time and have waited. So, you know, it seems Michigan's poised to be able to have that depth. But I'm just curious, Jake, moving forward in college football, like we've got these super conferences. How are you are you gonna you can't hoard 20 offensive linemen like

you could back in the 90s right right no it's it's it's a great point and i'm a i'm kind of a free market capitalist like absolutist in the sense where it's like i think part of why last year was such a fun season to watch as a college football fan. It's the most parody we've ever had. And I hear Kirby Smart down in the SEC talking about depth and how it's an issue and all this. And I say, well, yeah, because you guys used to hoard all the talent. Georgia and Bama had all the talent. Now with player mobility, one of these guys can get compensated based on their value.

And all of a sudden, the talent gets dispersed. So yes, that does hurt some teams. Yes, that probably will hurt Michigan when Keon Saab goes down to play at Alabama. He wasn't going to start before Rod Moore got hurt. Yes, that does hurt. But at the end of the day, it goes back to coaching. These coaches are getting paid a ton of money. Not to do well when things are perfect.

Like you're going to have to develop some young guys. You're going to have to adjust. This is the world we're in. And it makes for a really exciting product. That's the big piece of this is, oh my goodness, we could go down the schedule of college football games we have this fall. It's nuts. It's like a mini professional league and like we all benefit from that as viewers and fans of the game i love it i mean i i do think this season you know a lot of people have said like last season michigan was they've won the last like legitimate national championship right not maybe not legitimate is the word but like there is like a turn of the page you know right to this new college football um and so you know we've talked about the schedule we've talked

about all that stuff um i i think it's going to be interesting also how coaches and players react to losing football games because not many people are going to go 15 and 0 if any at all right and for us michigan fans this is a humble brag but we got to get used to it a little bit you know we haven't seen many losses in the past three years right and so but how does a team you know let's say michigan would unfortunately take a loss in that tex Texas game you still have a chance to make the college football playoff and win a national title you have to bounce back you have to be able to rally the troops which I think just like for the you know Michigan's of the last three years for the Bama's the Georgia's that you know you could go down the list there are a lot of teams that

aren't used to that that are going to have to figure out like how do we not lose a locker room especially in the portal in nil era where it's like all right you lose week two to a team and then all of a sudden some other schools call and saying hey we'll give you a five hundred thousand dollars to come over here that sounds better when you're losing that then maybe when you were winning winning, you were toning that out. Yeah. I'm glad you said that. That's one of the big discussion points. It should be a bigger discussion point.

I completely agree with you, and I do think that's going to be a big piece of this season. To your point from the player perspective is poaching players is going to be a problem, but also just the mental battle of the season. And, you know, we can talk about Ohio State, for an example, their schedule, Michigan, much harder schedule, Ohio State, very favorable schedule. They feel really good about their roster. I can tell you their roster, it is loaded. I mean, make no mistake about it. They are loaded. So, but the question is, is we say that and say, Hey, in this new model, you can afford to win, lose a game or two and still, but what about the mental battle for a team like that? That's so talented and the expectations are so sky high. Like what happens

if they do lose? You can lose, but you know, juggling the mental process, again, it comes back to coaching and leadership. This is why you're getting paid a ton of money to be a head coach in the college football space now. You have got to keep these guys aligned and focused from August all the way through the end of January. That is a very big challenge, especially when you're talking about college kids. And all the money that's being floated out there right like you i mean young kids coming into money i mean that's that's got to be just a uh just a mountain of a task but to your point jake these guys are making 10 plus million dollars a year i mean they're they're top percent of top percent of i don't feel that in the entire world fully guaranteed nobody like some some of them

don't even have buyout clauses it's like you can't get out of a bio sometimes if you know certain things happen you can get out of a buyout yeah we can't do that you know yeah exactly exactly uh but imagine like i mean gosh some of these kids are millionaires imagine like hey you got sociology class on monday and it's like you're living in your i don't think i'm gonna go to class today you know i one thing just completely off the wall here i love living in or like a rundown house that we thought was gonna fall over and didn't have air conditioning and i loved like scraping together money to find ways to buy a case of beer i love that part of college and I don't know. I've heard other programs where guys all of a sudden have money

and they buy a house off campus, and it's like, I don't like that. I still think part of it's, again, these guys, it's your culture. Part of this is keeping these guys together. Yes, you got some money. Enjoy the college process still. I think it sounds like michigan is doing that those guys room together but i just find that piece interesting too so maybe you would have listened to you got all right well caleb downs did a commercial i

can't remember what it was for in his apartment and it was the nicest apartment i've ever seen like it was it's like three stories from the looks of it like i you know and i'm not gonna throw shade listen if you've got the money i'm i'm all for guys getting paid i'm all for doing you know whatever but like to your point jake like there is some growth as a human being that you need to do of like i can't afford like i'm getting pop off this weekend because we can't afford to get you know smearing off right yeah there there's something that and and like you like that's where you know it better than anybody you were in that college locker room you're in an nfl locker room like you grow together as boys by doing that stuff by those types of nights like you grind together on the field and that stuff, by those types of nights.

Like you grind together on the field and then you're idiots together off the field. Like I liked that take of like the kid, you know, I'm using Caleb Downs. I'm sure he's a great kid and probably a great teammate, but like how much, like how close to your teammates are you going to get if you're living in a, you know, $1.5 million condo that's three miles off

campus? I mean, I just, I know, I won't name names or the program. I know there was one player that was a key player for a Big Ten team and was living with guys. His role increased, got a nice check, bought a house off campus. The guys barely ever see him and all of a sudden you know his career didn't end up on that same trajectory and i i just think that there's something to be said about that it's one of the big challenges in the nfl too like that was a big wake-up call as you get to the nfl and you're like oh my gosh this is a business you know what once you get some financial stability that's when you want to have your own place. But I look back at those times in college where, you know, on paper, I was uncomfortable from a material standpoint.

But, man, those were some of the best. Like, we're watching the 2016. That 2016 year of sports was one of the best. We're watching LeBron come back from down 3-1. We're watching the World Series. We got no air conditioning in our house.'re sweating it's in the summer those those are some of the best memories i have you know from my time for my whole entire life so hopefully those guys are finding ways to mix that in still so maybe you're not you know purchasing real estate

to live in but do you ever think about damn i you know i could have made some coin if nil came out in 2015 oh yeah oh yeah i do think about it it would have been nice for sure i was outspoken though as a player i was like really really really outspoken about that i just i thought it was super hypocritical and ironic i mean i knew people were wearing 88 jerseys. And I'm just like, how could you logically disagree with the fact that someone was making money selling a damn butt jersey? I wasn't. That doesn't make sense on any planet. So I do think about it. But mainly my thoughts are I'm just happy these guys are getting paid.

Real quick, just I want to ask Jake. On that subject, do you ever think about what your rating would have been in college football whatever year if it had come out when you were in college and you had the NIL going on? I think I was a big guy. I was big into that game. And actually, there's like sickos out there, maybe sickos. I got a lot of respect for them.

They would update the entire roster. Every year. Every year for the past 11 years until this one come out. I think it was like a 92 or 93 which I'll take they probably had me faster than I truly was but I you know I think it was right about there that works for me we'll take that for sure I yeah I think well I we we kind of talked about that on one of our recent podcasts too like how sick would it have been I mean you probably did this with the downloader rosters, like how sick would it have been? I mean, you probably did this with the download of rosters, but like how sick is it for these guys to get home from playing

and then they're like playing college football with their boys and they're probably dicking around like throwing themselves in. They throw a touchdown to Crippen like at center or something like that. Like it's got to be freaking awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I wonder though, like maybe I wonder if they like, it must be fun to also play with other teams too. You know what I mean? Like it must be just like really fun to have that full experience or there was a clip of Donovan. Donovan was playing some creator and the creator intercepted the ball and then donovan was controlling donovan edwards and donovan edwards the virtual donovan edwards couldn't make the tackle that is just it was such a great clip i don't know if you guys can find it

was hilarious though oh yeah that i he did he played a couple of those it is pretty funny it was funny too when he like dominated and he's just because donovan edwards in the game looks like the nfl street players he's like go big and just runs a 10 yards with every step it's unbelievable he run the the run movement that they have it looks just like crazy i don't know how they do that shit man but it's incredible um all right back to the big 10 who would be okay you've got 27 teams that we've got to cover now at this point it's the big 27 um but how who would be a breakout team you know you mentioned rutgers i saw something today they don't play michigan michigan state ohio state penn state like they don't play anybody. They don't play Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State. Like, they don't play anybody.

I don't think they play Oregon. I don't think they even play Oregon. It's incredible. But is there somebody else that you're thinking, hey, they can make some noise even though this is a super deep conference? They would probably be the team. I think, like, FanDuel has their over-under at six wins. I think they're going to smash that.

I do. They're one of the more experienced teams. I feel confident they'll exceed expectations. Iowa is another team where you talk about the teams in the West and you're like, ah, well, now the West can't hide. Look at Iowa's schedule. Their schedule is a very manageable schedule and they have a ton of talent on defense and it's like they're gonna win 10 11 games like

don't be surprised at the end of the year when iowa is right there with the chance to play for big 10 championship do not be surprised okay i'm just telling you though are gonna tell you that they saw kade mcnamara go you know five for 20 in practice the other day or something didn't look good yeah but hey you know hopefully you know hopefully he's healthy and stuff but uh yeah i i also i also think um nebraska with this young i really like this kid dylan rayola and i think dude they're they are not as bad of a team as their record has shown they just have done a lot of things that bad teams do which is turn the ball over like they're literally one of the worst teams at turning the ball over

i think that's going to be drastically improved they had like a top 20 defense last year they return a ton of talent like 3000 snaps across their O-line, a bunch of young receivers and tight ends. Like I think that's a team that could make some noise in the conference as well. So, I mean, again, you could just go – I could literally rattle off and sell you on probably 10 teams that I think could, you know, be a very solid football team this fall at a minimum. What do you think that's going to look like when you have a team like Michigan

who, obviously, I'm non-conference, so we're not going to talk about Texas, but Oregon, USC, Ohio State, and then you have a team like Rutgers, who I think their toughest game might be USC. Iowa's toughest game is Ohio State, so they do play the Buckeyes, right? So they get one of the top dogs in the conference car that's it though right are you do you have the schedule pulled up I think that's really it yeah so for Iowa like their second toughest game is potentially you know Wisconsin Nebraska Washington Minnesota I think might be a team uh with with Darius Taylor kid from Detroit who's a heck of a running back. I mean, I think they potentially are fixing some of their quarterback issues

they faced last year. But it's not. It's the big four are Oregon, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State. Like, those are the big four. Absolutely. The more of that you can avoid, the better, you know, you have a chance to succeed. Yeah, Rutgers' schedule, though, is, I mean, dude.

Look at that. It's USC that and that's a friday night so that's a friday night game short week it kicks it's a night game it kicks off at like 11 p.m local time rucker's time so that's that's that's again a whole other piece they'll play a game on saturday probably have to fly out on a wednesday challenge challenge wow interesting yeah um all right well we'll let you get going here i i have uh what you know i first of all i'm laughing it's just getting darker and more ominous as we go on here i just noticed that too we need to get natalie to get you a uh a ring light over there. That's right. That's right.

I appreciate your time for sure. I mean, you know that you and I could chat about this all day long. We do. You know, the one thing I wanted to mention is the lab. You've been hosting the lab for Champion Circle with a bunch of the Michigan athletes. You know, I think that it's amazing when you text me after every single time that we are on with a kid, and every single time, what do you say? Just how special these guys are, right? Yeah, we like watching them play, but it does count for something when,

you know, you and I, even in the backstage in the room, we look at each other like, wow, that's an impressive young man right there. All the millions of dollars they're making, hundreds of thousands of dollars, all the pressure, these guys are grounded. That counts for something. It does. It does. I appreciate that. Tanner, you got one more question for Jay? No, I was just going to add,

I watched a little bit of the start of the lab with Jack Tuttle, and that was the first thing that I thought of was just, first of all, Jake, your background is just electric. Really jealous of the nice background you got going on, you know, with the game-used helmet. You know, that's pretty sweet. But, no, Jack was just, the answers, man, was just thoughtful, quick on his feet.

Like obviously a guy who's, you know, been with a couple of different college football programs at this point, you can just tell like, he's, he, you know, he's got like that special quality that you mentioned. And I think you see that from a lot of the guys that you watch, you know, this off season content as we build up into the season. Yeah. Michigan, you know, back to culture. It's a very special group of guys.

It was last year. It was in 22 and 21. And, you know, it seems that they've got that kind of same, you know, special ingredient for 2024 as well. Yeah. Yeah, no, I appreciate it. And I'm sure, you know, you guys fans bleed mason blue. Like, it's just a different type of podcast, I think.

Like, me being a former player talking to current players, it leads to some interesting conversations and just easy to pop in and listen to. So I'm biased. I think, I think it's a pretty good show though. No, it's in it. I'm a, you know, obviously I help you out with it and everything behind the scenes, but it is incredible content. So go check that out for sure. So what's – game one, do you know your assignment yet? Going to Washington, baby, starting with a bang.

Fired up. Night game, Husky Stadium. They're playing Weber State, but oh well. It's your old OC. It's going to be crazy. Yeah, your old OC. Yeah, Jed Fish. Love that. So you're going to hang out with Jed. Yeah, your old OC. Yeah, Jed Fish. Love that.

So you're going to hang out with Jed. No, that's awesome. I mean, the cool thing for you, you're a Chicago guy, but you're going to see a bunch of new places this year, I have to imagine, which is fun. So we're going to check you out on BTN throughout the week in studio, and then, of course, call in the games on saturdays too but hey man appreciate your time um we can we can do this all all day long um i know like my favorite thing

about you is that you're just like you're a football guy through and through like sometimes we'll we'll look i'll look down at the phone and j Jake and I have been just talking shop for 45 minutes. And I'm like, dude, we didn't even, like, what did you call me for? Like, I don't even remember. So I appreciate that about you because you're not faking it any time. And so you're just a great dude down to earth. So appreciate you coming on. Eddie, where do the people got to follow you at?

Sorry, cut out a bit there. Jay Booty. Jake Butt, Jay Booty. You can find me. All platforms. And don't be shy. I do respond to, like, literally I get to every message. So, hit me up.

You're the man. You're the man. All right. Appreciate you, Jake. For us us you can follow us at blue by 90 on twitter instagram facebook at blue button blue by 90 podcasts on youtube and blueby90.com we appreciate you go blue go blue