Blue By Ninety - On3 and The Wolverine's Clayton Sayfie Joins | QB Battle Close to being OVER? UM Defense is ELITE

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

Clayton Safie of On3's TheWolverine.com joins to talk the race for QB1, other position battles, and the outlook for the 2024 Wolverines.

All right, welcome back to Blue by 90. I'm Justin joined by Tanner and we've got another special guest today. Last time we had 247 sports on. Now we've got on three. So we're we're button and we have rivals and we did have rivals. Yeah, we're just we're just you know, we're we're making our rounds. But we've got Clayton safety on Clayton. Good to have you again. One of our good friends of the pod. So appreciate you coming on, man. Great to be here. Last time I saw you, you were running an entire golf outing with your wife. So it's good to see you in a more informal setting, a little less stressed out. A little less stressed out. I'm not trying to wrangle 100 football players to try and not like run people over with their golf carts um and like when we have millionaire donors there so um yeah so i'm

a little less stressed currently but uh but no it's good to see it um i mean we've been talking about i feel like we lead off every single pod like this, but we're just so ready for football season. And I think we've said this on every single pod for the last three too, but the weather is turning, and so it just feels. I was like, the other day I was, what was it, yesterday, I was right around the big house. I was doing some stuff there, and it was just like this fall, windy, crisp feeling. And the flags were flying, and I was just like, holy shit.

The banners are hung. The banners are up. They look unbelievable. I like the black. I'm not going to lie. The black looks so good. Yeah, it's nice. The college football playoff is black and gold, so it fits.

It does. It looks beautiful. It's never coming and gold, so like it fits. It does. It looks beautiful. It's never coming down either, fellas. It's never coming down. Well, I don't know if that's true, but maybe for the whole year they'll have them up. Justin, you may know what I mean. Well, I mean, theoretically, like hypothetically,

it's never coming down. Like the meaning. The meaning of what it represents. The physical banners may be replaced, maybe. Yeah, I don't know if they have a plan for if they're only up for a year or if they move them to somewhere. I would like, though, I've seen some chatter on Twitter out there. I don't know about you guys.

I would love to hear your thoughts. I would like if we started putting this, like, whether it be on the press boxes, you know, the big 10 championships, the national championships are on the sides of the scoreboards. Like there's gotta be something it, right? Like do it like Nebraska's a lot, do it like Nebraska's, you know, add some spice to the, to the blue in the, in the press box area. Um, I'm certainly down for that. I like it. And maybe they will have to take it down when they win another this year, potentially.

I'm just trying to pander to the audience here, but yeah, I mean, it's, I think it looks great and it's, you know, well-deserved obviously with this sort of accomplishment, but I agree. I mean, you win the big 10 and you do all those sorts of things, you know, you should put something up for that too. And, but you know, the big house also has that kind of classic look to it, even the new modern you know big buildings on the side so it looks pretty good i think you could do something like either like metallic or like silver doesn't have to be like crazy or even just like a matte like it's almost like a matte navy that you can kind of

see but it doesn't you know do much. I think there to your point, there needs to be some recognition of these teams that have done such unbelievable things. But yeah, I mean, listen, we are going back to back, which I, the haters are furious about it. So I've talked myself into it. Like I literally was on the phone with somebody today and like here's where my conversation – tell me if you guys are similar to this. But my conversation is usually with somebody that I know is a crazy Michigan fan just like me. And it'll start with like, yeah, so how's it going?

And then like 30 seconds in it's like, so what do you think about the team this year? And then it just like completely pivots, and then you go a half hour just talking about the team. 100%. That's exactly how it – we're doing it right now. We're doing it. You're like three minutes in, and you're like,

Cole Sullivan is so underrated. He's going to be a monster. You just get into like true freshmen, like look out for Jaden Hood this year, Jimmy Rolder, guys that aren't as known throughout the country, but we know is like, yeah, dude, look out for Trey Pierce, redshirt freshman, put on some weight. You just get into the depths of Michigan football, and I love that. And Clayton, I want to ask you, man, being around Shem,

the best chance for Michigan to repeat is that defense, man, you know, being around Shem, you know, the best chance for Michigan to repeat is that defense, man. You know, and we've heard, I mean, everybody we've talked to is like, yeah, this defense might be better. Like, that's what they're hearing from inside the building. Like, are you hearing that too? Because while it's hard to believe because of how good last year's was, like the star power, Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, Josiah Stewart, Derek Moore, Will Johnson, Jason Barham, Ernest House, it just seems like this starting 11 might be the best defense Michigan has had in a very long time. Yeah, I think the starting 11 might have a chance.

I think the depth, it's going to be hard to ever find a team, especially a Michigan team with that much depth on one side of the ball and really just the whole roster in general. But, you know, if they can replace Rod Moore who went down with the injury and Mikey Sainer still in the back end, I think those are the two keys because I really love the D line and as good as junior Colson and Michael Barrett were, you know, the linebackers might be even better question mark, you know,

with you hear great things. That's a crazy crazy like if you would have told me that at in january i would have been like you're insane right like junior colson is one of the better linebackers to come through this this football program in the last two decades 100 and and then you're hearing stuff about jay Barham, who it was at that golf outing that Justin, you you organized there where Rod Moore was talking to us. And he's like, dude, I can't even like he stopped talking about Jay Sean because he was like, I can't even describe to you like the things he's doing. But you just have to see it. It's like, well, damn, I have to wait till August 31st. You guys get to watch him at practice. But and then you hear, as our Chris Ballas reported over on the Wolverine.com that, you know, they had to pull

him out of a drill because he was hitting too hard. Those are the things you want to hear. And it sounds like more of the same, you know, type of Michigan program that it's been for last three years, really, you know, to a similar extent, the last nine. So, I mean, it's always started on the defense, right? I mean, even with Jim Harbaugh, he comes in and you expect a former quarterback in the NFL and at Michigan to be, you know, but he's not Sean McVay. You expect him to be a little more offensive centric,

but he's always had good defenses. That's been the identity. And I feel like that's going to be the same thing here. I mean, I've heard this like with regards to – it's Barham. It's not Barham. It's Barham. I don't know how to – I think it's Barham.

Okay. All right. So Jay Sean, like I've heard people – I don't want to be blasphemous here, but like compare him to like a taller Devin Bush. And if that's the case with this secondary, which, you know, Rod goes down, that sucks. Like, I've got the Rod Moore, Jackson Smith, and Jigba picture somewhere over here hung up because Rod is one of my favorite players. And, you know, him going down just stinks because he's so damn good. In April, after the spring ball opening with Wesley Walker, with Mangum from Michigan State, with Amir Hall,

I think I'm missing the guy from UNLV. Yeah, they did a great job of backfilling to try to find maybe not one guy, but multiple guys to kind of work in there and try to replicate some of what Rod Moore could do. But, like, again, with this front four and some of these younger guys that are coming up and are coming off the red shirt, you know, freshman, sophomore season coming into this year, like, Jay Sean Barham has me very excited. Like, it's – I don't know.

It just sounds like all the things you hear from the program and it kind of just goes along with what you've heard about other guys in the past that have broken out. Like, it seems like he's going to be for real. And then you pair him with Ernest Hausman, who was one of the better tacklers, despite not starting a game for Michigan last year. Like, you've got a defense, man. You do.

I think it's kind of funny. The Devin Bush comparison, I feel like everyone uses that. I'm not even faulting you. It's just kind of a – I'vevin Bush comparison. I feel like everyone uses that. I'm not even faulting. It's just kind of a – I've just noticed it. Like if you're fast. But, I mean, that's part of what he is, right? He brings that to the table, speed. And same with Ernest Hausman, as you said.

I mean, he was third on the team in tackles last year, despite playing I think the 14th most snaps on the defense. So, I mean, he was really productive when he was in there. And then to your point, too, about the defensive front, it's like, yeah, they may have to – like Jair Hill may have to get up to speed a little bit or some of those transfers coming in. But you know what helps the secondary is a great D line that gets to the quarterback. And Michigan's going to have that.

And the interior pass rush might be as good as ever. It's something that they really were trying to get for years and years and years. It felt like until last year, would they were able to get it? And then they would just bring those guys in, in waves. And next thing you know, Cam Goods running after a guy, you know, and Chris Jenkins is back there and Mason Graham is darting back there. And Kenneth Grant is just an absolute freak. So I think again less depth but KG and Mason as juniors might be as good as anybody we've seen in terms of a duo yeah I mean I think that the only thing honestly this is this is like you you know champagne

problems here but the only thing that honestly God concerns me a little bit about the defense is that they're gonna have to play four quarters this year they didn't play four quarters for a single game until ohio state last year essentially right and so uh you know with to your point clayton a little bit of lack of depth and i say lack compared to last year it It's not a true lack of depth. It's just not as good as one of the greatest defenses in Michigan history, which was nine months ago. But when Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant are in the rotation still in the fourth quarter against Texas, can they keep it going?

So I don't even know if it's a concern. It's more of a question mark you know i'm expecting that these guys who are freak athletes can go for four quarters it's just something that we really didn't see until the last three games of the season last year right and so um that that's the thing i'm i'm um looking at and then you know the other piece that you guys i don't think touched on was that the Jair Hill situation, right? That cornerback two situation. You know, you talked about backfilling some of those guys with Jaden Mangum

and some of those transfers. But, you know, it looks to be that Jair is, you know, setting himself apart. So, is he going to be ready week two though with essentially like we're sitting here now on august 20th and he has zero meaningful reps in his career in the college space right so uh you know all of a sudden you're going up against quinn ewers how do you fare right well and you're like that that's it quwers, right? Like an extremely experienced and talented quarterback who's won big games, including on the road, you know, in his career. And, you know, Michigan didn't really face guys like that last season,

really at all until the playoff. And even the big games at the end of the regular season, we all remember Drew Aller on, what was it, third or fourth time when he just kind of threw it to nobody. I mean, that was the quarterback play you got really till Talia Tagovailoa. And then, you know, McCord kind of was what he was. I think he was okay. And then even Jalen Millrell, they made that Alabama offense one-dimensional.

So you're going to face better quarterbacks right away. You're going to face a Lincoln-Riley offense, which we all know how good they've been historically, no matter who has been the quarterback or the personnel around that, the quarterback. Jed Fish is a good offensive mind. They have some talent there at Washington. So it's going to be completely different. That kind of brings us to a broader point maybe of just like what this season in college football is going to be because the matchups are crazy. Like, I mean, I don't know about you guys. I think I'm a little younger, but I don't remember anything really but Michigan-Notre Dame and then the Washington game a couple years ago.

Beyond that, the non-conference games have been kind of stale a little bit other than, again, epic Notre Dame games. We went through this actually to your point, Clayton. In our Blue by 90 group chat It was the last top 10 matchup At home in Ann Arbor I think was like 1994 Non-conference was like 1994

Or something I think it might have been 91 Because I Dude so the way I did this Clayton I just literally went to like Michigan Seasons And like Wikipedia and just went back and back and back And just looked at the schedule There's got to be an easy way to do that.

We should look into that. But I don't know if that's how like ESPN stats guys are doing it. This is how we do our research here. Trust me. I'm not, I'm not that far off either. Yeah. But yeah, to your point, I mean this, it's going to, you know, the perception of what a successful season look like is,

is going to change. Right. Like, I mean, I don't necessarily think many teams are going to come out undefeated especially in the big 10 and sec right like you may have it you know you may have clemson or you know if they get back on track i don't know what they're looking like this year but i'm sure they got some talent or you know florida state or somebody in the acc may come through undefeated right because they're not playing they didn added Stanford Cal and SMU. And then the Big 12, they brought in the Pac-12 leftovers, aside from Oregon State and Washington State, RIP, to the Pac-2 at some point.

So you may have a team – but the Big 10 SEC, I just really don't think – even Georgia, I mean, the schedules are just absolutely loaded, especially for the top-end teams because that's where the viewership comes from. It comes from Michigan, Oregon, Michigan, USC, Ohio State, Oregon. It doesn't come from Rutgers, UCLA, right? So these lower tier teams are not going to have to face the better teams. So the better teams are all just going to cannibalize each other. So it's going to be insane, man.

And yeah, I mean, this college football season, probably going to be the best matchups that we've ever had in the regular season. I agree. And also, I just thought of this as you were talking. Everyone talks about, oh, Michigan has to play Texas and USC, and Michigan has to go to Washington, and they're at Ohio State. Those teams have to play Michigan, too. And Sharon Moore said that last week. But it's something I thought about more and more over the last few days

because you see people talk about the AP poll that came out last week. And, you know, it's all about these other teams. And everyone glosses over the defending national champions. I love that though. Yeah. Don't you love that? I think that's like – I don't mind too. Yeah. I don't, you love that. I think that's like, I don't mind it.

Yeah. And, and I think to be honest, I hearing Sharon, hearing some of those guys, I think they love it too. I do think it's annoying. Like,

Hey, somebody give us our props, you know, a little bit, like we're pretty damn good. And, you know, as much as we lost on the coaching staff and the offensive side of

the ball you bring back a lot of talent like you still to your point like you know they wouldn't do that and again it's our first national championship compared to an alabama or something like that but like yeah they're not saying that to alabama if they or georgia if they won the natty last year right they're saying they reloaded and everyone's got to go there and play them again in Michigan was like kind of an outlier you know like you were saying in terms of winning the national championship one it was their first since 97 but two you know they did it with lesser you know blue chip talents you know recruiting whatever but obviously they got the guys they wanted the the culture fits but so I do understand it there's been a lot of change, but I don't know.

It feels like you're glossing over them a little bit. And then when people talk about how that Texas game could define the beginning part of Michigan season, which I think it'll play a part in that, it's also like, well, Texas had one really good year. They made the playoff. This is kind of usually the game where they fall flat, and then everyone jokes about how Texas isn't back anymore. So are we kind of like, I don't know, maybe not us, but nobody's kind of realizing that that's a definite possibility going into it. Also, that game is like right now it's a three-and-a-half point spread.

I do feel like there are a lot of people out there that like media talking heads and just fans on Twitter or whatever that are acting like that uh like media talking heads and just fans on twitter whatever that are acting like that's like a nine point spread or something texas is this like unbelievable you know obviously they have a couple injuries here at the the running back position which hurt them which you hate to see that but even beyond that they lost plenty of talent as well i know they have quinn ewers back and he's really really good but they lost plenty of talent as well. I know they have Quinn Ewers back, and he's really, really good, but they lost talent in their own right. And to your point, it's not like they're Bama.

They haven't been to the college football playoff 10 years in a row or something like that. Michigan's been better. Seriously, Michigan has had a much better three-year run, and I'm not just going to say it just because we have had a really good three years. If you look at the short past, Michigan has been the better program over the past few years. I think you have a good point. There could be an argument for Texas has to go to Ann Arbor.

I'm not hearing that a lot in the media. It's going to be electric. Like that atmosphere is going to be crazy. But a lot of Texas fans, I would imagine. But I mean, those games can get pretty well. I love those September games when the weather is nice and people are just kind of in the pump that football is back. And like the Washington game, I know it was a night game in 21,

was as good of an atmosphere as I've seen outside of like two Ohio State games right in my lifetime that were that electric but it's going to be a really tough and raucous place to play but we we've uh you know honestly we've proved through the Ohio State games that you can get rocking at a noon game no matter what right and I think like we also haven't had a big-time noon game in September when it's still 75 degrees. We're getting crazy for Ohio State, and my hands are falling off. So I agree with you. It's going to be rocking.

So I want to talk. Okay. I also think, tell me, I know there are a lot of question marks on the offensive side of the ball tell me based on what you have seen heard from chero more kurt campbell the offensive line grant newsome ever why tell me why they can't figure it out yes they have to figure it out pretty quickly and they have to you know, there's going to be a learning curve there. But, like, I think the people that are just discounting Sharon Moore's ability to develop the guys and, you know,

the Grant Newsome, I think, doesn't get enough credit. Kirk Campbell is, every single player I talk to loves Kirk Campbell in the passing game in the offensive side of the ball. So like, that's where for me, I'm sitting here, like, I'm going to bet on those guys. I think it's crazy for you to just write off that Michigan's offense is going to, you know, have a huge fall off in 2024. Yeah. And Sharon Moore said it recently where he said, as long as I'm here, we're going to be really good up front, you know, something, something just like that. And, and, you know, that's kind of what you would figure right with the way he coached that

offensive line. Nick Saban said last year that it was the best coach offensive line in the country. That's obviously saying a lot. So while they have to figure out all these different pieces and their identity and even kurt campbell has talked about you know we got to figure out what personnel grouping is our is our best last year it was 12 personnel um this year it could be 11 or you know 13 and you know they'll obviously bring out some of those heavy sets but you got to figure out their identity but something they can fall back on i think is that

physicality that they play with. And those guys in the offensive line room have been there and have been practicing against these guys that are on the defensive side of the ball and competing with the guys that are now in the NFL. So you can fall back on the run game, the physicality while you kind of figure things out, I think, early on in the year, which bodes pretty well. Um, and you know, I do think they have a little more firepower than a lot of people would give them credit for. I was talking to somebody who was just trying to gather some information on Michigan that was going to talk about it on a, on a show nationally the other day, and they didn't know who Tyler Morris was. Um, and nobody knew who he was in the Rose bowl either. And he outran the entire Bama defense.

Exactly. I'm not even blaming him for it because he had 13 catches last year. I mean, I guess the Rose Bowl one should clue you in. But it's just one of those things where they do have guys that have been waiting their turn and ready to go. Like G.O.L. Hottie, a couple of weeks ago, he talked in front of the media and he said, you know, someone asked him how he stayed so patient.

And he said, yeah was i was really patient and everyone just started laughing because it's like it's so obvious that this dude could have started so many other places and he's not the only one but he turned down right you know really it's tampering it's against the rules but it happens you know he turned down offers from other schools to come there to stay at michigan for this time and you got to root for and bet on guys like that in my opinion over you know anybody else it's like this dude's ready for his moment and again he's not alone well so the thing we we kind of got away from this conversation but i um had looked it up while we were having this conversation and texas had 11 guys drafted last year in the 2024 NFL draft. And it's like, so they can replace talent, you know, and it's like, when you talk about the offensive line,

obviously Gio sounds like he's going to lock down a starting spot. Well-deserved. I mean, the guy started for Trevor Keegan in 2022 for multiple games when Keegan was out. You know, you bring in Josh Pree from Northwestern, who was all big 10 last year. You know, you have a returning starter in Miles Hinton, who I still think can be a high draft pick. I think the measurables are all there.

And he's even talked about coming from Stanford to Michigan. He's a 22-, 23-year-old dude at this point. It still took him some time getting to Michigan to transform his body because Michigan does things a little bit differently than Stanford. Him and Gentry also are like two of the biggest human beings I've ever seen in my life. Andrew Gentry at right tackle or Jeff Percy, who started for Ryan Hayes back at Rutgers in 2022.

See, Justin, I am a sicko. I know all this stuff for no reason, bro. And you've got Raheem Anderson or Greg Crippen at center. Like this team, yeah, they lost a lot of star power, but we heard that in 2021 going to 22 and obviously in 22 coming to 23 jj's back blake's back donna's back but you still heard that right like oh mike morris is gone uh you know this guy's gone that guy's gone and it's like no like michigan hasn't just been doing nothing and not recruiting studs like they've got guys waiting in

the wings at every position like a guy like zeke berry who's going to potentially be the starting nickel was a top 100 recruit. He's in his red shirt sophomore year. Like, I don't understand why Michigan doesn't get the benefit of the doubt considering they just won the national championship and have won 40 of 43 games and three straight big 10 championships. I don't get it. Keep doubting.

Keep doubting. I mean, the offensive line part cracks me up a little bit because it's like, people will be like, well, GLID has no experience, no shit. He was behind Zach Zinter and Trevor Keegan,

who are going to go down as two of the top offensive linemen in Michigan football history. It's like, uh, yeah, sorry. Like, and actually to your point,

Clayton, like I will give him a ton more credit for not just dipping two years ago, which he could have done. Right. dipping two years ago yes which he could have done right like two years ago he would have been starting at other big 10 schools probably right away you know and you could say the same thing about crip you could say the same thing uh you know percy gentry i you know like i and and then i've heard about i've heard prebe is possibly the the best offensive lineman on that whole squad. And nobody's even like blinking at him because he was on a really shitty Northwestern team last year.

Like nobody's, nobody even talking about him. So yeah, I think there, I'm just going to say like, I think this offensive side of the ball, and obviously we haven't even talked about the big discussion which is the quarterback but like i i think that to your point with sharon more of him saying like really no matter what we're going to be physical physical up front and that's going to determine half of what this offense does right it will and i i think that in like to touch on the quarterbacks a little bit, that is something that's going to help those guys out too. Because you have a couple experienced running backs. And it's weird to call Kalel Mullings that, but he's been around. He the injury last year that he was recovering from in the offseason was a big factor in some of his struggles, especially early on in the year. And then he gained some more confidence at the end. So you have guys around you. For those of us that play the NCAA college football video game, we know how much of a safety valve Colston Loveland is as well. He never drops a pass and he's going to be a beast for them in real life, most importantly, this year too.

I wanted to – okay, so talking about Colston real quick. It's funny because I'm going to use – I'm going to talk about Colston but use A.J. Barner as the example because I was – I'm a sicko. I rewatched the Michigan-Ohio State game yesterday. On Big Ten Network last night? Same. And I called my aunt and uncle who are Michigan fans. They were also watching it. Just wanted to throw that out there.

I wish we had a thing to see who's also watching with you because it's probably half the fan base. Just casually. That'd be a great feature. But there's a I can't remember exactly where it was in the game,

but it was, I believe, late in the fourth quarter. And JJ, we're driving down the field, and there's a moment where everybody goes kind of deep. Like everybody on the outside is 10 yards or deeper. And then A.J. Barner literally takes one step, turns around, and J.J. checks down to him, and he makes a little weave up and goes over 15 yards up the field. And I'm sitting there like, okay, that's not a hard throw to make.

I think I could make that throw, right? But it's what they've done all year to like open it up and do all those things. And that's where I get excited about Alex Orji. And I'm not saying that because I don't think he could make other throws, but I'm saying that because it's the simplicity of what Kirk Campbell makes this offense for a quarterback. You know, I don't, I think JJ, when he needed to make the throws on third and nine, third and 10, he did. And he showcased that he could, but for the most part with this offense in 2023, what Kirk Campbell did, what Jerome Moore did, what Jim Harbaugh did is you make it simple enough where you just keep moving the ball down

the field right and so you don't need Alex Orji to make unbelievable bombs that you know we don't need him to be a big 12 quarterback that's going to throw for 600 yards right Alan Bowman's going to go do that for us at 27 years of age you know i was just thinking but you know that's where like i you know i've seen a lot of people like well if alex orgy can figure out the passing situation then michigan will be really good i don't think it has to be that he is like a eight seventy percent passer or something like that. You know, the reality is like you actually go, I was talking to somebody about this today. You go back to Denard. Denard had an incredible completion percentage actually. And we all know he'd probably tell us like he wasn't the best

passer. He's shoelaced for a reason, right? So like you can be creative without the quarterback needing to be perfect in the passing game is i went on a rant there but that's kind of my point in the in what i'm saying it feels like kirk campbell's that type of guy that is going to get a little more creative and i would imagine all offseason you know without even knowing that alex orgy was going to take the job and let's see if he does you know one don't know one way or the other but it if he is like it's going to be a different offense than it was under J.J. McCarthy and I think he's probably prepared for that so and you can run actually some similar things to what they did with Denard which would be kind of fun to watch but um you know I agree I think it's something though, you know, those third nines that you're talking about are really important, you know, and you can look back at it, but I think

it's like third and six plus JJ was like nearly 70%, six touchdowns, you know, 600 yards or whatever. It wasn't, it didn't come around that often but when it did when it was third and ten and he had to fit one in in a tight window to roman wilson against ohio state in the first half which is just as big as you know a score late in the game uh in the grand scheme of things he was able to do it um you know the ones at michigan state you know you didn't need those you needed it if you wanted to cover like a 45 pointpoint alternate spread or something like that. The ones versus Michigan State were the most wide-open people I've ever seen. Well, the one he whizzed by, Cal Halliday's helmet. That one.

And then also the one that there was offsides on, and he just let Colson go get it on the seam route. Like, honestly, some of those throws, like he had a throw on a third and 14 to Barner where he's rolling right and like he just fits it in there he finds roman on a touchdown he's rolling right like his ability to get outside of the pocket and make plays was so underrated um and so it's like that's can can alex orgy replicate that like a lot of the reports are he's feeling really comfortable inside the pocket which is great like that's what we want to hear but what happens when the play breaks down

and like can you keep your eyes downfield and make the throw but at the same time alex orgy is such a great athlete that he can probably go and get you know six seven eight yards potentially setting up a third and shorter or something and and i think justin to your point too like and clint you mentioned this as well you know no blake right so you know blake's not gonna be turning out you know three extra yards when he should have been second and and eight but with Alex Orji being a runner and you put defenses in a bind you know with Colell with Donovan um can you you know keep it third and short right stay ahead of the change as everyone likes to say it's cliche but it's true you know and then keep keep a hold of the football too that's a huge part of it i i was just gonna

say um to add on to that you know michigan's offense was statistically one of the better offenses like the last three years their offense was the difference you know they're scoring high 30s or low 40s uh points per game right um so you know they end up cooking. But the reality is that they're not, like, throwing four 60-yard touchdowns to do that, right? One game. What's that? One game they did. One bad half, Clayton.

I don't know what you're talking about. That's fair. That's fair. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you're right. You're right. I feel like it was in a city in Ohio, but I can't remember. Was it named after the guy that discovered America?

Yeah, yeah. We'll come back to it. We'll come back to it. It'll come to us. It'll come to us. But, like, the way that they've won football games and the way this offense scored points is by, as you said, Tanner, not having negative plays not having penalties not fumbling

the football not throwing interceptions not turning the ball over like they weren't ever not i'm not going to say ever but more often than not they were making very routine plays which they made look really easy i'm not going lie. Like they made hard plays look routine and they made routine plays look really easy, but they didn't make mistakes. And that's how they won football games. I, you know, going back to watching the Ohio state game from last year, you want to know how they won that football game. It was because we took over the ball with nine minutes left and sucked the shit out of the clock for an eight-minute drive. And even though it ended in a field goal, that was probably, if you ask Jim Harbaugh and Jerome Moore, maybe one of their favorite drives of the year would be my guess.

Because you did exactly what you needed to do to keep the clock ticking. You got just enough for a first down you didn't have any you know which that is like one of the most crazy stats of all time i believe we had like the perfect amount of yardage throughout the year right for first downs um is did you have that stat is that what you're talking what you're nodding your head at? No, I was just agreeing with you. But I do have a stat if you'd like to hear it because I think this is hilarious. So last year, Michigan was third. Just talking to your point about playing disciplined football

and penalties are a big indicator of that. They were third in the country with 27.5 yards a game behind Minnesota, which shout out to PJ. He's got those boys disciplined. Number one was Air Force. And then in 2022, Michigan was fourth in the country behind Minnesota. Again, shout out PJ, Navy and Air Force. Right?

So like to that point, I think the Michigan culture is really about minimizing penalties, minimizing mistakes, things that you can control, right? Like, yeah, you may get a bad call here or there, but like, you know, if you're holding on the outside of the shoulder pads, yeah, you're going to get called. You're going to get dinged for it. And so for Michigan, making sure they don't get in those negative situations early on in a drive or early in downs, like that's a huge component to your point, Justin. And then they didn't fumble the ball. They didn't turn it over. Like they were so disciplined if that can continue. If you ask a real football coach how you win games,

it's all those things that we're talking about right now. Right? And so anybody can – I don't want to keep going back to the sign-stealing stuff, but you can talk about that all day. But if you ask somebody that's actually knowledgeable about football and a coach, the way that you win football games is you win their turnover battle. When I was

playing ball, it was, you're, you're calculating your plus minus in the turnover battle every day, right? Every game. And in the higher that you are in that plus minus, the better chance that you have to win a football game, the statistics say it same thing with penalties, same thing with, you know, uh, negative plays, all those things. So that's where, with, you know, negative plays, all those things. So that's where, you know, bringing it full circle back to it. That's why I do have a lot of positivity around this offense. I do have confidence in them because it's the same coaching staff, you know, on the offensive side of the ball that's going to be running that.

And although, you know, you're obviously losing a lot of key pieces, I think that they're not going to try to win games by just going crazy, Big 12 football, Air Force football, whatever. They're going to do the exact same thing and just churn out first down after first down until they punch it in. And another word to go along with what you guys are talking about is poise, where it was, and I think this bodes well, if it is Alex Orji as the quarterback, every time he came in, which is kind of a weird spot, right, to come in for like two plays

in these big moments, really. I mean, he had to kind of spark them beginning of the second half after the offense was a little stagnant at the end of the first half against Ohio State, and then against Washington. He had a nice run as well. He came in. The motions were always on point. The timing was good. There were no delayed games. He looked confident. It felt like he had everyone in the right spot. One of the big things that the first team offense did or what JJ did was to get him in the right play as well. You know, part of that in college is looking over to the sideline.

But, you know, sometimes there's not time. And, you know, there were some big sequences when you see JJ making a call at the lines, things like that. So that's really important. It comes with a lot of experience. But it does feel like those guys that are there, you know, do have some of that experience doing that and orgy in particular, you know, just cause we saw him a little more in the bigger moments, not in garbage time. It seems to have that, you know, type of DNA and he's been around, he watched JJ emulated him for a while.

So I think that that is a positive for Michigan also to like, to, to go back to what I just said about experience. Kirk Campbell brought this up as well. He's like, we have guys that have started. Like Tyler Morris and Samaj would have been starters if we were in a three-wide receiver set last year. We just happened to play A.J. Barner a lot. But they played big-time snaps.

Michigan has 10 guys on the offense that have started games in the past. They total about, I think it's 109 starts total. A lot of those are Miles Hinton, Josh Pree, but a lot of them are also some of the other guys like Tyler Morris and Samaj Morgan. You know, Colston Loveland has several of those, but there are guys that have played a lot. So hopefully if you're Michigan, you know, they've picked up from, you know, the way Blake Corum operated and JJ McCarthy did, Drake Nugent making the calls at the line and, you know, that they can now step in and do those things.

Yeah, and I think two guys, too, that we haven't mentioned yet on each side of the ball, Max Bredesen, who is going to be a captain. He's my favorite player. Yeah, he's going to be a captain. And then also on the back end of the defense, Makari Page, right? So those are two guys that go to Indianapolis for Big Ten media days, probably two captains. Which it's kind of funny that they're the last two people that we, you know,

if you want to talk about Michigan not being talented, but then you don't mention two of their captains, like they probably have some pretty good talent. It's a great point. Yeah. And then also, Clayton, I wanted to add on to your point about Orgy coming in. You know,

I think we all knew at some point Michigan was going to pull something with the Orgy cat offense where he was going to throw it. It comes in the Rose Bowl. You know what he doesn't do when that play is covered? Chuck it up. He tucks the ball away and he gets two yards. It's those things that have me excited about his

potential. Obviously, it's the athleticism. It's the big arm. This is a kid that played high school football in Texas. Justin, we were just talking about it before the show. Texas high school football is so different from anywhere else in the country. It's the athleticism. It's the big arm. I mean, this is a kid that played high school football in Texas. Justin, we were just talking about it before the show, like Texas high school football is so different from anywhere else in the country. It's so big time. And so this is, you know, obviously it's not the same as playing in front of 110,000

against your home state school in the big house. But, like, a guy who's coming into his third year, he's played in a lot of games. You feel, you know, a little bit more confident with a first-time starter because of the amount of snaps that he's gotten over the last you know year and a half two years with Michigan and um you know what his background is and uh the offense that's in place you know to go back to the Alabama game and Justin I'll let you hop in here real quick I thought Sharon's game plan for the Rose Bowl was impeccable I mean how many how many plays did Michigan miss like they played sloppy but that offensive game plan was impressive.

And so if that's what Sharon's going to be. Well, going back to the motions, didn't they motion on like almost every single play in that game? Dude, how would they know what to do? Yeah, they had no idea. Like I trust in Jerome Moore and Kirk Campbell and Grant Newsom to outsmart almost anybody on the defensive side of the ball that's going up against us right um and so what I was going to go back to go what I was going to say go say going back to orgy is like the one thing you know everyone's like oh can he pass the ball can he do this can he do that like have you seen him turn on the burners that shit

like in the Ohio State game I mean he's like a split second from being gone and so you know i i know obviously we need to you know he'll need to figure out the the passing situation and you know we're hoping that he does but like even if that passing situation is average like him just being the running threat that he is like, that is a legitimate threat every single play. So I, you know, I, I don't know that there is another quarterback in the country that if you're a defensive coordinator, you know, you're like, I don't want a game plan for that guy.

Right. Like, cause a, you don't even fully know what you're getting with them because you haven't seen it on film yet. But, B, you know, it's like there's a chance that when you guys are talking about scrambling, when we're talking about really creative design runs and different reverses with Tyler Morris and Donovan Edwards in the backfield then split out, then, you know, they can do a ton of different things. Like, I think there are going to be a lot of defensive coordinators

that are sitting there looking at Alex Orji and Donovan Edwards and the rest of the crew in the backfield and saying, this is not easy to game plan against right now. Yeah, and it kind of reminds me of, because the play's never dead, right, when he's got the ball in his hands. It's going to be similar to Jalen Milrow last year. Like, he didn't throw very well against Michigan. They had an unbelievable game plan. And then, you know, under Jesse Minter and brought all that, you know, got all that pressure without even blitzing sometimes. But

you always were holding your breath until the whistle blew because you knew what he could do. And even, you know, late in the game, you know, we had some runs that were, that were really important for them, obviously didn't get the one that, that really mattered, but the same thing could be true about Alex orgy. And I remember Don Brown not to bring up Don Brown, but I just did before the, before the orange bowl against Florida state. And he said, when Delvin cook has a ball in his hands as a D coordinator, you're holding your breath the entire time. So that's your point, Justin, where it's like, it's going to be the same thing when you have orgy in the game, you know, whether he's a starter or whether he's somebody who just plays a lot of snaps off the bench or, or he

rotates with somebody like when tens in the game, it's going to be, you know, kind of a problem, even if he can't, you know, be JJ McCarthy in the, in the throw game. And he, he doesn't, I think, okay, this is my last point on him. He doesn't have to be J.J. McCarthy. I think that's my whole point of like everyone wants him. Listen, if he's J.J. McCarthy, we on this podcast will be more than thrilled. Trust me. You're rocking the J. the JJ Vikings jersey right now. But like, you know, JJ statistically is one of the best,

the winningest quarterback in Michigan football history, in college football history, right? Like he's up there. So I'm not saying, you know, that's I think my whole point of like for Michigan to be 10 and 2 11 and 1 possibly 12 and 0 he doesn't need to be JJ he just needs to be Alex Orji not make mistakes be dynamic in the way that he runs the offense and can attack a defense and then Michigan's going to win a lot of football games they are man and you know I think you know and clayton you can let me know what you've heard or

if you don't want to divulge that on the pod that's fine too but like i just feel like for me you know i've been a michigan fan way longer than i've been you know doing any of this podcast stuff or whatever so like i i still read you know i read on three i read two four seven i read rivals man i read it all like i want michigan football content i'm star for it from January to August, man. It just feels like and we love Davis Warren. Davis Warren is our guy. He said he'd be in the foxhole with us. Davis Warren is a stud.

Let me add on to that before you make your point. If Davis Warren wins the job, we'll be the biggest Davis Warren guys. 100%. Jack Tuttle would have won it or ifayden denigle or jayden davis i'm riding with whoever you know michigan's quarterback is and i want other those other four guys to be successful but it just it just the vibe to me is that it's going to be alex orgy like

everything you read is that he is separating himself tuttle's got i've read that tuttle might be have you know a lingering issue or something, working through something, as Jim Harbaugh would say. It just feels like it's going to be orgy. And that's an unknown, right? And it's the same with all these other positions where it's like, oh, well, they don't have anybody coming back. And it's like, well, it's unknown. They could be great. They could not be great. But the potential for Alex Orji should have Michigan fans extremely excited because he can sling it. And if he can, again, just command that huddle, to your point, Clayton, being a quarterback, Jake Butt talked about this. It's about commanding the

respect of your team, commanding the huddle, owning the huddle, owning the playbook. But man, if it all comes together, the sky's the limit for him. I mean, he's a freak athlete. I mean, we've seen the windmill dunk, you know, between the legs stuff, like crazy athlete. You know, even the Michigan State game, dude, we were there, Justin. He, like, broke off a run. He went down, and then he did a somersault for no reason. He just got up.

And I was like, okay, relax. He's just showing off now. They just kept running the same play over and over for him too. Just ran cute quarterback power in like eight seconds left. By the way, if anybody wants a good laugh, you go watch the Michigan-Michigan State highlights from last year. It's a good watch. But when Orgy scores, it cuts to the sideline,

and JJ and Donovan are going crazy. But if you look, Sharone is saying something across the field to some people about 53 yards away from him and letting them know. And that just, it gets me fired up, man, because Sharone's our guy. And I'm just, I'm pumped for this season, man. Like, I think this team could be really special again, even with all the guys they lost. I never noticed that. I will have to watch it, but I think they were pissed that the Michigan State committed a personal foul right before that. I talked to Orgy about that.

I was like, how great was it just to put the exclamation point on that game? Or maybe it was like the fifth or sixth exclamation point because it was not even close. But he said, well, once they committed that penalty, he knew they had to get in. And so that was pretty sweet. And it's like one of those moments that we'll look back on, right? If like to just to go along with what you're saying, Orgy, if it works out and he's a quarterback and he ends up being pretty good this year at the very least, then he's a redshirt sophomore.

Like his skill set maybe isn't necessarily the NFL type. Like I think you'd really have to groom him. And eventually down the road, he could be. So if he stays five years, you're looking at potentially three years with him I'm getting way ahead of myself but a moment like that at Michigan State is going to be one of those things you look back on it's like when you know not quite to that but um you know to what Denard's first run was but you know just stuff like that so I think that Alex Orji if he's the guy you have three years potentially with him at least you two. And that's really exciting given that he seems to have a pretty high upside

and he can improve as he goes along. He's not just going to be the same guy Fresno State is. He will be at Ohio State, and he won't be the same guy this year as he will be in the future. Well, and I think, too, to your point with that, we all watched Jalen Milrow, who we're're comparing alex orgy to and a lot of people are we watched him early against texas actually which is kind of ironic too and he struggled a lot really early but if you remember a lot of people discount that alabama offense because of what

michigan did to them and then the rose bowl. The week before or whatever, the couple weeks before, they dominated Georgia who had the best defense of all year in the entire country, right? And so, you know, Jalen Milrow, but to your point, he figured that out throughout the year. It took him a while because he was just as inexperienced as Alex Orji is sitting right now. But you absolutely are.

I don't think you can sit there and we're all going to be the Monday morning quarterback on Sunday after Fresno State and be like, all right, this is either going to work or it isn't. We're either going to go way one way or way the other because that's how fans work and media works these days. But you're going to have to give him time. Again, we're speaking as if he's going to be the starting quarterback, but you can look at Jalen Milrow and what he did last year from game one to game 12 and 13 and 14 14 to see okay he developed a lot and Alex Orji can do the exact same thing well let me just say this too I guess because I agree Justin is going

to improve throughout the year and part of what Alabama did last season was Tommy Reese their offensive coordinator once they fully committed after they benched Milrow early in the year, which did happen, right? You can't forget that. They went all in on building the offense around him, and I think Michigan, as the year progresses, if Orgy's the guy, is going to go all in on building it around him, and game experience will help with that, what works, what doesn't.

So you've got to trust Kirk Campbell, I think, in that sense. I think this coaching staff, too, is not going to be one to putbell i think in in that sense i think this coaching staff too is not going to be one to put a square peg in our round hole i mean we've seen that unfortunately in michigan you know with rich rodriguez like hey man the the the zonery is not going to work with nick sheridan or steven three right and then with you know more success with brady hoken you're one but like why are we putting denard under center right like you don't need to go shotgun all the time right but? But, like, let's play to his strengths. So, I think,

I mean, I just feel like this is going to happen, like, you know, with Kirk Campbell, Sharon, you know, Grant Newsome coaching the whole line, Ron Bellamy coaching the wide receivers, like, Steve Cazulo with the tight ends, like, they're going to be, you know, they're going to be in cohesion with regards to what the offense is going to look like

for Orgy, if it is him, and they're going to play to everyone's strengths, right? Like we're not going to try to go five wide, right? Like that's not Michigan at all, but that's not anything that they're going to end up trying to do. Right. Like it's going to be a lot of 12 personnel, maybe some, maybe some 22 personnel with, with Donovan and Colelle on the, on the field at the same time. Right.

Like there's gonna be a lot of different things that you try and do. So yeah, I'm, I'm very excited for, for this offense, man. I think there's a lot of potential and people are sleeping on Michigan and that defense is going to carry them a lot of wins.

And that's the thing. They don't necessarily need to put up 40 points a game. I'd love for them to, but the defense is going to be so good that it's going to keep them in every single ball game. Yeah. Agreed. So Clayton, I'll, I'll end it with this segment here.

We've talked about it a little bit, but when you're talking to these coaches at the pressers, when you're listening to them, when you're listening to the players, what is the culture that you're hearing and how do you think that that will impact what's what we see as a product on the field this year? That is a great question. It's something that I think is probably overlooked because it's not on Phil Steele, right? It's not about how many starters you have coming back and that stuff's important, but you can't put that down on paper. And Wesley Walker, who came in as a six-year senior, he's played for three different head coaches in college football.

He was at Louisville this spring. He was at Tennessee the two years before that, and then started at Georgia Tech prior to that. And I asked him, how does Sharon Moore compare in terms of the way he runs the program, runs practice? And he said, this is the smoothest that I've seen out of these head coaches. And his other three head coaches combined have 19 years of head coaching experience. Sharon Moore has four games worth plus, you know, part of an off season, right? So that to me is really telling. And then he was also asked about the culture. What's different between this and any other team you've been on?

And he said it feels like a real team here. He said there's this vibe where everyone's tight-knit, close together. They care about each other. They play for each other. There's good communication. That translates onto the field as well. So I think that's the first thing that comes to mind for me because we talked to him a few days ago.

And to hear the contrast between, yeah, I've been places, right? He was at Tennessee when they won 10 games. They knocked off Alabama, I believe, that season. But, you know, there's just a difference between maybe what Michigan has done and what Michigan is and some of those other programs that are doing a good job. Louisville is doing a fine job under Jeff Brown, but it's not quite to Michigan's level. And that encourages you, I think, going into the Sherone Moore era. Yeah.

I mean, a lot to still be seen, right? You know, we haven't seen Sherone Moore with it being his program, you know. And so you have a whole new defensive coordinating, defensive staff, although it's the same defense, obviously. We know that part. You have a new QB and a ton of new faces on the offensive side of the ball. And then you have a new head coach with a new, you know, he's doing things a lot like Jim Harbaugh.

You can see the Harbaugh-isms come out. Maybe not in the way he speaks, but in the way he runs things and the different things that he emphasizes. But it's still going to be all new so um 2024 michigan football it'll be something to watch whether it be good or bad for sure it's going to be must see tv especially just knowing that all the haters are hate watching no matter what um for sure so clayton appreciate you coming on, man. Tell the people where they can follow you. Yeah, just go to the Wolverine dot com and check us out over there.

So got a bunch of content coming. We got, you know, message board. People are fired up. You know, the people are hate watching. People are also on the Michigan side of things. They're fired up posting and they got their theories on this theories on that about who's going to do what. So it's that time of year when the possibilities are endless. Love it. Love it. All right. Appreciate you, man. We, you know, hopefully we'll have you on

throughout the season as well. And Clayton does great stuff over at the Wolverine with the podcast, with our friend, our other friend, Anthony Broom. And, you know, at your Twitter, love your tweets, love your articles, all that stuff. So go follow Clayton. We appreciate you, man. For us, 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. At the same time.