Blue By Ninety - Stadium & Main | Michigan All-American DL Mo Hurst Joins The Show

Episode Date: September 9, 2025

A brand new show presented by Blue By Ninety featuring former Michigan defensive lineman and sports journalist Jordan Strack. Former Michigan and NFL DL Mo Hurst joins the show.

All right. Welcome in. It is episode two of the stadium and main podcast with Big Worm and Strack. I am Jordan Strack on the other side of the screen. That is Chris Wormley. It is our second episode. And Chris, this one not nearly as happy as the first one that we did. We've got a lot to get to so much going on with the Michigan football program. We found out that Biff will be running things the next couple of weeks while Sharon Moore is suspended. That was the big news of the day. A couple other little things that we will get to throughout the show. You know, we're going to break down the loss at Oklahoma. There was the scuffle between Bryce Underwood and Justice Haynes that everybody's talking about. We'll get into that. And Chris, I think you'll be able to give us a terrific perspective from a player's side. But all in all, let's just start. What did you think? What was the biggest issue you saw?

Our big thing, what was the biggest issue that you saw in the loss at Oklahoma? Yeah, I mean, it was a tough loss. I thought the boys, they fought hard, but at the end of the day, not enough to get the job done. it was going to be tough. We knew it was going to be a tough hostile environment going into Oklahoma, one of those blue bloods that we talked about last week on the show. It was one of those things where if you didn't have your best game and you didn't bring your A game, it was going to be really tough to come out with a victory. And for me, I think the biggest thing was the offensive line play. Not enough time in the past game for Bryce to get through his

reads, not enough time, not enough, I guess, push on the, on the defensive line for Haynes and Marshall to really make a huge impact in the game. Obviously, there was that 75-yard touchdown run by Haynes, but I think overall, especially when you watch the tape, it's a lot of mistakes, a lot of things that went wrong on the offensive line that I think, I know that Grant Newsom, their offensive line coach, and I know obviously Sharon Moore are going to be looking at this upcoming week yeah one thing i didn't mention that you see on the side of the screen we will have mo hurst on a seven-year NFL vet former all-american at michigan he's going to be joining us here in just a little bit so stick around for that um the way i looked at it chris and i think i put this out on

twitter um i didn't feel like michigan was competitive uh at oklahoma and that was the biggest disappointment to me it's one thing if you go and you lose on the road in the SEC against a veteran quarterback against one of the best defensive minds the sport has. I didn't think Michigan was particularly competitive throughout the night. That was the biggest issue I had. It just didn't, it felt like throughout the night, there was never a point where I was like, okay, they're still in this thing. Even down one possession in the fourth quarter, it didn't feel like they were coming back

in that football game. Sometimes, you know, you're going to get that vibe. I did not have that feeling that this Michigan team was going to be able to put together a drive to go down and win this thing at any point. And that, to me, was the toughest part of watching that. What does you think? Yeah, it was rough watching the whole night. From the, start, there were so many plays and so many times. I'm looking like, okay, like this, this is the time where they could, you know, make the stop on defense, make a big play on offense to put, you know, points on the board and not just field goals. So all night long, it was, it was trading

to my ass on the couch watching it with a dick in my hand. But, like, these these you want you want so much flash and you want the big plays and you want the spectacular that we know that this team can create on both sides of the ball and we just didn't see enough of that obviously like we talked about the 75 yard run by Haynes there was a pick there by one of the defenders but there weren't weren't enough plays made especially plays made where you look and you're like you're right there make the play and it felt like those were the one really kind of bit them in the butt all night long. The only time that I can, well, there were a couple times I felt like there were guys in

position to make a play and didn't. I mean, the game changing play to me was Brandon Hillman had a free run on that blitz. Was not able to get John McTeer to the ground. He throws a ball down the sideline. They would go up two touchdowns. That was the game changer to me in the entire game. So you talk about, you know, being in positions and all. those things like that was a time where they were in a position to make a play and just didn't do

it a lot of what I thought we saw in that football game was a veteran quarterback who had been with his offensive coordinator for years and a freshman playing his first road game in college football it felt like you can you know a sky is falling and you can kind of put it however you want it it felt like it came down to a lot of that did it not yeah I mean when you when you have such a kind of coming out party like Bryce did against the Lobos week one. And we knew that Oklahoma is going to be a lot better than that New Mexico team that they finished week one. You know, there's no doubt about it.

But I think people got their hopes up that he was going to come out looking like a season vet when in reality he's, you know, everyone talks about it. He's 18 years old. He's been 18 for three weeks. So there's going to be these growing pains, new offensive coordinator in the system, obviously a new quarterback in Bryce. So there's these growing pains that you necessarily didn't see with Oklahoma, with Venables being there as their defensive coordinator for, you know,

three or four years now, him taking back the reins of calling the defense. And then with that mature guy, a quarterback, he's been with that the offensive coordinator. And they, when you have a coach and a player that are in sync like that, it's so hard to scheme up anything. And there are times where Michigan called the. right play on defense and and the the defenders just didn't make a play you talk about the miss sack there was a third and seven kind of cover blitz cover zero blitz where it was I think the first third down of the uh yeah the first third down of the fourth quarter and uh as in a cover zero

blitz you got to take the running back if he comes to you because no one else in the back end is is responsible for him and you don't know who who's going to take the back until the play starts but if he comes to you, you have to grab him. And we saw that Derek Moore kind of what went right past him. And it's hard as a defensive lineman because you want to get to the quarterback and make a sack and make that big play. But in that type of defense and a cover zero all-out blitz, you have to take the running back and it bit him in the butt and cost him a huge opportunity

to get the ball back in a one-possession game at the time. All right. What's fixable? I mean, are there issues that right now they just don't have person? personnel they're going to be able to fix it this year or I mean are there things that are fixable this season or is the sky completely falling in your mind the fall it was this chicken little like come on man have you been on Twitter lately like ever saturday night you would have thought the world was coming to an end yeah I mean what's fixable what's fixable and what's not is the point

that's Michigan fans man they're they're they're passionate about their team they're super excited for this this quarterback that's coming in and like I said they're going to be growing pains but what's fixable yeah there's a lot of things that are fixable you you make the tackle you make the sack you do your job there's there there there's so many times where like i said they just had to do their job and they just didn't make the plays that come to you you don't have to force anything that was one big thing that coach mike taillan always used to say to us and i'm get i know he says it's still to this day is like don't do anything out of the ordinary just make the plays now tj wad is a little different than you know myself was when we played and he

would you know get four sacks a game but when the plays come to you make the damn play. And there were times that on Saturday they just did not. I think the line is fixable. We'll see if that left guard, El Hadi, is going to be back in the lineup. I know he went down. But I like what I saw from from McCauley. He made some great catches throughout the game. I'm going to say Bryce has to run the ball. I don't really know who's holding him back, but someone's holding him back in that building. And I'm excited for him to, to use his God-given abilities to make some plays because I know that's going to help out this offense moving forward. All right. That's the next topic I've got written down here. Are they

handcuffing Bryce right now? Does it feel like it felt early in the game that they had rolled out the exact same game plan that we saw from 2024? It was one of the things I was celebrating last week on this podcast, we were so happy that it felt like, hey, they trusted the kid. They were letting him make plays. It did not feel like that this week. In your mind, is Bryce being handcuffed, whether it's Chip Lindsay or if it's Sharon Moore, pushing that down the hill, like, hey, no, we want to protect this kid. The comment from Sharon Moore at the press conference was,

if you want to run the football with your quarterback, you better have two quarterbacks. A couple things in my mind hearing him say that. When I first heard him say it today, I thought, that's not great. One, it doesn't send a great message to the rest of your quarterback room that they have confidence in you. Two, I just watched the Bills and Ravens play on Sunday night, and two of the best quarterbacks in the entire world were running all over the place. So if you've got a Lamborghini, drive it. And right now, Michigan has a Lamborghini.

You need to drive it. it might have cost you the other night. What do you think about the way that the play calling was handled on Saturday night? Yeah, it was frustrating, especially when you kind of knew that the first week, like, Price doesn't need to run, we're going to beat this team, and we're going to save, you know, his body, his legs, our game plan, our scheme for bigger opponents. And week two rolls around, and it's the Sooners on the road.

the best athlete on the team, the best athlete on the offense is the quarterback. So he has to use all his ability. He has to use his legs. He has to use his mind. He has to use his arm. And it just seemed like there were multiple times where he could have taken off and run for a first down on a scramble play or even a designed run. And it just didn't happen. And I don't really know what they're waiting for or what they're saving it for because Big Ten plays right around the corner. The aspect, of this team are high, no matter what the record is, one-and-one, we want to see this team win. I know they want to win. Obviously, Coach Moore wants to win. So I think there's going to be

some things that are going to have to change. And it might be that Bryce has to run it a couple times. Obviously, slide, obviously get out of bounds when need be. Obviously, don't, you know, try and truck somebody. But smart-designed runs and smart-designed scramble plays when he can get out and make a few yards when when there's nobody open it's that's that's what he he can do he's a pocket passer that's what everybody knows him as he's a pocket passer but if you look at the kid and you see a movie like he can pick up a first damn down when need be and uh i think moving forward they're going to have to do that i think what oklahoma did with john matier like to me that you have the blueprint right there you've got a veteran quarterback who they used in the run

game they used him the throw game but they had designed runs for him there were times throughout the night where there were designed runs where it's like hey you're my guy go make a play and we're not we didn't see that from michigan's play calling with bryce underwood the way they trusted john material they're not trusting brys underwood and letting him go be brys underwood and that to me is that's a major issue because you've got you spent a lot of money and you brought this guy in for a reason you have to use him, especially on big stages like that. If they're not running him against Central Michigan this week, fine, whatever.

Like, I'm not, that's, that is what it is. You don't run him against New Mexico, find whatever it is what it is. Those are the games against Oklahoma. We're like, listen, you need him to go make a play. Let him go make a play. 100%. When we, I mean, I played Josh Allen four or five times now in my career. And as he's gotten older, he's been smarter with the ball.

He's not, he'll still try and jump over you and tackle and run over. When you get into the red zone, when you get into the goal line plays, he's keeping the ball. And everybody knows it, but there's not much you can do. There's not much you can do to stop him because he's bigger, faster, stronger than everybody on the field, except for the nose tackle and the de-tackle. So I think they're going to, like, they're watching the tape, obviously. They're saying, okay, how can we put Bryce in the best position to succeed? And that has to come into your mind as offensive coaches. He has to run the

ball. He has to take off, use his ability. You talk about the Ferrari. It kind of brought up, or the Lamborghini, I don't know, and you're old enough, but you watch Ferris Bueller's day off where they take the friend's car and it's this pristine Ferrari and it's just sitting in their dad's like, you know,

collection. You got to take it out. You got to drive it a little bit. You got to test it. You got to test and see what you got because no matter if you have two quarterbacks or 100 quarterbacks or no quarterbacks. You've got to test the quarterback that you have to do what he was brought to Michigan to do, and that was to win.

Yeah, for sure. A couple of the things. So when Dominic Zavada missed a field goal, I thought, holy hell, he's human, one. But my biggest issue, I think, from a coaching perspective, the first two weeks we've seen this happen twice now. In week one, Sharon punted on fourth and two for midfield.

and I felt like they were rolling and that took away some momentum when he did that. In the first half, they had a long fourth down, but they're at the 38-yard line. Dominic Zavada can make that field goal, one, but two, like the way that I hit, so I have always been in the mind like, okay, yeah, punt, go play defense, you got a great defense, whatever. I talked to a college head coach two years ago who said to me, you're inside the 40-yard line. In one play, they're going to be right back to where you are. If you don't get it, whatever, because they, so they get it at the 20 and you punt it into the end zone like Michigan did. They're going to be right back to the 40 and two plays anyway, so who cares? Go for that.

Either go or kick the field goal. I probably would have tried a field goal with Zavada. You've got this all-world kicker. I think Sharon in back-to-back weeks is not instilling confidence in his guys. Like, hey, I have a team I think we can go. Let's go. Let's go do it. Does that permeate throughout a sideline if your coach is kind of not trusting you? Yeah, I think maybe, I mean, I haven't talked to Sharon on a coaching level, but like, yeah, maybe staff and he's kind of thinking like still stuck in the 24 season. They didn't have, you know, they had to trust their defense a lot to go play, to go make a play. And, and, you know, maybe they're still stuck in that 24 mode. But when you got a guy like Zavada, I don't see you miss one.

but I've played with Chris Boswell for the Steelers and Justin Tucker and the Ravens, and those are probably the two, one of the, the two greatest kickers that I've played with, but Tucker percentage-wise is the greatest in the NFL history, and they've missed. So everyone's human. Obviously, if you have a kicker like Zavadi, you've got to take those chances, 55 in-in. You've got to take those chances for the points because, yeah, what are you going to punt and put them on the 20? Maybe you punt them deep, but it does.

doesn't fare well when you're sitting there on the offense. Like, let's go for it on fourth down. If you're just going to punt or the defense. Yeah, it's back-to-back weeks where I just felt like they had a shot to attack and they didn't. And Sharon came out and said that they, well, they trust the special teams coach with a kick line and all these things. Ultimately, like, listen, it's got to come down to him.

So I thought that was, I thought that was a questionable call. A couple other things before we get to Mo Hearst, who we'll get to in just a moment. I thought even despite the struggles throughout the night, Michigan still had a shot in the fourth quarter. It's a one possession game. And Oklahoma went on an eight-minute drive. They kicked the field goal.

The defense just could not get off the field. As bad as it was, they still had a shot in the fourth quarter on the road in the SEC in a game where they probably didn't have any business winning. but they just couldn't get off the field there at the end. What did you think of the way that the end of the game kind of played out? As a defender, it sucked to watch that. Eight-minute drives are no fun. Everybody's gassed.

Everybody is tired. And as a defender, you're just like, okay, let's put this on me. Every game you want to, if it's a close game, you want it to come down to yourself. And as a defender, like, hey, let's put this team on our back and let's make a play. Let's get the game, you know, let's get the ball back. to our offense as quick as possible, and that just wasn't the case. So me watching that, it's frustrating, especially knowing the players that are on that defense and the type of coaches that they have on that side of the ball, it's frustrating

to watch, you know, potential is a dangerous word. There's a lot of potential on that defense, but until they can prove, and it's week two, but until they can prove that they can stop and come up with big plays in a timely fashion, in a way where the defense is being called upon, people are going to have questions. And I got destroyed on Twitter and on Instagram from people. Welcome to my world. Yeah, but I'm like, dang, like, it was one game.

And people were coming at a wink like he's, you know, the devil. I'm like, he watched the rest of the season. I guess is all I can say. And this didn't age well. This was bad. Like, oh, you're eating your words, worm. I'm like, come on, man. one game like if you if they just made the plays that came to them it would

been a different story but you know not not much i can do until until they prove me right uh you're going to learn very quickly in this world that uh when you put takes out there that people are going to uh crush you and you can't you're never going to be right all the time but welcome to the world i'm so glad that you're you're getting to experience this this is going to be fun for you uh okay i i want to touch on this before we get moan here um The Bryce Underwood, Justice Haynes, sideline thing. I knew the second I watched it, that casuals everywhere were going to freak out and lose their mind. And, oh, my gosh, Bryce is already blah, blah, blah.

And I knew people were going to say it. I just saw it coming. And they did predictably. To me, it is the most overblown non-story ever. This happens a hundred times. day in sports um guys in locker rooms guys in clubhouses in baseball guys on the sidelines hockey hockey guys listen hockey i promise you i've been around it for over 20 years i promise you this happens behind the scenes all the time this is a non story in my mind what did you think and how often does it

happen uh you've played in the NFL uh you have been around sports how often does that kind of stuff happen all the time i mean every day there's an argument every day there's i wouldn't say like a fist fight scuffle but when when the when the stakes are that high when the lights are on when the adrenaline's going uh we have mo mo has probably heard this before we had a we had a strength coach named erin wellman who uh who who's who called it exercise induced anger and that's when your adrenaline's going you're you're sweating you're trying you're trying your hardest and things aren't working out you're going to get pissed and you're going to get pissed and And I would rather see that than them just shrugging it off.

Don't minimize the situation. Don't minimize your role as a teammate, as whatever happened in that exact play. But to see them arguing on the sidelines, like, okay, it meant nothing to me because I've been in that situation a thousand times and I'll probably be in it a thousand times more. And it's just one of those things that as somebody who's been in the locker room and has been in those conflicts, It was a nothing to me. It meant nothing. 100%.

Totally agree with you. All right. That will put a bow on the Oklahoma game. It was not great. I think we have beat that into the ground for 20 minutes now. So we will look forward. And Chris, let's welcome in Mo Hearst. And a seven-year NFL vet.

Mo, what's going on, man? What's up? Y'all can hear me? Yeah. We can hear you. my guy what's going on brother how you been man i'm blessed i've been doing great uh just been watching some football watching my boys um you know that only time you get to watch like NFL red zone and all the college games is when you got a buy week so you know week one kind of feels like a little

bye week being the free agent not being on the team right now so i got to watch a ton of football and it you know it was great getting to watch you know so much ball this weekend How do you think JJ is going to do tonight in his first NFL start? I think I think JJ will be solid. I mean, he's got good weapons around them. You know, obviously got Justin Jeddahs. So, you know, you're doing pretty good there. You can kind of just throw the ball up to him.

You know, they got a pretty established old line and some veterans kind of placed all around him. So he's in a good position to succeed and do well, especially, you know, after watching, what's his name, man, who just left her last year? Kirk Cousins. Kirk Cousins? Oh, it's been a Darnold. Yeah, after seeing Darnold, you know, do what he did last year.

I mean, you got to have confidence in a first-round pick, you know, early pick, having success. All right, Mo, give us a Chris Wormley story. Like, I've known him for, like, I've known him since he was, like, 15 years old. Give me a, give me a Chris Wormley story. Bragg him a little bit here if you want. Yeah, pull me up. Yeah, I only got, I only got good stories about big work.

I would probably say one of my favorite, honestly, was probably him getting his big worm tat in the dorm room. I think he might have been a senior. I know it's probably very unsanitary, things like that, but probably one of my favorite stories. Other than that, I moved. basically across the street from him and we had found out that we had a fence between us, you know, hopefully it don't hit me up for damages or anything like that. But we literally, I called him up. He's like, all right, meet me at the fence. He brought a toolbox and we, you know, dug a little hole underneath our fence and kind of broke the fence a little bit so we could,

you know, go in and out of each other's houses and kind of hang out a little more. So that's probably one of my favorite, you know, two big worms. I love it. So wait, time out, where was the tattooed done it was it also our one of our you're a tattoo guy coming to the doors shout out to brian mona he was one of our one of the nose tackles um his cousin was like a tattoo artist he was in town from utah for the weekend just to tattoo a bunch of guys and it was i got i got a lip tat on my bottom lip it says big worm

it was supposed to be gone in like three to five years that was 10 years ago it's still here and it was it was 25 bucks so i mean like Like, what the hell? Like, I thought, I thought it was pre-NIL, so we paid for our, you know. Yeah, we paid for it. Yeah. This is hilarious. I love it.

Yeah. I love it. All right, well, what did you think of, of the effort at Oklahoma the other night? Man, I thought the guys, you know, honestly, I thought the guys played really physical. You know, obviously there's a ton of things to clean up. I mean, I was even texting worm during the game. There was basic things, like sending it all out blitz. not picking up the peeler and, you know, just a bunch of random things throughout the game.

You could tell the O-Line was a little bit confused on some of their protection calls. You know, having a young quarterback, I'm not really too happy about people kind of slandering them for how they called the game. I think you do want to see him go out and be, you know, true freshman that comes in and throws for 400 yards in a big game. But to be frank, you know, not many people are doing that, you know, ever. So as a play call, you're obviously going to be a little bit more conservative as a head coach. And you could tell that towards the end of the game, you could tell Bryce was a little bit uncomfortable. I mean, you would see him get back, drop back, get off his back foot, and he's looking at the old line. And, you know, that's the last thing you want as a quarterback.

And, you know, I think that's kind of what Sharon everyone was trying to avoid was him getting kind of frazzled in that sort of situation. And as a young quarterback, I think, too, you have to be able to use. use your legs. And I think that was one thing that he really underutilized. And I think that's something that you kind of have to go through that progression where you're not feeling comfortable, use your legs, pick up a few first downs, kind of get the rhythm going, get the defense a little bit tired, you know, make them not know if you're running or throwing or whatever and just kind of get them off their rhythm and get themselves into more of a rhythm. Go ahead, Warren.

No, I was just going to say, like, don't you, I mean, as a, as a play caller, as Sharon and as Coach Lindsay for Bryce, like, yeah, you want to be conservative. You want to get, you know, some easy throw, some easy completions, especially early in the game. But also, like, I need to see Bryce run. I need to see him. Right, yeah, I need to see him, yeah, I need to see him be Bryce. And like I said before you came on, like he's a pocket passer, but he also has the ability to use his. legs to get out of situations we talked about josh allen uh and lamar last night if you watched the game last night like the two best quarterbacks in the league are running around making plays but also

can step back in in the pocket and make it and make a beautiful pass to a receiver but when you have the ability to do both i think you have to use all your ability especially in a big game like that especially when you're on the road and that defense was coming the defense was was uh was on fire venables is is one of those coaches that's bringing the pressure. So to be able to take the pressure off and have them sit back and not blitz as often, if, you know, Bryce can get out of the pocket and make a play, I thought would have allowed them to open up the playbook more, tamper that defense a little bit.

But I got to see Bryce run a little more. Yeah, 100%. All right. Let's have some more fun here. Did you have like a welcome to Michigan moment in your college career? Oh man, I had a few. I'll say my biggest one was just my freshman year being a redshirt freshman, you know, coming out of Massachusetts, you know, small town football school. I was hungry. So, you know, every single day I was bringing it, you know, scout team, All-American, the guy that everyone hate. Yeah, who are you going against them? Was that, was that like Luan in his last year? It was Taylor wants.

So me and Taylor used to get into it every single day. And I remember he used to have this thing called like No Touch Taylor Fridays or whatever it was. Thursdays. Yeah, Thursdays. Don't touch Taylor Thursdays. And I'm telling you, like, I'm hungry. Like, you know, I'm trying to get out the mud and just, you know, I'm really bringing it every single day. So I'm getting into him, whatever.

You know, I threw him down one play. And I just remember him ripping his helmet off and just storming off the field. slamming his helmet on the ground and just, you know, just contests me for, you know, the duration of that time and, you know, refused to go back in. And, I mean, that was probably my biggest welcome moment because, you know, the next time he was in there, he, you know, he took care of me as a person.

He would just grab your face mask. Yeah, he would just grab my face mask and just, you know, like, as soon as the play goes, he just would grab your faith mask and you wouldn't be able to go anywhere. And it was Taylor-Lwan, you know, we're- Santa Juan, you know, I'm a freshman. He, you know, he did his thing, but, you know, I think I got mine more than he got his. So I feel cool.

I am just hoping that this clip somehow gets to him because he's a big star now. Like Taylor, Taylor is, yeah, yeah, Taylor's blown up. He's a big star. I would love to see them talk about No Touch Taylor Thursdays on the, the boys' podcast. That'd be great. All right. What else about your time at Michigan? kind of stands out.

Man, I mean, I honestly, it was, it was working for Uber. That was kind of crazy. Like, I didn't have this NIL money. Like, I was getting done with practice and I was turned on my Uber app just to get, you know, a couple extra dollars to get some food and, you know, buy clothes and all that type of stuff. So, you know, it was just a different time, you know. You had a high rating, though.

Like, what was your Uber rating? Man, I'm still. I just actually, definitely. download the app because I wanted to look and I'm still like a 4.99 I don't know who gave me a bad rating but um you know I'm still like a very good Uber driver and Lyft um I'm one of the highest ratings of all time but yeah I mean it's just it's just so much different now like those guys are those guys are living you know they're okay so speak of NIL like I don't want to talk about dollar figures but the houses that we lived in back in the day you know you were my roommate in my last year. in 2016. You're paying $500 a month. You're paying $500 a month for, I mean, I drive past that house every once in a while

going over the bridge on stadium. And it looks like nobody, it looks like no one should live there. It looks dilapidated. It looks. And rent's probably $800 a room now. So what would you have done? What would you have done with your NIO money?

I know you're a savvy investor. I know you got some properties, some Airbnbs. What would you have done with a little chunk of change in your pocket, you know, 10 years ago? Well, man, one of my, I've really first got into investing when I was in college and my first ever stock that I bought was Lou Lemon. It was about $35. That thing's about like $2.20 right now. So imagine if I had a little bit of that NIL money to really put into that when I was there, I would have definitely gotten into, you know, some a little bit more cash and, you know, probably with a cash for it a little bit more. But we also had the privilege. We had Baxter. So Baxter. had the whole plan for buying a house and all that stuff like imagine if we had that little bit of cash i feel like we would have bought something and just lived in it together whatever you know cost or

something like that but we definitely would have been smart with it and you know put the money somewhere good and just uh you know got those type of things rolling too would you would you have kept the mazda the msda three no i would have got a dodged charger I pull into Shembecker Hall. That's the facility where the boys practice. I pull up to the parking lot for a spring ball practice. And I'm walking by escalades, corvettes, challengers, chargers, the fancy jeeps. I'm like, I had a 2001 green PT cruiser.

That was my car in college. Wait, you drove a PT cruiser? Yeah. A green PT cruiser. Your big ass drove of a PT cruiser. her like this. You see big worm rolling down State Street like this all tied into the tied in front of the

I'm from Toledo. The Toledo is the mud city. I had to get it out the mud. That was my car for my first three years in college and it was my baby. Yeah, the mods of the six. That thing was rough. That's unbelievable. Worm, I never knew that about you. I don't have a long time. I never knew that about you. I got a picture somewhere, man. There's some pictures floating around.

And, hey, it had leather seats and I had air conditioning. So I don't know. I don't know about you guys. But I like that. There was something. Do you have any, either of you guys have Jim Harbaugh stories, anything good that you can, anything you're allowed to share? I mean, one of my, one of my favorite Jim Harbaugh stories was probably our first, It was like our first real sort of practice with Jim Harbaugh.

And he was warming up with the offense. And Chris Evans ran a wheel route. And he was just furious. So he's like, you didn't run it right, blah, blah, blah, like, you know, move over here. Like, I'm going to get up there and go run it. So Jim lines up, you know, gets in his stance, you know, sit hut, goes, tries to run the wheel route and just pop both his hammies while he was running. You just see both the wheels just come off, and he's just hobbling off.

And I'm like, man, I think he just pulled his envy. So the rest of the year, like, he went in the training room maybe one time. And he got some of those, like, core shorts that, you know, we wear to protect us. But honestly, I think he probably still has a limp from just, like, not doing rehab on those hammies, like, during that year. So that was probably one of my favorite ones, just seeing them just, that's how intense he is with the game, though. Everything's got to be perfect.

He really went out there and tried to show the example and just, you know, cooked both his enemies. So that's probably one of my favorite stories. Yeah, that sounds like Jim. He probably still, I mean, he definitely's throwing to, he's throwing to receivers pregame nowadays still. So I'm sure he's, I'm sure he's, you know, out there running routes, running, running through tackles and handoff drills.

I'm sure he's doing it all. Yeah. Have you ever seen his arm? His arms are like all dangly and like, oh, no, things are all messed up. He's just a ball player, man. That's a ball player right there. I would say this about Jim Harbaugh. He loves ball more than anyone I've ever met in my life.

There's him, and then there's John Gruden. I played for both of them. Both them, if both of them were, you know, in the room together, they would not stop talking about football. Like, I would pay to watch those guys talk about the game of football. Did either of you guys ever get aired out by Jim Harbaugh? Like, cussed out.

I always tried saying on Jim's good side, man, there was, there were times where, I mean, I was next to the guy that was getting chewed out, but I was, it was never me directly. But I felt like I could feel like it was directed towards me, but I tried saying on Jim's good side. Yeah, Jim, you know. If you get on his bad side, especially, oh, remember like that first, like, the first spring ball with Jim was, and I talked with Josh Johnson, who was the, the, uh, the, the, uh, the. backup quarterback last year in Baltimore who had Jim in San Diego. Yeah. And he was saying, he was like, man, when Jim got to San Diego, like, he was trying to get everybody out.

Like, he was trying to make guys transfer, make guys quit so he can bring his own guys in. And I'm like, bro, that was us 10 years later in 2015, that first spring ball practice. It's four-hour spring ball practices. It's study hall. You had to go to, I was, I got good grades in school. I had to go to study hall. and like be around you know i had i had to be in study hall and make sure that i was getting my homework done there were so many things that he tried to make us do to make us quit and there were

times i'm like damn i don't know i don't know if i'm cut out for this anymore but obviously stuck through it and mo was one of the guys that was a big help in doing that but like he tried he tried making guys quit he tried making guys transfer he he was about getting his guys in and the guys that survived and stayed became his guys, you know, those two years that I was there and the three that Mo was there. But he was, he was cutthroat in that aspect. And there was a lot of football played those last, my last two years. You got to love ball. Like, that's, you can't play for Jim Harbaugh and like football. Like, you got to love the game of football with Jim Harbaugh. He'll expose you quick. Yeah, no. Luckily, I never got chewed out, you know, by him.

you know, Madison is a different story, but Harbaugh, you know, he never chewed me out. Coach, you say Madison? Yeah, Madison. He used to call me. He get after you a little bit? Oh, yeah. That's my gosh. Moe might have deserved it, though.

Moe might have deserved it. I deserved it sometimes. I mean, I would be out there, like, with a, you know, I would have, like, an ankle sprain or something. You're like, Mo, you're just sitting there feeling sorry for yourself. You don't even, you don't even. run to the ball you don't even love football you know i'm gonna just send you back to massachusetts you can go play for boston college i'm like well because of course mani recruited you right like he went to the high school he was in your high school watching my main recruiter yeah so he knew

all about matt all about was it uh canton mass that's what you're from yeah canton massachusetts can't mass thevarian brothers baby same brothers you know just a few just a few mass boys out there yeah love it i love it mike sanders still is you know putting off for us right now so we're we're in good this is the barian brother he's a he's a he's a he's an ever boy but you know all right he's still putting off for mass and obviously going to michigan so all right we're good we're rivals but it's cool i love it i love it all right you guys got any other good stories uh before i just i just want no yeah i want i want mo to to kind of hit on uh him being a model I mean, it's...

Yeah, yeah. I want him to talk... I mean, I've talked to a little bit about it, but I haven't gotten, like, the full story of how Moe became a runway model, you know? I thought maybe he'd be in, like, DXL, you know, kind of big board catalogs. And it was crazy. The husky pan back in the day. But he's hitting the runway in, like, a good-looking suit.

So, Moe, let us know what was going on with that. You know, man, you just, you know, you spend some time in the league, and you just, you know, You get around some fly guys, you know, and they rub off on you a little bit. You know, you want to dress up a little bit more, feel a little better about yourself. And, you know, just try new things. I'd say that's my biggest thing is, you know, trying new things, things that may be a little bit uncomfortable. But, you know, I just try to put on for the big fellas for a little bit, especially living

in Texas right now. You know, I had to put in, you know, the little cowboy hat. and you know just kind of get my thing rolling so you know it felt good uh felt like a real cowboy you know didn't have my boots yet but you know maybe those what's what's that conversation like like is is pat calling you saying hey got this opportunity for you to be a for you to be a model or are you reaching out to you know different agencies or you got you got the inside scoop like how did that how did that all kind of come together uh no i had you know being as good looking as i am I had someone reach out to me, and then I just,

I happened to follow through and, you know, went through with it. So, you know, that was fun. Well, you look good. So did you get to keep the suit? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was part of the gig, you know, got to keep the suit. You know, that was, it was fun. I would do it again, you know, you know, maybe. Can you get worms and modeling gigs or what? Oh, yeah, yeah. I can definitely, I definitely put big worm on some modeling gigs. Uber driver slash model slash football player

slash investor. Investor. Entrepreneur. Do it all. Man of many skills. You know, I try, man. You know, just a guy at the end of the day. And one hell of a podcast guest.

I appreciate it. You know, I'm still upset about the game, to be honest, guys like i feel that i don't like losing the oh you um i just feel like we could have done a lot better i don't feel that ball yeah will you come will you come back on with us again at some point oh yeah i'll definitely come back on you know talk talk some more ball you know i'm excited about a central michigan game and them getting back to you know their roots and you know just getting in a rhythm and you know just trusting themselves getting that confidence back to up for later down the road you know i'll ask you guys this as players when you go from a big game like

oklahoma and then you know you've got central michigan coming in where's your mindset coming back into the big house playing central michigan now yeah i mean i always know this trap game like you know whenever you have like a small opponent they always turn up practice like it's going to be like they're going to practice probably harder this week than they did last week like that's just like how coaches do they don't want to get embarrassed on national television by losing to, you know, CMU. So I think they're going to show up and show out. You know, we almost lost to Akron in 2013, so.

Oh, shoot, yeah. There's no, like, especially in the NFL, like, there's no, you know, kick game. There's no guaranteed win game. Obviously, we expect Michigan to win, but we almost lost to. I mean, week one, I mean, week one was like, we got in the second half. I'm like, this is a game. Like, I'm like, I thought it was going to be a blow just from out of the. game kind of started, but they were in the game to basically the end of it, you know, so I don't know.

I think they'll be right, though. I think the, I like the mentality. Like, I heard you guys talking about Bryce getting into that argument. Like, I like that. Like, I want, you want that fire from, you know, your young players to come in and hold each other accountable. I think accountability is the biggest thing. And that's one of the things I'm impressed about.

And I like the physicality they play with, like, you can see the safeties and the linebackers. I love 15. That might be my favorite player right now. And it's awesome, yeah. Yeah, like, dude looks like Patrick Willis out there. Like, I'm watching him come down hill and just lay wood. He's head hunting. He's head hunting, laying wood.

Every time he comes down, like, you know, I'll probably buy his jersey, honestly, just because, you know, I just love how he plays the game of football. Like, you know, whatever team I'm on, like, I'll ride out with him. Like, dude, you know, dude's a baller for sure. And I just love how those guys hate. I love the tenacity to play with number one, too. Like, both those guys really play with, you know, a lot of heart, a lot of passion for the game.

So Jashon Barham, the other linebacker in there you're talking about. Yeah, I got knocked out for the first half. Yes. Yes. I saw you went down. I don't know if he got cramps or something, but I saw him go down for a little bit. Yeah, I think he seemed to be fine. It feels like everybody else on the team is a little banged up right now.

But I think he, I think he's ended up being okay, didn't seem to be mentioned today is one of the issues. How do you guys watch the game as former players? Do you like, are you like chilling? Like, do you like sit on the couch and just watch? Do you like watch completely intently like X's and O's? Like I would have done this or like are you watching a position group? How do you guys watch games?

I mean, as soon as the, as soon as the zero covered blitz happened, Mo text me like, hey, you see that? Like he didn't take, he didn't take. He didn't take the running back. And like saying before, like, that's the number one rule when you're one of the blitzers or the defensive linemen is you got to take that running back if he comes to you because there's no dbs, there's no linebackers. There's nobody that's accounted for him except for the guys that are blitzing.

And once he comes to you, you got to take him and you got to cover him. Yeah, that's your guy. Yeah, that's your guy. Yeah, I'd say the biggest thing for me, like, I'm watching like the line play and then I'm going to the backers and then I'm going to kind of the secondary. But I say when the ball snapped, I'm definitely watching the D-Lines, seeing how they're getting in and out of their blocks. And then I'm going to that second level to see where the linebackers are filling. And then kind of once the replays go and things like that, I'll watch the DB play and see how they're playing with their feet and their hands and how they're staying with their man if they're in, you know, manner's own coverage and kind of just watching from that perspective.

But, I mean, it's like watching film, like me and Wormer, you know, playing for seven, eight years, like in the league and then five in college. We're breaking down film while we're watching it, you know, live in color, you know. So we're seeing every, you know, every defense, every play, every movement, you know, how guys are looking, their demeanor, they're, you know, how they're carrying themselves, how they're getting off the pile, if they're running the ball. Like those are all things you notice as like a former player. Like you, the little things that, you know, they're celebrating with your teammates, you know, getting hype. Like those things all, you know, matter when it comes to, you know, having a really good team. what do you want to do it now i don't want to say the football dream's dead but like what what's next you want to you want to coach you want to get on tv you want to what is it you want to do

man you know right now i'm just focused on you know uh trying to get picked up somewhere so um i've just been training and you know staying ready staying ready for workouts you know hopefully go somewhere where i get a chance to compete and uh you know win some football games because I've been on some bad teams in my days, so it'd be good to get some wins, you know, make the playoffs and all that type of stuff. So, you know, hopefully get on a playoff contention team, you know, it's always tough being a free agent, especially your first year where this is my first year where I haven't been on a roster in OTAs, so that's kind of tough.

And then you go into camp and, you know, also not on the roster. So, you know, it's a different time. So I think that question will be more so be able to answer once I'm officially clear with not part more. But for right now, it's definitely all ball. Both these guys are still available, NFL teams. Both these guys are still available and they're both in great shape. They're ready to go. Just give them a call.

Oh, yeah. Give me a call, man. Text hardball or something. I guess I'm going to get me somewhere. do you text him like you know coach like I'm man I've been annoying hardball every day I'm I'm like I'm like I'm like I'm like an ex-girlfriend I'm texting gym every day trying to get on his team whatever whatever gets you whatever gets you a job whatever gets the checks coming in it's that's the thing with that's the thing with being a free agent is like you kind of have to

pack your bags and go when you get a call, but, you know, you ask the question about what's next. And it's like, if you're not all in and in ball, like, there's so many guys that are going to, that are going to look to come and pass you. So, like, you've got to be 100% focused. You got to be training. You got to be eating right. You got to be ready when the call comes because if not, they're going to bring you in. They're like, ah, he ain't ready.

He's not working. He doesn't want it. And that could be your one opportunity or your last opportunity. It's one of those things that that's tough. but I know Mo's in the right headspace. I'm in the right headspace and we're, we still got a lot of ball left to play if the opportunity presents itself. Yeah, like for me, like I was freaking out.

I'm texting where I'm like, hey, bro, like, how's this work? Like, what's going on? Like, I'm hitting him. I'm like, man, like, I got to get in pads. Like, if they just call me, like, I'm going straight into it? Like, he's like, yeah, man. It's say, you know, take like a week. It'd be good.

They're like, all right, cool. It's just, I mean, the, I got called a ball tomorrow. It was three. Yeah. They Baltimore practice is hard. Like they're on Wednesday

and that was my first practice was pads. I'm like, oh man, I'm a scout. So it's like, you know, big ass old I'm in their double team and they're trying to get

their blocks right for the game. And I'm coming off the streets basically, essentially I'm working out. But like there's no way to prepare for football shape except for playing football. And our boss said it best. You only get better at football by playing football. That's what we have for our practice.

More and more. No means, just football. That's where you get better at it. I love it. And you guys are both kind of in the same thing, kind of in the same boat right now. I was going to ask you that. Because last year, what did you say it was week three last year when Baltimore called?

And they were like, week three. Hey, hey, we need you. And then, so, I mean, how do you mentally even handle that? I mean, in my situation, I got, you know, wife and two kids at home. So I prepare my wife, like, hey, like, teams. starting to call or you know as soon as you know it was a i think a monday i got a call and i was there tuesday practice on wednesday so it was like boom boom boom obviously i was

been in baltimore my first three years so i was familiar with the city and the coaches and the facility so that was nice but uh yeah you kind of have to pack a bag and and and get your ass on a plane because you got work to do moe you ready for that i'm always ready man you know i just need a call I'm just staying present. You know, I think that's the biggest thing is, you know, your mind gets all over the place. And obviously you start freaking out. You're like, you know, working out enough.

I'm doing this. I'm doing that. Am I doing that right? You know, I'm getting better? Am I getting my hands right? You know, am I doing my drills correctly? So, I mean, it's all like little things. But for me, like, every year is just an opportunity to get better at football.

Like last year, I had my best camp, you know, started week one. I hadn't started in, like, three years. So that was, you know, that was just kind of like proofing the pudding, like, you know, you put in the work and you get ready for a season and you do as much as you can and, you know, just leave it up to the good Lord to take care of you and, you know, keep you away from injuries and things like that. So, you know, for me right now, it's just about getting better. And that's my biggest thing is just, you know, consistently getting better. This is good. This is good, boys. This is really good stuff.

There's a lot of clips that we're going to be able to, you know, chat. hop out of this thing and people at social media are going to love them. There's a lot of good stuff here. Appreciate you, Moe. That was good. Were you anything else? No, I appreciate your brother. Obviously, we'll stay in touch and we'll have you on again in a couple weeks, hopefully. But I appreciate you hopping on. Appreciate you being our first guest. The man, the myth, the legend, the all-American. Mo Hurdy, baby. You know, big worm, man. Come on, now. I love it. I love it. Thank you, Moe. Appreciate you. I appreciate you guys. Thanks for having me on.

All right. You take care. All right, y'all too. All right, Warm, let's wrap this thing up. We're talking about Central Michigan at home, Saturday, noon, Big Ten Network. And then you've got Nebraska the following week, September 20th, at Nebraska. That's obviously going to be a challenge. Central Michigan, listen. Central Michigan is not a team that should worry you out of the Mac.

They just aren't. Like, this should be a game that Michigan needs to go make a statement in my mind. Go out and win this game by 40 points and don't play around. That, to me, should be the mindset. Am I wrong there? Yeah, they need to come out, guns blazing, they need to come out, put some of these doubters to rest. Wink needs to have a masterful defensive game for my sake. I need these these Twitter bots and these Twitter haters to get off my back a little bit.

but I expect them to win. I expect them to win handedly. I'm looking for both sides of the ball to continue to improve and involve. There were some good things that happened on Saturday night, but not enough. And as the season gets on, the season continues to progress, they're going to have to continue to play better and better ball. Because where they're trying to go and where us as fans want them to go,

they're going to need to play better. All right, anything else before we get out of here? I think that's it. All right. I'm excited for this game, excited for them to get another W and tune in next week. Go Blue. All right, that sounds good. Yeah, make sure you tune in next week.

A Blue By 90 podcast, Stadium in Maine with Big Wormant's Track. We appreciate you. Share us all your friends on social media. So more people will know about it and more people will come join us and have some fun. And we will see you back here once again next week.