Blue By Ninety - SURPRISE starters on offense? One day from Michigan Football in the Big House!

Episode Date: August 30, 2024

Justin and Tanner talk about the recent news surrounding important positions battles along the offensive line and at quarterback.

All right. Welcome back to Blue by 90. I'm Justin joined by Tanner today and it is August 30th. There's a Michigan football game on August 31st. We are one day away 24 hours until we are right outside the big house. tailgating crushing north peak beers crushing truly twisted tea sudden cruiser uh some woods and whiskey shout out we'll have joe's pizza there um it's gonna be a hell of a day tomorrow i cannot wait no man i'm excited you know um i'm gonna try some of the some of the fruity drinks you know as some folks like to mention but i'll also try some of that whiskey you know um i'm gonna try some of the some of the fruity drinks you know as some folks like to mention but i'll also try some of that whiskey you know uh duality of man uh no man i it's friday uh you know this is one of those work days where you know even if you didn't take pto today you're still uh you know you're gazing off you're you're thinking about the game and think about that three

day weekend all the football food drinks uh no football weather still going to be pretty hot it's going to be like today eight and one tomorrow it'll be nice that you know during during kickoff and as it cools off a little bit at nighttime with the night game but yeah man we've made it we had football on last night um i watched all of the north dakota state colorado game because i am a hater and i was very intrigued to see what colorado's revamp defense would look like it looked better uh north dakota state though you know that's a 2010s ndsu of carson wentz is the quarterback maybe you know they pull through but um yeah it was great to see football last night minnesota north carolina was it was a great finish um north carolina state was

in a dog fight with western carolina so you know thursday night kickoff there were no real marquee matchups outside of minnesota north carolina but man it was just great to see football on football on campus students they're getting after it like just the best it feels like we're back for sure um i think that yeah i mean having football on the tv in like multiple games flipping multi-view it felt so good felt so i did i don't know do you have youtube tv is that what you use yeah okay so i put on the multi-view no it's not um i put on the multi-view and i've been a big fan of the multi-view since they introduced it but also like they don't really know how to curate four games they're not very good at that but i didn't mess with it because there was no like there weren't any games that i wasn't able to watch that i

wanted to get on there but i think you can customize it now if so that's a big win um you know especially if we're at the tailgate we could you know i know we have dish i don't know if we could figure out YouTube TV, but if there's a way to be able to curate the games that you want on there. Yeah. This could be a great football season. I mean, obviously for home games, we're not going to be able to mess with YouTube TV too much. But when Michigan's on the road and, you know,

outside their game slot being able to just put on, you know, hey, there's SEC, Big Ten, ACC games on. I can, you know, customize it. That's a big W. So that may change how we're watching football and now there are more teams to watch if you're like if you're a Michigan fan obviously we're trying to watch Texas this weekend to see how they do but then just throughout the season you're trying you know watching Ohio State of course watching Michigan

State and watching USC watching Oregon like it's crazy to me four weeks from now we're playing usc right eight days from now we're playing texas like this is this is pretty crazy so um i think that it it's uh to your point there there's a lot to watch a lot to have your eyeballs on if you're a michigan fan and so uh but this week we've got Fresno State coming to town, the Bulldogs coming to town. Before I get into that, I want to talk about Pretzel Bell. We will be there tonight. If you're listening to this on Friday, we'll be there tonight

having a live podcast on the corner outside on the patio on the corner of Main and Liberty. So shout out to Pretzel Bell. We will be there doing a little Michigan football trivia. We'll have music. We'll have Hail IPA. We will have Blue by 90 Beer on draft at Pretzel Bell. So I will be having a few of those for sure.

So come on down. Come see us. Come hang out. I'm pretty pumped for that uh that's that's what you need we'll be there every friday afternoon uh and evening prepping for our saturday tailgates and then of course come to the tailgate we will be in the blue lot which is the chrysler arena uh lot and uh come say hi we'll have everything that we just talked about hail ipa blue by 90 a bunch of different north peak beers we'll have everything that we just talked about. Hail IPA, Blue By 90, a bunch of different North Peak

beers. We'll have Sun Cruiser Hard Vodka Tea. We'll have Truly. We'll have a bunch of stuff going on as well as that Woodson Whiskey too. Come say hi. Tomorrow we've got Fresno State coming to town. This is not a

cupcake. I'm just going to go ahead and say it. I know that they have had some things happen like they lost their head coach he stepped away not too long ago um who has been you know their guy for a long time right he's the he's the the nick saban of fresno state um but uh you know they listen they finished in the top 30 of FBS the last three seasons, every single season. So that is – that's no schlub. That is a legitimate – I mean, that's way above a lot of Big Ten teams

where they ended up. So this is no joke of a team coming to Ann Arbor tomorrow. No, absolutely. I mean, Jeff Tedford, you know, heck of a coach. Obviously had a nice run at Cal, had a lot of players, obviously Aaron Rodgers, Marshawn Lynch, job at best. Like Deshaun Jackson, I mean, they always had guys when he was the head coach at Cal.

You know, he's a guy that has been at Fresno State as a coordinator, as a position coach, took over in 2017. So this kind of is the second time this has happened unfortunately because i think jeff tedford's one of the most underrated coaches of the last uh you know of the 21st century uh yeah i mean his record at fresno state i mean his um you know he's there 2017 through 19 has to step away uh comes back in 2022 they go 10 and 4 and then 9 and 4 last year i mean you know it's it's going to be interesting to see because he is a really good coach um and he's had a lot of success in his

career so i'm going to be interested to see uh you know tim skipper is going to be the interim coach he played at fresno state had some overlap when jeff tedford was a coordinator there in the late 90s um he's been at fresno the last few years he's been all over the place though man he's he was you know spent a lot of time at fresno in the 2000s uh was at Colorado State was was at Florida um under uh Muschamp and then uh our favorite shark uh advocate up at Central Michigan so um he's been around the block man but you know he's a Fresno guy and I'm gonna be curious to see how they come out you know Jeff Tedford's a really great offensive mind, so what does that look like for them coming into the big house?

But, man, this defense, we've talked about it. You know what's great is we actually will have some substance to discuss after tomorrow of actual games being played, and we get to see, you know, the guys returning, obviously, but then we get to see Jay Sean Barham, and we get to see Zeke Berry in his third year year and we get to see all these guys play some football. So I'm very excited, but I still just feel like Michigan's going to do their thing. You know,

I mean, there's so much talent. Yeah. I mean, there is too much talent on that defensive side of the ball. Fresno state has Mikey Keene at quarterback. He actually started at his career in 2021 and 2022 at UCF. Ended up, I think he either lost that job or something went on, but he started 10 games as a freshman through 17 touchdowns, but then came in last year for Fresno State. He had a 67% completion percentage and 24 touchdowns, 10 interceptions.

So, you know, he is – this is his junior year, redshirt junior year. So, you know, I really think that, you know, even though they lost the coach, they've got a lot of stuff going on, that helps them to have, you know, a leader, a veteran leader at that quarterback position. So, again, you know, this defense for Michigan is going to be ridiculous to go up against, and it's a tall task to ask of him, but they've got some weapons. But, yeah, I mean, I'm looking, I like where you mentioned, like, the Zeke Berries, the Jair Hills of the world.

You know, we know what Mason Graham can do, right? We know what a lot of these guys on the defensive side of the ball can do. But where does Jair Hill fit in? Where does Zeke Barry fit in? Where does Jay Sean Barham fit in? Because people are talking about him like he is an absolute freak. So I'm very excited to see some of those new names on the defensive side of the ball step in. And will they, you know, are they fully ready?

Jair Hill hasn't started a game before, right? Zeke Berry hasn't started a game before. So, you know, they need to be physically ready, mentally ready and everything like that. And then on the offensive side of the ball, obviously there's a lot to be talked about. You know, I, there is right now, we're still, we still don't know who the quarterback is. A lot of rumblings over the past 24, 48 hours that Davis Warren has actually jumped Alex orgy and could be coming out as a starter on Saturday. But that's a little crazy because up until 48 hours ago it was the Alex Orji

game right like it was it was his job to lose coming you know from what every insider said around the uh around the program right yeah I mean you know I've talked about this I follow all the the message boards and I subscribe to 247 and um yeah I mean that was kind of the consensus um is that Alex Orji was going to be the starter he had been you know not only consistent but explosive and um you know obviously the ability that he brings running the football was going to be a big add to the offense but yeah I mean you're starting to see you know some things about consistency as far as Davisren has been more consistent and has put together you know more and more good days over the last you know however many days of camp so

i like we've talked about i feel pretty good with either guy i'm gonna defer to sharon and kirk campbell's um selection obviously because they've forgotten more football than i'll ever know but like i think with dav, I think the upside is, I mean, some of the throws he made in the spring games the last couple of years. I mean, Davis is a guy that might've been a four-star prospect. Had he not went through having literal cancer and then COVID and being in California where he didn't get to play his senior year. So he's a guy that, you was potentially going to be on the uh the cusp of being a big-time prospect coming out of high school so there's a lot of talent there just

because he's a walk-on i mean we've seen walk-ons throughout college football be able to make a huge difference um at many different schools and and even at quarterback i mean baker mayfield was a walk-on true freshman bowling for texas tech in 2013 so you know that that don't be alarmed because he's a walk-on and and when we've talked to davis i mean you know we have a podcast with him if you want to go check it out from the spring yeah i mean cool calm collected help a leader great perspective right i mean you go through leukemia in high school that puts things in a different stratosphere as far as pressure and winning football games, right? Everything else seems like, okay, hey, listen,

I was fighting for my life as a 16-year-old kid, right? And then it's like I imagine he's still going to be nervous when he first trots out there in front of 110,000 people on Saturday because there is obviously a ton of pressure of being the Michigan quarterback but what to your point when you put that into perspective it's like I I literally beat cancer I can do whatever you know whatever is thrown at me so I I think that you know I'm very confident if he's the guy on Saturday I'm very confident in his not only his ability but just the mental side of it I I also think, you know, let's say,

you know, theoretically, if Davis Warren comes out as QB one, that doesn't mean we're not going to see Alex orgy, right. He's going to have packages and he is too much of a weapon for them to just sit him on the sidelines. So I, you know, I have a good feeling that we'll see both quarterbacks on Saturday. It might not be, you know, the Tim Tebow, Chris Leak two quarterback system. But, you know, even last year when you had JJ McCarthy, who's one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever come through on Arbor,

you saw Alex Orji, right, because of his running ability. And so I have to imagine that Sherell Moore and Kirk Campbell are working that into the playbook. And I'm excited about, you know, there's a chance that, like, Davis Warren is the better quarterback and Alex Orji still rips off a 60-yard run that we're very excited about. And what I love about that is, okay, if you're Texas then watching game film from, you know, prepping for week two, how do you game plan for that? You're like, shit, they have two guys that can beat us at the quarterback position now.

Yeah, I mean, the thing with that for me and, you know, obviously the Chris League, Tim Tebow stuff, and, you know, as a freshman, Denard would come in for Tate, for CA, and, like, you can have success with that um but i am definitely a true subscriber to the statement that if you have two quarterbacks you've got none right like and i mean not you know like i don't think it's the worst thing in the world but like i would like them to settle on a starter because you want that guy to get you know into a rhythm have consistency not be looking over his shoulder that he's going to get pulled out at any point right like that was you know that was an issue back in the late 90s

with Tom Brady and Drew Henson right so um and you know in 2022 you know I mean Cade well you know obviously hasn't been great at Iowa in 2021 Cade McNamara was fine and that's all he needed to be but in 2022 it's like he's looking over the shoulder at JJ and he's forcing things he's trying to press so I think the mentality from a quarterback is really tough if you're always looking over your shoulder so I definitely want a guy to be kind of picked and and hey we're rolling and unless it's so bad we've got to make a change and we're just rolling with one guy right but obviously we know Orji's gonna play you know like he did last year yeah and I like here's what I'll say about that yeah listen Davis Warren is not going to be J.J. McCarthy in game one, right?

Like, we all got to be okay with that. You know, I think that that's where the Michigan fan base has struggled over time of just, like, you know, we – it took us a long time to get to J.J. McCarthy, right? I mean, there are a lot of quarterbacks that we went through that were 75 80 there 85 there but then we're JJ McCarthy and even JJ McCarthy had his flaws right obviously um but you know I I don't think like I just want to temper the expectations a little bit that we're not probably slinging it around.

And, you know, I'll just say it's like they're tough shoes to fill no matter who it is. You know, it's even if it's Jaden Davis, who is the coveted guy coming in, you know, like it's still tough to fill those shoes. So. So, yeah, I think we got to like my point in being like there will be mistakes early in the year right you look at what jaylen milrow did last year for alabama we talked about this as well and it's like jaylen milrow really struggled to the point of being benched early the year by the end of the year he's playing like one of the top quarterbacks in the country so you got to give him time but at the same time te, Texas is coming into town week two. You've got to be ready for that as well. So everybody's in a pickle there.

Who else are you looking out for on the offensive side of the ball tomorrow to see what they can do? Yeah, I mean, I listened to the MGO blog roundtable yesterday. Definitely go check that out. Yeah, I love those guys. The one thing Sam Webb mentioned was that we've heard about Raheem Anderson and Greg Crippen for the last three years, right? As guys coming in, I believe this is their fourth year on the program,

right, juniors. And so in 2022, you go and get Olu, Olu Batimi out of the portal, All-American, you know, Best Center, Best Interior Lineman Award winner. I mean, just a stud. I haven't kept up with him at the Seahawks, but I'm assuming he's a monster in the NFL as well. And then, you know, Drake Nugent last year coming in from Stanford, did a great job, you know, was kind of the leader of the line. So we've kind of expected one of those two to be the heir apparent.

And it seems like it's finally their time. And then here comes Dom Jadis and a guy that was recruited by Jim Harbaugh. Sam mentioned that the staff was like WTF when Jim like took his commitment and nobody else knew. So this is a Jim Harbaugh guy starts out playing defense, but he played both ways in high school as most kids do. And so he switches to center, I think, in 22. So this will be his third year. So he's had two full years of playing on the offensive line, playing guard, playing center. And it just sounds like he's picked it up and he makes the line calls and he is dominant. So it seems like one of those scenarios where, you know, Tim Drevno was the O-line coach, who, by the way, is at Ohio State now.

But if Drevno's the O-line coach and, you know, Michigan's starting true freshman like they were, you know, under Brady Hoke and early in the Harbaugh tenure where it's like, hey, we have to. You know, even Zach Zinner started as a freshman. It's like, yeah, he's a stud, but like, is he ready? This seems like a scenario where, hey, he just beat him out. And those are two guys that are extremely capable and probably start on a majority of the Big Ten offensive lines. Well, that was what I was going to say back to you

as you're talking about that. Like, you know, you have the – like, if you have two quarterbacks, you have none. That's not the same situation for the offensive line. No, you want eight. You want nine if you can. Exactly. Right.

You need – like, I think this is a good thing that we have multiple capable guys at some of these positions um you know you hear about gentry versus evan link coming on uh you know strong at the end of this fall camp um you know i i think that that's where you and I months ago and a lot of other people said, hey, how is this offensive line going to shape up? You know, you've got to replace some legends from Zach Zinner and Trevor Keegan and Ladarius Henderson and, you know, Drake Nugent. That line, Trenta Jones, right? Carson Barnhart. Carson Barnhart. I mean, everybody, you lose six guys, right?

So how is it going to shape up? But I think that, you know, I go back to Shero Moore as one of the top O-line coaches, and I know he's not technically the O-line coach anymore, but when your head coach is an offensive lineman, was an offensive lineman at Oklahoma, you're going to develop those guys. And I believe in Grant Newsome as well as the run game coordinator.

And so I think that, you know, you're seeing guys that maybe normally wouldn't have gotten to a really great point in, you know, in their fall camp because they weren't as developed. They don't have experience. They're ready to go. And so, you know, we're saying this the Friday before the first game. in their fall camp because they weren't as developed. They don't have experience. They're ready to go. And so, you know, we're saying this the Friday before the first game, we could be singing a different tune after we see what happens tomorrow. But I do just like the fact that all of a sudden, you know, you've got six, seven options, eight options on the offensive line where, you know, there's guys battling and that just, you know, the iron sharpens iron. So I love that. No, absolutely. And, you know, the's guys battling and that just, you know, the iron sharpens iron. So I love that.

No, absolutely. And, you know, the interior of the line, I mean, with with potentially Jadis winning, but, you know, outside of him on the guards, you have Josh Preem, who has played a ton of games for Northwestern, Michigan guy,, another guy from the state of Michigan. And we saw him in 2022 when Trevor Keegan was banged up a little bit. But he's a guy that, you know, he mentioned it. He turned down bags. Like, he turned down offers to stay at Michigan because he's a local kid. He wants to play at Michigan. And we saw what he could do two years ago. And you're like, that's a guy that's going to play. And there's going to be a good player for Michigan.

Miles Hinton, I think we've talked about this a little bit. Just from what I've heard in some of the pressers like you're coming from stanford to michigan it's like i'm actually at a place that like legitimately cares about football you know and not to say that stanford doesn't but it's a different level and the strength and conditioning he's he's reworked his body like he looks the same but he's added 20 pounds like that's always a good sign when i'm like that guy doesn't look that much bigger but he's put on 20 pounds that's a good weight gain uh for for the left tackle i mean again i think there's a world where he can be a day two pick because he's a former five star he's got all the tools his dad was an all pro pro bowler for 10 years in the nfl um and then at right tackle man yeah like you said evan link you know sounds like he's he's kind of you

know separating himself at that position battle between andrew gentry and jeff percy now percy's a guy that we saw against ruggers in 22 right you know was fine right so it's like that's the baseline like obviously you know ruggers is ruggers but you know they've got some good players aaron lewis was a defensive end who's on this year's team but uh for ruckers but was you know pretty solid a couple years ago and he held his own um when when r Ryan Hayes was out. So basically – and I bring that name up, but what I'm looking for out of Evan Link is just like Ryan Hayes. Like if he could be that, we're looking at –

and Bryce mentioned the same thing when we had him on, 2021 vibes. Like in his old lines, 2021, that's perfect. I'm good. We're good. You know, with the offensive line, with the tight ends, with Max Bredesen in the run game. Are you kidding me? That's a Big Ten with the offensive line with the tight ends with max bredison um in the run game kidding me that that's a big 10 championship winning offensive line so um yeah and then i mean obviously we know donovan and kalel will be uh you know the the duo at running back but i expect

to see jordan marshall get some snaps as well ben hall for sure get some snaps um and then at wide receiver you know you've got Tyler Morris you've got Samaj Morgan you you we've heard about Fred Moore uh Mario Walker my guy Peyton O'Leary P-Dog P-Dog bro he is going to get some snaps on on Saturday um so I I think you know listen I know that these guys all live together davis warren max bredison peyton o'leary joe taylor joe taylor's our guy he's injured right now but he's not he's a special teams god uh that house is going to be bowling out on saturday and i'm excited for him um so i i think that uh you know peyton i i expect you know there's gonna I think this receiving core is

gonna surprise some people that's all I'm gonna say um so with that um I I let's wrap it up here with some predictions um okay I mean I know everyone wants this like what's your prediction what's your prediction I hate doing this because it's like it's a total crap shoot um but what. But what do you got for Michigan versus Fresno State for the home opener? Man, I feel like the last few years of the non-conference have been pretty easy to predict. And last year's non-conference, Michigan didn't really blow anybody out. But I'm going to go 41-10. I think they're going to get a touchdown, maybe late.

I think the defense is going to ball out. I think they're going to set up some short fields. um you're excited to see samaj return punts i mean he's he's a broken tackle away every single play so i just feel like they're gonna get some shorter fields um they're gonna be able to run the ball and yeah i'm gonna go 41 10 and i'd be you know extremely happy with that i'd be if we score 40 points i will be very happy because that means the offense is humming um you know i actually think not that the offense is going to struggle but i think it's just going to it's a lot of new faces it's going to take them a little bit to get into a rhythm you know half this offense and more

more than half the offense hasn't taken a you know a snap in the big house like a meaningful starting snap for you know ever um so i think it'll take them a couple drives to get going. But I still think, to your point, the defense is going to be dominant. I like, actually, I'm going to go 31-10 there as well. So that's what I've got for a prediction. But either way, Michigan football's back. I cannot wait, man. We are ready to rock. I can feel it. I can't wait to be, uh,

in the blue lot again, shout out to our sponsors, North peak brewing, sun cruiser, hard vodka tea, truly what's in whiskey Joe's pizza. Um, we appreciate all of you guys. Uh, so, um, we'll see you hopefully a pretzel bell tonight, um, for a little pregame live pod trivia, just hanging out, having some beers with the boys, talking football. We'll watch the MSU game tonight as well because Michigan state plays.

So we'll have that on outside. And then tomorrow we'll be in the Chrysler center lot. So come find us. We'll have a big flag. If you can't either see us or hear us, then we're doing something wrong. So come find us. We'll have a big flag. If you can't either see us or hear us, then we're doing something wrong. So come see us. We appreciate you. For us, you can follow us at Blue by 90 on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,

at Blue by 90 Podcast on YouTube and blueby90.com. We appreciate you. Go blue. Go blue.