MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

Things Discussed: Underwood v Keene: Craig tries to make the case for Mikey Keene if he's at all better than Underwood; Sam and Seth jump all over him (with history!) Sayin v Keinholtz: Ohio State tries to make the case for Keinholtz, we jump all over them and prove they're going to be fine (with history!) Young Coaches v Old Coaches: It's good to have a mix. That's really all we talked about, actually. Enjoy the history.

Things Discussed: Condolences and love to the family of Greg Glenn. If you recall he came here as the glue guy/energy guy friend of Jett Howard who was supposed to make Jett better. When you talk about losing a 22-year-old whose primary scholarship-worthy attribute was he made other people better, that's a big loss. Craig mentions he met him at media day, thought Glenn was naively honest and open for an athlete. New rosters/new weights. Bryce Underwood is 10 pounds heavier already than JJ ever got, will need it to be a runner. Michigan going to screen and RPO more? Sure but I think you play man on them, put your biggest corner on McCulley, put a safety in the box, and dare Bryce to beat you. Michigan can make that work by having Bryce hit kill shots deep and by making the high safety responsible for stopping Bryce in the run game. Kill shots: Chip likes to turn a route combo that he's shown before into a surprise deep shot. Jake Garcia? Was ranked around JJ as a freshman after an odyssey, played early at Miami (yes THAT Miami), but threw a lot of INTs, went to Mizzou then ECU, and threw a lot of INTs at ECU too. Got experience. Think Mikey Keene is a much higher floor than we got from Davis Warren/Alex Orji last year. Oklahoma: They're us. Great defense, I'm not as sold as everyone else on Mateer. I think their system really beat up on Mountain West cornerbacks, and he has a lot of moxie, but I don't know how that "you don't know what we're RPOing!" offense is going to interact with Michigan's "you don't know what our coverage is" defense. Probably going to be a rock fight because Oklahoma's defense is legit. They play aggressive, the LBs fill in the gaps, and they've got a safety who makes everybody right. DL dropoff? Think the edges are going to be the superstars, but Benny is very good and they can rotate. Teams are going to try to lock them on the field but good luck surviving the first four snaps against Benny and Williams. Derrick Moore: He was winning his pass rushes regularly but other guys got the stats, had a dropoff while injured, played a GREAT bowl game. Sam says Aidan Hutchinson; I try to tamp that down to "just" Brandon Graham. Players say there was a meeting before Indiana where Wink had to listen to the players about how they do things and some of the players had to hear some things, and they all really got on the same page. Defense was ELITE after that. I'm mad about Cam Brandt switching to #9, which looks like TJ Guy's #4 and Derrick Moore's #8. What are we doing here Cam? Some of us have to chart in the wee hours. We had a 91, 42, and 8, and the fans knew exactly what we were looking at. Blake Frazier at 295: His timeline was always 2026 not 2025; I think we were talking about him as an X-factor and he's got to gain more weight before we put him out there at left tackle. Sam's OL right now from right to left: Sprague, Efobi, Crippen, El-Hadi, ….? LT: I think they have to live with Link (who lost 4 pounds and looks leaner in a grocery store), until Babalola is ready. Note that Sprague came in very well developed needed until the bowl game (though he was injured early in the season). Receiver weights: Kendrick Bell is a sneaky pick for breakout player, Fred Moore is as well. Very encouraged by Andrew Marsh coming in at 190 because his thing is he played vs Texas high schoolers bigger than his 175 size; if he's going to make that work against 220-pound safeties in the Big Ten he's going to need that size. Center? I think Crippen is smart, knows all the calls, hit his strength/size ceiling and it's lower than they want to move DTs, and Juan Castillo can't add much more than that. What Castillo can do is get Guarnera ready to push Crippen, but with a freshman QB you want to get the line calls right first, not shoot for the stars. Crippen is our guy, he'll give us a senior Kugler kind of year, and we'll live with it.

Things Discussed: Pre-show: Talking Lions. Sam wants to be talked off the ledge because they let Frank Ragnow retire without a plan for center. Seth says jump, because they probably got caught flat-footed and are going to have to roll with a rookie or Graham Glasgow. Big Ten Meetings in Las Vegas: It’s a little too on the nose. Tony Petitti’s turnaround: He said Michigan had been punished enough. I think he’s a puppet and the TV people told him you’d better protect the Asset. I also hate that this is how it works—these cases should be judged on their merits and clearly the main considerations are money and power. Craig agrees. Sam asks who benefits from leaking this before Big Ten Media Days. I don’t know. Sam asks why would Petitti want that out there and I say probably because, like all of us, he thinks he’s a person, and that if everyone understood his viewpoint they’d agree with his actions. Football: What’s the offensive X-factor other than Bryce? I suggest receiver, since they’re only talking about McCulley being a difference-maker, and it’s a little concerning that Andrew Marsh is high on the list of names they bring up. The other guys say offensive line. Craig thinks they can be a lot better, and so does Sam. I say I think they’ll be fine but that there are too many ceilings for this year, versus down the road when Babalola/Frazier/Efobi/Guarnera/Sprague have really come into their own. We agree Link belongs inside. Who was Michigan’s best OL last year? Seth: Myles Hinton, even if he “liked fishing more than finishing.” Sam: nuh-uh, it was Priebe. Craig: Priebe. Basketball: Building with a lot of very tall men. It’s a good strategy to get the hardest position to recruit and develop, if you can get them all to stick around and wait to be developed when the portal is so hot. Seth: you only need one or two.

2 hour and 6 minutes This episode was recorded at Champions Circle's third golf outing, on a golf course outdoors, so apologies for the background noise. Huge thank you to Alejandro Zúñiga for his production assistance and for sitting in on the first segment while Brian was stuck behind a funerial procession. The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where usually record this, and new this week the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, and the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre. 1. MAX BREDESON, DOMINIC ZVADA, & MARLIN KLEIN Starts at 1:00 Zvada explains why kickers are so much better today: access to technology originally developed for golf that shows their spin rate and trajectory and distance, plus training techniques. Bredeson discusses The Game last year and how they went hunting for gaps, says anyone who plays TE can do all the things they do. Klein turned it up in the bowl game. We get a crash course in kicker and TE lingo.  2. BRYCE UNDERWOOD, JADYN DAVIS, & JORDAN MARSHALL Starts at 21:36 Underwood and Davis set up challenges for each other, how they make each other better. Marshall and Haynes were full go in spring, happy splitting reps. Least favorite guy to get hit by: Brandyn Hillman; Marshall was happy that he and Jaishawn were on his team in spring. What role the fans played in Bryce's recruitment. How does money play a role in the locker room these days? How they see the Martindale defense. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  3. MIKEY KEENE, DAVIS WARREN, & JUSTICE HAYNES Starts at 39:43 Keene on preparing to play Michigan: what they could teach each other. Haynes similar thing: what was it like playing against Michigan in the Rose Bowl. Thing they prepared for Michigan: wow, the blitzes! Haynes lists all the reasons he came to Michigan until we tell him "It's okay, the quarterbacks are aware we run the ball." On platooning: I want to be able to run around with my kids after football. Warren on playing Ohio State. New faces in the QB room: type of guys on the team. 4. DONAVEN MCCULLEY, SEMAJ MORGAN, PEYTON O’LEARY, & JOE TAYLOR Starts at 59:01 McCulley also shares what it's like to be a (true Fr) quarterback facing Michigan (not fun!). O'Leary and Taylor talk about the walk-on experience, what's going to happen with the 15 guys who used to be walk-ons. Other walk-ons who are impressing (Andrighetto at safety). Learning to play WR: you get a feel for where you need to be for the quarterback, playing in space. How much has the offense changed. Who's come along since last year: Tevis Metcalf for sure.   5. ERNEST HAUSMANN, TJ GUY, & DOMINIC NICHOLS Starts at 1:26:05 HONESTLY THIS WAS OUR BEST INTERVIEW. Ernest and TJ are starting a podcast. Guy on how many positions you need to know to play OLB. How he and Nichols feel about dropping into coverage. Hausmann shares he's got to be in better shape to be the dot because he can't be breathing hard between plays as he's giving the calls. What were they seeing versus Ohio State. "Ern was going crazy in that game." How do you grade LBs? It was quiet.     6. GREG CRIPPEN, GIO EL-HADI AND ANDREW BABALOLA Starts at 1:30:14 Crippen how it feels to be The Guy finally (not counting his eggs; he's got to win it). Why El-Hadi is just more comfortable on the left. Babalola on the difference between HS and college, and how he compares to the other guys as freshmen. What's it like being a five-star recruit. How they see the fronts and make the line calls. Why is OL hard: gotta learn the playbook first, including all the adjustments. How to make decisions on the fly: all about communication. Gio doesn't play with a mouthguard so he can communicate better. If Michigan football had to make a basketball team: PG: Semaj Morgan SG: Bryce Underwood SF: TJ Guy PF: Lugard Edokpayi C: Babalola/Sprague       8. ROD MOORE, ZEKE BERRY, TJ METCALF AND SHAMARI EARLS Starts at 1:43:41 Rod Moore recovery: 85%. Had to come back mentally before but he's staying as locked in as he can. TJ Metcalf on the portal experience. Zeke Berry on the transition to corner: switching up to #1 was a little iffy at first, but the look is the same, got used to it. Did he see the IU pick earlier in the game? No it was in practice the week before. Still a jack of all trades. Shamari on track, he's picking up all the calls. Receivers to watch? Marsh, Goodwin, Semaj. Who's the fastest guys out there. Who's the biggest hitter: B-Hill, then TJ then Rod. Transition to Wink last year: had to get comfortable with each other. 9. TRE WILLIAMSON, DERRICK MOORE, AND RAYSHAUN BENNY Starts at 1:55:39 Rayshaun going into this year: he's been out there, acted like a starter from previous years. Tre on difference with Michigan. He loves the depth, no other school had the type of talent he was playing around. D-Mo on playing Edge, started with two of the four positions (Rush, End, Buck and SAM). What would he say to his freshman self? Biff Poggi made this program the same program as at St. Frances. He was injured last year, the production was always there, leading the team in pressures early. Benny on coming back from his injury last year. MUSIC: "Intro (A Star in the Sky)"—Heavy Weighs the King "Stand Well Well"—Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 "It'll All Work Out"—Blake Mills “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra    

1 Hour and 29 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: Lot of New Forwards   Opener Good Returning Core Intriguing Recruits CHLers Segment 2: Dmen, Goaltending, Non-Con, and League   SO MANY Guys Highest Drafted Goalie since... Ideal Non-Con Schedule? Big Ten Look Around   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Zen" -- X Ambassadors ft. K.Flay, grandson Ice Hockey (NES) theme

Things Discussed: Playoff expansion: SEC and Big Ten are trying to strongarm their 2-loss teams in without having those teams play anybody. Seth: Don't care anymore, because once you go past six teams it's an invitational and you've got a playoff champion, not a season champion. Did Team 12 have a better season than Team 1 if they get eliminated? If not you're not a season champion. What we should care about—and here's where our needs align with Puppet Petitti and the TV exec with his arm up Tony's ass at the moment—are better games. I like having a Big Ten Showcase where you play the best games that weren't played, and do that in every league, and THEN use that information to make your small playoff field. You can also expand that concept to a national invitational round of matchups. Just get rid of the bracket, which is too rigid, and say these are the matchups we think we need at the end of the season to make our field. The losers can then still play in the bowls, so you aren't stuck with Middle Tennessee State on December 31st when Tennessee ended their season in December in Columbus, Ohio. Is Penn State a fraud? Sam: easy schedule. Seth: Michigan's 2023 schedule was the same, with the gauntlet at the end. Just need to come up with a tinpot scandal for them—suggestion: go after them for tampering. Why is PSU a favorite? Seth: because Big Ten powers are spending to retain their best players, and getting players because their fans are their superpower. PSU is like us (cultish); Michigan won Bryce in part because he saw how awful LSU fans are to their team, and had been around enough Michigan losses like that to see that Michigan fans stay behind their guys. Penn State fans are the same way. They are behind their dudes. I don't think James Franklin is a top-five/championship-caliber coach, but Penn State fans are a top-five, championship-caliber fanbase, and when you have a superpower you can win. Michigan basketball: The issue is their best five lineup isn't a shooting lineup. Shooting from the guys who aren't shooters: via Dusty via Sam they *say* they can do it: Cadeau is a 40% shooter on catch-and-shoots, Gayle found his stroke again, Yaxel says he's going to show it, Morez and Mara also say they can shoot but weren't allowed to. We believe Grady can shoot, Cason can shoot, and Burnett can shoot, but you don't have any lineups with those three. X-factor is LJ Cason and whether they can maximize Mara by having him go hard for 20 minutes and letting Morez take the rest. Might want to figure out lineups instead of a five and backups with different players taking on more creation so they don't have to be shooters, while always keeping 2 guys on the court who will knock down an inside-out. Shoot more slop please; this team can rebound, so a 40% shot from two might be more like a 50% shot in reality, and that 1 PPP is a heck of a lot more valuable than the 0 PPP you get from a turnover.

THE BOOK: Is done. Yes you can still get in on The Kickstarter (but not the name/sentence levels). Also a Kindle Edition is now live. MGoBlog.com/25 Lineup: Sam, Seth, Craig, and Miz. Brian's still on dad duty; Ira's on a plane. Things Discussed: Wink Martindale criticism: The Emotional Rollercoaster sweatshirt from Sack the Stigma is great but Wink is cutting off the sleeves, which are the best part. Wink Martindale praise: His defensive approach changed to be much more college late in the season. Can't be in his head but we think he was having guys make reads that they were missing (examples: Zeke Berry nickel blitz from nowhere on the USC TD, or Barham leaving an RB wide open in the flat) and trying to play attention games with Mason Graham (see: the 3rd down sets). That's how the game is played in the NFL but in college it's much more straightforward. This is praise because he realized what was happening and changed what he was doing, which is extremely hard for people to do. Everybody was coming from success, so they had to get comfortable with each other. Was a big thing for the player as well. Will Johnson noted some of these players need the A and B explained before you tell them to do C. Rod Moore: Expect him to play, not sure how rusty he's going to be and what's the timeline. We'll hear from Rod when Sam interviews him. Mikey Keene vs Bryce Underwood: VERY different offensive planning. Kinds of passes are different, how you use his legs is different, how much pre-snap reading you're doing is different. Having Keene out in spring gave the offense clarity. Chip Lindsey offense: He uses RPOs and running QBs but he cuts back on the running and focuses on making the QBs more efficient. He also will turn regular routes into long bombs—they missed one to Channing Goodwin in the spring but it was open. RPOs and screens? Well you have to show you can beat man coverage to access those, and that means dropping back with a QB who can be safe in the pocket long enough to find his leverage and deliver an accurate pass all over the field to receives who create their own space. Do we have that QB, those WRs, that OL? OL: Sam's discussion with Sherrone started with Blake Frazier (because Sam asked) but he also said Andrew Babalola and Ty Haywood are more athletically talented than ANY guy they've had at Michigan until now. Link is battling with Frazier and Babalola for LT. Crippen: Not sure how much better he can get because his reads are spot-on, but versus top-of-the-line DTs who knew what's coming Crippen got physically manhandled. He's alright, but you need something on this offense that is better than alright if you want to take the pressure off of Bryce/his protection/his receivers. That said, centers pop late—how many times have we seen an Anderson or Bihl or Kugler or Vastardis have a great 5th year. WRs: Are probably a lot better than their stats last year (fewest WR yards since 1973, would have been bottom-third among Bo teams.) But there could be a player or three in there—they didn't have the passing. Warren didn't know what he was looking at half the time and wasn't accurate. Orji had no downfield accuracy at all. Defense knew it. Link vs Ohio State/Alabama? Did well, but the context was Michigan took dropbacks out of the offense.

THE BOOK: Kickstarter is still active. MGoBlog.com/25 REMINDER: Michigan fans won the Charity Bowl, so we'll be getting together with Spencer, Holly, and Jason on JUNE 28, 6PM at the Ann Arbor District Library, then going to Venue for drinks at 8:00. Signup is here so I can give them a final count (we're at ~200 right now), or go to pizzawestern.com. THE LINEUP: Brian still on break. Seth & Craig & Sam today. NO SHOW NEXT WEEK: July 4th. Things Discussed: HTTV 2025: Craig's article on 1898 has a surprise for Buckeye Fans, because the NCAA is going to vacate Michigan's 1897 wins ANY DAY NOW. Warde with Sam last week: Credit to him for being more transparent. Sam notes he specifically came out of his no-comment stance to put to rest any ideas of vacated wins/championships. Our favorite recent commits. Seth loves Alister Vallejo: he's incorrigible. Even has Mason Graham's baby face. Craig likes Bear McWhorter. Titan Davis: really good example of the type of player you see from Lou Esposito: good length and good burst. Marky Walbridge: Most Massachusetts name ever. He looks like a TACKLE—reminds me of Blake Frazier. Sam: I think Blake is going to be the starting LT. Philosophy for how to spend your money? Seth: Baltimore Ravens. Start by putting more money to your top players. Positionally, you look at what system you run and where you can get value. Michigan runs the Ravens system, which spent less on Edge and LB to get big-time athletes in the secondary. Spend on a cornerback. Sam: Spend on a cornerback every year, because Ohio State is a receiver team, and cornerback is mostly about talent. QB, Edge, and Cornerback. Seth: if you can develop edges you can save money there. If you're struggling to develop something you spend on it (e.g. OSU with (Break: Naming the people who are in our chat) NIL Clearinghouse. The ADs don't even know what the standard will be. Guessing it will be like every other NCAA enforcement attempt, IE they will ignore 99% of it and then come down hard on Michigan when they're mad. Next battleground is in legislatures. NBA Draft: Wolf slipped to 27th but only because the Nets had 1/6th of the picks and could slot him lower. Took another Jewish guy right before him. Top of the draft: Ace Bailey was the last difference-maker; if he won't play in Salt Lake they can trade him, but the value dropped after that.

Thing Discussed: Warde Manuel kindly filled in for us last Thursday so Sam invited me on this morning. We mostly discussed the article he wrote for HTTV 2025 (now Kickstarting) about Michigan's recruitment of Bryce Underwood, and all of the things that had to come together on Michigan's end to make that possible, as well as an assist from LSU and Michigan fans that nobody expected to close the deal. Also discussed every other feature in the book.

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: Once again Michigan won the Charity Bowl, so we'll be getting together with the Fullcastians on JUNE 28, 6PM at the Ann Arbor District Library, then going to Venue for drinks at 8:30. Signup is here so we can plan a good numbers count, or just remember pizzawestern.com. Things Discussed: House: We're in prime recruiting season but schools are starting to tell kids the distribution money isn't coming to recruit against Michigan. What's the holdup? In a vacuum liars will come up with B.S. to sell. We're sure Ohio State is pushing for some kind of system where they can go back to exploiting a black market and controlling the enforcement mechanism so that Michigan won't/can't participate in it. Best guess at what's holding it up: they're trying to make a clearinghouse that won't the agreement immediately sued out of existence, which is tricky because any regulation of what people can make without Congressional dispensation tends to lose in court. Playoff expansion: Why, who, will it? Petitti is a dumb TV suit and put out a dumb TV suit idea so he can make this end-of-year playoff to get into the Playoff. No this is not the Showcase (which is a +1 format to finish the season with the best games that weren't played and determine a conference champion by strength of season). Sankey is predictably honestly dishonest in that he'll keep saying and doing whatever gets more for his schools, and that means he's going to run absolute circles around Petitti the spineless moron. Why are things this way? Powers in control are approaching it from how much more TV inventory can they generate, don't think about where the value is coming out of except they're very protective of their own money. Schools imagining themselves #16 and dealing with opt-outs. Who really pays: fans. Fans who buy another expensive last-minute ticket, and travel. For years nobody in power has put any thought into what really makes college football valuable, so they're willing to cannibalize the Every Game Matters. Already happened with 12 teams, where Ohio State finished the season with a worse strength of record than Oregon and shouldn't have had a path to redemption. With 16 teams you're going to get a 3- or 4-loss champion who gets hot or beneficial matchups in a year with a team that went 14-1. Also guarantee Sankey will know how to get an 8-4 Ole Miss team that played three Sun Belts and an FCS with one ranked win in the SEC ranked above a 10-2 Iowa that beat nobody because they were in the "Not playing Michigan-Ohio State-USC-Oregon" tier when Petitti was making his schedules for inventory. Our dream: If Congress were to demand your conference can't have more than 12 members or you can't pay anybody. In the break: McKenna Yaxeltalk: Watching his film last year there was a lot more Buzz Williams ball where they would Iso then rebound. Hopefully he gets better looks with better creators on the court with him. Don't forget defense: Yaxel's length makes him switchable, and you have some major rim protection that won't have to get tired. Need to develop 36%+ shooting so opponents don't just collapse, because Yax isn't an off-the-dribble shooter at all. Can Gayle? Can Cason? Freshmen? Nimari is who he is. Kobe Assist team: have guys like Gayle, Cason drawing multiple defenders and there will be a lot of opportunities to "pass" the ball to the basket. Turnovers again? There are some Danny Wolf howlers from Cadeau but hoping they can coach him to better options.