Blue By Ninety - Stadium & Main | Chase Winovich Talks Little Brother, Connor Stalions, Harbaugh Stories, and more

Episode Date: September 24, 2025

Chris Wormley and Jordan Strack are joined by former Wolverine Chase Winovich, discuss Michigan-Nebraska, and give their Michigan Mount Rushmore.

All right. Welcome into Stadium in Maine with Big Worm and Strack. I am Jordan Strack, the other side of the screen. That is Chris Wormley, former Wolverine, eight-year NFL vet. We are both Toledo natives, just kind of hanging out talking football every single week. We're teaming up with Blue by 90 this year. And we have new podcasts coming out every Tuesday during the football season. So make sure you share this thing. Give us your comments, your feedback. We'd love to hear all of it. And we will keep this thing rolling through the rest of the season. Whirm, Wolverines get a nice win on the row. at Nebraska, 3027, they approved the three and one. What were your big takeaways from the weekend, just right off the bat here? Yeah, I mean, first off, huge road win. Anytime you can win on the road, it's a plus, especially when it's your first one of the season. But definitely take away defense played. I thought their best game of the year, led by seven sacks. And then the offense was led by Justice Haynes again.

He's improving each week. he's making the big plays each week, and it's exciting to see him continue to stack wins and to stack performances, because I think we're going to lean on him, or the, you know, the Wolverins are going to lean on him a lot this year. That's all right. You can still say we. You have a degree, right? You can still say we.

Yeah, I get caught up in that a little sometimes. And to me honest, I hate when other people say it, especially people that didn't go to Michigan or didn't play football, but I catch myself every once. Yeah. I mean, you played. You were, you know, you were pretty good there. I think you had a pretty nice career. It's all right. We'll allow it. You talk about Justice Haynes, 17 carries, 153 yards, a touchdown. Also, Jordan Marshall, six carries, 80 yards, a touchdown. The explosive plays is kind of where Michigan lived. And I don't know how sustainable it is for an entire season. But in the moment, these explosive plays have been really impressive. I love. the replay of the Justice Haynes, 75-yard touchdown. Watching the offensive line work almost exactly how it's supposed to go. And then you watch a safety get in there. And Justice Haynes, he wanted no business.

He wanted no business putting his nose in there against Haynes. He makes one move and he goes 75 yards. Those are game-changing type plays that we're seeing. We saw them with Donovan Edwards against Ohio State. you know the playoff games we saw them with blake quorum for so long those are game changing type plays yeah and especially in a game like this where you thought that michigan was going to pull away at some point you know they were up by 10 at one point they they were making all these big plays and somehow Nebraska would you know crawl back and make it a game and make it closer

those big plays on both sides of the ball whether it was the you know the interception or the seven sacks that the defense produced last game and those those three big plays. rushing touchdowns those are really what what separated the the Wolverines from the cornhuskers this past week and you you want to pair big explosive plays with you know some some slow methodical 10 to 12 play drives but anytime you can you can score that fast it's a plus but you'd like to see maybe a little more balance for the you know in the weeks coming as a defensive guy are you uh are you a little torn and you see a guy rip one off for 75 like you were just on the field and you're like oh man i got to get back up and get back out there

you a little torn on plays like that 100 percent especially if you're out there for you know five six seven eight 10 play drives and then you know you get a commercial break a kickoff and then you're right back out there after one play it's it catches up to you but you can ever be you can ever be mad about points about your team scoring um and putting yourself in a position to succeed and that's what michigan did this week all right tell me if i'm crazy i felt like I felt like Michigan was dominant in the game on both lines of scrimmage. I felt like Nebraska was really hanging in there. And it didn't feel as close as the score would indicate in the end.

There was never a point throughout the day where I was like, all right, I'm getting a little nervous. I just never felt that way. It just felt like Michigan was going to find a way every single second of that day. Am I crazy there? No, I kind of felt the same thing. I felt like they always kept them at an arm's length away, whether they were up by 10 or they cut it to three points or they tied it up right there at the end of the end of the first half.

There were, I felt like Nebraska made their plays with Raiola. Obviously, I think he's a really good quarterback and he showed that. But, yeah, it never seemed like, okay, Michigan's going to lose this game if they don't do this or that on a certain drive. It always felt like they were in control the game. By the way they were running the ball, by the way their defense was flying around, I thought they made just enough place to win the game.

But at the end of the day, a three-point win is a win no matter what. I just, I don't know why. Maybe I'm being naive. Maybe I'm a little crazy. It just felt like there was no way Bryce Underwood was going to let them lose that game. Like I always had that feeling with J.J. McCarthy. It was like every single game, maybe because he went 27 and one as a starter.

I just always had that feeling that Bryce was going to find a way. Even if they, you know, Nebraska had taken the lead or whatever, like it felt like he doesn't panic in these moments. He kind of exudes with confidence and it just kind of feels like he's always going to figure it out. Yeah, when your quarterback is, when you look at your quarterback and who's usually the leader of the team, no matter what the situation is, and you can see in his eyes that he's, calm, cool, collected. The moment isn't too big for him. That instills a sense of confidence and a sense of you're not too anxious. You're not going to get too hyped up about the situation when you look at your quarterback and you know, okay, he understands the game plan. He understands

what's going on. He understands the moment and he's not getting too high in the moment and in a stressful situation. So I thought he handled his composure pretty well. He didn't have his best game, especially when it comes to throwing the ball, and that isn't totally his fault. We can talk about that later with some of the receivers and their drops, but I thought he played, you know, sometimes you just need to be a game manager. I don't need Bryce to have the performance he had against Central Michigan every game, which obviously would be nice. But if you can go in there, control the game, never really feel like you're going to lose

the game, I'll put you at a big, big advantage throughout a game and then throughout the rest of the season. for sure a couple of the other things that I have written down as the good there were a bunch of young guys that played significant snaps in big moments Shamari earls jaden Sanders Elijah Dotson I mean these are guys that were on the field at the end of the game when Michigan was in winning time they're playing true freshmen out there to me those are those are big and valuable moments that that you can't duplicate in practice and to have some true freshmen get in there on the road with everything kind of on the line, I thought those were some huge moments for some of those young guys. No doubt. And we talked about it last week with Central Michigan

getting kind of that garbage time and what that does for your confidence moving forward because at some point in the season, whether it's week four or five, six, or it's week 12 against Ohio State, those young guys are going to be called upon to make a play. And it doesn't matter if you're 18 or 23 years old. If your number is called and you're in a position to make that play,

you're expected to make that play, especially at a place like Michigan and when the standard where the standards are so high. So it's really cool. It was really cool to see those young guys go in play productive football. I don't think we're expecting them to be world beaters and and Hysman finalists as 18-year-olds. But when you, like I said, when you go in there, you're supposed to get you do your job. And for the most part, I feel like those young guys really stepped up and, and helped win this game.

Yeah, I thought Jaden Sanders was unbelievable. He had a couple of huge moments in the game. The defense as a whole, the front seven, the defensive line was able to put on a ton of pressure. It felt like Nebraska was overwhelmed up front the entire day. J. Sean Barham, the move to edge has obviously been incredible. Matt Ruhl said today, he looks like a top 10 pick. I think he's got that kind of future. And it felt like the defensive line kind of had their coming out party.

they're going to be a handful if they can play like that. Yeah, I mean, it's obviously it starts with Barham, but I tweeted out on Saturday night, like, hey, like, this was, this was a game where Derek Moore was letting people know that he's still Derek Moore. I thought he played a really good game in terms of the pressure. Obviously, he had, I think he had a sack and a half, but he was in those, in those, in the backfield a lot, making, making Royola scramble around, making him look more like Mahomes more than he already is.

or, you know, tries to look. But I thought the defensive line in the front seven as a whole had their best game. And sometimes that's what it's going to take is a game where those guys step up and, you know, put it all out there and continue to have success. But seven sacks, anytime you have seven sacks, you're putting not only your defense, but your whole entire team in an incredible position to win. All right. Let's talk about some of the bad.

The wide receiver play has to get better. I don't think there's, I don't think there's any way you can, you know, beat around the bush here. The wide receiver play has to be better. That's just a fact. It was tweeted out today that Bryce Underwood actually had a 71% adjusted completion percentage, which means 15% of his passes were drops by wide receivers this week. It's got to be better. I think, you know, there were a couple good moments for some guys.

I thought Donald McCulley had a couple good moments. He was also, you know, this close to making an absolutely incredible. incredible catchdown on the sideline. He had a moment where, you know, early on, he puts a shoulder down, goes and gets a first down. There were some good moments. Samaj Morgan had one of those moments as well where he puts a shoulder down, goes down, gets a first down. Love it. But the easy drops, you have to be able to bail out your freshman quarterback and help him out in that situation on the road in that environment.

And I know everybody is making the jokes that Michigan has to go drop bags in the transfer portal. and yes, they probably do. But like the wide receiver play has to be better, period, end of story. Yeah, I mean, there's no way to drop a bag now in the middle of the season. The guys that are on the team are the guys that are there and that are the guys that are going to be there until the playoffs or the bowl game. So those guys have to step up. I promise you, Coach Bellamy is telling those guys like, hey, you know, it's a long season.

We still have eight games to go at least. And we need to step up. We need to be kind of that safety. blanket for for Bryce to be able to get open, get open in space, make those catches and just catch the balls that come to you because as you said, 71% adjusted completion percentages is pretty damn good, especially for a freshman who likes to run around and move around in the pocket and make those plays with his feet and his arm. So they all know they have to play better. We as fans know they have to play better. And we'd like to see that moving forward. And I think

this is a perfect time heading into the by week for them to be able to work on a few things that can carry them for the rest of the season. One of the other things I noticed is it felt like even with all the pressure that Michigan was applying, it felt like, man, there were some penalties I thought that were missed in there. And I think that was confirmed today. Sharon Moore said, we're getting tackled a lot. Trevor McHugh, I'll give him a shout out for this for this tweet. Michigan is currently dead last to college football for opponents penalties per game,

just two and a half penalties per game for opponents against Michigan. it feels like like I get it there's going to be calls throughout the game and you can't call every single thing but it feels like Michigan is not getting the benefit of the doubt on a ton of calls and there are some moments where guys are being mugged there was one on uh raola rolls out it was the um the touchdown i thought to the back of the end zone that where the guy steps out barum got tackled uh there's there's moments throughout the day where I'm like, man, it feels like there's a lot being missed and Michigan's not getting help. And seeing Trevor tweet that out today and seeing that stat, that kind of confirmed me like,

okay, yeah, there's only two and a half penalties a game. Either Michigan is not getting any of the calls or they're playing the cleanest teams in all of America. I don't know which one it is. I'm going to put my tinfoil hat on and, you know, be a conspiracy here first. But I mean, I've experienced it, you know, pro. and in college and you know there's there's there's a target on michigan's back you know they've had some you know questionable things over the last few years with counter stallions and the cheeseburger and and and the sign stealing and coach more doing x y and z and it's like okay

and they haven't been able to crack down on them the way that i know that the NCAA wants to be wants to crack down on michigan um so they're going to find every little thing to try and piss them off, make them feel uncomfortable, have a call, here, go. And like I said, I got my tinfoil hat on, so don't come after me NCAA. But if I was a conspiracy theorist, that's probably the place I would start, was looking at, you know, maybe there's an email or a text throughout the NCAA, and we're telling the refs to hold their flags a little bit. But, you know, you can only, you can't, it's hard to play against the refs.

and against your opponent, but you got to be able to weather those storms in Michigan did, and they're sending that three-in-one. They found a way to get out of there with a win. That's the most important thing coming out of Lincoln. All right, so up next, they've got to buy. Worm, give me an idea. What will happen during the buy week for all these guys now?

Well, they're going to get a much needed a couple days off. Maybe they're going to hit up the Zach Bryan concert this weekend at the big house. Probably going to be the biggest concert in the whole, entire world ever. I mean, maybe not as much as Woodstock, but I mean, 100,000 people at least are going to be at the big house for the Zach Bryant concert, which is going to be fun. But, you know, they're going to get a couple of practices in. I know those, the coaches are going to sit and look back and be like, hey, what, what have we done well these first four weeks? What do we need to improve on? They're going to self-scout each other. The offense is going to look at the

defense. The defense is going to look at the offense. And they're going to come up with a plan to, you know, let's add in a few new wrinkles these next eight weeks. Let's, you know, let's, let's, let's, let's throw some things out that maybe weren't working some bubble screens and tunnel screens and those things that are on the opposite side of the ball. But they're going to get some rest. They're going to make adjustments and they're going to come out of this week ready to play. And they got a big one against Wisconsin in a week and a half now. So it's exciting for them to get some rest, but I know they're going to be working as well.

that is a Wisconsin team that right now is limping. I mean, Wisconsin is absolutely limping into their next games because they are, they are in a tough spot right now. They are struggling big time. And yeah, they're going to have a little time right now. Michigan will to get ready for that game coming up.

All right. So we have Chase Winovich coming on our show here in just a little bit. I'm very excited to talk to Chase Winovich, which is one of the all-time favorites in Michigan football. But first, Orm, let's do this. So we've got our Michigan Mount Rushmore's ready. I've got mine. You have yours ready?

I do. Okay, good. Okay. We'll get to the Winnevich in just a moment. Let's knock out our Mount Rushmore's real quick. So I'll go first. I think the easy number one, and I don't know if this is going to be your number one as well,

but I'm going to guess. I'm going Charles Woodson. To me, it's a no-brainer. He's the greatest of all time in Michigan history. He's one of the all-time great college players of all-time. Heisman national champion. He had his moment with the punt return against Ohio State in 97. To me, undisputed, he's the goat.

That's number one for me. Two, I think he's probably on your list, too, maybe not. Desmond Howard. That 91 season was one of the greatest seasons anybody's ever had in Michigan history. He wins a Heisman. He basically won every single award in America that year. The number 21 is retired.

It's one of only six numbers retired in Michigan history. That moment with the Heisman pose. So, you know, he had his moments. To me, those are one, two, that was easy. I'm going to be a little controversial. And I know, I know people are going to give me crap and call me out for recency bias here with these last two. My next one is J.J. McCarthy. He was a national champion. He went 27 and one as a starter. It was a Rose Bowl MVP. First team all Big Ten. But most importantly, more than anything JJ did on the field, he was just a dude.

I mean, he's a leader. He's a guy that everybody follows. He changed the culture at Michigan when they needed it bad. J.G. McCarthy's my number three on my Mount Rushmore. And here's my last one. And this is going to get me crap too. It's going to be reasoncy bias and I get it and everybody's going to crush me on this too. That's fine.

I'm going Blake Corum. I'm going Blake Corum. I thought he would have won the Heisman in 22. wins three straight big 10 titles three straight wins against Ohio State single season touchdown record two-time All-American he was the MVP

of the national title game I'm going Blake Quorum is my fourth guy a lot for the same same ways that I pick J.J. McCarthy on my Mount Rushmore so those are my four Charles Wilson, Desmond Howard,

J.J. McCarthy, Blake Corum, worm, go ahead, get to yours real quick, and then we'll get Chase Winovich in here in just a minute. Yeah, okay, so I got some honorable mentions first. Oh, I didn't know we could do that. Okay, it was hard. It was hard. I mean, okay, so I'm going to preface this by saying this is all.

I'm only 31 years old. I didn't start watching really even know what Michigan football was until probably 2000, but I'm going to give myself until 1997 in terms of. I am a little older than you guys. So I don't know mentions J.J. McCarthy. I'm going to push back on you a little bit when you said he changed the culture. I agree that he was a part of it but I don't know if he was the main reason why

and that's just because in 2021 he wasn't the starting quarterback when they beat Ohio State and they won the big 10 but he obviously got an addie he's the best winning percentage quarterback in probably Michigan history my second

I don't mention is Mike Hart I got a soft spot for him in my heart he was probably the Chris Perry and then him were the two running backs that I kind of started watching Michigan football growing up. He's got the rushing record three-time all-big-10 player, just one of those guys that I, you know, maybe he's biased or just nostalgia, but Mike Hart is on there for I don't mention. Number three is Braylon Edwards. He wore the number one. I know Anthony Carter did, but I didn't get a chance to really watch him. Three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. He was

the first to ever do that at Michigan, which I think is crazy, unanimous, All-American. Now, let's get to the Mount Rushmore, where you see all the faces. Charles Woodson, number one, easy. I think we both, like you said, we both agree on that. You already said all of his things. Shout out to Woodson Whiskey, a sponsor of a state-in-a podcast. On the screen. On the screen.

A sponsor of Blue By-90, so got to give him his flowers, the easiest choice out of all these four. My number two, and I got to show love to the big guys, is Jake Long. Number one overall pick, just a force to be reckoned with on the offensive line. Two-time big, big-ton offensive line another year, two-time All-American. And I said, the number one overall pick. Anytime that you're the number one overall in anything, I think you deserve your flowers. And I'm giving Jake that on the Mount Rushmore. Number three, and this is the guy that I think made, flipped the switch to the mission.

you talk about the Michigan culture flipping, flipping the switch to being kind of this powerhouse again. And it's Aiden Hutchinson. And I hope Chase agrees with me on this as a fellow defensive lineman. Solely off of that 2021 season, Heisman finalist, beats Ohio State for the first time in 10 years, is really the blood and the pulse and the heartbeat of that Michigan team that year. I got to put him up there just for what he has done, even really in the the entire state of Michigan from his high school to, I know it's just supposed to be college, but high school at Michigan and now with the Lions.

And then my number four, and this is probably going to be the biggest pushback, is Dynard Robinson. And I think if you put Dynard Robinson on any of these teams the last, you know, four or five years, they might win two or three national championships. What I saw him do as, you know, when I was coming up through recruiting and going to the Michigan games,

actually playing with him my freshman year at michigan uh was something that i think he was you know five to ten years too early uh to really get his flowers in terms of what lamar jackson's doing these days what you know josh allen's doing these days with with with their legs um i got him on there he beat oh house state uh his his second to last year in 2011 um and kind of brought michigan almost back with brady hope there i know it was the rich right era was was rough and obviously the last couple years with Brady Hoke was rough as well. But Charles Woodson, Jake Long, Aidan Hutchinson, and Donard Robinson are my Michigan Mount Rushmore. All right.

All right. Let's welcome in Chase Winnevich right now. How about that? There he is. Hold on. I can't hear him. Is your mic on? The glasses is such, I mean.

Turn me up. Turn me up. Turn him up. What up, gang? There it is. Hey. What's going on, man? How are you?

No, that was great sitting through that, fellas. I tell you what, I agree with a lot of you guys takes. That's tough. Okay. Do you have a Michigan-Mount Rushmore that you'd like to give us? Your four goats of Michigan football? Well, you know, I'd say I have to throw myself on there at the beginning, not because of my defensive end status,

just because when I played a scout team tight end going against Chris Wormley, you know, it's like anybody. anybody that did that I think should be added on there we've been at the expand from four I love that I'd say Tom Harmon number one right out the rip I knew I knew I was going to get crap for that for not adding Tom Harmon

and there's reasons I didn't but yeah there's no film there's no film with Tom Harmon all you need all you need to know is this is that after he beat Ohio State I'm pretty sure he was punting right first ever Heisman trophy winner but Ohio State you know, at Ohio State, they cheered for him.

They did a standing ovation because of how well he kicked their ass. And that's, you don't need any tape to say, that's impressive. No doubt. It may never happen again, you know, like imagine kicking Ohio State's ass that bad that they're like, got to hand it to him. Like, that guy is a beast. That will never happen ever again, not in this world, no chance. Exactly, exactly.

And then I'd say after that, you got to go Beaumbeckler. Okay. know, Beaumbeckler, I think that what he has continued, I mean, there's a store, right, on Main Street. It's called Schembeckler. You know, the fact that, like, he could have such an enduring legacy, I think any, and it's just inspired coaches like Coach Harbaugh, and it's just like that ripple effect, you know, starting back then. I think after that, you got to, I mean, he's a sponsor the show, so hashtag ad, but, you know, Charles Woodson, Desmond Howard.

You know, I think Aiden Hutchinson, I think that, you know, he deserves. I mean, you could make an argument, most impactful player of the 21st century. Just his presence on the field and the fact he's won three Big Ten championships, beat Ohio State multiple years after that long stretch of not being able to beat them coming so close. Yeah, just I be, I'm a big Aiden fan, obviously, not just because I was a redshirt senior, you know. But he was there. anything. No, I'm just kidding. But yeah, that's, those are some of the names that come to mind immediately. All right. I love it. I love it. All right. First, before we get to anything else,

what are you up to now, man? What are you doing? Yeah, so I'm living in New York City. I was dating a model here, tried to get her to join Michigan staff to help recruit some players. Was that Madonna's girlfriend or daughter again? Or we love, some things you got to, you know have they say nothing. Everything happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. You know, some things got to stay in Michigan. I hear you. So yeah, I found a tech company. I had a guaranteed contract, got released, had two surgeries before then. And I don't know where were worms at in the stack. But I had nine points, which is what you need to qualify for NFL's disability. And, you know, I just was praying about it. And, you know, I had this business idea that I really wanted to launch. And, you know,

sometimes you got to put your nuts on the line and just go for it, follow your dreams. And that's what I've been doing the past two years. Yeah, talk about the, talk about your company and the tech company and what you guys are, you guys are doing over there. Yeah. So it all started back when I was a player and one of my teammates, Super Bowl MVP, right, and I'm not going to name them. But basically somebody took a picture of him while he was sleeping and was just like,

I just effed this guy. And, you know, I was just like, well, I fall asleep. You know, it was like, how do you defend? that or just like at large right why is it their story to to share one picture you know it's like last forever on the internet and i realized there's two problems number one is that players were paying thousands of dollars for an india and then two is that there's no electronic in-person way to sign so i'm not bragging but your boys officially an inventor as of two weeks ago who patented the ability to sign legal documents via QR code but but we long story short we pivoted from that and now we're

you know we're coming back to it but you know protecting people and helping them make money is at the core of what we do. We're a performance-based influencer marketing platform. I hope that you can still hear me. Just get out of there. Yeah. So, Zeus, I think once we're here, come here, buddy. Whoa.

I thought you were going to pick up some small dog, and he picks up this monster. I love it. Mountain dog. So, yeah, we're a performance-based influencer marketing platform, basically how it works today right if you want to do a a deal with somebody let's say you're a brand um you know it's like number one is how much does that deal cost it's based off guesses number two is that these things take weeks to like back and forth to accomplish and number three is that every single deal is a gamble because you're paying them a guaranteed deal regardless of if 10 people see it or 10 million the

issue with that is what we see where you know because of the friction involved only a small Seuss, he's trying to get a ping pong ball. No, Zuz. Come here. You're a fluffy dog. He trains to hunt rats. I'll get to that later. Right in New York City.

Yeah, in New York City. He's doing the God's workout here on the streets. But the problem with that is that, you know, you got situations like I experienced where, you know, I had good marketing reps. You know, you got to build a good team, as I'm sure Worm did. And they would come to me with brands and be like, hey, you want 100,000 to post this or 30,000. And I'm not bragging to be a sellout, but I'm just saying that that's a lot of money. You know, at the end of the day, you got to get it while you can. And that's the way it is for most people.

Most people can't get deals except, and those that do, you know, will get offers from their marketing rep who's taking 20%. And it's like, hey, you know, you want to post this. Well, I never heard of the company. And yeah, maybe it's poison. But at the end of the day, like, you got to do what you got to do. And so, yeah, in a nutshell. a lot of people trying to make money in today's day and age not a lot of tools to do it

and from a brand side of things there's a lot of friction involved so you know trying to take on the world one step at a time and make products and help the people i love it uh have you considered the wwe at any point because you look like a guy and you talk like a guy that could go be a professional wrestler have you ever considered it what do you think my go-to move should be i i don't even i don't even know but like you look you just look like a a guy that could live in that world like I just I don't know I think you could cut a WWB promo and you could be a guy the hair the look all of it I think I think whatever whatever you're whatever you're finishing move would be to have to start with the

head tap like you used to do back in the day after a big play you know yeah something like that yeah yeah head tap into the forearm shiver I think we'll keep we're got to workshop that one for sure i love it um all right so you retired at 28 years old when when you go back to uh your decision to stop playing football uh kind of what went what went into that it's like this there's a society has a path that's laid out for us right you go to school we get good grades you have you marry a girl you get a you know a wife you have two dogs name or two kids a dog named spot etc etc you know everybody's path is, you know, different, right? Like Chris and I was to play football. However, when you go to deviate from that path, right, consciously, I'm going to make a decision

to either go into podcasting or business or whatever it may be, the path that was kind of expected of you. Well, number one is that most people can't understand. You know, most people have an employee mindset. And so it's a lonely experience. You got to go fight a grizzly bear by yourself. But I think that's when you find out what you're really made of, you know, know it's like football was was hard and i went against the biggest strongest fast as humans on earth and chris knows knows that damn well how big those the son of a guns are and he's a little bigger than i am so he's a little bit more of those big sons he's he's a little bit more well equipped that i have a funny story about that later um but for me that wasn't necessarily the case and i'd say

that uh the internal battle you know the demons that you know that ultimately plague some of the brightest lights i think have always uh you know made those um other monsters, so to speak, pale in comparison. So, yeah, it's a lonely experience when you branch off, but it's empowering and you find out what you really made of. Go ahead, Worm. No, yeah, that was, I mean, that was, I'm almost in that same boat of like, okay, do I keep playing this game that I love so much for, you know,

more than half my life, 20 plus years, or do I, do I, you know, call quits and continue to be a podcaster and do other things in my life? But that's, I know it takes a lot of courage and a lot of, of back and forth when it comes to you being the one that is able to make that decision and not the other way around because a lot of the times people are still hanging on to this dream two, three years after they're really supposed to, you know, be done else. So I applaud you for making that decision on your own. But I want to go back to your college career and the revenge tour because I wasn't there.

I think I was maybe a rookie or my second year in the league. when you decided to take on this revenge tour and talk a little bit about what went to that, what made you decide to do that? Because I know it wasn't just, you know, you wake up one day before week one of the season that year and you decided to go on this revenge tour. It was kind of planned, not even planned, but the season before had a lot to do with it. So talk about the revenge tour a little bit. Yeah, I think it goes back to the year prior probably and playing with, you know, two years prior,

playing with you guys and just like that the previous season um so this would have been one year prior to the revenge tour and just the way the season ended just like and i just remember even before that coming to michigan and taylor juan and jay gryan driving us around on mopeds and just see like you know buying into the brady hoax sort of vision for what michigan could be and taking down ohio state and stuff and for me it just was like after losing the first game to Notre Dame, it's just like, listen, I didn't come back for this. You know, that's not, that's not what this team is. Like, we're not just going to lay down and die. We're going to show some fight to us. And I think that it was kind of a, you know, for me, just a galvanizing

thing. That's what my intention was with it. But having fun, too. Like, I know you, we had talked about this, but, you know, the Michigan State game, you know, it's like I came from Pittsburgh. I wasn't really as involved with the Michigan State-Michigan rivalry. However, it still was like so fun to just mess with them, just like buy into the whole like, hey, listen, we're going to do battle alongside our brothers and we're coming for it. Just a little bit of spark, you know. Your interview after the Michigan State game in East Lansing is, I mean,

something of legends. Like, did you like have that kind of planned out? were you going to call them out as little brother and all those things after that game? Or was that kind of a spur of moment thing that just kind of hit you? Yeah, I was talking to a buddy and I was just like, hey, you know, like, I think I'm going to go for this just like just totally, totally brost them. And I saw a couple years ago, one of their basketball players had referenced it, like me and, you know, some other person that was more recent.

And I'm like, bro, this was like a decade ago. Like, you know, it's just like, you know, it's like, The fact that they would even bring it up at that point after this long, I think goes to speak to, like, it's truth. You know what I mean? Like, I don't even know. Like, if I didn't believe it before, it's like, you know. But, no, it's, yeah, it's, it's all good fun. I think that that's what makes sports great is that ultimately, like, if I say go blue, then, you know, most of the country is not going to really resonate with that.

And some of the country is going to hate it. I mean, even before the pregame for that Michigan State game was when Devin Bush kind of scrapes, you know, scrapes his cleats across their logo. And we did a similar thing to that, I think, in 2014 with Joe Bolden, a linebacker that came in with me. He before the game takes the Michigan flag and plants it on the logo, and we end up getting our ass kick, so they backfired on us. but that kind of set the stage to what, you know, maybe a little foreshadowing to what your interview was at the end of the game. But it went from Devin Bush doing what he did to you guys winning the game to you making the little brother comment, which I don't know if you guys remember,

but Mike Hart said that probably 20 some years ago now in a press conference interview that I still see on clips today. So it's funny how some things work out that way in terms of, of like setting the stage to a game and then it happens and then you go and kind of make this statement afterwards that's that's the beauty of sports it is yes coach harbill always would say if you dedicate a game to somebody you got to win you know you got to win and you guys did that remember minnesota i think we had we had dedicated i forget exactly who and i did the same thing at Northwestern, we're down on the road. There's a woman, she was dying of cancer and a kid,

and I dedicated the game to her. And so this is my senior year, but we're down 17, nothing, like I said, on the road. Northwestern's a tough team. Like, they weren't, like, them getting ahead. They can control the clock. We came back and kicked a, you know, pretty much last minute field goal to seal the deal, which was, by the way, it's kind of a tangent. But, you know, that was one of my favorite memories. We wanted. walk into the locker room and i trust me i any northwest someone says they're from northwestern i share this story with them by the way you know they're like horrible walks in the locker room and you know everyone's celebrating so they get like quiet down he's like we just ruined the best night of

their lives and we like crazy like i never had a crazier celebration we're like throwing each other into lockers it's fun okay so speaking speaking of harbaugh then you got to give us you got to give us a Harbaugh story, because Mo Hearst was on the story, was on the pod a couple weeks ago, and he told the story of Harbaugh running a route in camp and blowing both of his hamstrings out. Which was, I forgot about that memory, but I, you know, when he told the story, I was like, damn, like, I

remember him kind of hobbling off and having a limp for the rest of the season, but do you have anything? Because you played four years with Harbaugh or three years, three or four years with Harbaugh. Yeah, I played two. So you have, you have a, you know, double the memories with him. So give me something good, give us something good that Harbaugh did or sad or, you know, just, just him being Harbaugh. Give us a good story. Yeah, I'll give you some good, hopefully a good clip, maybe. Try to get some clip action. But yeah, I'll start with saying, you know,

all positive things about my experience with Harbaugh. I mean, I was on the defensive side of things. I think that it is a trial and error process, right? You got to, as they say in the tech world, AB test. You know, you try things. If it works, you keep doing it. it and that's what i think winners do but harball is particularly good with it um a few stories that come to mind is like you know when every time it was like a game for him i think i never had a conversation about this but every time the nca would try to pass certain laws for example no footballs during walkthroughs right so he had like this like taped uh towel essentially to act as the ball you know it's like or they put certain hourly restrictions on it that that that that's it never

worked it somehow made us like have more practice more yeah it somehow backfired and made things made the conditions worse um i think that you know it's it's hard to you know they say it's hard to describe an experience right it's imagine you have a really powerful meditation or a dream trying to articulate in that words is tricky and harbo's a lot like that you know where it's like you could point to a few like sort of like the fact that he was out there running routes and pulled his hamstrings like i remember this one time he they were They were doing the quarterback center exchange, and he was on the ground, just like his POV, like if we could replicate it with like AI and some, you know, his P, like on the, under the hood,

so to speak, just like straight, you know, you can imagine the view that he was seeing. And he's just like coaching him up and like, just like there's not too many other coaches. Like I, I highly doubt Nick Saban is laying down on the ground. He probably put a camera down. But no, he wanted to see that for himself. you know and and i think that's why he was successful but i think that uh you know just his mannerism just the i don't know guys i don't know about that it's just they just crack me up i i think that they're awesome and uh i think that he's pretty cool too so uh i i love every time we get

somebody on this is a thing now that we can just say hey give us a hardball story and somebody's going to have something, which is incredible. All right, I got to ask you, so I believe you posted this on Instagram from the Rose Bowl. Were you actually at the Rose Bowl with Conner Stallions right after everything kind of went down? Yeah, I have a lot to say. I can't say it on camera, probably. But, you know, I'll say this, that Connor Stallions, in my humble professional opinion,

you know i think he's a good dude i think that uh can help that he was good at what he did can help that we got haters out here trying to uh basically gaslight us and frame us as like these cheaters or this or that uh i don't know what's true what's not i'm just saying that ultimately like as belichick would say and i'm not saying that he would do this either i'm just saying like you got to do business as business is being done it just is what it is right like if if they're if they're doing P.I and you're getting away with it, that's an advantage for the other team, right? It's like I know after that Ohio State game, my registered senior year, you know, that the way that they were able to call, we would be a man. They'd run, you know, crossers every time.

Like, it was just like they knew it. They knew what defense we're in. And there's no way they could have done that without some sort of advanced scouting. And so are you saying that Ohio State, the team that probably spilled the beans on everything, was doing the same exactly. thing two, three years earlier? Talking to people in the space, just asking questions. Apparently, like, 80% of the teams ultimately were doing it. And so it's like, if you're not doing it, I wonder what if you'd have to look at like the advanced PFF stats, you know, which teams weren't like doing, using this to their advantage and how competitive those teams actually were. Because, you know, ultimately in a game of inches, imagine if you know, you know,

know every time what play they're running. I mean, it's, it's obviously a huge advantage. And so to Connor's credit, I think that, you know, if he did do it, which I don't know, he was damn good at what he did. And there's, like I said, there's haters, of course. And I say the second thing is that I think it's a microcosm. And this is kind of what I saw, just like a microcosm of like bigger issues we have as a society, especially with young men who so much of our values derived from the value that we provide, the things that we do are worthiness. And just to see him like that guy, like knowing him and, you know, like just absolutely love Michigan that would have, you know, fallen on the sword that didn't say anything, didn't go squealing whenever like he was

under pressure when he was kicked in the curb, when he didn't know how to, if he was going to be able to pay rent just tank it for for the love of the game for michigan uh you know i think was uh was really commendable and i think that uh you know the truth has a way of prevailing but i said you know after like just talking with them i'm like screw it bro like um you know our seats on the 50 yard line i'm going to get another one right with you right next to us and uh and we did and i think that you know seeing the other players turn around during the game and being like oh we have stallions uh you know it's like let's go and that it ultimately look what it resulted in sabin retired he couldn't handle it he couldn't handle he couldn't handle the heat and had to get

the out of the kitchen i love it i love it wild i love it uh all right i have one more um so you get to play for jim harball but you also got to play for bill bellichick there are probably very few people in the world that got to play for two of the all-time grades uh can you compare and contrast and have you kind of like let that sink in that you got to play for both of those guys yeah and so my high school coach bill churpack one of the most legendary coaches in winningest coaches in pennsylvania high school history i mean between those three uh it's quite it's quite a crazy feat in my opinion i mean the chance of that i think that i you know harbill had a quote which is apropos for this comparison when you compare you always have less

you know and i i think that's ultimately number one first and foremost and i think harbill at some level would probably agree with this that um i use this this example to help illustrate the point you imagine you see a skinny girl walking down the street really skinny right like you had pulled a thousand people all thousand people would be like that's a skinny girl you go up at her somebody does they're like hey you're fat and she starts crying right it touched on her in her emotions in a way that made her tear up those emotions are real i think that the numbers speak for themselves the fact that he's once what is it six super bowls five six super bowls like that's that in and of itself is is is indisputable irrefutable in my

opinion but um which is i know it's saying my opinion irrefutable uh but my opinion it's irrefutable. Anyways, so I think if we had to compare coaching styles, I'd say, I'd say Belichick's not nearly as quirky as Harbaal. I think I think Belichick has a different philosophy when it comes to coaching. I think that he's, he's not as inclined to, you know, raise his emotions as in like yell, at least at his players. Whereas like Harball might get a little bit more emotional. You know, he might be tied to the, you know, as he put it emotional, my camera cut out, sorry. He might get, he just, he wears his heart on his sleeve a little bit more than I think Belichick does. And they have a different background, too. And so that's why

it's like, it's really hard to compare. I think that they're both great in different ways. And it's, it'll be interesting to see how hardball does at the NFL level now that he's back. Worm, you got anything else for Chase before we let him go? No, I mean, I just, I was so happy when you came back to the defensive side of the ball after being a linebacker, going to tight end and coming back to D-Line, simply because, one, you have a crazy motor and, you know, you turned out to be a great asset for us on the defensive side of the ball, but you were a pain in my ass every single snap of scout team.

I know you took pride in it. I know you took pride in everybody being pissed off at you. And that's hard to do. That's hard to – Mo Hurst had a similar thing with Taylor-Lawand. Like he was trying to prove himself to, you know, the two-time All-American. So I know where you're coming from, and it only made us better. But when I was going against you and everybody else on the defense side of the ball, they absolutely hated you. So I wanted to say that, not because I hate you, but because I –

I respect and appreciated you giving us terrible fits all season long. Yeah, I think that as much as you guys probably hated me, I think that there's some part of me that probably hated myself more and needed it, you know, wanted it so bad just to fill some hole inside of me. And so, you know, I think that there was definitely a fit mismatch. You know, I don't think that was the position for me ultimately. but you know who knows how things would have played out otherwise you know thank you for always just being cool i think that some guys um you know they interpreted a different way but you know this whole

time i mean i go on public record and say chris wormley uh you know he was just he was just the consummate teammate was always there for me uh you know i learned a lot from him the way he played the game and way he attacked it and way he dealt with coach madison uh you know i i think that uh that the sort of things they definitely they definitely bond you and i'm just glad to be here we'll have to do i'm starting my own show up at some point not not doing self-prone i promise but we'll have to do some sort of cross-collaboration a bunch of fellow fellow michigan wolverines so we'd love to do it awesome thanks for having me on guys it's so fun time as you can see i'm the founder of chris wormley's fan club that's that's the tech

company exactly that's the tech company definitely not sing that thanks thanks guys appreciate you all have a blessed night thanks chase appreciate you being on man that's good stuff chase winovish one of the all-time fan favorites in michigan football history signing himself off just you know he just it was it was chase's time to go i'm good no he was great uh it's a roll it's a roller coaster which that's what i'm saying like i feel like he'd be really good in the wwee like i just i just i think he i think he'd thrive in the the world of professional wrestling he would he would be the heel he'd start off as like the heel and the villain and then somehow make his way to like being beloved by everybody

yeah in in due time but yeah i mean chase obviously you could see he's a multifaceted guy he's got he's got a cool and i think a unique perspective just on life um which i think you need to surround yourself with people like that who can kind of show you uh the other side of life sometimes you know he's living in new york city with a mountain dog that kills rats, and I, you know, live in Ann Arbor with two girls and my wife, and we live very different lives right now. But at one point in time, we were living very similar lives in, you know, being Michigan teammates and playing in the NFL. But, yeah, I was very pleased to have it on tonight. Isn't it kind of the microcosmo football, though? Like, in that locker

room, you bring people together from just all different types, cultures, fits, neighborhoods. And they all, you guys all come together as one in a locker room. I think it's a perfect microcosm for what the sport kind of does for people. 100%. And I had this conversation yesterday with, um, with a, a friend who is a rock star, I guess you would call him. He tours all over the world. Um, his, his daughter and my daughter are friends.

They go to the same school. Uh, but he was talking about like, just the way the world is now and there's so much divisiveness, but it's like when we're on the road with these rock stars and they're off from different spots, different places, like it's, it doesn't feel like that. And that's the same in the locker room. Everyone has a common goal. Everyone is from a different place. And the friends and the relationships that I've made and my wife has made, I would have never been able to have had those experiences without the game of football. And it's, it's cool. It's cool to be a part of something that if not, you know, I would probably still have the same friends from high school, which isn't a bad thing,

but you'll be able to branch out and see a different way of life, I think humbles you and gives you a different perspective on the way the world, the world moves. For sure. All right. Chase Winnevich. Do you have a, you want to give people a teaser on some of the guests we have coming up in the next

few weeks? Yeah. Can you, you want to give them a couple ideas on some of the people they can expect here in the next few weeks? Yes, we got Jack Miller lined up, former Michigan center. Toledo guy. Toledo, yeah.

Toledo, Ohio guy. I mean, technically, Cleveland. Cleveland guy originally, but he played high school football, yes. They had football in Toledo. I'm excited to have it in the next couple weeks. Got Jake Ryan lined up as well. The two guys that I got a lot of respect for that are doing great things outside of football. Jack's still heavily involved in Michigan football doing the radio during the game. Jake, Jake Ryan is a world traveling photographer now and and wearing his hat, actually, Hwega House. Yeah, wearing his hat.

He's got a hat company that is doing absolute numbers right now. So I'm excited to have him on as well in the next month or so to talk a little ball. But, yeah, going to have guests on all throughout the season. But Chase Winovich was the one tonight. Unbelievable. All right. It's a bye week. Michigan will be back in a couple weeks playing football against Wisconsin.

Make sure you like and subscribe and all those fun things to our podcast and we'll keep doing this thing every single week. Worm, enjoy some time with the family and we will chat soon. Yeah, I feel like it's a by week for us too. Like I'm going to look back at the last couple episodes, write some notes down, ways to get better, ways to engage more with the fans. I like, I've gotten my Instagram clips down, though. I feel like I'm getting better at that each week.

I'm so proud of you, by the way. I just, I want, I want everybody to know publicly the work that has gone in behind the scenes. Worm has become a tech savant. I wouldn't go that far. I'm not Chase level, but. You're loving the editing. You're getting into my world a little bit. I'm proud of you, man.

I know how to overlay a little bit now. I know how to clip some things together, but, you know, maybe we pass that off to somebody who can do that at a higher rate than I can. But enjoying it so far. And like I said, we're going to write some notes down and maybe even look at this Michigan Mount Rushmore and have a better sense of it in the next couple weeks. I don't know. We'll see. I love it.

All right, pal. We'll see you back here next week. Absolutely. Go Blue. All right. Thanks for watching.