Blue By Ninety - MICHIGAN WRESTLING ON TOP

Episode Date: March 28, 2023

Justin, Kailen and Tanner chat through all the michigan sporting news. Jack is going to wrestle. Crack a cold one and enjoy the show.

This is a presentation of Blue by 90. Find us on Twitter at Blue by 90 and shop the merchandise at Blueby90shop.com. This is the University of Michigan. Touchdown, Michigan! That's the beat of Michigan ball! And they're going extra fast. And it goes to the wind!

The three-pointer by Jordan Poole! Down the sideline! Peebles-Jones! Touchdown, Wolverines! All right, welcome back to Blue by 90. I'm Justin, joined by Tanner and Kallin today. It's been a bit. It's been a bit for for us on excuse me. It's good to be back. I'm excited. I'm going to be honest. I am straight up eating like a 22 ounce cowboy steak currently.

It's incredible. Just there are times as a man where I was like going through bushes today and I was like, should I like, you know, eat some chicken, get a salad? And I was like, you know what? I need some raw red meat. I need some meat on my bones. I do feel like Coach Harbaugh would be proud of me. You know what he says about chicken.

It's a nervous bird. So you made the right choice. I did. I do miss, though. I'm married, right? And I love my wife. But I kind of do miss just going to a grocery store with nothing planned and I'm like, what can I get into tonight?

I mean, what movie can I watch and what ridiculous meal can I make myself? Do you remember those Hungry Man dinners? Oh, yes. Yes. It was a revolutionary for that time. Honestly, Tanner, that's exactly

what I did tonight. I had zero plan of what – and, like, I needed – I had no food at the house, so I, like, needed something for tonight. I will say I get caught up doing that. And then, like, I'm like, oh, well, I also need, like, a snack, you know, while I'm making dinner too. And then all of a sudden – Yeah, some Sour Patch Kids for later. You know, I need a couple sugar-free gatorades like it just and then you know with with how expensive

everything is man anytime i go to kroger or meyer it ends up being like i'm like doing the math and i'm like damn bro it was over 100 bucks yeah yeah i mean it happens like i didn't get that much i didn't get cheaper to just go out to eat it's a classic guy move too. I need to get some dinner. How about some steaks? I mean, it was easy. Yeah, it's so easy. And I couldn't be happier right now. Oh, could not be happier. But we had some downs over the weekend for Michigan athletics.

But honestly, if you're talking like majority, great weekend. Unbelievable weekend. Where should we start it tanner get us get us going here so my wife will be proud of this because she loves college wrestling i think we have to start with the national championship mason paris at 285 the heavyweight class uh won a national championship took down i believe the number two ranked wrestler in his weight class from penn state on saturday just super happy for. I've seen him wrestle a number of times, and I've actually seen him wrestle outside of Ann Arbor more than I have

at Cliff Keene Arena because I've seen him wrestle at Nebraska a couple of times. The kid's been a monster his whole career. He would have multiple national titles, multiple Big Ten championships if it wasn't for Gable Steveson, who is a generational wrestler in the same weight class from Minnesota, who won a gold medal and is now in the WWE. So just super stoked for Mason Paris to get to the national championship. I actually don't know the last individual champion Michigan's had,

but this is a program. You had 33-0, right? Yeah, undefeated. Kid from Indiana outside of Indianapolis. I mean, the kid's a monster. Probably could have played Division I college football as well, was a defensive lineman in high school. I saw Steve Wiltfong from 24-7 mentioned that um so just an awesome experience to to be able to see a

you know michigan hang a banner essentially it's not a team championship but you know one of the most impressive seasons for for any michigan wrestler in history to go undefeated and some of the guys he took down on his way to a championship it's an extremely impressive season for him so it was awesome man man, to see a natty. He trains out of our office at Valiant with – his name is Amir Rad, who trains a lot of guys, JJ. He trains a lot of different athletes. And he was telling me he's only like 250-something.

First of all, I can't – sometimes he looks like he's absolutely shredding. He should be like 225. Other times he looks like he's 280. But that weight class, I mean the heavyweights, you can go up to 285. And he's only 250. So he is like he's wrestling some bigger, bigger boys than him. No, just incredible. Good dude, too.

And, I mean, just awesome to see. Love Coach Bormat for the wrestling program as well. How do you think you guys would fare in a wrestling match? No. With him? You, Roe versus Tanner. Oh. Oh.

I mean. I don't know if I've ever wrestled, though. I don't know that we're in the same weight Tanner. Oh. Oh. I mean – I don't know, man. I never wrestled, so. I don't know that we're in the same weight class. Yeah, we got a little bit of LBs. So, I don't know. You know, just in the way that you're just splurging on food, I mean, we've got meals for the next two weeks, and they're all healthy. And, you know, so I may show up looking like you for football season.

Like I might just show up with some khakis quarter zip and you don't even know who's who trim the beard down a little bit, you know? Uh, but I, I, I think Kalen to answer your question that Tanner would whoop my ass. That's what I'm pretty sure. I wouldn't want to though. Like I'd feel bad. Wow. That's nice of you. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. I try to look out for my friends sure i wouldn't want to though like i'd feel bad wow that's nice of you yeah thank you thank you i try to look out for my friends i don't want to usually when jack's on like i sometimes like literally want to strangle him through the computer it depends on what he says but i could probably be convinced like if we have some beers like at some point this summer

like i'm sure we could probably see if jack and i get into it a little bit see what's going on that would be fun what because he's got leverage wait now that he's since he's not on this uh this episode can we just plan to like kick his ass someday this summer just beat the piss out of him yeah like like he has no you know we'll all just be in a really good mood drinking beers and then i come and just tackle the shit out of him and you start lay on him and start pounding on him. No, he'll make a comment about something that I said. He'll make a joke about when I said I wanted something light and I got a hazy IPA.

He'll just say it and I'll just flip and I'll just start beating the shit out of him. I'm voting for full-on cage match. I'll take some bets like i would love that i'm not gonna lie i've been like i've been waiting to beat the shit out of jack for a few years now or we could have i don't know if you guys were in the direct vicinity but when we were walking back to go tailgate before the Big Ten Championships, Jack is like pass pro-ing across the street, like kick sliding. I didn't do that.

Like 30 consecutive feet for no reason. So maybe we just get some one-on-one O-line drills for Jack and just see if we can get to a tackling dummy with a little wide pass rush. I like that a lot. That could be fun. We should do a blue by 90 combine. Ooh. We've already talked about it, and we're all pretty sure it's going to be a lot of injuries.

Yeah. Well, we did do a kicking competition with Brad Robbins and Jake Moody behind the scenes. We never even released the film because they beat us so bad. And Jack walked away with a broken foot like that's not a joke like he was injured from just kicking a ball it wasn't like oh he pulled a hammy it was contact with a regular football like hurt him so badly we should stop we should stop ripping on jack though because he has a nike discount that i need to use soon so yeah that's true that's true let's cut this but not he did um yeah he did hook me up with uh with some shoes and i do want another pair so uh air forces so jack if you're listening we're like we're totally kidding dude we this is this is so fake dude if you're listening

on spotify right now this is i work completely fucking with you. Yeah, for sure. All right, so back to Michigan athletics. What do we have? Gymnastics, right? Men's and women's. Men's and women's gymnastics. I'm sorry. I honestly missed it.

How did we end up? Big Ten champs, right? Big Ten champs. I believe both regular season. Big Ten champs right i believe both regular season yes big 10 champs yeah bro i don't i mean i would tear my it's like thinking about how to attempt some of those things that they're doing no i mean one i couldn't first of all i couldn't hang on the bar for more than like probably 10 seconds second of all they they're flipping so fast i don't i'll never understand this and i'm like

i'm a skier and like i have friends that do flips and stuff and i i can do like a 180 sometimes like i've i think i've landed a couple 360s in my life um i don't understand how they know where they are in the air or during one of those tricks no i'd be like ricky bobby and just like i'm flying through the air this is not good like i no spatial awareness and then they just like come down onto the mat and it's like oh i'm perfect and i'm just gonna stop moving how do you stop your momentum so fat i don't understand it physically like i just don't understand it. Physically, I just don't get it. Yeah, I don't know too much about gymnastics in the first place, but when you watch

it, it is kind of mind-boggling how they even come up with the way that they can do that. It's just crazy. Yeah, they're all like athletic specimens for sure. LSU gymnastics as well. Shout out. No reason. athletic specimens for sure yeah lsu gymnastics as well just shout out no reason

just i like their colors i nah yeah yeah purple yeah purple and gold man um you know who i don't like from lsu is their basketball team women's basketball team though i don't like i don't like what's her name kim how do you say her last name? They're about their head coach for the women's team. Their head coach. Yeah, she's – Not a fan. No. And that Reese girl was – she was just too good.

Too big and too good. I didn't like her for that reason. Yeah, great season for the ladies on the hardwood. But, I mean, it just seems like if you're not a top two, three, four seed, it's just kind of shocked. It's hard. It's hard. It's hard. I mean, also your play, their head coach said this in their locker room

after the game, the LSU. They broke a record for men's or women's capacity for that game. They sold out the place that had the most people there for any men's or women's basketball game, which is nuts because Shaquille O'Neal played there. That's true. I don't know if you were watching that game, but the environment was loud as shit, and it was really impressive.

But here's the thing I'll say about women's basketball. Before Kim Barnes-Erico, we weren't even sniffing like the NIT as a program. And now a Sweet 16 is like the standard. And it's really hard, as you said, Tanner, to like break through in women's basketball because it's hard. There just aren't as many top recruits. And so for them to disperse, it's really difficult. And I think she's done a phenomenal job.

And I know that we all obviously are striving for a championship and stuff like that, but she has reset the standard the same way that John Beeline did at Michigan where you're disappointed with not making it to the Elite Eight, which is just a great spot to be in. I mean, women's b-ball has just been dynasties, from my understanding, for the longest time. Like, what is it, UConn and maybe a couple other schools? Yeah, I mean, Stanford's always good.

I mean, Stanford's always great in non-revenue sports, right? Like, just because of the degree and the prestige of Stanford. I mean, Notre Dame was always good at – at least when I was a kid, I remember they were always good. I mean, Stanford's always great in non-revenue sports, right? Like, just because of the degree and the prestige of Stanford. I mean, Notre Dame was always good at, at least when I was a kid, I remember they were always good. You know, South Carolina with Dawn Staley is right up there as well. UConn's kind of, it's funny we say this, UConn's kind of falling off, but that just means they're only going to the Final Four,

not going 39-0, winning it all and winning 100 straight games. But obviously UConn's there. I mean, Baylor, which is where LSU's coach came from, Baylor had a really good program for a while. But, yeah, I mean, the talent is just very concentrated. And I think Michigan has started to get some more elite recruits. So it's going to be fun to watch them continue to build the program.

KBA has done an awesome job. I mean, honestly, before she came to Michigan, the only real memory i have is when their coach like had his press conference tirade like i couldn't even tell you what it was about but i remember being on sports center because it was so stupid he freaked out and they like i think it was in the like women's nit or something i don't even know but it was i that was like what michigan women's basketball was famous for was that coach tirade until KBA came. And now they're known for a pretty solid program.

So that's solid. I mean, let's talk about men's hoops for a minute. I'm not going to talk about it a ton because, to be honest, there's just not a lot of good to say. I mean, it was hard to watch. And like the ending of that season, it was so on par for the whole season. Storybook. Yeah. I have one good thing to say about the men's basketball program

at the University of Michigan. The 2022-2023 season is over, and we don't have to watch that train wreck anymore. Thank God. season is over and we don't have to watch that train wreck anymore thank god it was just like it was it was almost Detroit Lions-esque of like how are we gonna do it this time how are how is it gonna like what it was just the same game every time we're up nine four minutes left and we're gonna blow this somehow and it was the same like I was watching reruns. It was shocking somehow. And like that last one, I mean, I haven't been like that disengaged in like a postseason

Michigan basketball game in a while, obviously for obvious reasons. Right. But like I still was I was like laughing in the back of my head. I was just like, this can't be real. It's like it really is like those Lions games where you're like all right we've got it how are we gonna blow this like and then then it happens and you know I will say I want to defend like some of the guys because because there were social media when you when those things happen is tough and like they're 21 years old you know and so that's where like i'll defend those guys to the death of like just in the fact that they're humans and they're good kids and like i like i guess that that part

a lot of the time pisses me off about fan bases. And I've been a culprit in my own right at times too. But you have to remember that they want to win way more than you ever want to win. They care a lot. It means they went to all the practices this summer. You didn't. You just tuned in on Tuesdays and Saturday nights or whatever. So that's what, honestly, I wanted to say about Michigan basketball. I still believe in Juwan Howard.

We've got a great recruiting class coming in. I hope Kobe Buffkin comes back. I assume Jet Howard is gone. But I think that there's an opportunity that we still can be good moving forward. And the thing is, here's the reality of the season. As tough as it was to watch because of all those close losses, it's like Nebraska football a little bit, too, where, like, if any number of those goes the other way,

we're talking an NCAA tournament berth, and, you know, then who knows what happens, right? Yeah, you're going to win those games though. I agree. We had that conversation. If you go back and listen to however many podcasts we've done since football season ended, we're like, man, they just could snag a couple and then they just don't. I think that was the most disheartening part of the season was not necessarily the losses.

It's the fact that I think I saw they had at least like six or seven games where they had late like an 85%, 90% win probability from ESPN or whoever does those statistics, and it's like you lose all of them. I mean, dude, every time we hopped on, we would like like, rehash, like, man, if they'd just be Iowa, if they just had won this game, if they didn't lose to Central. And it's like – it just never – like, they played all those close games, and it's like, yeah, you learn from it and you grow from those, but they didn't.

And that's the thing. Like, individual players got better. Like, Kobe burst onto the scene. Doug McDaniel, I feel extremely confident in his ability to handle the ball, run the offense, take big shots, and make big shots. And Hunter was Hunter. I mean, for better or for worse, Hunter was really solid this year. I think he was probably not as good as his sophomore year,

but, you know, I thought he was really good. Here's the end of the day, too. Clayton Safey, I think it was, that put it out. Like, Hunter was by far our best three put it out. Um, like Hunter was our, by far our best shooter. Yeah. That's crazy. Like,

that's crazy to me that he's by far our best three point shooter. And also obviously the guy down low, like, I, I just think like, you know, I, I don't know how many times you're going to win.

If you have to rely on one guy for doing all that stuff. Um, so much. And so I don't know how many times you're going to win if you have to rely on one guy for doing all that stuff um so much and so I don't know I I hope for for better things going forward I guess I really don't have a whole lot more to say than that like I do think that I agree with you like I think you give the benefit of the doubt it's like the Scott Frost thing you give the benefit of the doubt and you're like all right like if you win some of those games, then great. But then at some point, you got to win the games. Next year would be like, alright, we got to

show progress that you can win a tight game when it gets down to the end of it. As long as Michigan doesn't play Georgia Southern, Jawan will be okay. Agreed. And Hunter's gone too, right? I don't know.

He left the door open. He left the door open. I don't know. I'm curious because I don't know what his draft stock is like, even though he's kind of a prototypical four-year college guy. That was his fourth year, though, right? No, no, no. His third, yeah. Oh, that's his third.

He still has two more years if he wants it. He can play five years. Yeah. It's crazy. So, we'll see. We'll see. I mean, now with NIL, it actually does – like that truly changes a lot of things

because especially when you look at the G League, like that NIL paycheck is a lot of times better than a G League paycheck. Oh, he'll play overseas. But then it's like – I mean, going overseas is awesome, right? Like going to new cultures and stuff. But then it's like do I want to live in Ann Arbor for another year with my friends and his girlfriend's on the track team, I believe, or do I want to go and play in Europe somewhere,

which that would be an awesome experience. But it's like if I can get NIL money and, you know, be able to have it be somewhat comparable to playing overseas, like might as well stick it out, you know, spend one more year in Ann Arbor, get your degree. I mean, see what happens. Still playing on a big stage, right? Still a lot of scouts watching you.

Yeah, I agree with that part too. It's like i've been to g league games not a great environment here you don't have a student section chanting against you which he obviously loves um so yeah what's the halftime show like at a g league game oh it's usually like half court shot for like 300 bucks or something like that i don't know what g league games have you been to? Grand Rapids Drive back when it was that. Now they're the VR Gold.

And they're the Motor City Drive, I believe. Yeah. I'm a Fort Wayne Mad Ants guy myself. The Mad Ants is a great organization. Fantastic. Fantastically run organization. Agreed. I mean, I don't hate it,

but I don't know. I don't think, if I'm an NBA team, I'm not using a two-way contract on Hunter Dickinson. And I don't mean that disrespectfully. I mean that because I'd rather give it to a kid who I don't really know what their potential is. Hunter is a finished product, but it's just

not what the NBA is looking for. 30 years ago, he's a first-round pick. Today, I think he's going to play in Europe. I mean, I don't mean that. You can make a lot of money, and you can play great basketball in Europe, but I just, I don't know. I don't see it for the NBA, so I don't know.

No, I don't disagree. I think, you know, whether here's the thing, whether you like it or not, he's still the most valuable guy to this program. I want him back. I absolutely want him back. I'd love to have him back. I think it's one of those things, in my opinion, where, you know, at times it's frustrating to watch because you feel like things could be going a lot better or you're like looking to like grass is greener type of thing. But like I think once he does move on, you'll miss being able to just go to Hunter for 22 and 15 every night.

You know, like I think that's the case. Things might flow differently. There might be other guys that step up because of it but like at the end of the day and obviously it didn't work out this year but there were a lot of times that when Hunter Dickinson when we're like hey we need a bucket and you just go and he gets a bucket yeah he's an awesome college player and and honestly a lot of the failures of this season are not on Hunter Dickinson at all I hope nobody's taking that from what I'm saying with regards to his pro

prospects. Yeah. But I mean, you're right. We, we, we saw all year Michigan had to go through Hunter Dickinson because they were not getting a lot of production out of the four. There were times they were not getting a lot of production out of three because there were times when Howard would go, would go cold. So it had to go through Hunter. And there was a lot of times I love Doug McDaniel, but there's a lot of times where, where i did not feel confident in his ability at the one just with no true backup and then when kobe had to play point you weren't getting a lot at the two sometimes so

had to go through hunter every single time and you know i thought he delivered you know i i thought he delivered on a lot of what i wanted to see out of him this year. It wasn't his fault the way the season went. I agree with you. I agree with you. You guys like his three-point celebration, the three-nest? All right, he can lose that. Okay, let's not show up in a ski mask either. I'm not cool with that.

That was stupid. Yeah. But it was funny. I did tweet it out again. I'd be fine with saying that to his face as well. I'm okay with saying, hey, I wouldn't mind if you didn't do your three-point celebration anymore i think i'd be okay with saying that to his face um that's fair so yeah i i do i you know what else i do obviously march madness still the greatest weekend of the year like oh stuck so bad when

your team's not watching but they're not playing but um i do absolutely love watching those games i was downtown detroit at the sports book all night saturday and just like betting on every game it's it's incredible how'd you do oh not good not good at all hey you know that's the way she goes sometimes. You guys saw my text, though, when I was talking about the quad view on YouTube TV. Yes. Literally, like, Friday, you know, just chilling, letting loose a little bit, you know, hanging out,

and just watching the games. And it was the greatest experience of my life because Fairleigh Dickinson's beating Purdue. And I'm like, oh, that one's going on in the left corner. And then the right corner, I've got, you know, some random 8-9 game. And I'm like, oh, that one's going on in the left corner. And then the right corner, I've got some random 8-9 game. And I'm like, this is amazing. And then it would go to commercial on the top two, and then the bottom two would come back.

I'm just saying this. If YouTube TV has that figured out to where I can customize and put what game I want on four different screens on my TV, it was insane, man. So I really enjoyed the NCAA tournament just because it was like, I literally didn't have to go anywhere. Like I didn't have to go to a sports bar, be around people.

So able to chill with my, with my dog and Claudia and literally just have all four games on our TV. It was amazing. That's amazing. Yeah. I was watching VCU as well. And I know they didn't win, but I was sitting there being like, man,

Brandon Johns would have been a great four for us this year. You're not wrong. I had totally forgotten about him, and then all of a sudden he showed up. And Zeb Jackson was on that team too. And Zeb. I know, Zeb too. But thinking about, man, a super athletic, really great on defense

guy who can, you know, occasionally knock down the corner three and pull guys out so you can't double on Hunter. That's exactly what we were looking for all year. Yeah, that or Shondy Brown. I would take Shondy. I would take

I've said this every year since he's been gone and I'll probably say it the restondy Brown. I would have taken Shondy. I would take – I've said this every year since he's been gone, and I'll probably say it the rest of my life. I would take Shondy Brown every time on my team. I love Shondy Brown. Dude. Like, go find a Shondy Brown in the transfer portal. Easier said than done, but give me a 3 and D guy that's a microwave that will play his ass off and will get the team –

like, I miss Shondy Brown so much, man. I miss that guy. I agree with you because, like Like I, I miss Shawnee Brown so much, man. I agree with you. Cause like, honestly, I don't know. Like we didn't have that spark plug guy that would come in for five minutes and play his heart out.

Like that's something, somebody that we're missing. I love Joey Baker. First of all, I should have been starting. Obviously I think we can, we can agree on that. But like,

even when he is, um, um, when he was coming off the bench, he's not like a spark plug guy. You know, he's just like – he played really well, but it's just sometimes you need that guy where it's just like even if they're, like, not the most talented, you just need an energy boost.

And when somebody else is running their ass off around you, then you're going to run your ass off too shawnee brown forever shawnee brown forever all right let's talk football we've got spring game coming up in about what 11 days something like that right now um i'm excited it's the reason i'm excited is because i don't know what's happening but michigan recruiting is going ballistic right now and today what we got a four-star running back out of ohio that is like his grandfather like is a huge ohio state fan and he still picked michigan like what is happening i mean dude like you think about two three years ago and michigan's losing a recruiting battle to notre dame for rocco spindler because he told his grandpa that he

was going to go to notre dame and now we're on the other side of it because michigan has just beat the crap out of ohio state for two years and they're literally going into the state of ohio granted at cincinnati which is you know more is more northern Kentucky to me at least, and I'm sure to a lot of people. But to go into Cincinnati, to go in a top program, a kid that both schools really wanted, he's a top 100 player on the composite, to go in there and win that, especially after it was like when it came out, they're like, oh yeah, he still might visit Ohio State for their spring game. And it was kind of up in the air. And then he just commits out of nowhere like that's one of the bigger recruiting wins that i can remember over the last few years like definitely the biggest since definitely the biggest in the last two classes 24 and 23

well and there's been so much buzz for like other big guys right i mean jayden davis right was just here or something right yeah yeah i mean a huge mean, and it was like, I mean, when he came, uh, pretty much after the visit, the, every like message board was like, Hey, every, every, every crystal ball, like updates, update to nine or something like that. And so it feels like it's inevitable at this time, which I feel like it as I think that is like that's when recruiting really starts is when you get your five star QB. Everything else falls into place after that. So I feel like we're almost just seeing the tip of the iceberg right now. And then, like you said, like Bryce Underwood was he's already visited what three times you said? Yeah, three times last two weeks. Yeah, three times the last two weeks.

He was on campus today on a Tuesday. Like the midweek visits are always, like, I think kind of telling. Like obviously he's from the Detroit area, so it's not that far of a drive, probably less than – probably 30 to 45 from wherever he lives around Belleville. But still, to get a kid up on a random Tuesday in March, not a bad sign. And the fact that he is connecting so well with Kurt Campbell, I think Kurt Campbell has proven himself at least to be a competent recruiter in retrospect to his,

the previous offensive coordinator quarterbacks coach Michigan had. So I think the recruiting at quarterback has seen an uptick. And I think you're starting to see more cohesion on the trail and just an elite staff that Michigan's put together. I mean, you know, you think about it, and Mike Hart might be – you could probably label Mike Hart as like the worst recruiter on staff. He just picked up a top 100 kid today. I mean, that's how insanely talented this staff is at recruiting.

And we've obviously seen what they can do on the field too. And I think, honestly, we're to the point where, like, the product is what's helping recruiting. It's the championships. You can truly say – you don't have to have some unbelievable Chris Partridge guy who is just a great salesman, right? You can truly show everybody – and they've done this in Schembechler. I've been in there.

We're like, you showcase the trophies. You showcase the Ohio State wins. You showcase that, and you can say, instead of it being a pitch, a fever dream like it has been for the past decade, you can go in there and say to a kid, come be a part of this championship caliber program and it's not like haha jokes funny funny right it's like we we don't have to we're we're about what what we talk about right now like we really live it and we you know we're starting to actually produce on the

field that like you're saying i mean that's huge i mean i also recruits that we lose out to not even not that long ago yeah i'm thinking like guys that would have transformed our program like zach harrison kind of guys like those are the ones that stick out in my mind and i think we actually have an opportunity to get some of those guys now yeah no i agree i think that that's where like honestly even on the defensive side of the ball the the the five-star qb commits and everyone forms around that because they think that that's the team to go to that's going to be the next like championship winning team and you think about where we were last year i think about where we're going to be this next year.

I hope that we're going to be in the same position. I also put out the tweet too. The tide is 1000% like turned in my opinion right now. Like that. I think that, that get going, like you said, Tanner into Cincinnati and getting an Ohio State kid from Ohio,

that they're going to go ahead and after the fact say that they didn't want him. I don't give a shit. I know you wanted him. There's no way you don't want a four-star running back that his family likes Ohio State and he's from the state of Ohio. There's no way you don't want that kid. And you go pluck him, and that to me is like, all right, the tide has turned. Now Michigan recruiting is way up for 2024.

Ohio State recruiting is down for 2024. Now we're still super, super early in the class and in that, so I get it. But all I'm saying is you have that going on already, and this is not going to be an easy task. I'm not saying it's a done deal, so don't come at me and be like, oh, pull the receipts, blah, blah, blah. But you go win that game in Ann Arbor this year, and when Ohio State has to come up with a first-year QB

and Kyle McCord or whoever, and we've got 81%, Blake Corum, J.J. McCarthy, Donovan Edwards, and the whole squad back, they're going to fire Ryan Day. If that happens, they will fire Ryan Day. They're going to leave him in Ann Arbor Lane Kiffin style, and it's going to be like, holy shit, Michigan is going on the same run that Ohio State went on for the past 15 years. And that's what I'm saying on March 21st, 2023. And so if it,

if we get to November and it doesn't happen, don't come back to this. But if it does come back to this, somebody clipped this and I want to play it on repeat forever and ever. I don't think it's that far fetched to say Michigan's going to beat up on Ohio state and Ann Arbor this year. Is it? Are we?

Talk to me. Nice. You look at the returning production. You look at the transfers added. You look at the guys coming into their second and third year with the program. Think about a guy like Braden McGregor, who his senior year is 2020, right? A little thing happened in 2020 that kind of made us all stay at home, and he was going through a knee injury rehab because he'd torn his ACL in his senior season and I think about a guy like that coming back with it with his fourth year

third full year in the program after rehabilitation like I think of guys like him I think of guys like Derek Moore coming on as a sophomore like Michigan has so much talent and so many guys that are just getting better because they've played a ton of football over the last couple of years i mean i i just i feel like michigan is gonna run the table again man like we can we can say that too which is like it's happened i'm not i'm not stepping on a limb me and brandon justice won one day back in 2017 did a podcast and i predicted michigan to go 15 and oh they went eight and five so uh i'm not but it's happened already like we've seen it and i just think where michigan is as a program right now is the best spot that they've been in since i can ever recall i was two and 97 so i don't you

know i don't know those days you know i remember 03 beating ohio state when i was a kid and thinking like yeah this happens and it didn didn't for 15 to 20 years. And so to be on the other side of that again, it's just so exciting. And like, I just feel where Michigan is as a program with the recruiting starting to pick back up and obviously the on-field performances. I mean, you know, 25 and three over the last two years and two of those losses are in the playoffs. Like, I just feel like Michigan is poised, if they play their cards right, as they have been recently on the recruiting trail, to really take the Big Ten by storm and make this something that, look, they're not going to win the Big Ten every single year,

but they can be the dominant program in the Big Ten like Ohio State has been in the past. And I think what's really crazy to me is, I think they could be even better next year than they were this year. Right. I think of certain things like like we all said it right. The defensive line didn't have a ton of experience. Look how they performed. Right now, there's so many of these guys coming back with a lot of experience. Guys like JJ, who missed the spring last year.

Now, my understanding he's got a full spring more or less under his belt and he'll have a fall as well so i mean i could the offense be even better i mean i agree with you i'll say this to your point there i think jj mccarthy is going to be possibly the number one quarterback in the country next year. I truly believe that he was just getting his feet under him this whole year. He was thrown in, not thrown into the fire, but he was definitely thrown into a tough situation. And I don't care what you want to say. He didn't have support from anybody.

He didn't have anybody experience looking over his shoulder being like, hey, I've got your back. Here's how it is. He was in an awkward position for all fall camp, the first part of the season, and then was on his own kind of like on an island because of the McNamara situation. So I agree with you, Kalen.

I think not only with just experience, but him being able to throw in the spring and summer and fall and, and get here, I think he's going to be like, Hey, I'm here and I'm the dude. And then, I mean, you've got freaking Blake Corm and Donovan Edwards. Like it's really unbelievable. So, and then, I mean, we could do this all day, but, like, you've got almost the whole line coming back, and you're plugging in the holes that did leave.

So, it's just crazy to me. Also, Kalen, I want to say one thing, too, while we're talking about Ohio State. I just looked at your mirror that is in the background. It kind of reminded me of when Urban Meyer was on that boat or whatever and his buddy was, like, naked and hitting the bong in the background in the mirror. And he's like, no, no, no. And his buddy comes in and wants him to hit the bong.

Unbelievable moment that just kind of gets like passed over like people forget about that oh yeah well and uh one thing that you said justin that just kind of made me think of this um you know they bring in jack tuttle as a grad transfer a quarterback obviously is a god forbid an insurance policy but the thing that you mentioned about having somebody to help him, it feels like when you have Kurt Warner in New York with Eli Manning, right? You have an experienced quarterback who's gone through a lot of different things and can be there to help mentor J.J. McCarthy. I'm sure it was when Jack Tuttle came on board, it was like, look, man, this is our guy want I'll I'll jump in right then right here and let you finish your thought after but Jack Tuttle told me he's like I came here so that I could learn and my goal is to be

a coach one day yeah and that's what that was that's what my thought would be is that you know he's a future coach right but to have an experienced quarterback who's played in this conference be able to help JJ and look I'm not gonna fault anybody right like you have your job taken because you know you don't perform and you also have an injury like that sucks right but to be able to have somebody like when JJ does JJ things that aren't awesome and like in the Purdue game where he just rolls out and just flings it because he's like I think I think Ronnie's down there like just to have somebody to kind of help work through those moments is going to be so huge for his growth.

And thank you for pointing that out. Cause I, you know, obviously I knew he was more of an insurance policy if anything happened, but you know, having him there with his leadership is I think crucial. And I think that's a extremely underrated storyline heading into you know, heading to the end of spring ball and as we get into summer workouts and then obviously fall camp. Yeah, I think so as well. I think that it's something that you think about.

He's still a young kid. He was 19 almost all of last year, right? I don't think people, because he carries himself so well, they forget about that part, right? And so, like, there just aren't that many guys in this country that go like that without a mentor, without somebody there. And I think a Jack Tuttle, to your point, is going to be really important for his growth.

And just, like like getting it. I think going through that stuff for the second time is so like, oh, shit, I've seen that before. You know, like in the game speed. He talked to me about this as well where he was like, I didn't know what game speed was until like that Iowa game essentially because they played against dog shit opponents we can you know rag on ourself for that too but like he didn't he didn't go through he's like even fall

camp was is kind of half speed right and so like he once you start getting that and like you get the rhythm that's when you start making making really good plays so like I I would expect especially with Jerome Moore in there and Kurt Campbell helping out as well um which he absolutely loves Kurt Campbell and I don't think we can say the same about Matt Weiss um so I think that'll be a big difference as well um and I think that uh I expect to have it be more. Obviously, we're going to ground and pound because we've got two of the best running backs in the country. But I expect to see a lot of JJ this year and us throwing the ball. One last thing that I was going to say before I turn back over to you guys.

Somebody put it out on Twitter. The difference in Donovan's one of Donovan's runs against Ohio State was JJ pulled a, an end over because of his fake. And that doesn't help happen if it's not JJ in there. And so like, there's a lot, a lot of little shit that he does that, uh, helps a ton over more than just having a great arm. Yeah, that was, I mean, both those touchdowns, I i think his the threat of his his legs sucked those backers in sucked the ends in um and they did that same thing happened against penn state on the two long touchdowns that blake and donovan have uh you know i think back to back plays from scrimmage it's just that threat of jj running and i think just a you know third year in the program, second year as a starter. We talked about it when we had Max on from PFF, and I think the sky is the limit with this kid, man.

I mean, that's the crazy part. So it's going to be a very fun spring game. I hope to see JJ just kind of slinging around, honestly, just for fun. I don't really care. That's the only thing I really want to see from the spring game. Davis Warren season. Jack jack tuttle too i want to see the guys i want to see the guys eat you know i was with davis today he's a dog he's just like he's the nicest kid as well um i mean just like the nicest kid and i i hope the best also like he's a guy like I expect that he could be a starter at some point here too like dude is is legit and he is filled out a lot and so like people forget

he played his senior year like half the senior year and the other half he couldn't play because he was so weak he was like so skinny he was like 140 pounds so um yeah we dude the one time i think it was when we had max on and we went through like one position group for 45 minutes and then still had to talk about the rest of the team it's just kind of crazy i'm excited to see all these guys in this spring game i know not everyone's gonna play but like i i'm i'm pumped to see him i'm just pumped to be back in the big house too i mean absolutely beers with the boys you know like just in the way that football players need a spring practice to kind of get into game shape like my spring practice is like brunch but the weather sucks so now my spring practice is the spring game and like i gotta make sure i'm in shape for, for, you know, September, August, whatever,

whenever the season starts, like I need to make sure that I can handle myself with the fellas. Absolutely. I agree with that. It definitely is like, uh, yeah, you need to, you need to make sure you can't go too hard. Cause you know, you're not in playing shape, right? Like, you know, you're not quite there yet.

So you got to peel it back a little bit but you you still gotta know you gotta test test the limits a little bit to see like hey are we gonna be able to get back there come september are we gonna be able to throw back maybe 15 beers in a day it's our thing about it our spring no absolutely you think about it too though like through summer you know you have the occasional beers here and there. Maybe it's, maybe it is brunch. Maybe it's 730 and like, you know, I'm going to have some light, have a hazy IPA with my meal. Like, and you prepare yourself for the season, but like, you know, we've had March Madness, we've had Fancy Patrick's Day, but I just think you got to have that one like Saturday, like early drinking session to make sure you're session to make sure you're keeping your muscles in shape. Yeah. I also will say, too, it was sunny and 57 today. Wouldn't hate that.

Wouldn't hate that. Please. God, please. I'm not going to say that we would ever have weather issues because we're not going to talk about that. I've been to too many spring games at Michigan Stadium. There was one time, I think it was when Devin Gardner was a true freshman going through spring practice.

It like sleeted and I was just like, I'm out of here, man. It was like 37 degrees and just like sleeting, raining, kind of snowing, which is awful. Yeah. We don't need that. I will say this may be bad vibes. Jack would call this bad vibes for sure. But thank God he's not here.

We're going to beat the shit out of him anyway. Just tough weather, bad weather in the spring game doesn't hit quite like bad weather in like November you know the Nebraska game oh I had to buy some gloves from the M Den inside the stadium because my gloves were wet it was so cold yeah but you were still like probably you know hey I don't really care because I'm here and we're eight and oh or nine and oh or whatever it was and like it doesn't even matter no it doesn't And we were about to go to Italy for the honeymoon, so, like, I was on – I had amazing vibes at that point.

Like, I was just like, cool, we're just going to roll Nebraska, you know, and move on with our lives and, you know, go on to the Illinois game and then Ohio State. So, like, that was – yeah, that game hit very hard, just in a great way. You're right, though. Spring game, no. Be nice weather. A're right, though. Spring game, no. Be nice, weather. Little teaser, too.

There may or may not be a pep rally in Chrysler before the game that I may be coordinating. So there also may or may not be Coach Harbaugh there and JJ and Blake and Donovan and a lot of other athletes. So just a little tidbit. We may or may not drink 27 beers, you know, between the three of us by noon on the spring game. We may or may not do that.

Who's to say what we do? I can't predict the future. Cannot confirm or deny. No. Yeah. I can't predict the future. There's just, you know, there are a lot of factors that go into that. So we'll see.

The only thing I can confirm is that you can follow us at Blue by 90 on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. At Blue by 90 podcast on YouTube and blueby90.com. We appreciate you. Go Blue. Go Blue. Go Blue.