MGoBlog Roundtable

Sam Webb has his weekly Maize and Blue conversation with the MGoBlog Roundtable crew!

in 5 4 3 and we are back folks here on the Michigan Insider Sports Talk 1050 wtka online at wtka.com Sam web Mr irwine Rob on the other side and joining us as they do every single Thursday the MGO blog Roundtable crew you see them over on MGO blog doing their thing they join us every Thursday at N9 o’clock hour to talk about many Topics in the world of Maze and blue Sports we always start off first with the man is started at all over at the blog and that is our good friend Brian Cook Brian good morning how are you good morning I’m well we have Seth Fisher Seth how are you pretty heart gotta love that dude all right already he gets it right we’ll talk about Brady Hart a little bit later and then of course one Mr Craig Ross I ended with you on purpose Craig because we delayed Story Time with Craig last week we weren’t going to deny Story Time with Craig so Craig Ross you have the floor thank you um I’m in Kona so that’s why it’s dark here it’s uh whatever it is 3:00 am here the uh I play gol this is the difference between transactional and transformational in a sort of everyday way uh I play golf now and again with my brother John who’s been on this show once or twice and um uh a guy in Ann Arbor Brad who’s as kind and gentle and thoughtful a person as I’ve ever met Brad will give you the shirt off his back we’ll spend his time on you if you need it uh but he’s not a good golfer to say the least mostly he rides around in a court looks cart looks for balls and occasionally hits a ball very occasionally but we play communist golf we play you know where whereever ever we you know and we play against the course or we don’t keep score whatever well we’re playing down in Toledo on a not great course but fun course and I don’t hit the ball very far I’m not a very good golfer either so I wear fancy clothes oh iar I wear I wear he’s describing me yeah yeah I was this is this fact this is sort of a lot like Sam this is a Sam story actually in fact that’s got lots of samand in it and so I’m wearing uh a dambo old style hat pain pain storeart knickers you know Argy socks a fancy Tommy Bahama shirt so I ain’t no good but I at least look good uh so so Sam shaking his head so so I hit on on the third hole a 480 yard 470 yard par five I hit the biggest Drive I’ve hit in 10 years where it came from I have no idea but I hit it 250 yards in the perfect spot and uh so I go up to the ball and there’s a pond in front of this green big old Pond marshy area and I think you know I’m about 220 away if I hit the best three-wood in my life and I curl it around the pond I might be able to get on this par five and two and my brother hooked this ball in the woods I don’t know what he’s doing he’s off in the woods someplace and uh so I hit the three-wood and of course I hit it okay but not great and it doesn’t curl around the pond it curls I think into the pond so my brother looks for my spot to hit a ball and I walk I’m walking John and I walk Brad takes a cart so Brad steams up to the pond in the cart and I walk up to the pond and I don’t know what Brad’s doing he’s puttering around the back of the pond and I find my ball and it’s sitting on top of a giant black snake this is no joke a biggest snake I’ve ever seen in my life and there’s and there’s the ball so I don’t know exactly how to how to play a ball off a snake or you know and while I’m pondering this I hear this noise Brad has fallen into the pond but it’s just not the pond it’s like mud it’s this green black slimy mud and he can’t get out he can’t get any purchase in the pond and it’s like one of the old old jungle movies where you know you’re in quicksand and the guy can’t get out so I go over there with a club and and try and and and pull him out I can’t get him out John meanwhile is hit a great shot uh from my spot up near the green and I and I yell at John and he goes what’s going on we come over I’m with two clubs we try and pull him out one with each hand but he just flops forward into the mud finally we pull him out he gets out he’s covered from like his neck down in this black green brown slimy goo that was now most people would go home and call it a day not not not not Brad he decides he’s going to play to the which means cutting a ball occasionally chipping a ball occasionally driving around this car then uh in the parking lot after this round here’s the point of the story uh I’m in the parking lot putting clubs in the car uh Brad is putting his his stuff in his car I don’t know where my brother’s at and uh this woman drives up drives up by me rolls her window down and says where’s do you know where the amphitheater is and I say I have no idea where the amphitheater is I said look I’m from I’m I’m from Sam Sam I’m I’m from an arbor not Toledo I’m down here golfing with my brother well very nice person we started to have a conversation she’s a golfer she’s she’s a good tennis player and she says to me did you graduate from Michigan I said yeah I did and then she said well I did too I went to Michigan too what year did you graduate she well she names a date that’s like 20 22 years after me so we’re we’re chatting and as we’re chatting Brad walks up still covered with muck and goo I mean if you know the Tom waight song You Know smell like a brewery look like a uh and uh the woman says to me are you single and I say no I’m not single and then she says to me is your brother single now she hasn’t seen my brother my brother’s nowhere to be I don’t know where he’s at he’s in the and at this point Brad who you gotta give credit to really says I’m single she looks at Brad who’s covered with muck and looks awful I mean run Brad isn’t I I mean he’s younger than me but he’s still not a young guy and and he’s covered with mud mud and brown stuff and uh uh she just looks at him like he’s con gorilla like what you know and so that’s sort of the end of the story but it struck me that you know maybe uh maybe Brad sort of looked at was a sort of transformational character he goes I mean he’s a kind smart thoughtful person he goes home he gets cleaned up he takes the muck and goo off himself puts on some nice clothes well you know all of a sudden maybe you know the this woman would say okay but you know in some context me and even my unseen brother who’s just in door number three at that point uh you know are are are transactional to her so in this this sense this is the difference between transactional and transformational and why show me the money is always going to have more purchase then well maybe if you come here and we clean you up you can you know make some money so these things happen in everyday life and this happened in my everyday life last week um I think I get it I think I get it but Craig you’re I guess my main takeway is you’re getting hit on on a golf course man wow that’s the whole point of this story it isn’t really I mean I tried to figure out a way to Craig was getting hit on on the golf course some lady like oh Craig I would say there is definitely an I would point out that my brother was also getting hit on and he was in the clubhouse I don’t even know how to segue from that um hey about through 20 minutes of the show I guess we could we could talk some some recruiting Because I asked you guys last week was it did you agree with it being Panic time as many of the fans were panicking about Michigan’s uh pedestrian recruiting ranking now you know still fairly early in the cycle but a lot of teams uh fairly early when you consider that the you know signing day is still what six months away uh so uh but a lot of teams are you know farther along with their recruiting classes than than Michigan and so you understand where some of the concern was coming from based on the fact that Michigan was coming off a national championship but all you guys to a man said be patient some good things are going to happen there’s still plenty of time for Michigan to ascend in the rankings then lo and behold uh Brian Cook they pick up some some good news some good news that we actually forecast one one piece anyway that we forecast last week with the addition of kooa went yeah and I think I mentioned this last week but there are a lot of extenuating circumstances for shiron w like you first of all you’re going to the national championship game so while most teams who aren’t in the playoff are pretty much just like okay the bull exists but we’re going to focus on recruiting for all of December and January wasn’t an option and then there the extended will he or won’t he harball leaving process you know and then Chiron has to get together his staff etc etc etc all of this combined with the fact that Harbaugh flirted with the NFL for the previous couple years has just put you in a situation where you’re just going to take some time for you to catch up and I expect this class to be you know decent but not what you uh want ideally for for a Michigan class but they picked up a 2026 quarterback who has uh a real Michigan name right in Brady Hart and so that’s a a good start to that class that you know get that quarterback he starts pulling it together I think that class is really going to be where you see you know whatever Chiron Moore has been able to do in terms of Staffing up his recruiting uh operation his uh lack of interest from the NFL you know all that stuff I think will start paying off in next year’s class and this year’s class is about it’s a bridge class right so you want to you want to get from the current roster to whatever shiron Morris is going to look like in a couple of years and like we need to be realistic is that a lot of guys are off the board a lot of guys aren’t considering Michigan for reasons that don’t have anything to do with Michigan but just the circumstance they found themselves in so Panic also like panic in the immediate aftermath of a national championship is sign of a diseased mind right like there’s people who are like oh no it’s like what no stop anything can happen this year and it’s fine like just chill out yeah um Seth you you I started singing when we were talking about Brady Hart or when you mentioned Brady Hart’s name uh but that is Brian is right that’s how that’s how a recruiting class is is made with a top quarterback but a top quarterback that has some Runway to recruit a class the best examples of that at Michigan have been quarterbacks that have been recruited have been able to recruit for over a year like JJ McCarthy like Drew Henson right guys who committed in their junior campaigns and then uh were able to help lure others in the class and uh you got a guy in in Brady Hart who’s going to have that kind of Runway even more so with him yeah oh man I I mean hav if you haven’t had fun yet with Brady Hart’s commitment start following some of the things that even he’s start following his um his Ohio State trip where he was I guess on the phone with JJ mccarth while he was at Ohio State and then he leaves and they’re like what do you think of Ohio State he’s like well not everyone’s got the same culture as Michigan so I’m loving the guy already I I also kind of wanted to go back to what Brian uh was talking about there if you look at where Michigan was on the in the middle of June like June 20th 2022 two years ago this is after Michigan’s beat in Ohio state twice in a row this is Michigan looking like the best team in the country so you join this class you’re Pro you have a good shot of getting a ring their class at that point was three star Brooks Bar low three star running back Ben Hall and five- star railan Wilson who everyone knew was leaving the class that was their that was the class at that point and they that you know that class comes together later but it was the similar issues right they don’t know if they’re going to have Jim Harbaugh they don’t know what’s going to happen with the program next even offensive lineman we wondering if Chiron Moore is going to get picked off if Harbaugh sticks around is Chiron going to be a coach somewhere else and then that class comes together they get Jer Hill they get Trey Pierce they get some guys who are really going to help them um but it doesn’t end up being a top class because so it’s you you do need that quarterback and Brady Hart really because how many teams wanted him right Florida wanted him Florida can’t get their stuff together but he’s the son of a Florida baseball player uh Notre Dame decided they had to move on Ohio State wanted him so this was when you start with a five-star quarterback and we close to festar quarterback when you start with that guy and he can bring people in and say hey we’re going to win together now you have that story too right and that’s how Clemson was building their classes they would get Trevor Lawrence in the class first and they would he would say come come with with me and that’s what JJ did and you can show that it works you need that five-star quarterback and I think there was there’s never there never was a moment to panic um but classes used to not come together until you know the summer anyway it’s just the the way things have been going lately yeah it’s um it’s an interesting circumstance I sort of likened it to that time where uh when beine had the like four point guards he was recruiting it was Derek Walton it was it was um Monte moris and why am I trying to remember the guy who wound up at Notre Dame the the point guard who wound up at Notre Dame in that cycle you guys remember it’ll come to me no anyway there were three top point guards and they had them all on campus at the same time and it was like okay uh we got to figure out how this is going to go they wound up offering Monte Morris first but he he delayed uh they offered the other two the the one kid committed Notre Dame and Derek Walton W up jumping on it before uh Monte Morris who is who is disappointed Michigan was and Kirk Campbell had kind of the same Dynamic coming up because all these all these quarterback recruits 26 quarterback recruits were slated to be on campus within a three-day span of each other starting with Brady Hart uh Brady Smigel was coming in Troy Hune was on campus he was on campus he was actually visiting Brady Smigel was coming in Jaden O’Neal was coming in these are all top quarterbacks in the 26 class and so uh but Brady Hart was first and he leaves and he goes to Ohio State and you got to know if you’re Brady Hart uh did if you wait things could kind of get away from him because Smigel had been to Campus before uh he seemed to be really high on Michigan uh he was probably the the likeliest to to maybe do something uh so if you know that’s where you want to be you got to make a decision and I think the order of the visits is is telling too that they went with getting Brady Hart in first because you look at it he’s the youngest of the bunch like he’s a full year younger than schigel even though they’re the same year right he’s the he’s the one-year starter so his first year as a starter he goes out and quarterbacks his team to a State title I think you you look at him and you see that he’s done a ton in a short period of time and there’s more room for growth they’re all 26s they all have uh a lot of growing to do and they will do but Brady Brady Harts seems the farthest away from his ceiling given his age and given it was his his first year as a starter and I think those in part and then the connection with the family I think those were the things that put Brady Brady Hart over the top when it came to a crew a four really good quarterbacks the ones they probably had the best shots with were Smigel and Hune I think Jaden O’Neal is gonna go to Oklahoma I think he was going to go to Oklahoma even if he had visited Michigan but I think it’s very clear that Brady Hart was the prefer well he uh he moves I will say this from my view of him he has a strong arm obviously and he’s big he’s pretty skinny but he’s tall so he needs to fill out a bit he will um but he moves really well in the pocket he’s not a runner is is as far as I can tell but he he he can move around in the pocket and evade a pass rush that’s nice um the other guys they got in the last since we talked with canol Winston who Sam predicted a week ago and he’s a top 100 player to everybody I think and uh safety and Jaylen Williams who’s a one of the best five players to everybody in Illinois and then Jasper Parker who’s not as highly rated but I you know I looked at his film he’s got he’s got Good Feet he’s got good Vision uh the big thing there is he’s a really nice receiver I mean he can catch the ball and run patterns uh and he’s not a burner but he’s fast enough and uh I I I would put him potentially maybe if things work out for him well and he develops in the Kuran Higden range he reminded me a bit of Kuran Higden in his in his style but so I know there’s been a lot of panic uh on Michigan recruiting but I don’t think it’s really warranted at this point it’s a long way to go and it’s hard to see what the future will look like the if you if you look at average recruiting if you are into these things and if you look at the average number of stars or points that sites give Michigan is number eight on on both s on both of the big sites and so as they fill the class in they their ranking will bump up I suspect it’ll look historically like it’s has in the last four or five years yeah there’s some interesting recruiting and about Jasper Parker I mean the most conspicuous thing is LSU hasn’t offered him uh you know I wonder if that I don’t know the all the Dynamics of that is it just a guy that they think they can swoop in on later uh but his his offer list reads like a who’s who like he has everyone else he has Bama and Auburn he has Florida State and Miami and Penn State and Tennessee and USC I mean a dude has a decorated offer list he just doesn’t have a LSU and you watch his film and it’s like see why it’s like man I I get it this dude looks looks legit Michigan’s gonna take two backs in the class um you know Jordan Davidson I sure they would like for him to be the other back he still has an Ohio State visit coming up but Ohio State Ohio State have any any room left for running backs they got two in the class already to keep him from Michigan yeah sure they do sure they do I think I think that Michigan Michigan uh really did a an outstanding job on Jordan Davidson’s visit and if they get him Buckeyes are gonna say that it’s because they got two running backs in the class but I think I think if they get them it will be something that was determined will have been determined long before they got their second running back that’s how I think it will that that’s what I think the true story will be but but time will tell there interesting recruitment for me two of the guys who were here last week jayon Blair is a top 247 uh player uh in Elite safety Target uh has all the Big Timers visiting Florida State this weekend but I think it’s a Michigan Notre Dame battle and I can’t really read the dude I mean I think he likes Michigan a ton I think his parents like Michigan a ton uh they they have clearly identified him as the other safety in the class or they would like him to be the other safety in the class but he is really enamored with Marcus Freeman they have him on this you can be the next Kyle Hamilton but better guy and that that’s kind of resona with him a little bit but an interesting thing that he said the reason why I bring up his recruitment I want to bounce this guy’s off this thing off you I said so tell me about nil and he was like oh man Michigan’s nil is is amazing like you know they’re they’re talking about all the things that they could do with me and you know it’s outstanding I said so they are they aren’t lagging he said they are lagging behind no one in nil it’s like oh that’s that’s an an interesting one considering who the other schools are on his list when you you got a Notre Dame who’s done pretty well in that category you got the Florida school schools who have done well in that category here you have this kid saying the nil at Michigan is is is on par with those so wonder what you guys make of the jayon Blair recruitment well I don’t know I you know I still worry a bit that we’re covered with black and green slime from from the neck down uh but uh I I just don’t know I mean you know Sam I mean maybe maybe Seth Bri know don’t know he’s I I think it’s Michigan Notre Dame he has one Notre Dame prediction I think I I came out of the interview is it l probably probably yes it is Loy as a matter of fact there we go I love Tom ly just it is if you do any any recing my favorite thing is when Michigan goes after a guy that Notre Dame wants as well first of all because you guys have a couple cple really good uh Scouts for Notre Dame was it prister and Sinclair who are who are great at breakdowns and and give me exactly the quotes I need but also because Tom ly is always there he being like well I think he’s just an nerd Dame kind of guy because he likes academics he’s got good parents so I’m GNA put in a prediction of level six crystal ball for Notre Dame yeah I I think I think that he this this visit really did something with his parents uh you know it’s it’s about Bridging the relationship Gap with Notre Dame in my opinion I just could I couldn’t read whether they had done enough as a matter of fact I came out of it thinking that he was a slight Notre Dame lean but you know some of the things that he’s saying the people in Michigan recruiting class circles makes me think that that might be off and that you know that it it could be Michigan leading coming out of that visit so I I really don’t have a good read there the other guy who was on on campus here recently who I you know I don’t think that there’s a make or break recruit like if they don’t get this guy it’s a bad class but I think if they get him he’s the biggest land in the class in my opinion because I think he’s under ranked and he’s the number 68 player in the country I love Shamari ears I think he is a tremendous Prospect every bit of 62 203 I I think he I think 247 has him rated as a number eight Corner he’s committed to South Carolina uh he was giv Michigan the stiff arm real hard because he had heard some they had negative recruited Steve clink scale really well he even said that it’s one of the most candid interviews I’ve done he was like yeah heard some bad things about clink scale my coach heard some bad things about him too he I think he’s a good guy but we heard some bad things and so he wasn’t he wasn’t given Michigan the time of day to the point where you know Lamar Morgan had to think he was spinning his wheels because the dude was not responding to any of his messages but he kept recruiting him to the point where his the kid’s dad was like man we got to give this dude a chance he just won’t stop and so they come up on a visit and they love it they love the fit they love B step in for for will Johnson and you love his recruiting profile as a big Corner who can run he’s a 10600 meter guy 21 6200 meter guy he’s an inch off the the long jump record No No No’s long jump record in the state of Virginia he tied with Nick Harbor in the 55 like this is an elite athlete who I would be shocked if he stays with South Carolina he’s talking all this stuff about Beamer and how yeah Beamer I don’t think he really handled this the right way with me want to take other visits I just want to make sure this is the right spot so he moved the my visit uh moved my official visit South Carolina round I don’t think it was fair to other schools think it was kind of dirty all that adds up to I don’t think he’s going to South Carolina and so if he’s not going to South Carolina he told me it’s going to be between South Carolina Michigan and Georgia which in my opinion makes this a Michigan Georgia battle now do you believe that Michigan can beat Georgia for a corner when every corner theyve squared off for in the last two cycles Georgia has won if they were gonna get one of all these Corners Brian Seth and Craig this would be the one that I want if they get this dude he’s the I think he’s a top 25 player in this country he’s not ranked there right now but that’s how good I think he’s gonna be I mean you just said you know jayon Blair said the Michigan’s nil is on par with anybody let’s see you’re going against Georgia if you wanna if you want to test your nil capabilities go against Georgia and South Carolina because South Carolina will throw a throw a big chunk at the end there and I think uh Shamari ear’s friends with uh with Nick Harbor right like those guys they train together they run together um he may I think Nick Harbor was more like his future is going to be an Olympic Athlete where Earls is you know I’m I’m more focused on football but um yeah dude I I just you know we are waiting to see Michigan win a battle of you know where where you’re going after Le I know it’s not all about money but their money has to be you know equal to the kind of things that get thrown around the kind of and the way things are done in those uh those levels of recruitments because Michigan’s not been in those areas and I think Georgia thinks he’s a top 25 guy too so you know show show me it happening right I I got to see them win one of those battles and this is like a Signing Day battle right this is like G to be what it’s not gonna be he’s yeah he wants to make his his final decision before the season whether he flips or or or stays with South Carolina which with staying with South Carolina would be the most shocking decision of them all in my opinion but he said something that really made me think you know they got a shot against Georgia in this and it’s it’s not the nil thing I’m gonna get nil wherever I go I’ve heard kids say that before and you know it a lot of times it winds up being an nil thing right so I it’s not that he was talking about A&M and he said you know they got four fourstar corners committed in this in their class he said said I I can go there and compete I I can go anywhere in the country and compete with anyone I’m not scared of it but they don’t need me they don’t need me at A&M they got four or four star Corners in the class I’d rather go someplace where where they need me too they they want me and they need me I’m looking at georg’s corner they don’t have a corner in the class but you look at their their Corners the last two cycles uh and they’ve taken it to Michigan for three of them I think they have six like top 100 Corners in the last two classes so if if you just put those statistics up if you’re Michigan not to dispar your room but if you’re just looking at the rankings of the rooms like dude and will Johnson’s going to the league yeah like we need you right now and I I think based on what he said because that’s what pushed A&M sort of down his list was that thing well hey if that’s really a factor Young fella then I would think that would give Michigan an advantage Over Georgia well it sure seems so I mean with Will Johnson assuming he has a good year and I assume he will is is gonna be in the first first round of the draft and probably the earlier parts of the first round of the draft and and Michigan has a huge need there uh can they compete are they willing to compete for the kid and if they are you would think we would have a there’s a lot of arguments uh there’s a lot of arguments for Michigan uh this there’s a person here who said like your glass half full thought Sam but it’s Georgia they pay well well I think that’s right I mean I think that’s what it you know regardless of what people say that’s uh it’s it’s a trans I’m sure will Johnson is among the top paid athletes in in college football this year no question so yeah so I mean I I could see where you know Michigan has a case for shmar that you like you’re going to be fine because if he’s doing you know what will Johnson’s doing he’s going to be in good shape um both in like the real nil and in the you know we’re going to make sure you get the money kind of nil it’s just I mean George has fought those Wars so many times they know exactly how to win that kind of thing so if George is as committed as Michigan to this thing it’s it’s very hard to you know dislodge Napoleon yeah we shall see he going to be put to the test uh he he’ll be there this weekend and and then does he schedule a return official to Michigan uh he said that it’s looking like he will if he does that’s a great sign great sign they can get him on back on campus uh again uh coming up here in in July so time will tell in the meantime in between time we need to get to a break back on the other side with more MGO blog round table here on the Michigan Insider on Sports Talk 1050 wtka the ticket and we are clear on the radio yeah he says I think Jaden Sanders can be just good to Shamari I I think he’s a really good player I think he’s a really good player I think I think uh as an athlete an overall athlete 62 203 can run like that can jump like that uh I I just think the ceiling is so high it’s so high and Jaden Sanders is a good player like he was he was there yesterday Michigan’s uh is in that recruitment but dude if I had to if I had to choose one I choose Shamari Ros so yeah we’ll see here’s why I uh Hey man hey old Z I I give oh Zack good content I’m a I’m a Content driver for Zack Smith oh what I missed your whole thing you had a thing with Zack Smith I always have a thing with Zack Smith Zach Smith does he can’t coach anymore no no program in the country will ever hire him again and so he’s a pod I said he’s a podcaster t podcaster sex toy tester that’s what he does in his with his time now because he can’t coach football he has to to do this with a very very limited and crazy audience and so he needs content so he kind of draws me in and they were talking about uh a Jordan Davidson interview that I did with his trainer and his trainer uh was talking about he said Michigan knocked it out of the park they did a good job uh nil he said he too said the nil wasn’t lagging that it was on par with everyone else so they did a great job there and so for some reason he got it in his mind and was telling his his followers that I made up the quotes in an interview that I recorded like just be more of an idiot than you are I didn’t think it was possible to be more of an idiot than you are than I thought you were and here here we are so uh that started the whole thing and I don’t know what else is going on I I get the things that people send to me so I didn’t see what his what he said lately um but I’m sure I’ll hear about it coming up i’ like to compare that with MGO blog readers last week I said uh that Opera and punk rock were a lot alike and about three people posted that that was stupid but they got it and but the but then I was criticized heavily for mentioning people that they thought we’re not really punk rockers they were really part of the new wave group that followed followed Punk I have to admit they were they were probably right uh that and one person even said hey you talked about the Kent akan bar scene and you didn’t mention the waitresses and I I love the waitresses but you know you can’t there’s a lot of people in that in that music scene at that particular point in time who were quite good and uh anyway I 30 seconds guys I’d love the criticism that oh you that uh really uh uh these guys were new wave and not Punk that that’s the sort of stuff that that I appreciate you know not not what you and do with sax there’s there’s also a diary which is our term for a user created uh feature called the Big 10 in the Revolutions of 1848 yeah I saw that things talked about yeah that isn’t you was it Seth no and we are back on radio in five4 three and we are back folks here on the Michigan Insider Sports Talk 1050 wtka online at wk.com samweb irwine Tri on the other side and the MGO blog Roundtable crew if you’re in the market for a new vehicle get on board with brighten Ford by going to brighten ford.com call 1800 new Ford to make it out to the lot at 8240 West Grand River Avenue in Brighton Michigan so John cuter and his crew will’ll take great care of you with deals like the one on the 2024 Ford Broncos sport Big Bend 278 a month with 3500 down or 405 a month with 500 down the 2024 Ford Explorer XLT 210 a month with 3500 down or 333 a month with 500 down and last but not least that award-winning pickup the Ford F-150 XLT still have some 20 23s left on the lot at 230 a month or 3500 down and some 20 24s of course on the lot at 2501 a month with 3500 down for those and other great deals get on board with Brighton Ford we’re going to brighten ford.com call 1800 new Ford I make it out to the lot at 8240 West Grand River Avenue in Brighton Michigan we continue to survey the college football area we started with our previews yesterday with Steve Clark we went over Texas like I did with you guys last week I referenced my interview with fine bomb again he’s like hey man what do you think about these Pack 12 teams and how they’re GNA adapt like who’s who’s going to impose upon whom and I’m curious what you guys I’m going to Discount UCLA uh and what they’re gonna they’re going to be down uh this year but what kind of how do you think USC and Oregon two teams that Michigan will face obviously of course everyone predicted that was GNA happen but how do you think those two teams will uh will Faire in this year’s Big 10 well for UFC it’s an question of like how quickly can they get their defense off the ground because you know Lincoln Riley has never ever has he had a single good defense in the history of his career as a head coach probably not but you know they get rid of Alex Grinch they bring in um the guy from UCLA who had an excellent year with the Bruins despite the fact that everybody apparently hates Chip Kelly um so you know I don’t think that’s going to be a one-year Reclamation Pro and I think they’re going to have a pretty tough time um against you know the Big 10 teams that are dedicated to pounding it out on the ground so I don’t know if they play Minnesota but I think that would be a matchup that you know initially you’re looking at as like okay USC should handle this team but could be a lot closer than that and Oregon I think is much better prepared to compete immediately like Dan Landing is a guy who seems to know what he’s got at Oregon they’ve played pretty well defensively they’ve been good um their season last year was actually significantly well I wouldn’t say significantly but you know this Washington that ends up in the national title game because they beat Oregon a couple of times but if you look at their overall body of work they’re not that different um and Oregon’s offense didn’t get rated as much and they imported Dylan Gabriel to play quarterback so they will be a threat to win the conference yeah I mean yeah a couple of these team teams are already big teams I mean you know you look who’s in the middle of that Oregon defense it’s Iowa linebacker J Jacobs right like these they and Washington played Michigan a couple times like we got to see exactly kind of what that team is like no no no we when we played I’m talking about Washington too I know Washington lost a ton of players but it’s like it’s not like we you know Washington was already a big 10 team as well right they had Kaylin dor building that team and now they you know they’ve got another former Big 10 coach who who’s running in in Jed fish so I I think that the Pack 12 teams are really just going to fit right in they were they would have already fit well in the Big 10 East in any previous year they had similar coaches recruited similar guys you’re going to recognize other the names like Josh connly for Oregon the guy Michigan was after right um the there’s just it’s not g to be it’s not like we were in two different worlds here the the Pack 12 and the Big 10 already had a lot of crossover shared a lot of coaches shared a lot of recruits recruited in each other’s areas it’s um it’s a more natural fit as far as that’s concerned then then people realize it’s just the the travel’s going to be harder the um you know not as the familiarity is going to be a little weird and I think it’s just going to feel weird like when you get a Ruckers versus Oregon game like what what are these people doing together but you know as far as the teams themselves you know they’re they’re fine like Washington felt like a big 10 team already Oregon looks like a you know good challenge for uh I think they’re the best team in the Big 10 this year I think USC is a little is probably the Oddball but you know we needed an oddball Craig Ross yeah I I think Oregon and Ohio State are probably the two favorites for the Big 10 this year I think Oregon’s going to be really good uh I think Ohio State plays at Oregon I think that that that may be you know one of the big two or three games this year in conference and and go a long way towards deciding what happens um so you know UCLA I think is a bit down uh I think they may struggle Washington even though they lost a lot I think will be a good competitive Big 10 team uh although not at the level probably of um Michigan and Ohio State and Oregon and uh USC is a wild card to me I just don’t know uh I think they’re hard to they have if you look at their roster they have a lot of people who were you know very highly regarded but uh whether they can put something together piece of Defense together in particular is quite problematic at this point but it wouldn’t surprise me if they do well this year even so yeah I just wonder if they’ll hold up any of those teams based on what we saw how we saw Michigan just destroy Washington at the line of scrimmage they just abused them and I mean I watch both Washington Oregon games and you know it’s you know Oregon Oregon has a really really fast and talented team but I didn’t I didn’t come away from that thinking they were super physical they were one of those games they they had a big uh they had a big rushing game I can’t remember if it was the first or the second one I think they may have rushed for uh High hundreds or 200 yards in the game if memory um if memory doesn’t escape me but I I mean I think there was one game where Nicks escaped a bunch that’s kind of what I’m thinking I don’t remember them I think I think you’re right I think you’re right but it they just I don’t know that they’ll they’ll be able to deal with Michigan’s just dominance up front that to me is is different it certainly was to me the biggest difference in the national championship game now will that Translate to this year uh even though I expect Mason Graham and kg to be even better um Josiah Stewart and drik Moore to be even better my question is can they be as dominant for the entire game not knowing if the depth will establish itself as being as reliable as last year I suspect it’s going to be better than a lot of Outsiders expect but will it be on par with last year it’s almost virtually impossible for it to be on par with last year so what will that what will that mean to the bottom line against a much tougher schedule is one of my bigger questions yeah I mean people keep on getting mad that wink is going to Blitz a little bit more and I think they they’re overstating it anyway but that’s going to be part of the strategy too that if you don’t want to get to your second uh you know your second string that much you’re going to you force the issue right like make him throw down field make the make make the drive shorter and you know if you can play a couple snaps with Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant up front and get get to the quarterback get them in third and 14 they’re not making that first down and then your offense is back on the field and then the opposite side Michigan’s going to grind out these games you know you’re not going to see a lot of big downfield throws you know you might see a about you might see big runs I think that you’re actually probably gonna have a more explosive running game this year that we’ve had since maybe 2021 um just because orgies legs are going to be part of the offense but I think that in general chrom Moore is going to want to grind these games down limit the number of snaps for his defensive players so you don’t have to get to the second team that much yeah it shall be interesting I didn’t re respond to what you guys had to say about USC but I’m really interested to see how Lincoln Riley does without like the best quarterback in the in college football like what does he do without the number one guy that everyone wants uh this is foreign territory for him in addition to which you were talking about Brian having to break in a new defensive coordinator but can they be this year offensively what they have been I think the jury’s out on that too yeah I mean I think USC is an enigma I could see them going either way I could see them being really good I don’t know do you guys know who the quarterback is likely to be there I don’t even know probably Miller Moss yeah was decent in back he threw for like what five or six touchdowns in a bowl game or something like that yeah yeah and and I mean he’s it’s hard to tell what he is right right now because he hasn’t played that much but you know he PFF loved him um that’s really all I know about him at this point yeah I don’t think he’s I don’t think he’s uh his last two guys though may maybe he will maybe Miller Moss will be um the last two I I I would be surprised if he’s that good I will tell of course uh but I think I think the Lincoln Riley um if you were going to be making a move to the Big 10 I I think this is going to be the the a rougher year than it would have been had it been like next year when he already had his quarterback established uh at that point last year I think he would have liked it because you got the number one quarterback in the country even though they didn’t fear that well in in uh in the Pack 12 even or next year this year I think they’re going to take some lumps I think they’re gonna take some lumps are they in worse shape than most of the conference at quarterback I mean who’s the I mean no I I think it’s it’s a relative assessment I they’re they’re in better shape than a lot of teams but not in the shape that Lincoln Riley is used to be in he’s used to having the best quarterback in in the country that’s been or one of them is anyone saying that that’s Miller Moss right now I haven’t seen him saying anyone saying that so how does he fear when he doesn’t have one of the best quarterbacks in the country uh going into the equation I think is big question um that that will uh help determine their Outlook you know we’ll we’ll see here and not too long I mean the interesting thing is the way it it’s it’s the relativity right like USC’s got to have the best quarterback in the country he played as much for USC last year as Aiden Charles did for Oregon State and you ask him Michigan State fan right now they think Aiden Charles is going to be the best quarterback in the in in the Big 10 now that’s Michigan State you know which which casting is in there but you know it’s it’s interesting to me to see the the relativity there of you know what USC needs to do to win versus where everyone else in the conference kind of feels about their quarterback I mean Michigan is like okay we got everything can orgy hit a pass and then and he got you know and you got Ohio State thinking like okay you know we we got this running guy are we going to play Chip Kelly or are we going to um you know try to bring Julian S along faster than we need to right like that’s where everybody else is and you know as far as where you want to be in your quarterback situation you have a guy who who’s been in your system for four years he is he was the backup to the best quarterback in the country he played really well in the bll game that’s not a bad setup right no I agree I agree Michigan it has more uncertainty we got people in the chat saying I still predict that Jack tle will will start this season will be the the starter in the first game this season so I I think Jack I I I don’t think so I think Alex org is going to be the quarterback I think that you know he’s not going to be JJ McCarthy and I think that people are underrating how important JJ was last year that if you look at his um his performance first quarter through third quarter his numbers rack stack up with anybody it’s just he wasn’t slinging the ball late because Michigan was already up and they put him away and ALS so if you look at a lot of the plays that they had he got to throw underneath a lot more than people remember we forget about you know all those passes that were just you know open for six yards to Cornelius Johnson or something he threw a lot of Slants last year he threw a lot of outs last year and those are open because they are respecting his arm downfield I think people are going to play Michigan a lot more man this year they’re going to say okay we can have we can match our athletes up against Michigan’s receivers and see if orgy can hit a window downfield even if he do even he has leverage and until he proves that he can you’re going to see you know them stacking the Box against us yeah I tell you what he’s going to love to see man coverage not just because of the the one-on-one shots that he uh would get out of that but boy if he ever breaks contain he’s gonna be running a long long way for a long time uh if that’s the the strategy that they come out with against them so again time will tell on that too uh fellas it is always always a situation I feel like we’re running out of time when it comes to the MGO blog round table but that’s where we are at this point I want to give you a chance to plug your yearbook because I know you guys are working feverishly on that your commemorative uh commemorative uh piece that you’re putting together Victors we call it Victors for the national championship that’s what you call it Victors yeah and it’s a it’s become a three-year book because we we we couldn’t not do 2021 and 2022 and and the players were part of it because it’s the that’s part of the story and uh Brian just submitted the uh the Blake Corum right up which is incredible um we just got the uh the scars wrote the forward that’s what I’ve ending today it’s uh putting more into it than we realized and that’s why I want people understand who’ve already pre-ordered that it’s going to take a while for us to get it out but that’s because we’re putting putting a lot of writing into it a lot of original writing into it we’re going back into the old articles into the old um end of the game and saying like okay here’s what we thought at the time and here’s kind of what we think about what we thought then so it’s going to be a very um I I hope it’s going to be the best thing you ever own with uh with as far as Michigan I think it’s just going to be something you’re gonna it’s going to be out out all the time and you’re always goingon to want to open this thing up again outstanding all right looking forward to it uh until next week’s folks next week folks thanks for watching and listening to another edition of the MGO blog Roundtable we’ll be back tomorrow here on the Michigan Insider on Sports Talk