Blue By Ninety - Stadium & Main Ep. 9 | Jake Ryan | Michigan Beats MSU

Episode Date: October 28, 2025

Chris Wormley & Jordan Strack break down the Michigan win over Michigan State. Former All-Big Ten Linebacker Jake Ryan joins the show and talks his Huega House collab with Michigan.

Welcome into Stadium in Maine. It is episode nine. We are teamed up with Blue by 90. We've got new episodes every Tuesday. We have a lot to get to tonight. I am Jordan Strach. That is Chris Wormley. We're going to have Jake Ryan on the show,

former Wolverine in just a little bit. I also got some new gear that you'll notice. So we're rocking from BSN Sports. Jersey's gear, equipment, team pride. BSN sports has it all. The one-stop shop for every coach athlete in school across America, BSN. Wow, BSN Sports.

I worked for BCSN for a long time, so this is very confusing for me. BSN Sports makes it easy to design, order, and deliver everything your team needs to play like champions. Visit BSNsports.com. Today, BSN Sports, the heart of the game. All right, where the Wolverines beat up on Michigan State, and you know we love that.

312 was the final. First off, your thoughts on a very dominant, I thought, a dominant win for Michigan the other night. Yeah, anytime you can beat your rival, especially on the road, night game, national TV, all that stuff, it's amazing, it's great.

I thought the team, it was a team win, it was complete. There's some things, you know, that you always want to clean up and fix, but anytime, like I said, you go on the road, you beat the Spartans, you beat Little Brother,

you got to feel good driving back to Ann Arbor. You know, the Michigan State fans have been in my mentions on Twitter, quite a bit the last 48 hours or so and I don't understand why they're all was Chris was Chris Frye was Chris Frye Jr. Yeah average everybody yes like it's it's so funny because like I wasn't even really crushing them that bad

to be perfectly honest with you. I thought the one post that really got everybody fired up so yeah there was like a dream list put out of candidates for Michigan State's next coach. And a couple of them were Brian Hartline, who, by the way, has turned down much better jobs already than Michigan State. He's not going to East Lansing.

I'm just telling you he's not. And there were a couple of their names that were just totally unrealistic. And so I thought it was funny. Like, could you get Max Bulk to come back and be the head coach of Michigan State? Sure. Cool. But like he's been a linebacker's coach. Like could it someday? Could he come back and

be the head coach of Michigan State? Yeah, sure. But like now, like that's, that's what's going to come back and fix it, a guy that's never been a head coach at any level and he's been a linebacker coach for a couple years. Like, all right, do your thing. But they're very angry and I can understand why. Michigan the other night in the second half through just two passes, they ran it 27 times, and Michigan State just couldn't stop it. Like, that's just how it went. It was a very Michigan-esque second half, Justice Haynes, 152 yards Jordan Marshall 110 yards 8 straight wins now for Michigan

combined over Michigan State and Ohio State when you're at Michigan and you've won 8 straight against those two teams you can get away with quite a bit walking in every day is pretty easy I'm sure Yeah I mean that's I wish I had that I think combined I was 2 and 8 maybe against those teams

So eight in a row is crazy. It's a fan. I couldn't tell you the last time Michigan went eight and no against those two teams. So they are playing at a high level when it comes to those rivalry games. The coaches understand it. The players understand the gravity of those games. And it's fun to watch them go out there and compete and play their best ball against those two teams because that's what you're measured on. You know, last year when they beat Ohio State, it was our season's made. Whether, you know, they went eight and five or whatever. Like their season was me because of that game. and it was it was needed they needed that game at the end of the year but anytime you go in like I said on the road beat your rival and eight in a row is huge it's big no question um so here here's the way I kind of viewed the other night a win is a win I do not care what it looks like I just don't going into East Lansing winning by double digits and really you're up 31 to 13 and then there was a garbage time touchdown the game is never easy we said we literally sat here in this spot one week ago

and said this game's going to be a dog fight into the fourth quarter it's not you know there's never anything easy about a couple years ago when they went in there they won like 49 nothing that was easy that most the time yeah that is that was the exception to the rule this game is just not fun for me to watch like i just i hate i hate watching michigan michigan state because it just feels so stressful and I don't care how you do it. Get out of there with the win in any way you can is the way I look at that one. Yeah, I mean, I like this game because I thought the defense had another great performance. I thought that they played at a high level. But look, 10 years ago, I was on the field when, you know, the trouble with the snap and all that. So

I get that anxiety of thinking you have the game, you know, in the palm of your hands, you're going to go and you're going to have this big, you know, a big win and you beat your rival and it gets taken away from you. So I understand that, that, that thought process and living, you know, sitting on the edge of your seat, just hoping this game, you know, and waiting for the game to be over. But I thought the game was never really in question, even when they kind of cut it to 10 points at one point. But I thought Michigan played well enough to beat a, you know, a bad team. Michigan State's not good. I thought coming into the season, they'd have a little more competitiveness to them. And it just, you know, as the season goes on,

they just haven't been able to put it together. Winless in the Big Ten is never good, but I understand where you're coming from when it comes to how you're feeling watching that game because it's it's never easy. When that one ball was snapped over Bryce's head, did you like have like flashbacks? Yeah. PTSD there.

I tweeted like trouble with the snap, dot, dot, dot, dot. It's like, man, like it. Obviously the situation was a little different and they picked up the ball. and, you know, you live, you fight to live, you know, you live another day and you get to do whatever, but, yeah, I felt that. And for people that don't realize, you were literally the one that, like, was trying to make the tackle at the goal line on that play, right? That was more Jake, but I was even going, I was on the field before I was on the field chasing the ball down. Yeah, when I realized what was going on, you know, those guys, the convoy was 15, 20 yards ahead of me. And I'm like, oh, man.

I know, I know. It's tough. Anyway, yeah, anyway, let's talk. about good things because Michigan's won four straight against against Michigan State will take it. I don't know if this is a good thing or not. It still felt like Michigan left a lot out there. And I say it's a good thing because they win by double digits on the road

against their rivals. And there's still more there with this team. There is still more to go get. That's why I am trying to view that part as a win. This game shouldn't have been close. It shouldn't have been. Michigan should have put this. thing to bed before the end of the third quarter and nobody should have had to blink twice.

But it felt like there was more out there. There's still some skin left on the bone right now for this Michigan team, it feels like. Yeah, I think instead of being frustrated with that and be like, man, they could have put up, you know, 45 points and Bryce could have had all these big numbers. Instead of being frustrated with that, I look at that as more of excitement. And I kind of said it all year long, like as as the season goes on, you just want to see this offense continue to take steps. Obviously, Bryson had his best game, you know, passing the ball,

but you look at the numbers with the running backs, 152 yards with Haynes, 110 yards with Marshall. If you can get 200-plus-yard rushers, you're setting yourself for success, especially when you already have the lead. When you have the lead, you can run the ball, bleed the clock, and that's all fine and dandy. But, you know, Michigan is probably going to be down at some point this year, and they're going to need to be able to pass the ball and throw it downfield

to come back and score points fast. But, you know, as those two running backs continue to put up numbers, it was great seeing Haynes come back and healthy and you kind of didn't know what we were going to get out of him. But he looked like himself. He looked like he took that week off, got healthy, and didn't really skip and miss a beat. So I was excited to see those guys continue to ball out. Jordan Marshall is finally coming on and it's fun to watch.

But you want more. You see it. feel it and it's just when when when you're not getting the results on the offensive side of the ball in terms of what bryce is capable of doing as a fan you can be frustrated but i'm taking it as as excitement and optimism moving forward for these next four games um yeah so the play calling in the second half and i know if i'm having some internet issues i apologize uh the play calling in the second half. Michigan ran 29 plays. 27 of them were runs. And I saw, let me make sure I give full credit here. I want to, I just want to make sure I have it fully right. Because I said this to

you just a little bit ago, Worm. Sam Webb and Denar Robinson were talking on Monday morning quarterback. They said Bryce Underwood was given 16 RPOs. He chose to throw on one of those. One of 16, Bryce chose, uh, to throw. So the game plan obviously was to run the football. Like there was no question about that. And Sharon said as much today, he basically came out and said, like, listen, we did what we had to do to come win the game and that's okay. Um, but the fact that they were able to just lean on that run game when it got a little dicey there and they were able to really grind those guys down. And it felt very much like the Penn State game a couple years ago where it was just going to turn, they were going to hand it off, they were going to run the

football. I feel like we're starting to see a little identity with Michigan that maybe they had lacked earlier in the year. Yeah, and I went back and when you texted me that about the RPAs, I went back and looked at all of them. And for the most part, Underwood made the right decision by handing the ball off. There were a couple times where I thought he could have maybe thrown it out to a screen to one of the receivers. But when I looked at those plays, the, the, the box was light. There was only, it was only five-man boxes. And when you have running backs like Haynes and Marshall, I'm giving the ball to him. I'm giving the ball to them too. So like, you know, him going, you know, only throwing 17 passes. It's, it's a little frustrating. But

like I said, you got Haynes and Marshall in the backfield. And, and he's making the right reads at most of the time. So it's, you know, it's not, it's not just totally him just like, he's not scared to throw the ball. He's making the right reads for, you know, most of it. So I think that's exciting too, is being able to see that Bryce is making the right reads, making the correct gives, and being able to decipher that because, you know, the casual fans, they're not going back and watching the film. They're just being, right, why isn't Bryce, why isn't Bryce throwing the ball? Why isn't he doing what we're paying him X amount of millions of dollars to do? But sometimes as a quarterback, you have to make those right decisions, that those tough decisions. And for the most part,

he's making the right ones. I'm so glad you mentioned that worm, uh, because there's a clip floating around the internet right now from Valenti and Rico Beard. Spartan guys obviously. On 97 won the ticket. So they were

talking a lot of shit about how Bryce didn't even have 100 yards. This is the greatest freshman ever. Did he throw for 100 yards? He literally didn't have to. Didn't have to. They turned and they hand the ball.

off and they're running down your throats, they're doing what they have to do to win the football game. And for all of the people that want to sit and destroy Bryce right now, we're still talking about a true freshman playing in his eighth college football game. I don't give a shit how much you're paying him. I just don't care. It doesn't matter if he's getting $12 million, if he's getting $100 million. That doesn't speed up his process as an 18. year old kid. There are not many human beings in the history of college football that have been able to come in and play the quarterback position and have a ton of success and play at a super high level and dominate games as a true freshman. There just haven't been that many humans. And I

understand there has been all this hype and Bryce does put a little bit on himself by saying you haven't seen a freshman like me, all of those things. I get it. But he is still a true freshman, and he's doing what he has to do to win football games in a run-heavy offense. So for all of the criticism, it seems just so misguided and honestly silly. And now I'm off my soapbox. No, listen, I was, I hear you too. And in a lot of those people, whether they have, you know, football backgrounds or not, but they're not in that building every day.

They don't, they don't understand, they don't know the conversations that are going on between, obviously coach more in the O.C. Lindsay and Underwood, obviously, what I love for Bryce to throw for 400 yards every game, yeah, that looks great. It looks cool. But that's, that, I don't, tell me when that's been Michigan. Like, when has that been Michigan football? You know, never.

It wasn't Michigan football with, with J.J. McCarthy. It wasn't Michigan football. I mean, maybe a little bit more with, with Chad Henney, you know, 20 years ago because they had seven receivers that were, you know. Yeah, you also had Mario Manningham. and Braylon Edwards and Steve Breston. It's just like, yeah, the list goes on and on. So Michigan doesn't have that right now, and that's okay.

And as long as you win the football game, that's all I care about. I don't care. I'm a defensive guy anyway, so I'd love for you, you know, 10 to 3 every game and watch that. But I understand that, you know, people are going to have opinions. People want more. I want more. I guarantee you that team wants more out of everybody on that, you know, on that side.

sidelines so um but like i keep saying as they continue to go on through the season just keep continuing to progress and get better and that that'll that'll calm a lot of people's opinions and nerves yeah now as i say that i'm going to speak out of the other side of my mouth just a little bit here when i watch this passing game right now nothing is coming easy there's nothing about the passing game that is easy. It feels like I sit and watch Ohio State or I watch

Ole Miss or I watch some other teams and there are always easy throws. There are things to get a quarterback in rhythm. There are guys that are open. As I watch around college football, there are other teams that find a way

to get their quarterback, some easy throws just to get them going. Right now, I don't feel like there are any easy throws or really anything there wide receivers aren't creating a ton of separation once again the tight ends were completely non-existent one catch this week again for the tight ends after we watched them dominate against washington different game plans i understand but right now i just don't feel like anything's coming easy in the passing game and i'm not a hundred percent part of it and to be fair part of it is the offensive line is run blocking extremely

well with some young guys though pass blocking it's taken it's taken an extra second to get them on board i think yeah i'm definitely not putting all the the passing game woes on on bryce when you want to go back and look at the film it's he was getting pressured a lot and early in the first and second quarter third quarter getting pressured yeah and as the game went on he was maybe getting out of the pocket just a little too early not because he's skittish but like you know that internal clock at the quarterback starts to ramp up and starts to speed up as the game goes on if you're taking a lot of heat and taking a lot of pressure from that defense. I remember there was, you know, playing with, I think one of the best pass rushers in the game

in T.J. Watt and playing with him and, you know, the first and second quarter, he's getting pressures, getting pressures, and then it just kind of unleashes and he gets, you know, two sacks in the fourth quarter. And quarterbacks have that internal clock to know, hey, if these guys aren't blocking for me or they're blitzing or they're blitzing or they're blitzing up blitzes, that was another big thing, too, is like, I didn't think that Michigan picked up the blitzes very well. And, you know, it's like I said, it's not just Bryce. It's, it's, it's the offensive line not picking up blitzes, calling out the correct reads or, you know, things like that. So you just, you just want to keep them to keep getting better, wanting them to continue to

to take the strides. And I think, at least in the passing game, the run game's been phenomenal the last two, three weeks. Sure. And I think the past game has to continue to evolve. And that's not just Bryce. That's receivers, tight ends and the O-line blocking. Yeah, for sure. One other thing I want to get to before we welcome Jake Ryan in, I thought the defense was good once again. You know, you take away that one long touchdown drive in the first half, Michigan State did nothing. I mean, honestly, nothing. Jimmy Rolder, I thought, played his best game as a Wolverine. Exciting, white, man.

Which you love. I am worried a little bit about Cole Sullivan. You know, as he came off, they certainly need him back to be able to have some success in some of these games. You know, maybe not Purdue, but down the line, they're going to need him to have some success. I still think there's too many chunk plays being given up right now. Mackay Frazier had that one real long run on the touchdown. drive. Without that, I don't know that they go down and score. So, you know, there is a lot of good, I think, with the defense. What do you think about some of the adjustments they've made since

that USC game? Yeah, I thought, you know, two weeks ago, Winkton blitz as much. I didn't think he blitzed, maybe he blitzed a little more this game, but it wasn't as much as that USC game. And I think they're just, they're tackling a lot better. But, you know, you want to eliminate some of those chunk plays. I was a little concerned, like, where's bar hand? been you know there's you know he came on so strong and so uh and uh and you know just the sacks and the pressures and just disrupting the game at a high high level that those first three four weeks like where's you been the last couple weeks you go back you watch the film they're chipping them every every you know five step drop pass they're they're running away from him uh 75 80

percent of the plays and the run plays when you look at uh the plays run to him in the run game he's disrupting 90 percent of those plays so it's not just it's not just barham taking you know being somebody that is taking a dip it's like these guys are these teams are game planning to and and red dotting barham like how can we eliminate this guy from the game and they're doing everything that they can to do that and that that you know frees up guys like derrick more two sacks back to back i think the third or fourth quarter of this game which is huge huge plays um so it's freeing up other guys to make plays but um you know it's i was a little frustrated with barham but then you go back and watch the

film and like teams are actively game planning to to take him out of the game so yeah for sure uh all right let's bring in jake ryan now uh former michigan captain uh all big 10 linebacker for the wolverines i'm good how are you i'm good i just want i just you know i just you know maybe there's some youngsters that that don't remember it was a bit a little bit you know i lost some weight i'm trying to get in shape and yeah we got to get you a hat i see worms got one on i love yeah yeah listen we'll we'll absolutely take it um funny story actually uh so i have to like i have to special order hats because my head's so big does your company have hats for big heads i'm not kidding you like so there's like i'm not trying to shout out another company right now but

literally i have to order through mammoth headwear i'm not shitting you i have to order hats There's some hat company that do, like, different sizes. There's, like, like, Excel and then, like, they got, like, kids versions and whatnot. Yeah, but, no, like, it's a legit. I like to say that ours fit most people. I mean, for sure. Yeah. I mean, I have, I got a big head.

Yeah. And Hugahouse hats fit my head. These are my favorite hats because they fit. Not only their good quality, but, like, they're my favorite hats because they fit my head so well. Like, if I was on, like, a dad baseball cap over today and it just looks so funny. because like the bill was so small but these like these fit perfect and now that they have you know their michigan licensed it uh it's cool to be able to listen i'm always i'm always here always here to try them out and uh would be glad to rock it on the podcast for sure i got i got to send them over

for sure i appreciate that uh that's a perfect segue uh give people an idea what are you up to now i know you're a photographer traveling the world and you've got a hat company give people an idea what you're up to man yeah i so i actually started photography when i was at michigan so um toward the ACL had nothing going on was always interested in photography and the whole entire crew had like mopeds so i would just take my camera go to north campus and just shoot like just random stuff birds people people people driving by whatnot but um but yeah i got into it because i got injured at Michigan. And that kind of like, you know, it's where I went with it. And, you know, as soon as the NFL hit, I had to get a little bit better of a camera. So like everyone was

spending them on like cars and houses and stuff. I was like getting camera gear. So, but yeah, I got into like more wildlife stuff and more like landscape travel. So I've been, yeah, I've been dabbling in a bunch of stuff. But it's kind of. slowing down now actually the uh wife is pregnant i've got a little baby on the way so um yeah traveling we did all the traveling beforehand you know we did uh the african safari japan all those just to get them out of our system and uh now it's uh growing up kid time so yeah well talk talk about some of the places you've been to to to shoot because you know i'm looking on the instagram lex my wife is like yeah can we get some of these prints like we got to buy some prints

because, like, I know you, I know some teammates of you have sent you across the world just to get some cool photos. So we're, yeah, actually. Yeah, I've, man, some of the coolest spots. And I love, I love going to places that not a lot of people can reach. You know, a lot of people do the African safari, but, you know, me and my wife had the privilege of going down to South Africa and, you know, hitting a bunch of different safari camps. And, you man, saw the big five and even more. So lions, giraffe, elephants, the water buffalo. It was crazy.

One of the coolest things I've done, South Africa was special. One of the places that not a lot of people have been to that I would love to go back to one day is the Faroe Islands. And it's a little island system off of the coast of Denmark. So it's right between Iceland and Denmark. And it's, yeah, it's cold, rainy, but the most mood. be like I don't it's just out of this world like this place is crazy so if you ever get a chance go look up the Faroe Islands um but that's one place I definitely want to go back to um man we we hit a couple places right before this all happened um where we just we were in Morocco we're

doing like camel rides in Morocco so we hit that like the desert Sahara and but yeah I mean I still got a ton on my list, but, you know, we're going to save that for when the kid's a little bit older. So, yeah, worm and I can both attest. Once you have a kid, life kind of changes. So I'm happy for you to be able to go live all these experiences now because, trust me, once the, once that baby comes, life changes, slows down a little bit. And, uh, yeah, you got, you got to figure some things out.

If it'll be great, you're going to love, you're going to love it. I know, understandable. Yeah, totally. Uh, that's why we got it all of our sister. I'll out of our system beforehand. So we're ready and we're excited. All right. So let's go back to your Michigan career.

If I remember correctly, you played your first year with Rich Rod and then was the Brady Hoke era, correct? Yes. Okay. You were right in the middle of one of the craziest times in the history of Michigan football. Yeah. Yeah. It was crazy.

I read shirted that year with Rich Rod. So I didn't really get the full experience, but I can attest to how it was on like the practice squad, or I guess not the practice squad, the red shirt squad where we were just getting crushed by Mike Barwis every single Friday for those lifts. And, you know, it was a lot of the guys, we all got together like, do we want to do this still? And like, just like contemplating. But it was definitely different than Hoke.

But, you know, Rich Rout had his own set of ways of doing things. And, you know, it was a great experience. It definitely, you know, got me to think a little bit about my career and everything. But once Hoke came in, completely different story. You know, more of a player's coach could sit down with him. I actually, he lives, well, lived, I got to, I got to reach out to him. But he lived about five streets over from me in San Diego because he was with the Aztecs here. The Aztecs, yeah.

So I'd go out and have a beer with him, him and Kurt Maddox. And they're just, they were just a little bit different, could sit down, talk to him on everything. And also another one was Greg Madison, who, you know, he has a special place in my heart he he got me through michigan and um taught me so much about the game and everything and um the the whole coaching staff that hoke had was just special and it was it was a special team and you know a special bond that we all had and going through those military workouts with wellman was just something different and oh yeah um but it was it was awesome it was such a great experience in those those four years i had yeah i was it was my birthday a couple days ago and i get a

I got a Facebook message from... I don't even text you. Geez, that's horrible on me. Bad, bad friends. George didn't ask me. You know, I didn't see that. I noticed it was your birthday. My kid got me a cake in a car.

That's all I really care about. I don't know anybody else. My bad. But I get a Facebook message from Ann Madison. And it says like, happy, happy birthday. You were my favorite six tech. She was the best. And then like it was like dashed like coach.

So it must have been like Greg, like, you know. Oh, yeah. Hey, message Chris real quick. Yeah, they probably share an account. Yeah, but they, no, obviously coach Maddie was, you know, big, big part of me going to Michigan. He was telling me a lot about football. But also Miss Madison, Mrs. Madison was phenomenal too.

So they were there like a, you know, a pair when it comes to recruiting and getting guys to come to Michigan. They were fantastic. They were a packaged deal. And then she would make cookies for us. Was every Sunday they'd be in our locker if we had like, I think it was like a sack or like intersection she would write our stats on like the on the on the paper bag yeah yeah exactly she and then they'd be in our locker the next morning and you know just got some calories in

while we were struggling with soreness so um but yeah what a what a great couple that's awesome that's absolutely awesome when you think back about it do you have like a welcome to michigan moment or memories that kind of stand out um like in a practice game it could be anything fun i don't care what you can't run with it this was you know i i know worm nose barwis um but man we jordan passcores isaiah bell and i missed a workout in the morning um stayed out a little too late uh hits keeps for a little too long and understandable completely missed the workout and we thought they weren't going to notice we went into practice the next day and first thing Mike Barwa says to us is hey guys I'll see you

after practice and he and like three other the strength coaches Dan Moses wrote us around the field like horses until we threw up and I never missed a single workout I was never late to a single practice, workout, anything after that. And that honestly, like, kind of set the tone for like, okay, this is like big boy time. This isn't high school anymore. Like, this is, this is, uh, college. So, um, that was definitely interesting. Um, but honestly, there were so many good, you know, Michigan memories. Just like, honestly, running out of the tunnel is, is just something special. There's, there's just something special every single time you go back to Michigan. Um, and it was such like a, such an incredible.

experience and time there. Yeah, I think people don't understand just the whole running out of the tunnel aspect unless you're either a coach or a player. I know some people do it now like for you know, they pay the NIL and they get to have a fun experience. If you're a player with your helmet on or you're a coach and you're in it, it's

it's so cool because like not many people get to do it. Everyone's 110,000 people screaming your name, just wanting you to succeed from Michigan. Then you get to touch that banner. It's something special. It is special, especially meeting each other because there's, there are two doors of the locker room, like are right there. There's always that one Michigan clip of me just jumping up and down.

I'm like, I get sent it every single year. And I'm just like, here we go again. But, yeah, just meeting the other team, like, especially like Michigan State or OSU, like right in that tunnel is just like, you know, that's just something different. One way in, one way out is always like the coolest saying. And, you know, that's really what it was. Well, don't get Michigan State.

Ohio State fans all going on that because then they'll start whining and it's, oh, the tunnel in Michigan always starts problems. We're the bad guys. Big troublemaker Jake Ryan, yeah. I know. It's always my fault. Yeah. So I want to talk about the hat, Hugo House.

How did you come up with that concept? I know you got, you know, your brother-in-law, you guys started this because not only is it, obviously Michigan hats and all that stuff, but you guys are licensed in different colleges i think NFL now too maybe uh see some of the Pittsburgh guys wearing it talk about just the concept and how you guys came up with it because like i said this is my favorite hats and hey i love that yeah also i just actually made a discount code for the uh the show so if you uh type oh yeah worm worm at the uh end of checkout you get a little 20% off your order so wow that's good until friday so anyone that wants to order a michigan hat or anything off the

website you sell and great teas and hoodies and kind of at leisure lifestyle stuff it's great too yeah we got everything um but man yeah so honestly like i had just retired um and i was dating my now wife and my now brother-in-law kind of came up to me and was like hey like let's let's start something i kind of have like um you know we bonded over this this brand and you know we liked their hats but they weren't perfect. And I was like, we got to make like the perfect hat. So we came up with, you know, sending off to the factory and all that type of stuff. But how it really got started was he came out to me and like, let's start this thing. And, you know, the rest was history. Came up with like a bunch of concepts. And Hugo is actually, we wanted like something that resonated with

everyone. It was like the end of COVID, kind of like during COVID, to be honest. And we wanted something that resonated with everyone and we came up with huga and huga is a danish concept um it's spelled h y gge um but we kind of americanized it and spelled it h u e ga because that's what how it's pronounced huga and no one would pronounce h y gge huga so um but it basically means cherish the little things so it's basically a way of living over in denmark um where it's like cozy comfortable like everyone's together kind of like a community so love love the messaging behind it and kind of ran with it and made hats and designed a bunch of different stuff and it ended up working out and man we are it's it's going on three years now and yeah like worm was saying we we had a um college we got

into college licensing we had 14 schools that we got college licenses for and one of them being Michigan. And man, it is a lot of work, but it is very rewarding. You know, we did a little pop up, you know, Chris came and we did it at a drip house in Ann Arbor, right outside the stadium. And we're doing like a little football toss, just to launch the hats with a rally house. And you can find them in rally house as well. So that's kind of how it came about. And we're getting a little bit more into active wear too so we're going to be doing a lot more active wear hats got shirts shorts coming out um and yeah that's kind of where it's at right now but um yeah i just i've got like a kind of a creative mind brain somewhat so um i love just the designs and

finding new stuff and um you know different silhouettes to kind of you know stand out from other brands but yeah so that's how it's going right now i love it i love it um i want to go back to your michigan playing days again um so you had the long hair at one point you had the long hair at one point uh have you ever considered going back to that or is that like a like a phase in your life that'll never come back that was a phase in my life that will probably never come back um i i've had to do like a couple different things for huga and just look for like NFL photos of myself and michigan photos of myself and whenever i google myself with that long hair i'm just like what was i thinking oh no come on now everybody like it was like a recognizable thing i know i know

it was cool for sure i did like it the only time i liked it wasn't when it was coming out of my helmet for game day and other than that i don't know how girls deal is right to be honest with you it was like when i was sleeping i had to put it like a bun on top of my head because my neck would get so hot i'm like it's horrible but um no it was it was a three year or it was like a four year thing and you know when i tore my acal it was so hard to just shower and deal with it so i was like you know what i'm not doing this anymore and i just i just cut it all off and i actually donated a a good amount it was like to la i remember that yeah it was like 15 inches of hair so i

So, you know. How's your wife, how's your wife feel about you with long hair? We don't bring that up too often. No, no. No, but she is just like, I don't know if I'd come up to you. No. Not even being in San Diego, like, you know, the beach town, surfing, all that stuff. Yeah, you could definitely, I could definitely pull it off here, but I don't know.

It was just too much to maintain. I like, I buzz my head now. Oh, wow. Don't have to deal with anything anymore. so yeah the complete opposite basically yeah exactly i did so when i told my acal my freshman year i grew my hair out i don't know if you ever had that i had that gross gross afro with i loved it it was disgusting i kind of did the opposite it is awesome though so when you told you remember that because i tore my ACL and i was kind of m i was inside the whole time kind of you're hiding yeah it was sad depressed and

angry. Jake, when you, when you, when you tour your ACL, that was like spring ball, right? Yeah, it was spring ball. Then you came back like seven months later, like, yeah. That was crazy. I tried to rehab as fast as I possibly could just to, you know, get back. But man, I wasn't the same at seven and a half months. It was just like me trying to, you know, not survive, but I just like.

Prove how tough you were. Yeah, exactly. I had to like, you know. do it for the toughness aspect of it. But, you know, I really think, like, a good year with an ACL is what people need to be at to come back because seven and a half months was, you know, just a little too early. I mean, I did. I played, but it just, I was not the same player.

That's for sure. Chad Henney was talking about it last week on our show. So Chad Hennie in 2004 literally was getting like three shots before a game in his shoulder so he could play. Yeah. And before the Wisconsin game, he had a shot that hit a nerve and he couldn't throw the football at all. Like couldn't play. Is there something to that though? Like when you're a competitor, just wanted to push through and find a way.

Because like, listen, you've got a finite time where you get to be at Michigan. There's only a. And once that's done, it's done. Is that hard to not, like, push yourself to go out and be there and run out of the tunnel and all those things? Yeah, it's tough. I mean, especially when you got your other teammates that are, you know, doing what you love to do is that's kind of like the biggest thing. It's, you know, you got to kind of sit on the sideline and watch. But, you know, that's that's football.

That's kind of what comes with it. I, you know, I don't wish injuries on anyone, but, you know, they're going to happen. It's kind of inevitable. but it's just kind of how you respond and you know i've had two ACLs now and i've had like three surgeries on my right knee and man it is it's brutal so um you know coming back from any big injury is just hard in itself but um you know you got those guys every single day that are that are pushing you to get back and um you know you're watching them from the sidelines so you want to get back doing what you love but yeah don't get me wrong it was tough but

But, you know, taught me a lot, taught me a lot of patience, to be honest with you. Once your Michigan career was done, like you got to go play for one, like the legendary franchises in Green Bay. What was that experience like? Incredible. You know, in my NFL career, I was with three teams, and Green Bay is just special. Special play, special stadium. You know, I tell people all the time, Mauream, I know you played there because I remember playing the Ravens.

But it's just different. Like every single stadium is in like a major city or, you know, somewhere with some buildings and whatnot. But when you go to Green Bay, it's like there's houses. They're like residential houses. It's like the big house almost, right? Like you're just in a neighborhood. Yeah, exactly.

And it's the coolest experience because like, you know, they're built around football up there and, you know, there's not much to do so you get to focus on football and not much else. So it's a special place. I mean, like running out of the tunnel there, you know, there's so much history that goes into that place and, you know, how it's ran and the coaches and the front office and everything is just, you know, top notch. You know, I miss it all the time the locker room and the guys and and everything and i missed the food especially to be honest with you it's like the best food of all time i would take home the green bay oh yeah yeah adam our nutritionist would just man you could order this is this might be a secret but you could

order like crab legs and um the best tuna they they they you got to pay for it but they ship in the best tuna from like kawaii overnighted to you in the building and you get have a whole like tuna um like next day if you told adam i don't know if that's uh i don't know if they're doing that anymore i thought you were going to say like cheese curds and like you know yeah like like like like sausage or something like what i had to control myself with the cheese curds the cheese curds and the spotted cow were the man though that combo was deadly but it was so good um so good but yeah Wisconsin is just a special special place for sure you got to you got to play with Aaron Rogers. I know there's a lot of outside opinions about what he is as a person and

ayahuasca and all that stuff. And every person that I've ever talked to that has played with Aaron Rogers and has been a teammate, has said all good things about him. So what's your take on that? Because I think everybody outside has an opinion. Unless you're with somebody every day and you know whom as a teammate or as a person, there's just a lot of things going on. So what's your take on him. Aaron is hands down one of the best people that I've ever played with. One of the smartest people I've ever played with. We'd sit at breakfast and he'd get it in like debates with people and you know just you know it was something they believed their whole entire life and then he convinced them otherwise right at that table like in five minutes. Just like just cream of the

crop guy always cares and always texting you like after the game like we got we got injured kind of the same timeline when I tore my ACL again my fourth year he had done something to his I think his knee and we just kind of bonded over you know injuries and you know his life and everything and man he i don't have a bad word to say about aaron let's just put it that way um top-notch teammate top-notch guy um you can kind of rely on him for everything so um i know he gets a lot of bad press and everything but you know any press is good press right um i guess i just i think people i think people want people to live certain ways and yeah when you're one of the best to ever do it you're probably not going to be as normal as people want you to be

and he just has a different way of doing things so i appreciate you saying that because there's like i said anybody that ever asked or talked about that has been in locker rooms with him has nothing bad to say so yeah i mean i remember my rookie year coming in and you know we were at the we first interaction i ever had with him was at the coffee machine he's like what's your name he said and i was just like oh geez this is errant yeah yeah i was like i was like jake he's like jake what i'm like ryan he's like i knew that i saw the draft i'm like oh okay all right what you ask me but just like in a funny way and just like i'll never forget that and um but he's just he was awesome my four years i was there with him um yeah go back to that night when when uh you found out

your NFL dream like was coming true like getting drafted you do you remember kind of what that was like oh yeah um just anxiety i was like when is this going to happen because i had like i had a grade of like round three to five so i was just like sitting there waiting around because i was like okay maybe it'll be the third round and it's that second day but then that didn't happen and i'm like you know we've got so many people at the house just like waiting for the call and everything and you know i'm just like a ball of stress in the corner and all of a sudden i get this 920 area code i think it's 920 um and yeah it's it's green bay and we get the call and um i think it was ted thompson was on the phone and you know i i had no idea i was going to green bay

I thought I was going to like Miami or the Bengals for some reason because I had done interviews with them and I'd visits and stuff with them. Green Bay was just never on the, never on the list or the radar. So, man, I was so excited. To this day, I still, you know, everyone's like, oh, you grew the hair out because of clay. And I'll never, ever in my life admit that. And I never did. So hopefully he sees this. but yeah it was just funny because there's so many people like oh the blonde long blonde hair

and all that stuff and then I ended up you know playing linebacker with him my rookie year yeah and he kind of did whatever he wanted as a middle linebacker and I was like do I get to do that too and I definitely couldn't so but yeah that that whole day and night was was crazy and you know it happened so fast and you know you go into that rookie mini camp and it just hits you hard and you're there and it's like kind of never-ending football for a whole year because you like go in from your college season to training to getting drafted and then the season so but it was it was awesome getting that call it was very special where were you for your draft I don't why do we not remember your where you were you uh you texted me like hey can we like

bring cameras and like be in the house I was like absolutely not yeah and you didn't you didn't yeah you didn't want that like I didn't want that at all So it was, I got, I got the call. I was in my college room or my college house on campus, right over the bridge on stadium. I had a wedding that I was in the next day, one of my best friends down in Miami in Fort Lauderdale. And it wasn't that bad. Like, you know, people, they were down in Miami, so they didn't really care about a guy from Michigan. But like I just wanted it to be low key.

And like you said, Jake, like you're sitting there and like, you know, Justin, we both have the same agent. Justin, he's like, hey, you know, you can go anywhere from like, bottom. of the first round all the way to like fourth round i'm like okay this is okay okay so you know you're sitting there day one not having a whole lot of expectations like okay definitely gonna be the you know the next day you know maybe second round second round goes by and you know people start you know i was just like my close him like my mom my dad my agent um and my brother and sister and like my my now wife uh lex and we're sitting there and like i'm just slouching more more into the couch like getting pissed off not really saying much like

oh this guy got drafted ahead of me like i know i'm better than him all this all these thoughts go go through your go through your head and then you get the call and then you know like jakes it was 440 number from from baltimore from maryland i'm like okay good like you know came in the third round which was awesome and then all those thoughts you know you leave those thoughts of disappointment because your dreams coming true um but yeah kept it low key denied jordan from uh from filming it and documenting it. But, yeah. Well, you mean, like, I, like, so I remember, obviously I remember, uh, when you were

in high school and I remember, you know, all through college. I was like, like, there's certain guys that I like remember exactly their drafting, like Tyson Anderson, who's playing for the Bengals. I remember going to his house right after, uh, Jordan Kovacs. I didn't have to worry about that because I, I didn't think Kovacs was, uh, getting drafted. I love him dearly to this day. One of my all-time favorites, uh, never had to worry about. You know, there's certain guys, like I remember, Deshawn Kaiser, the night he, he thought, remember Deshawn was.

He was there. He was at the draft. Like, you remember certain guys where they were for their draft. Sorry, where I was buying. No, that's all right. Yeah, no, it's cool, man. You big time, you know, I'd only been covering you since you were like, you know, 14 years old. And then you big time he, once he finally made it to the NFL, he said, to hell with this guy.

It's not like I was like, oh, yeah, screw you, George. I'm going with, like, ESPN. or like, you know, Fox Sports or something like that. It was literally nobody. Nobody was there. Yeah. No, it's all good. Oh, good.

I'm not mad at you. I didn't even remember it, to be honest with you until you brought that up. All right. Jake, so how much are you watching Michigan these days? Oh, gosh. That's a touchy subject. Not a lot, to be honest with you. Okay.

I'm not going to lie. It's okay. I have, I've got a lot going on. So it's tough for me to, you know, You know, sit down and watch. I'm not a lie. I will go and, like, surf all day and bike and do other things and, like, not walk. He's living his life.

I'm horrible. What a life, though. What a life. I'm trying. I'm trying to get it all out before this baby comes. But, you know, I just, I saw the Michigan State game. That was awesome. So we've got to win out to make the playoffs, correct?

Yeah. Yeah, well, yeah. If they went out, if they went out, they'll be in the playoff. Yes, that is fair to say, I think. Yeah. Yeah, so I, yeah, I know. I am not the best fan. I'm not going to lie.

And I do not want to show. Yeah, yeah, there you go. No one's going to be, no one's going to be mad at you. One other thing that I always ask everybody that had to play before NIL was a thing. If NIL was a thing when you were playing, what would you have done with your first big check? oh my gosh now to be fair to be fair a lot of guys

have said they would have gone and done some stupid stuff with it so he would have missed another workout yeah um man decisions back then were a little different than decisions right now I would have probably

you know I bought that camera with my first NFL check I probably would have gotten a camera and a better moped because my moped would break down like you know every other day and i think those are like the two biggest things but man i don't i don't know how much nil money we would have made i mean i feel like it's just all big offensive guys and and all that i was afraid of like just taking a cinnabund from the briarwood mall for free like now these guys are getting these giant deals and i'm like i'm jealous but

you were a first team all big 10 guy you would have gotten a check yeah but they saw that on hair and I cut it off and they're like yeah not this guy anymore dude like great clips would have come at you with some big nil deal or something like yeah like like one of the you know like a shampoo place would have come and give you a deal like head and shoulders yes you could have made some cash off the hair hey I mean I hope I I wish it was like that when we were playing let's just put it that way sure um but hey maybe there's something down the road maybe we get a little check in the mail for hey sorry we didn't do this for you guys and you know buy a couple packs of diapers yeah exactly that's all that check's going to do it's okay yeah here's a hundred bucks

good luck um um the other thing i want to ask um i keep hearing stories about the mopeds in an arbor y'all keep ever i feel like every player that's come on here worm am i am i wrong everybody keeps talking about the mopeds some one way or the other like um what was the moped culture like there in ann arbor crazy like there was like we probably had what was it like five parking spots dedicated to just mopeds in the shembeckler like 50 50 private mopeds at one point yeah it was crazy but like you know campus is so big and then like there was some of my classes on north campus and i'm like you can't walk there i'd have to take a bus, which, you know, I still did in the winter when it wasn't icy and I couldn't take my

moped. But it was just an easy way to get around and, you know, everyone on the team had one. And I don't know what happened, but I think it kind of just like fizzled out once I think someone got an accent. But, you know, I'd park in the bike racks at class and I'd get a ticket on it and I wouldn't pay it. And I think I finally got impounded. And then I'd have to pay a giant, you know, sum at the end of the year to get it out of impound. But, you know, it's how, it's, it was a, it was just like the best thing to use to get to class. Let's just put it out.

Yeah, it was, it was, and they're fun, you know, you're cruising around, takes three bucks to fill up and it's last year for, you know, three weeks. Exactly. Dangerous, but fun. You see, yeah, you see teammates walking like, hey, hop on. You got, you know, two, 300-pound guys cruising out of a little, moped it was you know it's just those memories that you make as a as a as a student and you know you try and feel somewhat normal as a football player but those are fun times i remember taylor lewan

had like a harley looking one and you know after friday practice we'd always just take it me i hop on the back of his moped and he'd have like three cases of beer where his feet go and like his feet were off to the side like driving home from from the store house like this is horrible but you know it'll be a fun night totally safe yeah yeah and everybody survives and everybody made it it's fine exactly exactly all right uh jake we appreciate it worm you got anything else for him no man appreciate you jake obviously uh great teammate great person love the hats congrats on being a dad in the next you know five six months i can't wait for you guys to experience what jordan i've experienced for the last old me five and jordan

his daughter's 1415 so it's an amazing experience so congrats yeah i can't wait it's going to be it's going to be fun definitely different but fun but also use that use that 20% off code if you guys uh you know hugahouse dot com if you guys want some michigan hats i've got one on right now so uh the other one got another one love it no perfect but yeah jake we appreciate we appreciate you uh enjoy the surf out there uh before that baby comes and uh we appreciate you doing this. I promise I'll watch the Ohio State game for you guys. I promise. Please do. Please at least watch the Ohio State game. Of course. Awesome. Thanks, Jake. See you guys. See you, Jake. Jake Ryan, former Michigan captain, all Big Ten linebacker, fan favorite in the 2010s at the

University of Michigan was recruited to Michigan in the Rich Rott era and then was there for the Brady Hoke era. It was one hell of a player back in the day. Yeah, yeah, Jake was, he was a bad man. He was a bad man. He went from outside linebacker to middle linebacker and got better, you know. And it was, he was one of those guys that you looked up to as a younger guy that you kind of wanted to model your game around. Sure. And how we approach just, you know, being a player at Michigan.

Yeah. All right. I want to wrap up a couple things real quick from Michigan State Week. And then we will look at Purdue just very quickly because. quite frankly, there's not a whole lot to look ahead to. I'm going to be honest with you with Purdue. So first, though, I want to go back to Michigan State fans have just been whining about penalties for days now. Listen, I thought it was a perfectly fine, well-officiated football game.

I thought the gentleman with the stripes, I thought they, I thought they did all right on Saturday night. You want me to respond to that one? I mean, obviously the big one was the off sides on the blitz with the cornerback that, you know, if it wasn't called off sides, it would have been a huge momentum shift. Definitely was off sides, for sure off sides. The sack, fumble, you know, I'm going to be a little, you know, impartial here, whatever the word is, but like it was, it was close. It was a bang, bang, off sides.

I think it could have went either way. Obviously, I'm glad it went our way, which is shocker. I'm shocked that it went our way. Yeah, and JT was still. short. Yeah, well, we can, you know, that's, that's, you know, calm down. That's a couple weeks from now. We'll get there. But, uh, no, I mean, especially in, in East Lansing, uh, that call went Michigan's way. I was, I was, I was surprised. I was shocked. I was happy. Um, but yeah, I mean, you know, when, when, when you're struggling as bad as Michigan State has,

the fans are looking for any, anything to, to make an excuse. Um, and, sorry. I don't know. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. Uh, last thing I'm going to mention, uh, on that game. It's our weekly Samaj Morgan check-in. At this point, like, I just don't know. You keep giving him rope. You keep letting him go. You keep giving him more chances.

And at this point, I just don't know how you keep playing him. I just don't. It feels like every week he's doing something to hurt the team, and what he's doing to help the team isn't offsetting it. And special teams is my gripe of the night. because on special teams i mean listen there's the one punt he fields and there's nobody within 10 yards yes by 10 15 yards if he would have just caught the ball and run forward just run forward and get fall down at the first guy that gets to him he gains 10 yards and then he it ended up being like

a two yard return and i and then he tackles his own guy and like it just feels like ever and then he catches the one punt at the four yard line, there's just too many mistakes right now and it's not getting better. How long do you keep letting him go? Yeah, that's a good question. I just, one thing that like coaches always say is like, you know, if you make a mistake, you just can't make it again, you know, and if you continue to make the same mistakes over and over again, like we can't play you. And I've been in that position before and it sucks and it's not a good feeling. But then also, The next question is, like, who is behind, you know, Samaj Morgan in terms of the slot receiver, the return guy?

Like, do they trust those guys at all? And that's a question for those, for the coaches. Yeah. But it's, it's tough, man. I want him to succeed so badly. Same. We all do. Yes.

Yeah. I mean, I feel like I've said, you know, last week, week before, whatever, but it's tough to go out there and watch him make those mistakes and hurt the team. You said the one where he tackle his own player, it's like, where are you going? That's kind of my question. I legitimately had no idea what you're going. Yeah, that's tough. It's tough when you make those mistakes. He's not doing it on purpose, you know.

No. But that's, that play was one thing. But to feel the punt at your own four-yard line like he did, you got to let it go. You got to let it bounce in four yards. There's a great chance it's going to go in the end zone. Like, those are the things that are game-changing. Like that, like the other stuff. stuff like whatever, but like those are game

changes. Field position, yeah. Phil position is one of the most important things in the game of football. And if you can swing that, you know, 16 extra yards, 20 extra yards by a touchback, that's huge. Yeah. All right. So that wraps up Michigan State Week. Looking ahead, you and I will both be

at the big house this Saturday. Michigan welcomes in Purdue. It's a night game for whatever reason. It's a night game against Purdue. You and I will both be there, and I hope people will come say hi. Are we going to, are you going to try to stop by the Blue by 90 tailgate? Go see Justin and the group. Yeah, I think I'm going to try and make it over there. You know, they always got the vibes over there with the, with the Woods and Whiskey, the Camp Water, I think it's called.

Okay. Great, great DJs, great music, good food, good vibes. It's right across the street of, from the big house, basically, and it's always a good time. yeah i i i'm good i'm not sure where i'm going where i'm tailgating what we're doing uh would go to the golf course but it sounds like rains in the forecast don't know if that'll be possible but we're gonna be up there uh so if you if you see us around say hi i'm hoping uh our hoodies are coming in this week we have some stadium and main hoodies uh that should be coming in the other thing is is i'm i don't know if i've even told you this maybe i did i maybe i did uh

we're going to have an online store up and uh running soon so if anybody wants stadium and main gear i don't know if anybody does my parents do um and i'm going to make them pay for it so we will have that as swag i just get your swag man get your swag yeah i don't i don't have chris wormley NFL money so i got to tell my parents they got to buy their uh buy their own gear uh so yeah and uh i'm going to do the read one more time because i screwed it up so royally the first time you want me to do it instead like what what are we listen i i i i botched it the first I don't want me to do I sucked it was terrible I'll read it I'll read it next week then I'll practice it yeah you know what I want you to practice it and then next week you can do it

but jerseys gear equipment team pride BSN sports has it all the one-stop shop for every coach athlete in school across America BSN sports makes it easy to design order and deliver everything your team needs to play like champions visit BSNsports.com today BSN sports the heart of the game and now we can cut that and send it to them and say hey look we did it because I didn't screw that one up. Looking forward to it, Worm. It is a week before the buy. So go out, get a win.

And then that's the biggest thing I think about this weekend. Take care of business, get healthy, and then you have a week off before you go play Northwestern at Wrigley Field. That's good. Obviously, I'm excited for the Purdue game, but that game at Wrigley Field is going to be sweet. Obviously, historic baseball stadium. Should get a win,

but it's always fun to play in a big city like Chicago. but back to the BSN sports they uh they did um shirts for me one year during for my football camp and they were yeah they were top they were top notch yeah the kids i got a couple shirts upstairs with my daughter but the kids the kids loved them great quality i can attest to that and on a personal note so appreciate bsn sports yeah and it's got a jump man logo on these polos too so yeah it's good quality yeah absolutely all right we're looking forward to it Saturday night inside the big house uh 7 p.m kickoff on btn if you're not going to be there we will be there we'll be watching in person this week so

can't wait for it looking forward uh looking forward to no one and then a week off so uh make sure you subscribe tell all your friends come like and do all the things for the podcast and then we will see you back here next week new episodes dropping every tuesday have a good night worm appreciate you yeah go blue go blue