Blue By Ninety - Milton vs. McCaffrey, Michigan Basketball, and COVID-19.

Episode Date: April 18, 2020

We welcome a new co-host, talk Michigan basketball without Isaiah Todd and Josh Christopher,  how COVID-19 will affect college football, and the never ending McCaffrey/Milton debate.

On this episode of Blue by 90, we introduce our new co-host. Then we move into some basketball talk. Obviously, we have to address Isaiah Todd and Josh Christopher. Those are big misses for us. But then we move on to some basketball recruiting news. We look at where we think the recruiting class is going to wind up. Then we move into COVID-19 talk. I hope everybody's staying safe and social distancing.

We talk about how COVID might impact sports going forward. Finally, we wrap it up with some Michigan football talk. So please stay tuned for that. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter, at Blue by 90. And then YouTube is at Blue by 90 podcast. So thanks for listening and enjoy the show. This is the University of Michigan. podcast. So thanks for listening and enjoy the show. But George Wolves! Down the sideline! Peebles Jones! Touchdown, Wolverines!

Welcome to Blue by 90, your Michigan Wolverines podcast. We used to be three dudes who talk maize and blue, but we have added a new host. We're introducing Ro. Ro, thanks for coming on the podcast here. Hey, thanks for having me, guys. I'm excited to join. I've been a Michigan fan my entire life here, and I'm excited to talk with three other idiots about it. Yeah, so what makes you a Michigan fan why why Michigan um honestly I I really was uh you know my dad was a Michigan fan so it was pretty much born in me um from the beginning but

um even even uh when I was little he was not as into it as I was I was just a fanatic and started you know back in the in the 90s when things were going better than they were now it seems you know I was that crazy person I actually remember when I was a kid watching games on Saturdays and then I would when I had a Michigan flag and when Michigan Michigan would score, I'd like run out into the yard waving the flag like a psycho when I was like eight years old or something like that. But we used to score a lot back then too, so it was fun. But yeah, it's been, you know, I've been around Ann Arbor for a while now and been to quite a few games, football and basketball and more than that. So, yeah, it's just been something that I've been a part of for a long time.

And I think there's no going back now, whether I want to or not, we're kind of stuck with it. Yeah, of course. I mean, we all got those childhood Michigan memories that stick with us. And so we're glad to have you as a co-host on the show. And thanks for coming on board. Yeah, for sure. All right. Well, unfortunately, we have to jump from the glory days to some kind of downer news this last 48, 72 hours. Josh Christopher and Isaiah Todd guys, you want to jump into some of that? Yeah. I mean, it was I was talking with Ro, you know,

that whole night expecting Christopher to sign at 824 Pacific time. And, you know, we were staying up hoping it was that time or like we heard it might be midnight his time and that would be 3 a.m. for us. And, you know, we 1124 Eastern time where we're at, you know, he put a post up. I fast forwarded right to the end and saw the Sun Devil logo. And I like god damn and uh yeah kind of ruined my night and then 12 hours later Isaiah Todd gone he's he's going pro in uh Europe or overseas somewhere so we lost two top 15 recruits nationally in a span of 12 hours so rough rough time to be a michigan fan for basketball that's for sure i feel like i'm kind of used to it though like i i when i heard this i was like like i get it it's like you know there's probably a lot of michigan fans like oh my god these guys

didn't come to our school like dude whatever i mean honestly like these guys are gonna be one and done anyway i think we got a couple other guys. We got a lot of four-star guys this year. Like, maybe those are the types of guys that we – that will be around the program for a long time and kind of help Jawan Howard kind of, like, get the ball rolling. I know it's nice to have, like, these guys, these kind of, like, one-year type of deal.

You know, they're really stellar athletes. But, you know, sometimes when you're building a program, you know, sometimes you want guys that are going to be there for a couple years and um i think too like look at hey these are two five-star guys they didn't come to michigan but john beeline went to two national championships without any of that really you know so um dude it can be done. Look at teams last year like Texas Tech and even teams like, I don't know, like one team, Purdue, right? They went to the lead eight last year. I don't remember anybody from that team except for like Etuan Moore.

That was it. I don't know. I'm going off on a tangent. I'm sorry. It's heartbroken. Yeah, I think it's. I'm going off on a tangent. I'm sorry. It's heartbroken. Yeah, I think it's, I mean, it couldn't be more on brand for Michigan that even when sports are completely canceled, we still get our hearts broken.

Like somehow, some way the universe comes at us. I don't know how that works or what we've done to deserve it, but it still comes at us i don't know how that works or what we've done to deserve it but it still comes at us but um i do think you know although it's disappointing and juwan's gonna keep going after five stars i mean if you think about it he didn't you know come into the picture until what uh may of last year you know so um he these guys weren't even um these guys weren't even starting or weren't even contacted by Michigan for the last however many months. So for us to even be in the picture was actually a win, I thought, as much as it is disappointing because we, according to everybody, we had them and then we did it. And that's really the game with five stars it's it's the wild west 100 and you are you know whether it's these guys are chasing a bag

or looking out for you know themselves one and only they're not really in it for the team and and if you look at um uh like nate said these – or you are – there aren't many teams that have actually won it with all those one-and-dones. You know, they – I think about Kentucky, even, you know, even when they went 38-0 in the regular season, they ended up losing to Wisconsin, you know. And so, outside of Duke, I think, in – it was a few years ago. I can't remember the year, but there really haven't been that many teams that have had all those one-and-dones that have won the whole thing. It ends up that you need guys that want to play for you and veteran-led teams, which is actually what we're going to have, hopefully, next year.

Can I say this, with uh josh christopher um i mean arizona state honestly is a great fit for him his brother goes there so to see that happen it's not like he was going to some absurd school we were we weren't you know expecting him to go there so for him to go with his brother makes sense honestly i mean he's a west. I'm going to say it's hard to get people to come all the way up north, right? Dude, we know the winter sucks. Like, we live here. It's like six months, you're just going, man, it sucks here, dude. It sucks, right?

Like, you can't blame anybody who lives in, like, L.A. for their entire life. And then, like, oh, I'm just gonna go like you know to the frozen tundra and live there for four years I mean or like a year but you know what I mean no that's a good point yeah for sure but let's jump into some of the uh recruiting class overall I mean obviously these departures are you know not getting these recruits I mean is pretty impactful for the recruiting class overall. And then on top of that, some of the transfers. So let's dive into some of that.

Yeah, so, I mean, the recruiting class, I believe it's technically if Jace Howard gets a scholarship, we're ninth nationally. But if he walks on, we're 12th. So we still i mean we still got a really good recruiting class we've got terence williams who's uh the number 15 power forward in the class 85th nationally uh hunter dickinson who's a stud uh number six center in the country in that class and then 32nd overall uh zed jackson who's been committed for feels like forever who's uh 69th nationally and the 10th ranked shooting guard in the class um so we've got we've still got a lot of talent coming in like i don't

remember the last time we had a recruiting class ranked that high even with like under beeline like kind of nate and row were saying like we haven't recruited these five star uh four star guys really like we get you know kind of not not lower level lower level, but guys that aren't ranked as high, and they stick around. And then we have good teams that make deep runs in March. So, I mean, those are some of the recruits we have. And then we've got Mike Smith, who's transferring from Columbia. He's a point guard, looks like a solid scorer, plays a lot, played a lot at Columbia. He averaged 37.7 minutes per game.

There's 40 minutes in a game. He averaged, I mean, he's playing over 90% of the game when he's in there. So hopefully he'll be a guy who can make an impact right away and kind of take over for Simpson. But, yeah, I mean, I'm excited to kind of see what happens next year and what the lineup's going to look like, depending if livers comes back or if he goes to the draft. I mean, it kind of sounds like he's going to come back because I think I read somewhere that the scouts were saying he may need another year to improve athletically and build up some other traits. But I mean, his stats were like,

I mean, he was by far the best player on our team last year he was shooting 40 percent from three his free throw percentage was 90 almost 96 percent he was making the free throw line I mean he's just he's hope if he comes back I have a very very high hopes for next year i like having mike smith on the team i think that's kind of good because uh to get a kind of veteran uh point guard just i feel like something we're just like used to now as like michigan fans you know i think that's a huge kind of benefit too for juwan i'm having a guy who you know knows how to run a system um plus i just love his name mike smith i mean how how much can you get now well we went from sims character yeah we went from uh we we

got screwed by two guys with two first names so i'd rather have the generic name guy we had isaiah todd and josh christopher you can never trust a guy with two names two for a team like a michigan team that just has like the most generic names like of all time like like bob like i don't know need something bob mike and john and Tim, you know? Sorry. Well, we went from – so this recruiting class, we went from the number one recruiting class in the Big Ten. We lost two five stars, and we're still at the number one recruiting class in the Big Ten.

So I think it says a lot about what Juwan is doing right now. And, you know, there was absolute hysteria and panic yesterday in the Michigan fan base. And it's understood because, you know, those are big, big recruits. But everyone's saying that, you know, we're not going to be good next year. We're, you know, going 500 and we can't do it. It's you're it's way too soon to be saying that. And you have guys that are coming back, and Eli Brooks and Brandon Johns,

who emerged at the end of the year. Austin Davis is coming back for his fifth year, who is going to help Hunter Dickinson tremendously. He's got, you know, Austin Davis, to me, was the most improved last year by far and with his you know offensive game and leadership styles and things like that hunter dickinson is seven foot two so if he's a lot task he was big he's even bigger yeah he's huge and so um for him to be that big already put him in camp sanderson for a year. This dude's going to be legit, you know. And so we're going to have some some freshmen getting some minutes next year for sure, especially with the Julius's departure.

You know, we're going to have some probably Zeb come in and play some minutes in the in the guard role. And so, I mean, when you look at what we lost last year, Simpson played 33 minutes a game. Teske played 27, Julius 20, and Castleton 8. So, you know, when you're looking at that, that's a lot of minutes to replace. But we're going to have to replace or get some of those young guys and just kind of throw them into the fire right away. And especially because Juwan, unlike Beeline, who had a seven-man rotation and would never even, you know, rarely go to an eight guy, Juwan's playing 10, 11, 12 guys in a game. So

there's a lot of guys rotating, getting minutes, which I like because these young guys need the experience, especially, you know, early in the year and in those Big Ten games. And so I like this class. I mean, it's still top in the Big Ten. Having a 10th or, sorry, 12th-ranked recruiting class in your first year coaching, never even been a head coach before, I mean, come on. We've got to give props to Juwan Howard where it's deserved here. Yeah, yeah. And even somebody we forgot to mention, Franz Wagner. where it's deserved here. Yeah. Even somebody we forgot to mention, Franz Wagner.

He was the guy in the beginning of the year, honestly, I didn't think he should be playing in there at all. He looked like a frigging baby deer running down the court. He just looked lanky and uncoordinated. But throughout the year, he improved tremendously. I think he's a great defender um he's a great i mean he's definitely improving as a shooter um so i'm excited to see what if he could improve that much from the beginning of last year and coming back from an injury to the end of last season

i'm very excited to see what he can do this coming season with an under year under his belt another off season to be able to kind of fine-tune some things um i mean we like you guys were saying like we got to put it all in perspective like john howard's got a 12th ranked recruiting class in his first recruiting class we've got a ton of talent coming in still and we've got experienced guys that are um sticking around and possibly livers might even be coming back so we will definitely be way better than a 500 team yeah i mean my gut is telling me that both fronds and livers come back livers has been on the record to say that if it's not a guaranteed deal then he's not going and the guaranteed deals stop at the end of the first round and so he's a hundred he's a 100 on the draft board. So I don't see him leaving. You know, he's doing the right thing by testing the waters.

I don't blame him at all for that. He's checking it out, and so is Franz. And so I see both of them coming back, which are huge. And then, you know, with Mike Smith coming in too, you know, the difference last year that I saw was you know when livers was out we needed brandon johns to come in and hit threes and he did some of the time but it was just yeah it was just such a different lineup so if you have you know those guys come back and then mike smith comes in and if he can be that elite uh three-point shooter for us that comes in and bangs those out, I mean, that's going to make a huge difference.

Because last year, and I'm hoping he improves, you know, Nunez was supposed to be that kind of 8th or 9th guy that comes't think he will, but even if he did, he could come in and hit the occasional three. It really gives us a big bump in what we're doing. Right. So it sounds like Juwan is really putting together a good squad here. But what's kind of the expectation coming out for next year? I mean, where, where would we expect this team to finish and where will we be disappointed if they didn't make it there? I mean, personally, I think I would expect this team coming in again with livers coming back as a big factor.

I'd expect this team to be better than last year. Honestly, personally, I loved Xavier Simpson. I thought he was a great leader. I thought he could be a great scorer when we needed him to be one. But I think Mike Smith can be that guy. And then with all the freshman talent that we have coming in uh and franz the way i think he can improve i mean i think we're top top three team at least in the big 10 next year like should expect a big 10 title yeah i'm not gonna to say you should expect

to pick that title. I think that's probably a little bit... I think it's a little too much. I don't know. I'm still on the very conservative kind of, okay, let's just get a win in the tournament. I think the team we had this year, I'm pretty confident that they would have won

one game in the tournament. That was my expectation for that team. Now I think it's like, okay, let's take it up another level. Let's pretend that we won a game this year in the tournament. Let's get two. Let's get to the Sweet 16. I think with the amount of talent, like you said, Livers, Wagner, guys coming in, guys who are experienced,

Sweet 16 should be the expectation. guys coming in, guys who are experienced, right? Sweet 16 should be the expectation. Maybe Big Ten Championship might be a little bit too much, I think, right now. But I would say, you know, top three, four finish in the Big Ten, Sweet 16 title, or Sweet 16. I think I'd be cool with that. Yeah, I mean, the thing is that what happened this past year is we came out absolutely on fire in atlantis and without atlantis we wouldn't have had any expectations at all right like we came in this season you know thinking all right 500 you know maybe make it to the tournament and this is a win we under you know, thinking, all right, 500, you know, maybe make it to the tournament and this is a win.

We under, you know, how many people in a coaching change like that, especially so late in the year, you know, how many teams really do as well as they did? I thought they exceeded expectations. But the fact that we came out and beat those teams that we did, the Gonzaga and Creighton early in the year, all of a sudden it was like we're a top five team, you know, and we fell off.

And so I don't, you know, without that happening so early in the year where it seemed like we peaked, we really did after, you know, after it was all said and done, we exceeded expectations. So with that being said, going into this year, I think at the end of the year, our expectations were brought down a little bit because we ended the year on kind of a skid and a low point. So I would say, but I agree with Jack. I don't see, I'm not going to go ahead and say we're going to be the favorite to win a Big Ten title, but we should be contending. And the thing is, if you look around the Big Ten,

there's not really another team. It's probably going to be very similar to what it was this year where everyone's beating up on each other. You know, it's a very competitive league. I don't see any one frontrunner, especially with Michigan State losing Cassius Winston. So without Cassius, I mean, I don't know who's even going to be their point guard probably Rocket Watts I know it's not going to be so um so who knows what's going to happen

with them but um I I saw you know people were kind of dogging on Mike Smith and saying um you know he killed it at Columbia but he'd be the 12th best point guard in the Big Ten. I can't even name another point guard in the Big Ten now. So I don't know where those points are coming from. But I don't see any reason why we can't be in the top three or four, like Jack said, in the Big Ten competing for a championship next year. Well, good. I like because uh jack gives me the optimism and then nate brings me back to reality and then row puts it all in perspective so good now i now i know where to where to root okay um well switch topics a little bit here uh obviously

we got all the covid stuff going down now we're all in quarantine staying at home and uh we're testing out the uh skype podcasting here so far so good but um seeing as how this could go on further into the year and it could affect fall sports, right? And so it could impact, you know, football season. So how is COVID going to impact sports going forward for the rest of this year? What do you think? I know Ro had a really good point on this and we talked about it the other day. So I'm going to let Ro take this one right away. Well, I saw Dr. Fauci said that, you you know sports can go on right now if we don't have crowds right so as i think that actually could be the best thing possible for michigan football this year is if we don't play football without crowds and the reason for it is game one and game 12 are

going to be probably our two hardest games this year we're on the road at Washington to start the year and then in Columbus where we haven't won since I think I was uh in diapers and so um without crowds um you know with the way Don Brown runs his defense we give up a touchdown on the first drive just about every single game. If we were to go into Washington, give up a touchdown on the first drive, their crowd is going to absolute bonkers. Same thing in Columbus. And then we get into a hole. We're not mentally tough. And all of a sudden we look and, you know, we're six minutes into the game down 21, nothing without a crowd. they can go score.

We can regather ourselves. There's no fans to get our team all rattled, and then we'll be all right. So that's my hot take on having no crowds and how it can be just actually a positive for Michigan football this year. I think you're 100% right. I mean, i love this uh i mean that uh washington stadium is supposed to be super loud right so that would be huge benefit for us because apparently we have like the weakest egos ever in sports so yeah i wouldn't i'm all for it hey though too here's

what happens they win all the games there's no crowd happens. They win all the games. There's no crowd. And then you get all the people going like, I didn't do anything. They just start crying again. I mean, just expect that to happen. Just expect that to happen. Nothing positive will ever be said. Period. So just plan on it.

Oh, fine. They'll go crazy. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they'll come up with anything to create some crazy story yeah one thing that i'm that i'm worried about with uh you know no fans or anything like that i mean obviously this is a very serious pandemic going on and um this is a very trivial concern but tailgating like that means no tailgating. I can't tailgate? It's the best time of the year. That's what

keeps me going for the six months of offseason. I don't know what I'm going to do if we can't have tailgating. We're going to have to host Zoom calls for people to point in and tailgate with us. Seriously. We could do

Barstool's Instagram page and just spend like three hours there yeah i'm another thing um regarding a lot of this you know staying at home it's impacting recruiting obviously but it's also impacting the team's ability to gather and practice, right? A lot of these teams are missing out on winter practices, summer practices, all that kind of stuff. And so that could tie over into the QB battle, right? So right back to Joe Milton versus Dylan McCaffrey. Any update on that since we last talked about it?

Yeah, I think, well, and you guys haven't heard any of my takes yet on Milton and McCaffrey. So I know there's some differing opinions in this crew. I am on the McCaffrey train. So let's make that clear right now I think that um I think that McCaffrey is the more you know stable guy he's the more Harbaugh type guy who he's going to make the right decisions not you know throw into double coverage and force things which is uh what Harbaugh has really tried to do since he got here with you you know, starting with Rudak and Spate and even Shea. You know, Shea started and came in as a guy who's just going to, you know,

run around with his head cut off and throw it anywhere he wants. And Harbaugh took him down 10 different notches and made him into a guy that wasn't going to make those mistakes. So I think McCaffrey is more his style. Although Milton is, is definitely a guy with unlimited potential, it seems because he's got the arm, he's got the body. He's,

he's he's a big boy. And so, but I am on the McCaffrey train for sure, because I think he's the guy who's going to, you know, over 12, over a span of 12 games. He's a guy who can can who can get it done especially

being a leader and so I think that as far as COVID-19 and how you know they haven't been able to train it's 100% advantage McCaffrey because Milton's the guy that I think is probably gunning to take McCaffrey's job right now. McCaffrey got snaps last year. And actually, yeah, he's gotten way more snaps than Milton has. I think it was clear that last year McCaffrey was the two and Milton was the three. So I do feel for Milton here a little bit where he hasn't gotten the chance in spring ball to show what he can do.

But it'll make the decision much harder for Harbaugh and Gattis in the come August if we do have football and training camp. 100%, 100%. Nate, tell me why Joe Milton is the guy. And, you know, I'm super biased just because, like, when he was in high school, I was like, that's a dude. That's what we need. That's Cam Newton.

Cam Newton 2.0. Let's just go with it. Just put him in as a freshman, you know. I'm that type of guy. And I'm sure a lot of people would hate me for that. But, dude, I just think a guy like that who has that type of arm, and let's – dude, I think he's pretty shifty and he's pretty fast. Like, I mean, I really think that he's the type of guy

who can take us up that next level. Like, you can win a championship with that type of talent. You can win a championship with that, period, you know? And that's what i want i want a championship so i can just know like i don't i'm not 80 years old feeling like a cubs fan okay well he makes a good point though i mean milton was the guy gunning for mccaffrey's job and now he's not getting the reps that he needed to improve right so i mean i definitely understand that perspective and i think you're right on the money ro jack what do you think about that so i'm um i'm with both of you for and i'll explain myself so mcafree like you said bro he's the stable guy like he we know

what we're gonna get out of him honestly I think he's under his athleticism is highly underrated he is fast as hell like he can if he's a pocket he's a McCaffrey right like his biggest man 16 million a year I wish I was making that but uh but i think it's mcafree's job to lose i think and i do think we can win with mcafree i think he was i think he was the guy that should have been playing last year and the thing where it makes it difficult that we're not going to have spring ball and there can't be this competition is harbaugh has seen McCaffrey for what two three years now where Milton has only been there for one or two years and if they can't really battle it out in in the spring to really you know separate each other I think that hurts Milton for sure but but Nate like you said man man, Milton's the type of guy that would go to Ohio State or LSU or Alabama or Texas,

like a big-name school like that, and just make highlight play after highlight play with that big arm. And, I mean, I'm a guy, when I play NCAA or NBA 2K, I'm shooting three-pointers, and I'm throwing Hail Marys. Like, that's what I want to see is I want to see deep balls, and I want to see, you know, wide-open receivers that get hit right in the money. So I believe it will be McCaffrey's job. I think he's earned it. But if Milton's in there, I will not be upset at all. You know, I'll tell you what. I will not be upset this year if somebody can just throw a deep ball.

Just throw a deep ball and make it on target. I'll be happy. Just not overthrow it. At least give them a chance, right? Yeah, I think from inside Shembechler Hall last year um especially early on in training camp the word was that mccaffrey talent wise and everything else was by far the best quarterback in that in that uh qb room but i think harbaugh is super loyal to his guys he's you know he was he really was loved shay as a qb and as a person i'm not not sure why, but he wanted that guy who had had the experience

and all that stuff. But I think we're going to be good either way. And I think having two guys that are very good and could do the job is huge for us. If you look back at Ohio State in 2014, they had three different QBs on their way to a national title run. You need to have that depth. And one thing with COVID-19 is if it was, you know,

if they got through spring practice here, say COVID-19 didn't happen and they got through spring practice here and Milton realized McCaffrey's the starter, he would have been looking at transferring. But now he's probably not going to have that option. So we're for sure going to have him, I think, come August and September, which selfishly as a Michigan fan, I want him to stay and I want us to have a deep QB room, which I think is key, especially with injuries that McCaffrey has had in the past.

That's a good point. Yeah. Great point. Yeah, great point. Well, we also, you know, they say you set up the pass with the run and we got a lot of good running backs here coming in, right? I mean, well, we have a great running back room, and then we have Blake Corum coming in.

Great running back. What do you guys think about our slowly developing RBU coming soon, right? I mean, what do you think about that? I mean, I think we have loads of talent. I mean, Charbonnet is obviously very talented, had a, I think, successful freshman year. Haskins kind of emerged out of nowhere. And right now, he's my number one on the depth chart. Hassan Haskins is my number one.

Chris Evans is back. And he had, I mean, his freshman year was unbelievable um and then blake quorum's coming in i know nate i know you're super high on him like i like him he's fast he's strong he seems like uh just a monster out there um but again it depends on the o-line and kind of like how they develop we lost four starters but um to stick with the running backs, I hate myself sometimes because I get so optimistic and I'm so like tunnel vision for like Michigan football. But, I mean, we've got to have one of the most talented running back rooms in the country.

For sure. I mean, our recruits are just killing it there, right? I mean, I read something about Zach Charbonnet, and I can't remember. I think it was an article in Sports Illustrated. The guy was saying Charbonnet might get similar snaps that he got this year. So don't expect him to be rushing for 1,000 yards and 20 touchdowns or something like that because there's so much depth in that running back room right you're gonna have uh chris evans and hassan haskins and i'm sure they'll even

put blake coram in there so so i i think the the problem there is i mean we can have all the depth in the world but you gotta have your number one guy i think you have to pick one it's just like a quarterback you know you obviously can do it by committee sometimes but if we're you know splitting up snaps between three four people nobody can get into a rhythm and it's you know if you look at ohio state ohio state alabama cleon, I guarantee you they have a backup five-star that's sitting on the bench and not getting many snaps, right? Dobbins last year was the guy. You know, they had a staff of studs that are sitting on the bench.

We can't just be like, okay, these guys have talent. You know, we need to get them some snaps. Pick the guy and let's go with it and get them into a rhythm. I want to see Charbonnet or Haskins or whoever it is, get 20 plus carries a game because it seems like, you know, all of a sudden, you know, a guy is killing it. He's seeing the field, he's seeing the holes and then all of a sudden he's pulled and we don't see him for four more plays. You know,

it's frustrating from a fan's perspective because I felt like we didn't have much consistency last year and in the past, you know, it's frustrating from a fan's perspective because I felt like we didn't have much consistency last year and in the past. You know, I felt like with Higdon and Evans, we had a good one-two punch there. And it was just them two. And they split the snaps, you know, pretty well with Higdon obviously getting the more, the better of them. But I can't, you know, see us going, well, I can see it happening, but I don't i can't you know see us going well i can see it happening but i don't want it to where we have you know haskins charbonnet and evans and then maybe blake corham getting in there all in one game that's none of these guys are going to be able to get into a rhythm and

really get going in any game and bro that's because, like, when we look at, like you said, Alabama, when they had that string of, I mean, the string is still going. They had Mark Ingram. He was the guy, but they still had Trent Richardson back there. Then when Trent Richardson was the guy, they had Derrick Henry back there. Now they've got Najee, and they've got their number one guy that they can go to. And then if we need, you know, like, to take a break and give the guy, you know, a breather, then we've got a number one guy that they can go to and then if we need you know like to take a break and give the guy you know a breather then we've got a number two to put in there but when you do it by committee like that and there's three or four guys that are going in

um or even just two guys that are switching out in a series you know it kills the rhythm you know everybody has their own tendencies and it's i mean it's got to be tough for the o-line to kind of help block for them if they each running back has their own tendencies and It's got to be tough for the O-line to help block for them if each running back has their own tendencies and they don't know what to do. I'm with you on that. We need to have a number one running back. I hope it's Haskins because I think he showed a lot last year, and I liked it a lot. I'm hoping they pick a number one and they kind of just let that be as it is.

And I'd rather not see a running back by committee. I would disagree. And the reason I would disagree is because, like, when you have guys who have different talents, it opens up the playbook more. So you can do a lot more different things. Right. So I think you do have a lot. The things I like. So, like like Charbonnet is a guy that you can give the ball to he can run up the middle he's kind of like a power back but he does have

like some elusiveness right and now you get somebody like Blake Coram who's like a small guy he's hard to see um he's super fast he can hit the hole hard. And he can really, he's really shifty. And so I think you can do a lot with a player like that. And then I also think guys like Haskins, you can like rotate in. I think Chris Evans is a solid guy. You can set them up in like any different way. So I think as a whole, I think it's better to just have them know what kind of plan you want to have going into the game and then try and execute that. And then you also have the opportunity to see in the first quarter, hey, what's working, what's not, right? And you can adjust from there. So I think, obviously, the more talent, the better.

That's my kind of approach on it. I would like to see some guy emerge, though, and be like, that's the guy. You know, I think we have been missing that at Michigan where it's like, that dude. Thank God we got that dude on our team because, I mean, he's winning the game. You know, Ohio State has had an it guy on their team since I can remember. You know, Maurice Claret. Oh, they're one. won that's it screw all the other players they got that dude and that guy's taking them to the

promised land right Texas right oh Vince Young up games up games done about him they're not even there like you need guys who are going to emerge and be so good that the other team can't stop you, right? So I think, I mean, that being said, we need a line. I'm not saying just no line shows up, but I'm really hoping that a couple of these guys emerge, but I'm really hoping that they do work all these guys in and try and confuse the defense. Because I think Gattis really, really wants to be able to open up his playbook.

And I think last year, Shea had no arm. So it was like, well, we got to just run the ball. And then, you know, you put eight people in the box and it's done. You know, they're not going to get anything. Well, this does really scare me, the fact that we don't have enough practice time and we have all these new linemen, right? I mean, this is where i'm really happy that we have ed warner and i'm like okay at least i know we got a really good coach

what do you guys think about the line i think we got what four replacements there four yeah um i mean i'm i'm pumped for mayfield i think he is an absolute stud. He's an athlete. He can move around really well. He's strong. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but he was the guy who shut down Chase Young in the Ohio State game last year, right? That's what I heard. Right? So, I mean, no, because Chase Young, he's an edge.

He's a defensive end. So, like, he'd be coming because Bredesen's a guard so um I mean I'm sure Bredesen was on there to like double team him at times but I think I believe Mayfield was the guy that was on young and I mean he did obviously an amazing job so I'm excited to see him Filiaga was a big recruit um when he signed with us he was a four-star guy i'm pretty sure played like army all-american game um i believe he's projected to be a starter um a couple of couple of random guys that i honestly can't put a name out there but ryan hayes i remember ryan hayes played a little bit last year and uh i'm pretty sure he was a converted tight end they turned into um a tackle and he i mean he's super athletic apparently warner loves

his basketball players so um ryan hayes played basketball or something in high school and football so he's another athletic guy i think he's projected to play left tackle and mayfield to be on the on the other side um as far as the other two guys i can't think of their names but i'm excited to see what they can do. I think we'll have two athletic tackles, which will be great to stop the edge rush. But I mean, of course, it's about the line to get the run game going. You can't do anything without an offensive line.

So I'm interested to see what they do, because we're going to have four new starters. And especially, like, we don't have spring practice to be able to have these guys all together, working in sync um for all the plays we need to run so obviously i'm nervous but uh i believe in warner and i think there's an upside for sure yeah i think that the thing that we'll struggle with most is on the offensive line. It's similar to, you know, when a basketball team is coming in and practicing together and playing together, you have to know, you know,

where the other guy is at all time and know their tendencies and, and working together is more important than it is. If you're the biggest guy out there, you know, you have to know that the guy next to you is he's going to take your gap and you're going to take the next gap and stuff like that. And it's going to be tough for these guys with no spring practice to work together and get to know each other and know each other's tendencies.

And so I hope they're, you know, maybe they're social distancing in someone's backyard right now, you know, lining up against a couple of dummy pads or something like that. But, yeah, that's going to be the biggest part, especially with COVID-19 for us, you know, bringing these new guys in because it's you just have to work together as one unit as an offensive line. And to me, that's the most important thing more than, you know, being 350 pounds and being the strongest guy out there. Some of my thoughts too is I think, like, I'm not, I'm not necessarily planning for the fall to, for that to be the season. You know, I really think, you know, you're going to have a lot of coaches come out and say, like, Hey, this is garbage. Like I need to get my guys prepared. Like, you know, I really think, you know, you're going to have a lot of coaches come out and say, like, hey, this is garbage. Like, I need to get my guys prepared. Like, you know, guys like Nick Saban or, you know, going to be like, just throw a fit.

Right. And then, you know, and it makes sense. Right. If you don't have time to prep the way that you normally do, like, you know, I think that's a disadvantage. And, you know, you throw guys out there. They've only had, you know, a couple of weeks of practice and get warmed up, you know you you throw guys out there they've only had a you know a couple weeks of practice and get warmed up you know more potential for injury uh i think they should move the season back to the spring get it warmed up uh i really i look at hey everybody's saying like

you know you know june i mean are we gonna you know who knows so like if this is really gonna play out through the whole summer and then we've got to keep social distancing and all this stuff, like how do you get 60, 80 guys in a locker room, like making sure everybody's, like, you know, safe, right? So I think it would be a smart thing to move the season back, just have – instead of spring ball, you get fall ball, right? And then, you know, kind of – I don't know. I'm not the dude making these decisions.

Do you see that Mike Pence? He met with some of the NCAA, like, college football, like, board or something. You guys see that? Uh-huh. I missed that. What was that all about? It's pretty much that. Nothing came out of it.

He just kind of, it was just kind of like, eh, they're just talking about like pro football compared to college football. Right. And so like, they're talking about, for instance, like the NBA, they're saying, Hey, we can like play the rest of the season out, but we're going to have to do it under like these certain circumstances. Right. Players are going to have to be in a hotel. They're going to have to be tested every two weeks and then they can go out and play and what i think a lot of the ncaa guys are saying is we don't have that capability and we these kids are going to practice

like you know they're going all over the place right they're meeting with their friends they're uh uh going to class they're interacting with a lot of people, especially like college campuses, which are really big, like international kind of hubs to, to a point. Right. So they're a little bit nervous about, you know, it's like, yeah, it's easier to do this in the MBA, but it's a little bit more difficult to do it in college. So that's pretty much all that came out of it. And that's a big thing too. These guys are in college, right? Like if if it's not safe for fans to gather in a stadium, how are we going to deem it safe for them to be on these kids to be on a field playing football against each other? Right. Like I was listening. I think it was either Get Up or First Take on ESPN. And, you know, if they do that, that makes this –

that just takes the amateur right out of it, and, like, they should be getting compensated. Because it's ridiculous, right? These guys are student athletes. And, I mean, obviously I want to see a football season, but if that's the case, I mean, honestly, I would be shocked if we have a football season from everything that we've heard with everything that's going on. So I hope we do.

I saw a stat today that the NFL's total revenue, ticket prices and ticket revenue is only 15% of their total revenue. For NCAA, it's up to, it depends on the university, but it's up to 75%. So that they're, they're completely flipped. So what, you know, the NFL could possibly play with no fans, but I can't see the NCAA playing with, with no fans because these schools and for most of the schools in the athletics budgets, the football revenue powers the entire athletic department. They pay for the softball team, the lacrosse team, you know, all these non-revenue sports. The football revenue

that's coming in pays for those to keep operating. So you're going to see a lot of sports cut. I saw it. Who was it the other day? There was a D1 school that cut their men's soccer team already. And so that's going to happen more and more, which is so sad. But I just don't know what's going to happen because it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. You know, if you have it, then it's safety. If you have the season, then it's you're putting everyone at risk.

If you don't, then people are losing jobs and schools or sports are going to be cut. And then if you have the if you say you have football in the spring. OK, so then when's the 2021 season going to be, you know, are you going to go from the end that season in June? And then their first game is all already again in September the following September, you know, it's just kind of a snowball effect that this is going to affect everything for years and years to come, which is, it's just a crazy thought.

Yeah, that's very well said. I'm just glad we're all doing our part and staying indoors because I want my football season in September. So staying indoors and drinking beer. All right. So you guys got anything else to tag on to COVID talk here? I mean, thank you to all of our first responders and healthcare workers and essential workers. I mean, without everything you guys are doing, we'd be fucked,

honestly. So thank you. Thank you for everything you're doing. Yes, okay. Thank you very much. Thanks. That's well said, Jack. If nobody has anything else to tag on here, I think we'll just sign off. So we'll say thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter.

Check us out on YouTube. Feel free to send us an email or something, blueby90 at gmail.com. And other than that, go blue.