Blue By Ninety - Michigan recruiting TAKING OFF in 2025 | Top 100 QB chooses Michigan OVER Ohio State?

Episode Date: June 22, 2024

Justin, Tanner, and Jack talk Michigan football recruiting in 2025, Michigan's latest win over Ohio State on the recruiting trail, and more.

All right, welcome back to Blue by 90. I'm Justin, joined by Jack and Kalen. Oh, wait. No Kalen. That's two shows in a row now. No Kalen. Kalen's not here either. So Tanner's here with us, though.

Jack, I mean, just happy to have you back, man. You know, I woke up from my hibernation, you know, ate a lot of food after the season was over, got a few months of rest, and I'm back. It's exciting to be back with you guys. Excited to learn about what's been going on with Michigan football. A few months of rest. A few months.

A little hiatus. That is. That's like, I mean, hibernation, honestly. But, no, it's good to see you. Good to hear your voice. Good to have you back. There has been, I mean, a lot has happened since the offseason. I don't know if you knew that or not.

No, I was hoping to learn some things here. Michigan recruiting. Through the roof. I'm loving it. Yeah, so what? I don't know what exactly is happening. But, like, honestly, so I'll say this. Here's where, you know you know all right we've been

getting dogged because of recruiting for the past five months right everyone's like you know you won a national championship you can't uh um you know you can't recruit off of it obviously we had a coaching change obviously we had a lot of. I was sitting here not panicking at all because this is what happened, has happened a lot with Michigan over the past few years, where we sit idly for a while, and then things pick up. We end up with a top 20 class. Everything's fine. But things have really picked up recently. It's more than like a late little surge. I feel like we're coming into our own in the recruiting world. Yeah, I mean, as a guy who – I can't quit recruiting.

Like I thought with NIL and the amount of – there's so many more decommitments, and you never know what's going to happen. But I love it. Like it's the rush of it. It's like seeing Steve Lorenz posting something. Like when we go – I'm getting into bed. Like I leave all the notifications on 247. Like let me see what Steve and Bryce got to say.

You know, Steve's talking about a top 100 receiver visiting this weekend instead of Oklahoma. And it's like the same equivalent high of like, oh, Michigan just got like a 25-yard play, you know. Like it's just that way to kind of stay connected, right? I did want to – okay, I'll stop you there real quick before you keep going. I wanted to ask this because I do think that to some, a recruiting win sometimes is bigger than like –

like getting a five-star QB, is that better than beating Fresno State? Yeah, as long as you still beat Fresno State, right? Like you could be Miami, get all the five stars and then, you know, go five and seven. But yeah, I think, you know, Justin, we talked about this too, probably on air, off air, you know, I think with a fairly new coaching staff, as far as guys that were at Michigan last year or previous years, like there's a lot of new faces, right? But then you see a guy like Lamar Morgan go and get a top 50 recruit out of Washington, D.C., Kanoa Winston, big-time safety prospect, right? You start to see the new D-line coach, and I'm not going to say his last name

because I've never said it before, so I'd probably butcher it. But top 100 D-linemen out of Illinois got his buddy, who's a top 150 D lineman. He's in on a bunch of guys. Like, I think you're just starting to see kind of the effort that they put in in, you know, February, March, April, post-Spring Ball starting to pay off. And then you go and get the, you know, top 100 quarterback, Brady Hart, and the 2026 class who maybe had the best quote of all time

for a quarterback commit or just any commit in Michigan history? Go ahead with it, yeah. I don't have the exact thing, but basically he – so I'm just speaking from the heart here, Jack. You can feel free. I don't have the exact quote, but I will paraphrase. So he visited Michigan this weekend. He goes to Ohio State to camp, camp right as part of the road trip ohio state offers he commits to michigan while he's at

ohio state i don't know who he called right so basically what happened was jj calls him while he's at ohio state and says like dude i i can't remember verbatim what it was JJ calls him while he's at Ohio state and says like, dude, I can't remember verbatim what it was, but it was basically like, if you want to like be a winner, you know where to go. Like if you want to go,

I think it was something like, if you want to be the best that you can be, go to the hardest place where you think like take the hard route. Like there, there might be an easy route. I think he's probably referring to like Ohio state's probably going to pay a lot of money. They have developed QBs a lot, whatever. He's like, go the route that you think you're going to develop the most

and become the best human being. Brady Hart essentially hung up the phone, called Sharon, called Kirk Campbell, and committed on the spot. Weren'tj's parents involved as well didn't weren't they on campus or something like the best family ever thank you first of all for their son yes appreciate you thank you for maybe our next jj um but so the quote that really struck a chord with a lot of people specifically in the capital of ohio what so brady hart said when i walked out of ohio state i realized the culture that michigan has isn't everywhere i love this kid i mean i was

trying to find the quote had to go to blue by 90.com um found it and uh i was just about to say that and then uh yeah you took the words right out of my mouth, Tanner. Good job. Hey. I mean, for him to say that shit while he's in Columbus, probably like in, what is it, the Schottenheim Centers or whatever their practice facility is, like already a legend, already a Michigan legend at that point. And his name's Brady Hart. Like, come on I do have to say one of my favorite things about seeing all those things um and when he committed the Ohio State

fans are like not a take I'm like he literally got offered like 22 minutes before he committed to Michigan. Can I say this too? So I had that graphic made of him saying – or him committing while he was on a visit to Ohio State is what it said. Like Brady Hart committed on a visit to Ohio State. There was like 20 Buckeye replies underneath it that was like, he was at camp, dude. He wasn't on a visit. He was at camp. He was at camp i'm like dude do you have you have to be down so bad

for it to be like hey man like the only win we have is that he didn't actually commit on his visit he committed at camp instead committed to michigan at camp while he was on our well like probably like 10 minutes after he talked to Ryan Day and Brian Hartline. But it wasn't a visit, dude. Yeah, that one was – that was some grade A copium from the Buckeyes on that. Yeah, they seem to have a lot of that. You know, like they're the ones really spearheading the Michigan recruiting class sucks thing on social media.

Yeah. Which is funny because this time last year, Michigan had the number one class in the country. And it was like, oh, it doesn't matter. And now, you know, Michigan's sitting at 37 in the composite. But I think their average rating is like top 10 in the country. It might be number eight, right? So it's a smaller class at the moment but it's very dense of highly rated kids and i think after this weekend i think michigan has a chance to surge into the top 25 and

maybe even in the top 10 if they have some commitments fall and some dominoes fall this weekend so you know it's just at the end of the day it's it's a fun thing to follow i don't think it means as much as it used to just because of the amount of decommitments. The amount of guys that sign a letter of intent and then go elsewhere and roll elsewhere and they transfer after six months. It just doesn't really matter that much. It's fun to follow. It's entertaining.

A lot of twists and turns, right? I love signing day, reading the other team's message boards when they get a big commit or lose a big commit. I think it's entertaining. But I mean, Ohio State had the historic class in 2021. Those guys are all 0-3 against Michigan. I agree with you. That's where, like, every Ohio State kid,

every Ohio State Twitter just keeps, like, they're like, oh, look at our number one class in the nation. I'm like, I honestly don't care whatsoever. Like, you can have as many dogs as you want, yet you have unbelievable talent. There's no doubt about it. You're recruiting at a very high level. I'm honestly jealous. There's for sure some jealousy there.

But the reality is, you still got to go play the game. And we've won the last three. And so until November comes and if they win that game, then I'll change my tune. But until then, you still got to have guys in your building that are going to win that game. Well, I would say to the jealousy comment, I don't have any jealousy because if you guys recollect, I'd rather get a win in January,

two wins in January, sorry, than a win in January two wins in January than a win in February or December but we also wanted December because the Big Ten Championship we were there Jack you were vibing I was having a great time

I almost fell down all those stairs but I had a great time forgot your door dash at our hotel door that's okay our door dash I forgot our door dash at the door had a great time. Forgot your door dash at our hotel door. That's okay. Our door dash. I forgot our door dash at the door. Had a great night of sleep,

so great night of sleep. That's what happens when you win in December. Yeah, not the first time it's going to happen, not the last. Well, it's hard. We learn from our battles and move on.

When you win as much as we do, it's hard not to have those moments. You know what I mean? Yeah. I don't even remember what it feels like on the other side. No, I can't remember myself either. What I actually do enjoy about recruiting currently is the Michigan coaching staff is very back on Twitter. I love it. Oh, yeah.

Give me something to get fired up over. I need a Wink Martindale t-shirt. Yes, we do. I think that's Nolan's next project. Wait, can we do a Photoshop on a t-shirt of Wink, but he's the guy on the fuck around and find out meme? He's the guy drawing it. Can we see if we can just get his likeness for one dollar and we'll split the profits 50 50 wink if you're listening to this i doubt it probably you are he seems like

a guy who wants to enthrall himself in the culture yeah um this guy you know i think you know what you could do is you know like i saw it they did one for sketch and they do a bunch where it's just like five like phot five Photoshopped photos of somebody on a t-shirt, and it just says Wink Martindale. I did that for Brad Robbins. It ended up kind of sick. I think Justin's got a shirt. I do. I have a

Brad Robbins shirt. Yeah, we got to do that for Wink. That'd be sick. I did see Moody and Robbins yesterday as well, too. Gave them a big hug. This one by The Office or what yeah yeah just good guys good guys the best um yeah they're they're just crushing life they're doing a lot better than us financially physically emotionally absolutely um as they should they deserve it they deserve it for for sure. But all right.

What else do we want to talk about? As you can tell, we really script these out. We've done a lot of preparation before. If you come for any hard-hitting analysis or insight on recruiting, as we just proved, this is not the place for that. We just kind of wing it. We're a vibes podcast. We go off the vibes.

Well, here, I've got a visual aid that I think is something we could maybe start to talk about a little bit, Justin. We do better with visual aids on this podcast because I know Jax himself personally struggles to read. Yeah, not my strong suit. Reading, writing, you know. I wasn't great in school, but I was really good at show and tell. So that kind of factors in.

But here, I'm not going to show the box, but I'm going to show this little thing. This is so we can record gameplay for College Football 25. We've got some ideas cooking, got some things we want to do with the game. I'm going to become a father right around the same time. So, you know,

I'm not sure which accomplishment I'm going to be more proud of becoming a dad for the first time or taking ball state university to the CFP. I got to figure out my priorities here, but we're going to be doing some cool stuff with college football 25. I know we talked about it a lot last episode. I am absolutely just fucking jacked for that game to come back. I know probably everybody listening is as well. So, yeah, I got some cool stuff coming down that route.

Justin, we hooked you up with a new mic, new webcam. Like, we're just upgrading over here. New mic, new webcam. I think I have to figure out. I've got, like, gaming, like, a gaming headset here. I think I got to figure out maybe a different headset but yeah can we invest in a nice headset for you yeah we can do that although i do kind of like hat like it gives me um like call the coordinator vibes yeah i can put it up put it

down you know um you can do this a little bit. I like this move. What's your best headset move from a coach? Oh, number one should be easy for us. It's the mask over the top of it. Yes, 100%. It's the Jim Harbaugh boner mask. That was the darkest period of my life just based on Michigan football. Pandemic, whatever. I could handle getting smoked by Wisconsin and watching the memes go up of his face mask.

And to see where he took the program over the next three years is honestly mind-boggling. We don't talk about that enough. We don't talk about Michigan's 40-3 record over the last three years enough, honestly. I think we should talk about it every waking moment. Was it 40-3? Wow.

Wow. That's 40 40 of 43 that's almost like it's like a it's like a what's the average there one loss a year wow yeah yeah that's pretty crazy yeah three playoff trips three big 10 championships i do back to back to back so i do like this one where the coach goes like this and takes it only three inches you know farther away and then they just scream at somebody as if whoever's on the other end of this can't just hear every single word of it like that is i think that's i think in the new game they should they should ship it with a headset like uh you guys remember socom on ps2 would come with a headset in the new game, they should ship it with a headset. You guys remember SOCOM on PS2?

It would come with a headset in the box for online play. You guys never played SOCOM? I played SOCOM as a kid. Well, I did too, Jack. I won a state championship in football. I don't know if you knew that or not. I talked to girls. I was like six when it came out. I think they should ship the same version of Justin's headset with the game

and then have like some sort of detection on audio to like you can scream at your players. You can tell them you're going to cut their NIL funding. Like just some mini games like that I think would really up the atmosphere. That'd be great. If you're hiring, I'm available for consulting. I got a lot of ideas like that. I think that would be nice. Maybe have the Gainesville police on speed dial in case you need to cover something up.

I don't know. Just some ideas out here. I don't hate that idea. I don't hate that idea. Now you're thinking. I did look back. I had some things written down for podcast ideas, segment ideas um so we've touched on a couple of them kind of uh ohio state's recruiting is absurd right now does it matter that's what i wrote down

i think we've already proven it doesn't last three years i think it i think to a certain extent it does though um i think the one thing about Ohio state is that they continually get, I think they have like five or six DBS committed right now. They have however many receivers. I think it comes down to just sometimes with them, a lack of bodies. And they also don't move on from their bust. Like,

like most, you know, top five programs do like, I feel like you see guys sit there for a while and they don't move on from them and they never get better. And they were maxed out in high school and they were ranked top 10 in the country because they looked really good in shorts and a T-shirt at a rival's camp or something. And so, yeah, recruiting matters. Who are the examples of the bus?

I need some examples. Hmm. I don't have any on top of my head, but I think you see it throughout their roster. Like, if you go look, look, I can go look. Thanks for putting me on the spot like that. You sound like a bugger. Hey, you said it. You said it, dude.

I'm just trying to get information here. That was a reply on Twitter. No, it 100% was. On Twitter, I had the ability to go. No, actually, no, it wasn't, Justin, because it wasn't a personal attack or something about my family or something. That's true.

They didn't do extensive research for hours and hours until they found your mom's middle name. Yeah. Yeah. That's usually how it is. Yeah, I don't know. I just think that with Ohio State – thanks, Jack, again. I mean, now I have to like research it yeah i mean they

definitely make upgrades at positions they definitely go and get caleb downs um you know they go and get will howard which you know um certainly um but yeah i mean i think i just think that they sometimes prioritize the stars so much, but it does matter. Recruiting does matter. You definitely see the NFL draft. Most first round picks are four or five stars coming out of high school. So, but,

but okay. So yeah, they have a lot of those guys, but my question is, does that fix their problem that they have right now? And, and honestly, like it's a Michigan problem, right? That's it. Like, that's the only game they're losing.

And we, you know, Michigan had an Ohio State problem for a long time, right? You know, Michigan obviously lost more games in those years than Ohio State. You know what I think is funny, though, too? It's like Michigan, it wasn't just an Ohio State problem. Like, there were other big games we were losing. It was like a big game problem. Like Ohio State can – I mean, they competed with – they almost beat Georgia in what, 2022?

Yeah, they lost – they didn't get to play in January because they lost actually at like 11.59 and 57 seconds. That they did. They did lose. Go ahead, though. But, though but like yeah it literally is just a michigan problem they can beat every other team or like even compete but so that's my point is like if you put ohio state on paper against michigan the last three years like if you simulate if you sim that game and i'd say double double a like oh house right like you know maybe in 2023 michigan has probably as good of a team

on paper um but still like that's a rod moore three star becoming a really great player right that's like a max bredison making a difference even if blake quorum wasn't like yeah he was a four star but like not unbelievable um and so i i think like that's my point it's like it's kind of like you know at times you like throw money at the problem and it's like okay throwing money at the problem doesn't always fix it you gotta like change how you do things and so you know maybe they are changing how they do things inside that building i don't really know but like to me, it's like, okay, yeah, you go get Caleb Downs. He's going to be a great – I mean, apparently he's playing running back right now too, which is like they already have the number one

so-called running back room in the nation. But I still think that there are some culture issues. There's some not getting the most out of certain guys in that building still. Who's Caleb Downs? Is he a transfer coming from somewhere or recruit or what? I know nothing. He was a freshman All-American at Alabama last year and was really, really good. Although, front of the program, Max Bredesen had a couple

moments. Oh, it's the guy that Bredesen murdered him. Yeah, piling into the ground. Killed him. He recognized that guy now. Yeah. Yeah. So,

that leads me into my next point was, okay, Michigan has won with culture the last three years, right? It hasn't – especially you go back to 2021. Like that team, I mean, even not – honest to God, not trying to take a shot at Cade McNamara, but like he probably probably he's not winning a lot of those games by himself. They won through like culture. They had great leadership. Uh, Cade was a great leader at that

time for sure. And so they were really, they were definitely not, you know, Cade McNamara versus CJ Stroud. CJ Stroud is better 20 times out of 20, right? so michigan has won with culture now if they are keep trending to where they're trending with recruiting and they become an elite recruiter as well what does this michigan program look like with elite culture and elite recruiting you're a powerhouse. Yeah, I mean, I don't think any team's going to have any sort of Alabama run, and I certainly wouldn't say that Michigan would unless they were able to recruit at a top five level annually. And when you talk about that Alabama program,

they recruited at a top one level for many, many years. I mean, they were number one all the time. But I think, you know, it's funny. I never – I always wondered, could Michigan win a national championship today? Like I always wondered, and they didn't win it today. They won it five months ago, but you know I think that Michigan can certainly be a team and a program that's similar to Ohio state. When you look at Ohio state, they're consistently really, really good.

And they have years where, you know, they win championships. I'll be honest, they're consistently really, really good. And they have years where they win championships. I'll be honest, the last 10 years, they probably had three or four teams that should have won a national championship with the amount of talent that they had, the quarterback that they had, the playmakers all over the field. And so that's – and those Ohio State fans know that it's really hard to win national championships, right? So I think what that looks like, if Michigan can become a top five recruiting program

that is able to bring in guys that fit the program and fit the culture, because I think that's what you saw early in Harbaugh's tenure, right? They had top five classes. They had top ten recruits. They had a bunch of five stars. And a lot of them flamed out. And I think Jim really kind of changed who he was as a coach. I think 2020 really changed the program for the better.

So Michigan can certainly recruit at the top five level. I think the people that complain about the Michigan NIL, and I've been one of them, I think I'm starting to come around to the fact that, no, Michigan is really competitive in that space, right? Like it's not a problem. I think the newer staff hurts some things. I think the uncertainty of the previous regime hurts some things.

I certainly think moving forward, and I think you're seeing it for the 2020 – I think that 2026 class could be monstrous. I think this year with Sharon, we'll see how things are on the field. You always kind of get that new coach bump, right? Like, yeah, Michigan just won the national championship, typically a new coach in or selling hope. But Michigan went 15-0. So for them, it's about producing on the field at that same level.

And I'm not saying they're going to go undefeated again, but continually winning those big games, going on the road, winning, being dominant in the way that they have been. I think you add all those things up, I think you will see Michigan's recruiting uptick. And they don't need to be top five to win championships as they've proven they've got to have a high hit rate on the guys that are lower that was what i was uh what i was about to say obviously you guys know i'm biased on the nil

thing right like there's no hiding that um but i do kind of laugh when people are like, Michigan's so behind in NIL. Two years into the NIL era, they won the national championship. What more do you want? Like, you know, like, yeah, they don't have top five recruits that are, you know, like. No Ferraris on recruiting visits. There's no. But it's turning out that that doesn't win you championships right it might get texas a championship i don't know

they're going to be really good in 2024 but like that's my take on it is like is it just having the most money is that does that mean you're good at nIL or is it how you utilize NIL and keep a good locker room and have culture? And like that, it's all of those things. Well, I think that's what it is too, is like, everybody thinks like you're only successful at NIL is if you can bring in a ton of money. And obviously, you know, that's, I mean, that's part of it. Sure. But like, there's a lot of other aspects of it. There's a million other variables. You're telling me that you want to pay out the ass for some five-star that's a dickhead and ruins the culture in your locker room?

That's the difference to me. There are other teams around the country that are doing that, and they're losing. You say, oh oh who's got the best nil texas a&m has the most money by far right like that is the narrative out there guess what they have the worst program in the country like they're struggling so like that that's where i'm like you know i i agree with you jack i think's a way, the way that you put it is like, the way that you measure how good at NIL you are is not just who has the biggest budget.

It's how you use it. It's how you build your program around it. And it's the guys that you bring in with the NIL. Like that's how you're going to win a national championship. And I think the cool thing about it too, and I'm sure you see a ton of this is like connecting guys with like the right business partners and getting them involved in like networking and building their brand and setting them up for success. You know, what if the NFL doesn't work out? They've got experience handling

business with other companies and already have their foot in a door because maybe they worked with them on something. And there's so many different aspects to it that you can, I mean, we could probably talk for days and weeks on it, but yeah, I mean, obviously Michigan's doing something right. I don't know how, how much better it can get than 15 and 15 and Maddie, you know what I mean? So I, I do think though, Tanner, to your point on it is like the the future it look it feels like michigan is figuring out how to utilize nil to get a few more of those upscale

top top of the top recruits and you know at the end of the day, the data does show like recruiting wins. That's why, you know, everyone's like, oh, you know, I definitely think there's a culture piece to it. And you have to figure that out how to build a program. But there's definitely a correlation between Alabama winning a bunch of titles and Alabama having the number one recruiting class a year in and year out for two decades. Yeah, well, I think the thing you look at too is you know it's not a perfect science right like chris jenkins was a three star because he was a six foot three 240 pound edge player coming out of high school well guess what he puts on 50 plus pounds moves inside and is a second round pick right and that doesn't account for what the

recruiting services say mason graham was three-star when he committed to Michigan, right? And so if you're able to find those guys who maybe are a little bit under-recruited and turn them into superstars, I mean, we could talk at length about Michigan's past three rosters and the amount of guys that were unheralded recruits, you know, all the way from Hassan Haskins to Mike Saner still, to Chris Jenkins, to Mason Graham. Colston Loveland was kind of unknown when he committed to Michigan, right? And so I think recruiting is extremely important. Stars are extremely important, right?

But if you can find a couple guys of class that perform like five stars in the way that Michigan has over the past few seasons, that's what allows you to win the national championship while having I think Michigan has the third lowest blue chip ratio which blue chip ratio is if 50 percent of your more of your roster is a four or five star recruit right Michigan had I think this season has a third lowest I don't know what they were in the past but that you know what i mean like you have to be able to supplement and with the transfer portal too right aj barner played like a high four star but he was a guy from indiana that nobody really kind of knew about yeah i think like the reality is for sure michigan had one of the most unique rosters in national championship runs ever right like you if you look at um i don't know the stat on this

um i bet you it's out there but like michigan's roster is probably like from a star standpoint the lowest rated national champion maybe ever or in a long time for sure it is in this era it is so the composite ranking of like total talent I think was 14th in the country. And everybody else is top three when they win. Right. So I'm not saying it's like you just need culture and no NIL or no recruiting. We're not saying that. And I'm definitely not throwing away the fact that like, you know, what Michigan did is an anomaly compared to what the past 15 national champs have done. Right. But there's more to it is all I'm saying.

And I think that Michigan did a pretty damn good job of putting together like one of the best rosters in college football history this past year. And I'm not saying that they, that's the best, the most NFL, you know, hall of famers or something like that. But you did have 15 draft picks. You did have, you know, you're going to have a lot of guys that are successful in the NFL. And a lot of those dudes are just, they're dudes is what they are.

So it leads me into my last point then, which is speaking of stars, high stars, high star recruits, getting Brady Hart, getting that highly touted QB. Is that the basis? Is that the start to like launching your recruiting class? Because that's how it went with JJ. That's how it went with JJ. You got JJ as a five-star QB and like the rest of the class just took off. And I think that being able to recruit around a high star QB is definitely one of those keys yeah I think JJ was had so much of a culture aspect to him too and just like rounding guys up and helping build that class but I mean yeah if you're a you know stud receiver and you look at Michigan's quarterback

room and the talent they're bringing in I mean that's something that you're going to take in as a factor right and guys that want to win games and if michigan continues to win on the pace that you know they have been past few years and you keep bringing in you know quarterback to on obviously that's always going to be the leader of the team um yeah i feel like it just draws guys in so yeah it doesn't hurt especially when you can you know you see buckeyes are all hyped up about them and they wanted them and you can steal them from them and they're supposed to be like this powerhouse recruit like recruiters. It's fucking huge. Momentum is just heading heading up to Ann Arbor. Yeah. Momentum is everything in recruiting. Right.

Because like you start I think you start to see that with Michigan's 2025 class where, you know, you got some talented guys in there and it was kind of quiet for a little bit. And then you get some momentum and you get a guy to commit and you get another guy and you get another guy. So with a quarterback getting committed this early, I mean, we're talking about two and a half years before he signs, right? Like that, I think, is a building block of a great recruiting class to have a quarterback be the leader of the class, be the oldest tenure because he's the first commit in that class.

Right. To have him be kind of the longest tenured commit, kind of rally the troops. Who knows what happens, because we've all talked about the flip-flopping and decommitting and all that. It's more rare for quarterbacks, though. I do agree with that. I feel like once you lock that guy in because the thing is to jack's point like that

guy's recruiting everyone else so for them to flip like late or something is basically throwing the middle finger to everyone else in your class because you recruited them well and the spots fill up at quarterback right like they're only taking one typically a class especially for the high higher rated guys so yeah um yeah i definitely think it I definitely think it's much more rare with quarterbacks. And that's why you see guys stay committed for so long, and they are able to build the class. Where was he at? You know this, I'm sure, Tanner,

but where was he at in terms of like that class? For? Like top QBbs and overall ranking he's definitely he's uh i think he's a top 100 kid um right now top 10 probably at his position i think he's a kid that's gonna move up i mean he's six foot five he's got a he's got an effortless throw um just throwing motion is is really nice like i think he's gonna be a kid that probably moves up the rankings as he goes to more and more camps and his game film comes out. So, yeah. I mean, because he just completed, what, his sophomore year?

So he's going into his junior year. So a year and a half until signing day, my bad. I had the math wrong. Quick update here. Blueby90.com, 92 overall, seventh-ranked quarterback, a little shorter than we had hoped, 6'4". he's what a sophomore he's six years old so he's still definitely can grow i mean he's gonna go outward for sure he's gonna get thicker um yeah seventh rank how many sees i don't know what he'll end up at but uh no i mean seriously though like that kid i like

i like what you're saying though tanner that i mean he's got a lot of room to physically grow mentally grow like i mean that's that's huge and and you know i don't know i think that like when you have that when you become a michigan commit at that age, like JJ did, and JJ is a unicorn of a human being, like the most mature 21-year-old of all time possibly, but you figure it out. You kind of get used to it by the time you're that freshman on campus. And so, I mean, we've got some time.

We've got some QBs in the barrel, right? Like, I mean, we've got – Jaden Davis is still sitting on the sideline this year most likely. You know, who knows? Who knows if Orji's the QB for two years, if Davis is the QB for two years, if Tuttle's the QB for a year, and then, you know, who knows how the situation plays out. Still got Jaden Denigle as well. Denigle.le yeah he reminds me of Wilton Spade a little bit isn't the worst thing

in the world yeah so I I think like you know I will say I obviously you got to do a lot of things around the QB position and how Michigan did it was the offensive line and defensive line first um but I I feel very good where we're at right now, and I do just feel like the next couple weeks and couple months, it's going to be a lot of Michigan heat. I'm going to be posting a lot of rocket emojis for Michigan recruiting here soon. Well, and the one thing that I'll add too is that, say what you want, Ryan Day is a really good evaluator of talent at quarterback,

and the fact that he offered him within however many minutes of seeing him throw is extremely encouraging. Not only is it extremely encouraging, it's absolutely hilarious that he committed moments after Ryan Day offered him. We have to touch on that one more time because it's like, it just does not get better. It does not get better. I think I, like, I can't remember who put it out there, but I,

it really is just like, you can't script that better, man. You literally can't script that better. Like that's exactly how I want every recruitment to ever go down. Did you see his Ohio state tweet, like his offer? Yeah, that was the last tweet that was up before he committed to Michigan. I love that. I think he's pulling Ohio State fans, getting them all to follow him, and then he posted he committed to Michigan.

Yeah, so his – Culture thing. Yeah. Blessed to receive an offer to Ohio State University. I don't know if you noticed an omission of a word there. Oh. And the picture is Kyle McCord throwing out of Michigan's end zone on the run. That's pretty great.

You know what's sad is I know exactly what play that is, just from, like, the position. That is your Rain Man Michigan football. Well, you know, just process of elimination. I could tell you exactly what play that is. But that is just master class trolling out of our beloved QB1 in 2026. I love that. Do you think – when did he know?

When he posted that Ohio State tweet, do you think he was like – The crystal ball started rolling in like 10 minutes after. I put up a tweet of his offer and then like the first crystal ball from Sam Webb and it was like 20 minutes. That's incredible. I mean, it's – You know what? Hey, is that orchestrated?

Because Ohio State does this to Michigan a lot. I know. Like they try to – Aaron Scott, corner last year, pulls out the Ohio State jersey out of the Michigan backpack. It was the most telegraphed move of all time. But they do that, right? They love to get guys to go to Michigan.

And, you know, when you see Hayes Fawcett, like I'll see guys that commit to Ohio State and they'll say over Michigan. I follow it pretty close. Had no idea Michigan was still in the mix, right? And yeah, technically they did because they offered, right? But it did say the Hayes Fawcett tweet did say over like LSU, Ohio State and whoever else.

It's true. I mean, he was offered seven minutes before then. So, you know, it's just that's what I want to know. Is this orchestrated? Hey, do this. I feel like if you commit to somebody else while you're on their campus, that's about as in the mix as you can get. I mean, you're literally in the mix. Right. Well, I mean, you guys, this is not the same thing, but just on the topic of like kind of rubbing your rival's nose in it on the trail, like Terrell Pryor took an official visit to the Michigan Ohio state game and like was very much like, you know, dapping up the Ohio state.

Like it was just like, really? So it's been going on forever. I'm sure it's been going on before any of us knew what the hell college football recruiting was. But I love the pettiness. I hate when they do it to us, right, because it's like, ah, that's a good move. But, you know, you do it back to them.

And it's all, in the grand scheme of things, just a lot of fun. It's all about perception and in recruiting, perception is reality. So I love to see Sherone get in on it. Because the more I think about it and as we sit here talking about it, it feels a little bit orchestrated. I think it is too. I think it was. And that's like – that is what makes the rivalry the best in the country

right there. And that's where like I truly do feel – and, you know, somebody can clip this and tweet it back at me in November if things don't go our way. That's where I feel the rivalry has shifted. Like, obviously, you see it in three wins in a row. But, like, that's the shit that has happened to us for the past decade in the recruiting world, right,

is where, like, they're trolling us and going to Ohio State. We're now trolling them, and they're coming to Michigan. And so, like, I don't know. trolling us and going to Ohio State. We're now trolling them and they're coming to Michigan. I don't know if that's a sign of great things or not or if I'm just looking too far into it, but I'll take it. I'll take that all day. Brady Hart, we already love you.

I couldn't have said it better. And the name. I mean, come on. Brady Hart? Perfect. His parents knew what they were doing. They sure did. Can I bring something up that's college sports related? Bring us home. I don't know if I'm going to bring this home,

but I want to hear your guys' thoughts. I think this is absolutely ridiculous and just wild. Illinois is retiring Terrence Shannon Jr.'s jersey number? Stop. They put it on Instagram posts. and it was like number zero, like to the rafters. Like, really good player. Whatever his accomplishment is.

They went to the Sweet 16 for the first time since YouTube was invented. That happened. That was it. They went to the Sweet 16. That's a fucking win right there. Did they go to the Elite Eight They went to the Sweet 16. That's a fucking win right there. Did they go to the Elite Eight? Maybe just the Sweet 16. I don't remember.

I didn't follow that. That's wild, though. He played there two years. I mean, Trey Burke was AP Player of the Year. Well, it's because he didn't graduate. That's why his jersey is not in the rafters. Okay, well, did Terrence Shannon Jr. graduate? I would assume so.

He's like a fifth-year guy. It's still wild. Yeah, it was still wild to me. I just saw that. Great situation there, by the way. Yeah, absolutely terrible and very – I don't know if happy is the word, but glad that everything came to light. That's very scummy.

So, no disrespect to Terrence Shannon Jr., hell of a basketball player. Just thought that that's like Michigan retiring A.J. Barner's jersey. I love you, A.J. Barner, but come on. But even at least A.J. Barner won a natty. A.J. Barner has four rings just from one year. Terrence Shannon Jr. does not. Yeah, I don't know.

I just thought that was wild, man. Interesting. Interesting. Yeah. All right. Well, that's how we take it. Great job. All right.

Well, we'll be coming at you more often. Now, I mean, we've got a great microphone. Great. Not so great headset. Good camera. So we'll be working on the the headset part but um we'll be coming at you more often here uh so for us you can follow us at blue by 90 on twitter instagram facebook at blue by 90 podcast on youtube and blue by 90.com we appreciate you go blue go blue go blue