Blue By Ninety - Welcome to The Offseason

Episode Date: June 3, 2026

NIL madness, Coach Whittingham crushing the recruiting trail, and Dusty reloading his squad. Justin and Joel are back and in full offseason mode.

All right, welcome back to Blue By 90. I'm Justin, joined by my co-host, Joel Honanford, and it is May 27th. We are in peak offseason right now. You know, I'm seeing online, people are starting the, like, you know, the lists, or I even saw our friend Bryce Merritt, who we love, put out, like, who's on your Michigan Mount Rushmore yesterday. I think you put that out on Twitter. That's when you know what's the offseason, when you've got to get into, you know, a lot of these different things. because there's nothing else to talk about. But Joel, it's good to see you. It's been a minute since we've been on here. It has been a minute. The last time we were on here,

we were in celebration of a national championship. So the goal is to start head back that direction. But yeah, it's good to be back. And hopefully our listeners think the same as we approach the season here. I hope they've missed us at least a little bit. I've had a couple people reach out to say they've missed us. So, but yeah, man, it's, it's been a good offseason so far.

Finally, I'll say in Michigan, the weather is turning to, like, actual summer. It took all the way up until June. Yeah. But, you know, happy Memorial Day to everybody. And, you know, thank you to everybody who served. Really appreciate, obviously, all of all their service. And it was fun to celebrate them and have a little long weekend there. And now we're, you know, we're into June.

The Tigers suck. So there's like, I'm just trying to think of like, if you're a sports fan right now, you know, it's like, okay, what are we paying attention to? The NBA finals are on, but the Pistons really, like, blew it at the end. You know, obviously not everybody that's a Michigan fan is a Detroit sports fan, but this is where I'm at. And I would say a lot of people overlap with that. So right now you're like, Michigan. basketball off season, Michigan football offseason, baseball and softball are both out of it. The Tigers are like 10 games back already without even hitting June.

The pistons are out. I'm like, what are we even, what do we focus on right now? We got to hit the lake or something. Yeah, and that's why we got Michigan football. I mean, especially with the new coaching staff, there's a lot to talk about. There's a lot of new developments, a lot of stuff we'll get into as we go on here. I was on the other side of what you just talked about. I grew up with Cavs fan, LeBron.

So I got to celebrate that for a certain period of time. That's over now, got swept in the conference final. I don't think either Pistons fans or Cavs fans can really say anything now. Because even as a Cavs fan, you beat the Pistons in seven, which was a good upset, you know, Pistons are the one seed, whatever. But then you go out and get swept and it's like, okay, that really meant nothing, right? Yeah, and starting off the series, losing the first game when you were up by 22 with like seven minutes left. Oh, my God.

What are we doing? What are we doing? Yeah, that is, that it's, that was tough all around for anybody who's, you know, I bet you there are a decent amount of like Michigan Cavs fans, right? That are in the area. And maybe down in Toledo, too. So, yeah, no, it's, we're definitely in that time of year where there's, it's like, you're scouring sports center for anything here. So, yeah.

Oh, speaking of NBA now, this is a good off-season piece for us. I would love your take on. We're into a portion of college basketball NIL where I don't even know like what this era really what you want to call it. But we have guys that have been drafted in the first round, have played in the G-League for multiple years now are coming back to college. And specifically Will Wade at LSU has signed multiple of them. And for all the people that trashed Michigan for having, you know,

a 23-year-old Yaxil Lenderboard this last year, that is not comparable to what's happening now. And it's just like, speaking of like, what are we doing? What are we really doing here? Right. This is crazy. Yeah. Well, first of all, take a little offense to it to all those people.

people were making that argument because I was a 25-year-old college football player. So I take some slight offense there. I remember actually not to sidetrack here, but when I was going into my six-year in Colston Loveland and Marlon Klein entered the room, I was like, man, what grade were these guys when I was a freshman year? And they would have been in seventh grade. So that was a reality check. Yeah, that's a little bit brutal.

But it's so weird. People are really good at finding loopholes in this whole. system. There's a, I don't remember his name, guy played for Alabama last year, basketball. Yeah. Who did the same thing. Like, went to the draft and was in the G League and then decided he wanted to come back and played like the first handful of games at Alabama. It doesn't make any sense. Like in my mind, I can understand to a degree, I guess, these guys who enter the NBA draft while still maintaining eligibility, we had three guys do it if I'm not my job.

mistaken. I get that. And then when they find out, okay, this is, you know, the kind of market that I have in this, and I'll be able to actually be drafted, this, that, and the other. And then they fully commit, remove eligibility they're in. I get it. That makes sense. But the guys who are actually being drafted and signing with teams and then coming back to college makes zero sense to me. I don't know how it's allowed. I don't know why they thought that they could do that. But obviously, since the first time it happened that's opened the door for it. And people are like, oh, yeah, well, you know what? You can actually give the pros a shot.

And if not, just go back to college. I mean, think about this from a football side of things. I go, so I sign undrafted free agent with Arizona. I'm there through fall camp. I get cut. And then I say, all right, I'm going back to play for Michigan. It makes no sense. I don't understand how it's allowed.

Well, and even from like a college coach perspective, it's like, how do you build your roster? You're like, okay, well, that guy still could be eligible. Now all of a sudden you're not only scouting the, you know, freshmen that are coming in, the incoming class. You're scouting the transfer portal, but now you're scouting G league guys too to come back. And these guys, you know, no offense to use as a 25-year-old. But, you know, 25, 26-year-old guys that are going to come back. and play against a freshman. Like, that doesn't make a ton of sense to me.

And especially just because, like, your, you know, point on the Alabama kid, like, played for, I don't know, 10 games and then was ruled ineligible after that because there was, like, lawsuits going out mid-season. It's like, come on, man, we've got to, like, be able to set some standard here. Right. And he went and got a restraining order against the NCAA. What does that even mean?

What is happening? How can you just get a restraining order against an organization? It doesn't make any sense. And they're like, all right, well, you know, I'll play for the time being. And so he does play. Then he's ruled ineligible. Alabama doesn't forfeit those games. Like, what is happening?

It doesn't make any sense to anybody. And, I mean, I agree. Like, if it's called, they're called college sports for a reason. And they're not meant for people who can rent a car without. extra fees like we got to get them out we got to move on there has to be at least like somewhere where you draw the line right like where you know I think we're all in agreement that nil is probably gotten out of control as well where you know guys are making lots and lots and lots of money you know the original point of nil was to make money because you were selling number 84

jolnik for juries in the emda right like that was the original point right now this guy's just getting paid to play. So that's a totally wrong thing. So NIL is out of control. But then this, like the eligibility piece of it. So like NIL transfer portal eligibility from G League guys, like it is just like totally blown off. So I don't know. It just seems to me like every day, every week you hear something about the college sports.

It's more ridiculous. And I'm wondering when is this going to like come back to earth at some point. Right. And it seems like the NCAA are like the kings of backtracking. They open a window without having any idea of what it's actually going to create. So people take this and they run with it. If you give somebody the opportunity to not have strict guidelines on something, they are going to do whatever they want. And then they're going to tell you, oh, well, you actually didn't outline that.

I could go to the G League and then come back. And then if you're still trying to decide if that's legal, they'll just apparently file a restraining order against you and buy themselves enough time. But it is out of hand. And like we saw we are currently still, like you said, seeing this with NIL because they opened the door to this thing that they put no restrictions on. Right. And now it's completely out of hand. I remember actually when when it first opened up, it would have been my fifth year, our compliance office, Michigan's compliance office, came in and they said, I hope I can say this.

They said, listen, every time you get an NIL deal, you need to make sure that you're reporting it to us. We need to know that you're getting these. And I forget who it was. One of the guys was like, is that like a rule or what? And they're like, well, it's our rule. Like, well, what's the consequences of not following it? Well, nothing really, but we would just like you to do that.

And I can assure you that nobody reported their NILD. And I talked to my wife's brother, who plays for Ohio State, and I was asking him about this. Because before, like, if you got, let's say, a piece of jewelry, okay? And they say, listen, you've got to post this five times and come to this event. A lot of times at the beginning, people would post it twice and then it would fall off. Now they have the piece of jewelry. There's not really anything set in stone there. no way of holding people accountable to make sure they're actually doing something for receiving the pay.

But he said that they're cracking down on that way more now. They're making sure that something is being required as a result of being paid. Now, the extent of that, I think is pretty arbitrary. They're like, listen, we'll pay you $5 million if you sign this piece of paper with this pen. And then you're good, I guess. I don't know. And I don't know how you would monitor. that just with well here you're definitely right like the um the NCAA clearing house is what they call

it right nil go i guess is is kind of now the the office that is um monitoring all of these nil deals or transactions or whatever um from what i gather they have given each nc wa athlete a rate card and saying all right your appearance is worth Now, like for me, I don't know why that's for them to determine that, you know, they, they, who are they to say that? Because this is, this was my argument the whole time, which is like, whatever I decide that a Joel Honingford autograph is worth and what to pay you for, like, that's the rate that I want to pay you. There's a there should be no set rate. It's really just what you, you in the said brand or whatever. agree on. Right. And so it's kind of crazy, but that is what they're going off of. They try to say that a, Bryce Underwood, you know, appearances worth X amount of dollars. And then he has to do those many, that many appearances to get his full, you know, contract with, of NIL. And so now the other thing that I know is that the clearinghouse is like backed up by like 100,000 deals that they still haven't

approved. And so it's one of those things. that I think it works like on paper like you think it's going to work and then in logistics it doesn't so I know that they're trying to crack down on that and set like an actual standard for what a you know what an actual deal is how you can go about it all that but I just I mean there's an NCAA office of how many people you know 20 30 40 and there's how many athletes you know thousands and thousands so it's just like it's just one of those things things I don't know that the NCAA will ever be able to like truly you know monitor that. Right. And I know that universities typically will do something like that to the extent of here's

the value to the team that you have. Here's how much you'll be paid in accordance to your value to the team. And I get that. But I also agree with your opinion that if somebody is going to be giving money to a player in order for like just directly to them. instead of giving it to like the team in general like they should be able to decide hey listen like i will pay him this much if he does this if he you know does this ad for our brand and i think you can get out of hand i don't like i'm not the mastermind behind this i can just pick apart kind of the issues with it but it's to the point now where you're you might be seeing older guys in college football because, one, they aren't going to go to the NFL, and if they have the chance to make,

you know, tens of thousands of dollars playing college football, why wouldn't they? But then you look at the guys who are valuable to a team, but fringe NFL players, like somebody in my position. Rookie minimum for the NFL is probably around 900,000, considering that you're on active roster for every single game. If a guy can stay in college and make that money, without, having to take the chance at making a team, why would you? I would say make even half of that money, to be honest. Like half of that money guaranteed versus, you know, the reality of like, there's a chance you get cut every single Monday, you know, in the NFL.

And, I mean, there are so many of those guys that bounce up and down from practice squad to regular to practice squad and getting cut, you know. And like, it's, that part is so hard. And to your point, actually, UCLA basketball player, Donovan Dent, it's a really good player for them, decided he is no longer pursuing basketball. He had graduated from, well, I don't know if he actually graduated,

but he had finished his job or his playing days at UCLA. Everyone's like, okay, he's definitely, I don't think he got drafted. Well, he was like fringe draft, like two rounds of the NBA, he was like going to be fringe draft guy. And then he just came out and said, actually I'm done, you know. And so I think there are going to be a lot of guys who are like,

I made, you know, a couple million dollars or something like that in college. Like, let me go start my insurance business or my, you know, whatever with a good, like, I've had my father-in-law actually said he's like, that's what Arch Manning should do. Arch Manning has made so much money, I'm sure, as a college quarterback. It's like, why would you ruin your body in the NFL for 10 to 15 years? years rather than like he could just go join the manning cast you know next right make probably more money you know as a media member and like I think there are going to be a lot of athletes that do that or at least we're going to see more and more of that as it goes on well you're seeing in the the NFL

especially during OTAs here there are guys who had just signed with teams I think a majority of them were undrafted I saw about four of them who have retired from football. So they got to that point, right? And they didn't like it. And they had made enough money in college to where they were like, I don't wanna do this. And so they don't pursue it anymore.

They retire from football and now you're right. They have this money and they're going to start a business or going to invest it, do something with it that they don't have to beat their bodies up and put themselves through like the mental strain of trying to make an NFL team. And they don't have to. So there's a ton of benefits to NIL.

It just somebody needs to rope it in a little bit. Exactly. Exactly. I mean, I think you and I are both on the same plane of like, athletes should be able to make money off of their name, especially because everybody else in the room is making money. The school's making money. The TV networks that are making money.

The brands that are on the, you know, on the jerseys are making money, right? all of those things. So they should be able to monetize since they're the ones that are actually throwing and catching and blocking and doing all that. But to your point, there has to be a CBA of some sort. So it's pretty crazy. I'm hoping that, you know, I do hope for the sake of college athletics that, you know, something happens because I love college football. I love college basketball.

And then, you know, the thing that a lot of people don't talk about is, like, like the college softballs of the world, you know, women's gymnastics and like, you know, lacrosse and those things. Like, what are, where do those sports end up here in five years because of everything that's going on? So I agree with you that somebody's got to rope it in and really save it. Otherwise, it's going down a path that it's not going to be anything that we thought it was, you know, even three years ago when you were playing, you know?

Right. And off of that. We could just keep rolling here. I know. When you talk about the different sports like softball or a rowing team or a field hockey team, when we talk about all the sports at a university, the few that actually make revenue every year is football at most universities, men's basketball, maybe women's basketball, maybe hockey, men's hockey, and maybe baseball. everything else is dependent on the revenue from those sports. And so if you get into this area, and this is just factual,

like you might not like that. That's just the truth of universities. So if you go down this rabbit hole of, okay, well, let's start assigning monetary value to our athletes based on how much revenue they generate for our university, then you're right. Like what happens to those sports that aren't bringing in revenue? Like those are college athletes who work just as hard as anybody else.

And now what? And they still bring a ton of value to the university, you know, and to college and the NCAA and everything. So, you know, I think that that's the piece there that you're trying to get at is like they may not, you know, the numbers of dollars may not be equal to a football, but they're, A, working just as hard. be you know they are valuable and and showcase you know they represent the block m right just as well you know and all that so yeah man i i don't know i mean yeah we could go to we could do a whole podcast on this because i think that there's just so many nuances and opinions out there but it's it's just hard to

it feels like we're watching it unravel in real time right now which you know for you as an alum and me as a fan just like it sucks to watch that you know so um Um, so with that being said, well, first of all, I don't know if you've noticed the bartenders back here mixing some drinks. I'm hoping that they get me a woods and whiskey here soon. I was about the sec. So hopefully that they'll get me one of those. I don't know. Did you, did you see it?

They were sold out. I honestly will have to go look to see, but they came out with the national championship bottle for hoops. All that. And it was unbelievably. It was so cool. Um, so I know they sold out literally the first, um, the first run of it sold out like eight. 18 hours, I think it was. Wow.

Shout out Woodson Whiskey. Shout out Charles. We appreciate you. And yeah, hopefully it'll be coming out with more. And hopefully we just keep ripping, you know, natty bottles. That would be great. And then also I wanted to give a shout out to Feldman Chevrolet of Highland. I've got some pretty cool things cooking here for this summer.

I think in the next month or so we'll know. But we're cooking up a little autograph signing. with our friend Bryce Underwood and maybe some other football players here for June and then some other things with some, you know, different initiatives, I'll say, for coming up this summer and fall. So I know that they had some great Memorial Day weekend sales, too,

for some of the trucks and the new stuff that's going on. So go check out Feldman Chevy of highland.com too. All right. We're off the NIL and our tangent, in our, you know, us just ranting here. But I want to talk about the, here's where it's kind of funny. All that's going on. And then meanwhile, Michigan football is just on a recruiting heater of recruiting

actual, you know, kids out of high school, which almost feels like it's like nobody even talks about that anymore, you know, but it took a while for Coach Winningham and the staff to really settle in. You know, I know I had been talking to some people off the air here. I'm just like, man, you know, it's. slow. It's slow. Recruiting is not going. And I'm like, give it a minute. They've only been in the building for like, you know, three to four weeks. They've got to get their feet under them. And then all of a sudden they did. And holy shit, they just went on an absolute heater of, you know, just actually very high level recruits. Because I think that that was what people were scared about for Coach Whittingham was like, okay, you know, he had gotten a lot of three stars at Utah. And he did a lot with. them, right? But like he had never really gotten that like top 10 class type thing. But I'll let you rattle some of these guys off if you got them there too. Yeah. So this is, I'm just going to list

the ones from the month of May. From the month of May of this year, you got a four-star tackle, Jakari Limsey. We got a, we have a four-star defensive lineman Xavier Muhammad, a four-star wide receiver, Quentin Burrell. We have a four-star cornerback. I'm going to butcher these. Tavares Harrington. There you are. Four-star running back, Tyson Robinson, Tyson.

Tyson. Yeah. Tyson. We have actually this past, this past week, last week, the 23rd. Three-star tight-in, Colt Lumpfress. Yep. Three-star safety. Charles Woodson Jr.

If you know that name. We do. We have a three-star edge, Jace Brewer, another three-star cornerback, Darius Johnson. I mean, this list goes on and on. Another three-star running back, London, Hampton.

Like, these guys were popping off in May. And I think, I'll say this, because, sure, they get to Michigan, and there's a huge recruiting selling point of, listen, this is Michigan. This is national championship program, yes, 100%, but they also need to understand who they are as a coaching staff and what are they really going to prioritize when they're talking to these recruits?

Because while Michigan is a huge selling point, there's another level to this that these athletes want to hear. And obviously we know Coach Whittingham is an extreme developer, and I think that's a huge selling point for a lot of guys. Hence why, you know, we have so many recruits now. Yeah, 100%. I think that, you know, I think we're Coach Whittingham is succeeding the most already on the trail is he is the old veteran in the room and he's got the wisdom, but he hired some really good young guys, you know, on the trail that are going to be his like on the ground people. You know, Jim Harding, the line coach, you know, everybody's talking about how they just love him. And then I think that they're going off of, you know, you see a lot of those four-star wide receivers.

Let's be honest, we haven't gotten those types of, you know, guys. And you've got, they're going off of, okay, what Andrew Marsh did this past year. And now it's like, okay, we've got the quarterback in the room that can sling it to you. He's got to, you know, figure his own stuff out. But they're putting those pieces together. So I'm excited about what's to come. I mean, if this is just May, you know, like, what happens when Coach Whittingham has success on the field this fall, hopefully? And, you know, and then going into the, you know, next off season, I'm not trying to look too far ahead here.

But I just, you know, this, I'm excited about what the base level that they're laying right now. Because I think that the, the, and again, I know we just went on our NIL rant, but. But we'd be lying if NIL wasn't a factor here, right? So you've got to give it up to the champion circle on the guys over there because they for sure guys and girls over there. They've got some women working too. But they, you know, they're doing a great job because to your point, it's like, I think the pitch is it's Michigan national championships and we've got the funding.

Right. So I think when you put all three of those together, that's why you can go on a heater like this. Yeah, and coaching staff aside from the eyes of a college recruit, at least this is kind of my perspective from my days of doing it. It was always important what the players were saying about the people inside of the facility because the players are going to tell you, right? They're not going to sugarcoat it. If they don't like it, they're not going to say anything at all. If they do like it, they'll address it. And we have obviously seen those guys come out in the media addressing how they like the new standard that this coaching staff was implementing.

A guy like Rod Moore, who has been there through all of it, comes out and just addresses, you know what, this is what we needed. This is good. We have a new standard, a great way of operating. And so if you're a college recruit, you're like, all right, like, yeah, that's what I want to be a part of. So like that is kind of a sales pitch in itself just from these guys going out into the media talking about how much they enjoy the new coaching staff after they've been.

on a national championship team and have experienced that level of success, obviously hit turmoil, but, yeah, it's huge for those guys, too. Yeah, 100%. And I think that where you're seeing, you know, they're, I think going back to, you know, the guys that were on the national championship team, like Arad Moore, and even some guys that were, you know, there last year, they know what it's like to be a part of a winning program and what that takes. I think that the past year and a half, two years, we got away from that.

There was a ton of extracurricular stuff going on with the coaching staff, obviously, and then even some of the players, you know, I think it trickles down into them. Now it's like, okay, we're getting back to business here. And it's obviously, like, I think to your point, when the coaching staff and And, you know, and some of the players like Rodmore can talk about that. That's gigantic. I also think, like, I think about a Ron Bellamy, who I think is in a perfect position now for himself. You know, right?

Like, he's not focused on, okay, how many yards are my guys going to, you know, catch them all for this Saturday? He's focused on building. And he is just, like, the perfect guy to be able to showcase, okay, this worked in 21, 22, 23. This didn't work in 24 or 25. This is why we should go about it like this. And so I think that Coach Whittingham has kind of put together the perfect pieces to the puzzle right now that seems to be clicking. And you're just going to see Michigan, like, you know, I know that Josh Dobson kid, he's a five-star corner. I know that Michigan had him down at their champion circle donor event in Miami. He's been on campus. Like, they're quartering.

some big dogs, right? Yeah. So, you know, and even I love the four stars. I'll be honest. I'm a guy who I'm like, the five stars are awesome, but they come at a high price tag. Sometimes you could really find the like diamonds in the rough, you know, at the four star level. And when you're thinking about it from like a salary cap and the GM, you know, you only have so much money. I know, unlimited funds because Larry Ellson's on the, on the train, but it just doesn't work that way all the time. Right. Yeah. So I think we're rolling in.

And with this recent train of commitments from a lot of four star guys, a handful of three star guys, you're going to start to see some of those bigger names. Like, oh, why? Like, why are so many people committing to Michigan right now? Like, there's something in the water there. Like, I want to be a part of that. And so I wouldn't be surprised if it keeps rolling. We're number 11 class in the country. right now recruiting wise, which is strong. And yeah, you got to commend Coach Whittingham and his staff. I think they've done a good job, too, of allowing not just the recruits,

but the fans see the staff in the videos that they put out on social media. We get to see how they're interacting with the players, what kind of people that they are, which, you know, there's some authenticity there and there's something to that. For sure. And I know that, you know, both Dusty and Coach Whittingham, have been out and about on a coaching tour right now that they've been going across the country to meet with different donors and different alumni and different things like that. And I think that they obviously, we know everybody loves Dusty.

There's no doubt about that. But I think that Coach Whittingham has been received very well in those settings. And people are very impressed at just like the, and again, this is, this comes to no surprise with just the maturity, the, the, the, the, veteran leadership, the wisdom, that type of thing. But also it's, you know, he's not some just like old guy that's going to sit on the sideline, you know, on the chair and everyone else. And he's just the prop, right, for everything. He gets down and dirty. He's in there, you know, and he wants to be a part of everything. But I think he's showcasing to everybody like he's the true CEO at the top that's

going to make all the things run down here. And he's not going to be too far down here where he's, you know, two in the weeds with everything. And he's not going to be too far up here, whereas he's like way too good for everything. So that's what I'm excited for is just seeing all that then. Now this fall, like get into working form, you know, because, I mean, I don't know about you. I put it out. Again, it's, we're recording this as May 27. I put this out on Twitter this morning. I said, I can't wait for college football. I know. It's just like, I mean, we talk about this every single off season on this podcast,

even before you were part of it. It's just like summer hits. I want to enjoy summer because summer in Michigan on the lake is, you know, the best time of the year. But at the same time, I'm like, give me September. I want it so badly right now. Yeah, especially now with everything that's happened in the offseason here with the essential overhaul of the program. There's a lot to look forward to. There's not a lot on the side of, like, skepticism.

It's more optimistic people like, yeah, like this head coach is super professional. And it seems like he knows where his lane is because a college football head coach, I mean, technically should not be calling place. Like he needs to find the right person to be calling place. And he needs to be the ultimate manager, the bridge, between the top and the bottom, like you said. And he is. And he also is willing to get in there, do the dirty work.

I actually saw this stat. Let me find it here. Let's see. Coach Whittingham has worked out over 5,500 days in a row from Monday to Saturday. He started July 1, 2008. And this guy works out every day Monday through Saturday and has not missed one day. If that does not tell you the type of guy that he is, I don't know what will. Like, what a powerhouse.

I just genuinely don't know how that's possible of like there is that one day where it's like, A, you just mentally don't have it. Like, I don't feel like it today, you know, take it off. But B, thinking about the travel that he has to do for recruiting and for all the different donor dinners and like meetings and, you know, on and on. like there's i travel a lot for work i'm traveling right now and it's like impossible to make sure that you get your workout in before the dinner you know what that what or whatever right like it's like yeah it's just not enough hours in the day but i think to your point like that's the kind of guy is

one he prioritizes that for sure right and then two it's just like he is like if i've set myself to do something i'm going to go do it you know and um i think here's what I love about that. It's like that is the character trait of like the young and driven 35 year old head coach that's like on the up and coming. Right. Like that is usually what you hear about those guys. It's like they're just hausses. They get in the weight room.

They do it all with their team, blah, blah, blah. You don't hear that about the 60, you know, whatever year old he is. Pete Carroll's of the coaching industry. Yeah, right? Like honestly. And like there's, you know, Pete Carroll's. is the only guy that's still kicking about Bill Belichick, too. Neither of those are going that well right now.

But, like, I mean, it's just like, I just love that because you don't hear that from the old man in the room very often. You hear that from the John Summerall coming from Tulane to Florida, you know, type of thing, right? Yeah. And, I mean, I'm so optimistic about it. You really don't know what to expect. but it's nice being optimistic about it rather than trying to hold back skepticism, which is what we've done for the last two years. Like, let's just call it what it is.

It's a completely fresh start. We saw them in Springball. That's a taste of what they're going to be this fall. They have a whole summer and a whole fall camp to be able to really dial this thing in, figure out who's going to be a part of this team and who's not, because we've seen guys leave. We've seen that to this point. We noted previously that that might happen and we've seen it.

But now, as we start to tighten up this group and they start to really hone in on what their identity is going to be, it's going to be super fun to watch them. And it's going to be fun to see Whittingham in the big house. I thought it was super cool whenever his staff got in there for the first time and just how in awe they were. Which kind of gives you a little bit of hope that like there's a chip on a shoulder that like he's like, if I have the opportunity to play in the big house, like I'm going to give these people what they deserve. Like Dusty Mae was so good about acknowledging the fans and the fan base

and the fact that like they are so supportive of the guys. And I would encourage the football fans. Let's get back to that point. Let's get back to the encouraging fans to pump up these guys rather than sit there with our arms crossed and wait for something good to happen and then stand up. 100%. And one thing I kind of want to acknowledge right now is like for the first time,

it kind of feels like Michigan's flying under the radar a little bit because I don't know about you, but like on the national talk shows and whatever, nobody's talking about Michigan because everything obviously went so poorly at the end of last year and that just ended so badly. and because Whittingham is not like the sexy new hire, I would call him, right? Like he's not like the up-and-coming guy. I feel like nobody, you know, everyone's talking about Ohio State and Oregon and Indiana, right? And well-deserved, obviously. Those teams should be talked about a lot.

They're going to be probably the top three teams in the conference. But I think for the first time in quite some time, Michigan's flying under the radar because you really never flew under the radar with Jim Harbaugh. Yeah, you did not. You just weren't able to. He's too big of a name. He's too big of a celebrity. And even when Michigan was not great, he's in the headlines because it's Harbaugh now failing.

You know, it's like either way. Right now it feels like we've got an offseason of there's not really like high expectations for Michigan. And I think that could be a good thing for this squad rolling into the season that it's like, Like, you know, all right. And last year, the expectations were, okay, year two of Sharon, you came off of a win against Ohio State and beat Alabama. And then you were having Bryce Underwood five-star quarterback come in, right? So the expectations are super high.

Now it's like year two, you know, things with Bryce didn't probably go as well as everybody thought. So people are, I would say, not on that train as much as they were. And so you're able to, I think, just like, all right, let's, you know, I'm sure if they go six and out, then all of a sudden that'll change. But you're able to fly under the radar, which is, I think, a good thing going into the season. It's a good thing for the team as a whole and the players, right? So they're not having to hear that all the time. They can actually just go about handling their business without any other media creating something out of nothing. because Kyle Whittingham doesn't he doesn't bring a lot for you to really address like there's there's nothing that he does poorly he's just he's a very professional well kept guy and you're right like Jim Harbaugh it didn't matter how he performed in that season it was either okay like he should be doing better the team's not doing well now they're national champions now we have the whole Connor Stallion scandal and now we're under Sharon Moore and there

was always some sort of buzz around it, whether it was legitimate or not. And now we bring in Kyle Whittingham, who is just so buttoned up and professional that he doesn't give people a lot to talk about in that sense. And now people are sitting back just kind of waiting for it, waiting to see what happens. And when the season comes, we'll figure it out. There's not a lot of high expectations. And in the same sense, there's not low expectations. I don't know if there's any expectations at all.

That's people. I agree. People are like, dude, like, well, I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm excited to watch. And a quote that Jim Harbaugh would always say to us, especially going in 2021, was that we needed to create some new buzz around facility. And we definitely did that year. And then obviously they're going to win national championship. So I think that's probably the mindset for those guys. Create some new buzz, some fresh buzz for the team.

And just be your own. Michigan team. Your own team, you got a new coaching staff and everybody. I think that's probably one of the most important things is like, you know, under Sharon, it was still like a Harbaugh team, you know, and so obviously there was more off the field issues than just that, but I think just like trying to fill those shoes was one of the biggest issues that they kept trying to be somebody that they weren't. And so now I think that they're, you know, a Wittingham, Michigan team. And And, you know, we don't fully know exactly what that means. We know the baseline of it.

But I think it's a good thing to just, like, have their own identity and be able to pursue that rather than try and fill somebody else's shoes right now. So, all right. Last thing here that I've got is our guy, Dusty, coming off a national championship, I was able to talk to him in Miami as well in the past month. than just like what I'll say about him is basically there's just no difference he shows up we're at florida atlantic um you know his alma mater that he built and first of all they like literally worship him still there as they should yeah right but like a couple things one they talked about him there that still like in 2019 they were talking about how there were uh games that they were pulling up video and photos of with like 35 people in the building. And this is they play in a

1,000 person arena, right? Two thousand person arena, whatever. There's like 35 people. It's just completely dead. And then, you know, you flip it to when they went to the final four in Florida Atlantic. And now still today, like they fill that arena. And so his legacy, you know, years later is still making impact at FAU. So that was one thing that I thought. thought that was really cool. The other thing is he just showed up to the thing and flip-flops and like, you know, shorts and everything. It's like, hey, you're down in Boca. You can, you know, you can dress in Boca casual, business casual, which I think is flip-flops and shorts and a teacher. But I say that to just say, like, he's the same guy. You know, like, I don't, I don't see there's

no difference. He still went around and talked to every single person and said thank you, you know, for coming out, you know, stayed for pictures. There was no like, you know, oh, I'm now like this different person because I won the national championship and you should worship me. You know, he's the same guy as he was when he was at Florida Atlantic, you know, three years ago. And we saw that all season too, right? It didn't matter.

The wins or the losses. We saw it all season. He's a good dude. He's got a good recruiting class. the number two recruiting class in the nation that will be coming in this year. Obviously, Brandon McCoy commits during the national championship on the Fab Five broadcast, because is sick. But without even being able to meet Dusty May, you can tell how just genuine he is. And like I said earlier, him acknowledging the fan base of Michigan. And I don't necessarily know

that many coaches that would go to that extent to to prioritize hey listen like the fans are in huge support of you they actually sacrificed they pay money to come watch you play like you need to show them some support as well and appreciation and gratitude and obviously that happens behind the scenes as you saw he's a solid dude probably like the best mold of a leader of men that you're you could possibly imagine. Like, if you were in high school, if you're a parent of a really good high school basketball player, I would find it hard to believe how you couldn't look at Dusty Man and say,

man, I would love to send my son to go play for him. Like, how would you not want to take that opportunity, regardless of what school he's at? It's a guy who's been the same person with 35 people in the gym to pack in Chrysler Arena. Like, he is an absolute stallion, truthfully. yeah 100% i i could not agree more i mean we talked about the pitch the recruiting a pitch and an approach for michigan football and Kyle winningham but um you know dusty i think is similar it's like all right you want to come here it's michigan first and foremost we are winning championships

literally just one and we've got a bag for you to be honest right like you know it's a it's a winning formula and i think it's working um and so you know i just love that you know i just love that he is is reloading right now you know you get elliot kadoe back uh at the point guard which i think is gigantic um you know you you lose mara and mores johnson uh obviously along with the axle and roddy gale but i think that like you know i think that's you can pitch that as a good thing right like i think that's the thing is like okay you go from a guy both moriz and a die were like non-starters, you know, and playing, you know, half the minutes at Illinois and UCLA. And, you know, you turn them into first round draft picks, you know, first or second round draft picks.

Like, that's your recruiting pitch as well. You come here and spend six months with us and you're going to be in the NBA, you know. And then obviously you're going to have YACs probably go top 10, top 15. And it's like, man, he's going to be, I can't wait until drafting. it's going to be like Harbaugh was, you know, in 23, when every, you know, 17 guys are getting drafted and they just keep saying Michigan. It's like, all right, you panned a Dusty May in the green room. It's like, that's your recruiting pitch, you know. Yeah.

I was about to say that. How much does he actually even need to say? No. One of my favorite quotes from Ben Herbert, the strength coach formerly at Michigan with me and now with the Chargers, was your action speak so loudly. I cannot hear what you say. it's first that's a money line regardless of what you're talking about but like Dusty May is the embodiment of that

could he not just bring somebody into his office with a picture of all of the guys that he has coached the teams he has coached the national championship the final fours like it speaks for itself if he was a fraud we would know and he is not like that and

And also I want to touch on this because obviously we've talked about NIL and Michigan having a bag to be able to pay these guys to bring them in. If you are somebody who is of the mindset that paying players to come play for your team is a ridiculous thing to do. I'm sorry, but you're outdated. Like I was at one point in time at that point where I'm like, you should build your team. You shouldn't buy it. We're not there anymore. Do I love it? Not really.

But unfortunately, that's not where we're at. And that's not an argument to be used for or against somebody. It just is the reality of the situation. And when you have the funds that Michigan has, and then you have specifically in basketball, Dusty May, like I said before, how would you not want your son to come played for him? He is the ultimate coach, and he's proven it through his actions. Well, I'll say this, like, quote-of-quote, buying a team sucks.

to say, but you know what sucks even worse is losing. Losing is way worse, right? And so if that's, you know, especially when it's legal, the rules in every single team and coaches doing it, then, you know, I'm going to, I love my coach going out and doing it. He's doing his job and doing what needs to get done in order to go, you know, in a national championship and go win the big 10 with four games left, you know, like all these, right? Like, I'm sorry that. my coach is better at it than your coach. You're just mad that you can't do it.

You know, that's really healthy. And so, I mean, now you're looking at Elliot Kodow coming back. You have Trey McKinney coming back as well. You add five-star Brandon McCoy probably to the wing. You add J.P. Estrella from Estrella, I'm not really sure, from Tennessee, who is, what, 6-11. So that's your, you know, your Mara replacement, one of them, or your Moraes replacement.

And then you've got Mustafa Thiam from Cincinnati as well, who's your 7 foot 2 center in your Mara. And he's like, why don't we just run it back? I'll just get replacements for these guys. I'll do the exact same thing that I just did. And let's just run it back. And I would be shocked if they're not, you know, big-time favorites and national championship favorites once again

because, you know, I don't know that they have the, yeah, at the forward position or the, you know, three again, but like outside of him, which is a big piece, don't get me wrong, but they reloaded at pretty much every position. I think they could add one more wing maybe, but like, man, usually when this type of thing happens and you're in the national championship, you see like a fall off and I just don't see it happening. He added two seven footers back to the roster. Right. Crazy. Yeah. And like the demeanor of the team might be a little little different. Obviously last year we saw these dudes who were, you know, kind of goofballs and going out there and not, not cock, cocky, but confident. They were super confident and they played well

when they knew that they were going to be winning. Like, that's when they played their best. And they were confident in the fact that they could win. Maybe the demeanor of the team isn't the same because you're pulling in guys from different spots and we'll see how they fit into it. But the overall culture that Dusty May obviously has embodied and implemented wherever he's at will be the same. So like I said, I find it hard to believe how these guys couldn't do it again. That's going to be fun to watch too, is to see these guys get back out there. And it's nice that we have Elliott Caddo back. Considering that later in the season, he starts to really become that facilitator

and that person that North Carolina didn't want it anymore. And now he's an absolute baller for the Wolverines, facilitating the offense. Like, sure, it really sucked that we lost LJ. Like, LJ's a key contributor. We'll have him back. But now we got Elliot Kadeau as well. Like, these dudes are going to be firing, dishing it out. And second year, Tray is like, I mean, I just think that he's going to take such a leap.

And then you have, you know, Brandon McCoy. who's an absolute monster too. Right. You know, I just feel like they have a ton of weapons and the depth that's going to go seven, eight deep. So I think, you know, one of the thing I wanted to talk about, too, that I loved is just seeing, like, Merez Johnson, he posts a new picture from the season or from the Natty, like, every other day, you know?

And just like, even when he was making his decision to go pro, he was just like, I just love this so much, you know? Yeah. It was very obvious that this was like the best year of his life. And then you have Yax literally saying that like this was the best year of my life. Fun fact, I had a friend who they and they just got a puppy. They named their dog Yaxel. And he even like commented on the TikTok and was like handsome boy or something like that.

I just think that those guys like for being only technically in Ann Arbor for nine months or whatever, they just embraced Michigan so much. and Michigan embraced them back. And it was just like this perfect marriage, you know, of, you know, I think there are a lot of times, especially in the Transfer Portal era, where you can be like, well, you know, that guy, was he really a Michigan Wolverine? Because he was only here for a minute, you know.

But those guys are going to go down as Michigan legends forever, regardless if they were here for nine months or four years. Right. And they're committed to the team, too. Like, these dudes don't just come in to play basketball. They're coming to the university. They haven't, like, totally accepted the fact that they, are Michigan Wolverines and they love it.

And that's what the alumni love to see because they obviously don't want guys who are just having a transactional experience where they're just coming to play for a really good coach. Like these guys clearly love the team and love the university. And you have the benefit of that when you have guys who are around like your Will Cheddar's who have more pride in the university at that point

and can kind of translate that onto those guys. Which, by the way, Will Cheddar is absolutely bowling. And I didn't know if it was France or where exactly he's playing. He's playing overseas. There were a couple times where he scored like 38, 39 points. Good for him. I love to see that for him. You know, maybe he gets a G-League spot at some point or who knows.

But maybe he can go to the G-League, then come back to Michigan. Yeah, come back to Michigan. Right, yeah. So. Just get a restraining order. Yeah, exactly. still don't know of what that means i don't know what it means i don't know what it means has been something different to me prior to this so i agree i agree and now apparently

you can get on cdbola um and i think last thing on on that it's like the mares and the axles uh and roddy's like all those guys those are going to be guys that come back to michigan and you know come to games and sit courtside or dusty you know whatever like that's what i love about it the same way that you and Blake and you know I was with in Miami we had Blake and Colston and and JJ down there and like first of all I got to like see them for the first time again since 2020 you know since the end of that run and like the biggest hugs ever like it was awesome to see them again and just like pass it out talk about where they're at in life and all that but like those are the like I think the this basketball season was comparable to the 2023 Michigan football team sure not just

because of talent, but because, like, it meant something for them and, like, in vice versa, right? And so I just, that's how you want to win a national title is when you have, like, good guys on the team, too. Right. Yeah. Guys that just love each other, like, just have a genuine, like, care for each other. And I, yeah, you can definitely see that. Like, the 2023 team, those dudes loved each other. Because, really, unless you're a Michigan fan, nobody else did.

Right. And you can probably say the same for the Michigan basketball team to an extent, I guess, and a little bit less because there was no real scandal around them. But those guys just had a genuine love for each other. Like you see it, you saw it all throughout the season. Like when Coach May's son hit the three and how crazy everybody goes. Like we talked about that before, but it's just a genuine testament to how much they care about it and how much they care about each other in the process, which makes it fun as a fan to watch.

When you see those dudes just like having a good old time playing basketball and it just looks like a fun game instead of a sport at that point, like it's so fun to watch. 100%. All right. Well, that's it for us. Thank you again to Feldman-Chippa, Highland and Woodson Whiskey. We appreciate you guys. Got some good things cooking this off season. Hope you got out to the lake, you know, a little bit.

Maybe hit a boat. It gets some sunshine here. So appreciate you joining me, Joel. This was exciting and fun. And yeah, we'll see you guys soon. For us, you can follow us at Blueby 90 on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, at Bluebyn9D on YouTube and BlueBin90.com. We appreciate you.

Go Blue. Go Blue.