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MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

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MGoBlog’s channel featuring the very professional, very visual, podcast with Brian Cook, Seth Fisher, David Nasternak, and Alex Drain, plus The Teams history podcast with Seth and Dr. Sap, The Michigan Hockeycast, the MGoBlog Roundtable on WTKA.

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#550
Friday · 1 hr 7 min
MGoRadio 12.2: Something Less Appalling
The Sponsors We want to thank Underground Printing for starting this and making it possible—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com, or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com. And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, SignalWire where we are recording this, and introducing Applied Fitness Solutions, and The History of Michigan Football, an online course by Greg Dooley. Featured Musician: Jacob Givens THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: The show notes, eventually.] --------------------- 1. Oklahoma Preview: Offense starts at the top John Mateer is back; we got to see the Real Mateer last year—they ran him 15 times—before he got banged up, and that unfortunately is probably happening again. Still have Isaiah Sategna, the graduated slot who's going to be a handful no matter what, and three other WRs they like plus a rising sophomore who's going to be a star eventually. Run game is no longer hampered by the old RB coach, but they've got a lot of new cooks in the kitchen, and it's not clear who's running the show. There was a lot more under-center, they've imported blocking TEs and FBs, and they're playing 3 of them at a time. Last year Arbuckle ran his Wazzu RPO-heavy passing spread; this year the linemen are going downfield. Their OL situation is messed up right now with a lot of injuries clouding things at LT, C, and RG, and insiders are skeptical about the program's report that two of their ~6 starter-caliber guys will be fully back. So...true freshman center against Trey Pierce, eh? If Oklahoma turns this into a blowout it's because they are winning the TE vs Michigan LBs battle, which is a real concern given the LBs have to respect Mateer's legs and arm. 2. Oklahoma Preview: Defense starts at 18:45 Last year Michigan tried to ease Underwood in by doing the things you do with freshman QBs and Venables was sitting on them. You know he can coach a defense because he took over a Lincoln Riley/Cale Gundy outfit and made it an elite outfit. Took him a few years to do that of course, because he had to raise his own elite recruits. But yo: Cole Sullivan isn't even starting. They've made him the more linebacker option at CHEETAH, the VIPER equivalent. Secondary are all returning starters, front are all experienced guys. Alex was surprised however how much the UTEP run game worked on them, especially on Stone, the DT expected to be the first taken in the Draft. That was a Rich Rod 2008 effect somewhat: UTEP spread out and ran the QB and did interesting things to mess with the way Oklahoma defenders get upfield quickly. Michigan can't do what they did last year: NEED to hit some deep shots on 1st down. 3. WMU After Review: Offense starts at 38:04 4. WMU After Review: Defense starts at 55:24 Not great, actually. Big mistake scores in the LBs, John-Henry Daley was JAG. Did find a lot of +1 or +0.5 events for Dominic Nichols, including playing AROs well, and think Bowles is exciting in a Don Brown death marmot kind of way if they can have him not blow Day 1 things. But want more at 3rd DT than Lea'ea being a supreme effort guy—got two plays from Palepale in six snaps so there's upside here. Cam Brandt getting crushed is bad news for all of the young DEs. Nate Marshall had a young guy mistake so you see why they preferred the senior, but these guys are going to have to get a lot better. Secondary not much to say: they were fighting screens but not a lot downfield. Featured Artist: Jacob Givens I'm only barely on Instagram, but when I'm on there I'm usually sharing music stuff with my besties, who were all in an Ann Arbor band that tried to "make it." Jacob Givens is us, minus the Michigan football text chain. He also was making music around the same time as my friends, and finally shared it online. He's not as good at singing, but the composition and lyrics are so good I want to make a Jacob Givens video of me and my friends listening to Jacob Givens for the first time. Probably of Fluorescent. If you've got music and won't issue a takedown notice on YouTube, I'd love to feature it on future episodes. Songs: Tabula Rasa Fluorescent Pendulum Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken down, the opener and outro: “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat
#549
Thursday · 39 min
WTKA Roundtable 9/10/2026: It Was Bad
Things Discussed: Offensive line: one guy issues. Disappointment high, recalibrating, but not 3-9 bad. Bryce had a hand in everything that was wrong. Staring down the receiver isn't just a problem; he shouldn't even be looking there. Making decisions before the snap and not coming off them. Why is there a State Street/Main Street discrepancy? Don't know. Sam: They didn't have a plan for Bryce to be that bad, which tells you they didn't think he would be? Brian: Last year he was very up and down. Look at him like RS Fr Vince Young. He wasn't the Rose Bowl winner until that Rose Bowl. Guys like this don't come fully formed. Not writing him off. You need to do what he can do now and lean on it. Run the Dampier offense. Seth: We set up the expectations, Bryce and the program and the system did too, and maybe that's just wrong. What to do vs Oklahoma? They're a next-evolution Don Brown defense built to suffocate a QB run game (Cole Sullivan at CHEETAH sometimes). Hit them deep: slot fade, JJ down the sideline. Hockey hazing lawsuit: Not surprised because that was widespread in hockey and at Michigan in that era. Seth points out it was a massive historical success that we conquered that culture 25 years ago. It was brutally hard to do that. Open that can of worms. See how ugly things were. People should know we can fix this. Not naming Mel and Red in lawsuit: Figure UM will settle, if you add them they'll fight to preserve their reputations.
S18 · E4
Tuesday · 2 hr 13 min
MGoPodcast 18.1: Try To Think About Your Children
2 hours and 13 minutes 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, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, The Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and Venue by 4M where recorded this. 1. Clocks and Vibes Starts at 0:54 Brian left early. The clock said zero so he left the building. Spiritually the result of this game doesn't matter, they lost the game spiritually. After Zapruder Film Analysis, either NBC showed the wrong clock or the clock in the stadium is bad. The seconds weren't the same length?? Does college football need tenths of seconds? Was this the most disappointing game you've seen as a Michigan fan? The plays don't look coherent, it doesn't look like players are running the same thing. The run game was disappointing and Bryce Underwood does not look like he's improved from a year ago. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 2. Offense vs Western Michigan Starts at 19:30 Bad. Bad in ways that make you scared about where the program is. Bryce is still zeroing in on one receiver without seeing the field. Manuel Beigel is not one of the best eight offensive linemen, why is he on the field as the rhino? He can't block. Half the line ran stretch and the other half didn't. They didn't try to just run power down their throat. It felt like they were trying to run frippery without establishing the basic stuff first. The coaches are from Utah and BYU, programs that have been established for 20 years. Are the coaches running plays like Michigan has the stability and continuity of Utah and BYU? We were hearing that Bryce's footwork was improving, is he just not learning/processing fast enough? He's got the talent but if he can't read a defense then it doesn't matter. Age-wise, Bryce is still a freshman. Why did Bryson Kuzdzal start the second half, the other two RBs barely had any plays. JJ Buchanan is pretty good! Jalen Hoffman looked good, put him out there instead of a rhino. Evan Link came a long distance last year but was disappointing this week. 3. Hot Takes, Defense, and More Vibes Starts at 54:57 Takes hotter than the internet at about 10:30pm Saturday night. Can't be too mad at the defense because functionally they only really gave up six points. You can see things happening on the defense, the young linebackers have talent but they're making mistakes. On the ground game there's a huge difference between the starters and everybody else. They don't think they have a 3rd defensive tackle. Pierce and Etta looked pretty good. Too much Brandt. Salesi Moa didn't look terrible out there, he's an... interesting player. Defense tried to be heroes too many times. Punting was really good, Zeke Berry was an excellent gunner. Let's talk 4th downs and clock management. Nine penalties is concerning. The uniforms have got to go. The stadium volume was really low, the music wasn't deafening but you also couldn't hear the refs. The stadium experience felt "very generic". They replaced the Rose Bowl logo with a Google Gemini ad. They had to put the corporate logos on the banner that had the national championship logos on it. It feels like every year that you go to the stadium the experience gets worse. This is important to us and not to the people who are selling it. There's nothing about it now that wouldn't be materialistically different than if Dave Brandon was currently the athletic director. It looks like Michigan didn't let Western bring their band. Fans rushing the field might've been the most organic thing to happen during the game but players wanted nothing to do with it. 4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:46:06 Lightning round: Indiana 52, North Texas 16 Nebraska 49, Ohio 21 Ohio State 56, Ball State 3 Penn State 45, Marshall 0 Iowa 40, Northern Illinois 0 Maryland 62, Ham 0 USC 39, Fresno State 0 Minnesota 59, Eastern Illinois 7 Northwestern 34, South Dakota State 18 Illinois 42, UAB 23 Purdue 44, Indiana State 19 Washington 24, Washington State 10 Sadly this is probably how the Apple Cup will go from now on. Washington really struggled to move the ball but Wazzu has no offense. Notre Dame 41, Wisconsin 13 Wisconsin's uniforms looked like Rutgers. This was not the blowout that the score suggests. Neither team could really run the ball. Wisconsin looks like a team that could make a bowl game again. Oregon 34, Boise State 27 Oregon almost doubles Boise State in yardage. Remember Seth's hot take about the Oregon offensive line? Dan Lanning is not building strong up front. UCLA 42, Cal 24 Could UCLA maybe be 7-3 when they come into Ann Arbor? They rushed for over 8 YPC. Michigan State 30, Toledo 20 This game was funnier Saturday morning. Toledo had some explosive plays. Doesn't move the needle on Michigan State much. UMass 37, Rutgers 21 UMass rushing rutger'd Rutgers. MUSIC: "Too Much Time On My Hands"—Styx "Against All Odds"—Phil Collins "Walking On A Thin Line"—Huey Lewis the Names “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra
#548
September 4 · 1 hr 2 min
MGoRadio 12.1: Upon Further Preview
The Sponsors We want to thank Underground Printing for starting this and making it possible—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com, or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com. And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, SignalWire where we are recording this, and introducing Applied Fitness Solutions, and The History of Michigan Football, an online course by Greg Dooley. Featured Musician: The Unsustainables THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: The show notes, eventually.] --------------------- 1. WMU Preview: Offense starts at the top It's a Walt Bell offense! They're going to put the WRs and TEs at the sideline to draw the secondary away from a running game that goes tempo, shifts late, and has a great backfield to punish any mistakes. Big OL includes a returning all-MAC guy and two 6'6" heavies at guard. Expect the WR screens to be the main passing attack, and if it's 3rd & long they dead. 2. WMU Preview: Defense starts at 15:27 The front seven got raided. They're finally out of Lou Esposito defensive linemen, went to the portal for an OSU walk-on and a weird DT/LB hybrid from LIU. Linebackers were formerly blitzy types, now 5th years. Secondary has one star in Joshua Franklin, the corner who returned when he could have gone to Ohio State or something, and another decent returning starter in former UConn/CMU CB Jarvarius Sims. Turner's been moved to nickel however and they're starting Presbyterian CB Willard Ferrell, who's listed at 6'1"/155, which: I believe you if you say you've gotten bigger but if that's your starting point woah. Ditto for returning free safety Joey Pope, and former Michigan walk-on, who also started for WMU last year. 3. Upon Further Preview starts at 28:41 Things we learned while doing the previews. One is that people are calling Bryce Underwood a bust: uh, too early folks! Linebacker panic in spring was probably because they saw nine walk-on caliber players with three young guys and zero Nate Staehlings. Also Chris Bracy's arrival was like Dani Rojas. 4. The NCAA's Eligibility Crisis starts at 53:32 Is LSU trying to corner the market on most unlikeable coaches? They are pushing this thing so hard it's turning people in favor of the NCAA. Such an incredible own goal from the NCAA to not grandfather this properly, because there were guys waiting and they drew a harsh line. Because they gave everybody the 2020-21 season for free it's really only those two classes—2021 and 2022—that didn't get a free fifth year, and all they had to do to make this make sense was extend it to players who 1) Didn't do anything pro after this rule was an option (read: not the guys LSU tried to sign, who were trying out on NFL teams); and 2) Would have eligibility under the new five-for-five rule (read: only recent grads who played four in four). Michigan would like them to play anyways because Roddy Gayle is now crucial with the McCoy injury, and it would be nice to bring back Ernest Hausmann as well. Featured Artist: The Unsustainables From MGoUser TxWolverine44: My band is The Unsustainables and we're based out of Chapel Hill. We're a rock-steady ska group and recently released our first album Every Broken Heart Will Mend (we have sent out the opening title track as our unofficial single). Worst case, I hope you enjoy it! The loose Michigan connection is that I'm an alum (c/o 2012) so tenuous Best case, I enjoy it, listen to it a bunch while writing the previews this year, and use it for our first MGoRadio episode this year. They say rock-steady ska, but if ska is a confluence of jazz and pop-punk, the jazz influence here is a much bigger part of the mix. Seeing them live up here probably isn't an option, but they have a couple of EPs that preceded this album so you can turn this on and leave it boppin' while you go through a bunch of linebacker film or whatever it is you do during the day. I used three thematic songs but the Chesterfields song was my fav when I had this on. If you've got music and won't issue a takedown notice on YouTube, I'd love to feature it on future episodes. Songs: Every Broken Heart Friday Nite Honeydrippers Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken down, the opener and outro: “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat
#547
September 3 · 49 min
WTKA Roundtable 9/3/2026: The Otter is Right
Things Discussed: Smart, old secondary. Can play those Fangio games where you recognize patterns in how they align and switch coverages. Going to be special to watch that. DTs: Lea'ea and Etta are not doubles-eaters, so we may have to play differently than we have in the past up front. Can you play 3-4? Sure but that will wear out Pierce. Would love for Palepale to come online Utah best offense in Whittingham's tenure last year with Dampier, who is not remotely accurate. Bryce: Surrounding cast much better (28 drops last year!), his legs included. Dante Moore at UCLA was the comp to last year. Okay gets you to 20th in SP+, better than that needs Bryce to step up. Can he? Yeah, think Gardner is too low on Bryce's ability to read a defense and hit tiny windows. DB on Marsh was scared and that gave breathing room. WMU: Not the kind of offense you expect to see from a MAC team. Big offensive line, Walt Bell runs a complicated run offense that really tests how well your defensive rules work inside. WMU Defense: I love their nickel, but they have some tiny guys in the secondary who are just not going to be able to handle JJ Buchanan. Expect Bryce to look better in this game than he will most of the year. Roddy Gayle litigation: NCAA shot themselves in the foot, but not certain how the court will rule. TRO is a good start, next step is a preliminary injunction it's important to win so he can keep practicing, but the emergency ruling will be the ballgame, and it's not certain the judges will side with him. Sucks because the McCoy injury means they need Roddy now.
#546
August 27 · 51 min
WTKA Roundtable 8/27/2026: The Lies of August
Things Discussed: Online Q&A Tomorrow hosted by U-M Club of Fairfield. Detroit Kickoff Dinner on Monday at Ford's Garage, and the following day I'm in D.C. Pre-show, Sam & Ira were talking NFL doing away with Pro Bowl. Seth suggests they have college alumni games. Certainly there are some NFL players from Ohio State who want to beat Michigan at something once in their lives? Pick different rivalries every year. Best Fred Jacksonism ever: Anton Campbell is Gayle Sayers. Sorting the camp facts from camp lies. Tariq Boney is believable because he's probably getting to the quarterback, could be used in an Uche role this year, but isn't going to be on the field in a run situation. Use what you know and how players develop. Lea'ea has gotten bigger, but can he get so much bigger to be one of the three, or isn't it more likely he's just going to be who he is and what you're hearing about Kanka and Palepale is they're not impact guys right now, and Moten etc. are not playable yet? Linebacker is where this gets scary, because once you start talking about Max Alford: I know what Max Alford looks like. Basketball trip to Lithuania takeaways: Quinn Costello is a movement shooter. Taller Foster Loyer. Brandon McCoy is going to be a problem on both ends of the court. Think his shot is busted; his free throws are not that close. Craig: teach him some midrange. Center: Can't play without Thiam. Estrella looks like a four, Moller is not ready this year. New rules to prevent pros from coming back: schools will punish coaches and schools, hope to muddle things for inevitable lawsuits. Big Ten hasn't promulgated a basketball rule, football rule means no Ernest Hausmann though, because (before they made the rule) his name was in the Draft. Roddy would be ineligible if they extend this to basketball because he played in summer league, which is a pro league. NCAA won some recent cases.
S18 · E3
August 21 · 2 hr 21 min
MGoPodcast 18.0.c: Someone Always Has To Die
2 hours and 21 minutes 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, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, The Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and Venue by 4M where recorded this. 1. Michigan's Nonconference and Big Ten Teams 18-15 Starts at 0:54 We welcome in Alex Drain to go over Michigan's nonconference games and the rest of the Big Ten. Western Michigan Pretty good for a MAC team, they won the MAC last year. Last year they were an offensively driven team, but they've lost their defensive coordinator to the LA Chargers. They have big offensive linemen (including Ben Roebuck). Michigan's questions at defensive tackle and linebacker will get an early test. UTEP It's bad. Like... really bad. They're starting over with FCS guys. Oklahoma They get John Mateer back (which can be good or bad at any given moment). His stats in the second half of last year weren't great, how much of that was because of injury? He's an athlete when he has to run the ball. They bring back All-SEC WR Isaiah Sategna. Their run game overall was really bad, it brought down their overall offensive SP+ to 51st. Current SP+ projections are 27th. Cole Sullivan might not even start. The starting line is Michigan -2.5 so consider it a toss-up. 18 - Purdue 7-29 in the last three years since losing Jeff Brohm, and there's not much optimism going into this year either. Their schedule might be a little easier at least. This is year two of a coach starting over for Baryy Odom. Can you name the Michigan player who is a projected starter for Purdue? 17 - Michigan State Pat Fitzgerald is... a weird hire. They bring back QB Alessio Milivojevic for some continuity, also PFF really likes UConn RB Cam Edwards. The offensive line looks okay-ish. However, Fred Moore is a projected starter. Do they get four wins? 16 - Rutgers Nobody cares about them except for Bryan Mac. Last year they had their best offense since 2007 but their defense was 131st in success rate. They have KJ Duff who has a claim for the 2nd best wide receiver in the Big Ten. The offense is projected at 37th in SP+, the defense at 90th. 15 - Maryland Someone always has to die in the Maryland preview. They're #2 in returning production in SP+. Give Locksley some credit for returning a lot of young and talented players. A nonconference game against James Franklin's Virginia Tech could be exciting. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 2. Big Ten Teams 14-8 Starts at 38:57 14 - Northwestern They have Chip Kelly and a new stadium (we all liked Ryan Field, though). They start with South Dakota State and then get a week two bye, oddly enough. Can they fix Aidan Chiles? They have some returning wide receivers that are decent. 13 - Wisconsin The shell of Wisconsin, the week they though Luke Fickell would get fired he got an extension. They bring in QB Colton Joseph, the Sun Belt player of the year. Old Wisconsin would never have to go into the portal for a running back. By extending Fickell they gave him a bigger NIL budget which he used to get seven defensive starters. 12 - UCLA They have a new coach. The weird Deshaun Foster era ended before it started. Bob Chesney comes in from James Madison. Nico Iamaleava comes back (for better or worse). James Madison was in the playoffs last year, you might recall. There is a lot of reason to be optimistic about this hire. Semaj Morgan is there! 11 - Nebraska They did not get year-three Matt Rhule, there was no lift-off and Raiola left. They picked up QB Anthony Colandrea from Virginia. They need a new RB. They're on their 4th defensive coordinator in five years, despite a soft schedule they still finished 7-6 last year. It feels like another 7-5 ish season. Is that Matt Rhule or is that just Nebraska now? 10 - Minnesota 68% returning production. They're always around here and they always win a bowl game. QB Drake Lindsey is appearing on 1st round mock drafts?? They're projecting 71st on offense and 24th on defense. They're Minnesota. 9 - Illinois They lose Luke Altmyer to the Detroit Lions and bring in Katin Houser (MSU plays three of their former QBs). Only one starter returns on the offensive line. They bring in Bobby Hauck as defensive coordinator, he left Montana claiming college football wasn't fun anymore and then took this job five days later. He might be their Wink. The defense needs to be fixed up a bit. 8 - Washington They forcibly detained QB Demond Williams for another year so... I guess we'll see how that goes. Last year he could just toss it up to Denzel Boston but he's out the door. They bring in a RB from Oregon and Christian Moss from Kennesaw State. Four of five starters return on the offensive line which could be solid. They lost some pretty good guys in the secondary, defensive tackle is still worrying since they have FCS and MAC guys to plug in positions. Their schedule is very favorable, they could even sneak into the playoffs (and get demolished). 3. Hot Takes and Secondary Starts at 1:19:11 Takes hotter than the hottest hot take that anyone has ever given the Sklars after one of their shows. 7 - Iowa They're Iowa. They haven't had an SP+ defense worse than 6th since 2018. They got all the way up to 37th last year in offensive SP+ (turns out Brian Ferentz was not good at offensive coordination). There are some all-Big Ten guys on the offensive line. Do they have any receivers? Ehhh. They have tight ends. Seth read three preview magazines and they all listed different starting QBs. They lost a lot on defense but they always rebuild. This could be a worrying game for Michigan (if Iowa can score). 6 - Penn State Well, the good news is last year they weren't as bad as they looked. Despite everything that happened they were close to beating Indiana at the end of the season. Matt Campbell comes in with Rocco Becht. A lot of players came over from Iowa State, it's just a matter of how quickly they can fit it all together. Their schedule is a joke, they could even sneak into the playoff or the Big Ten title game. Michigan should still be a favorite. 5 - USC They bring back QB Jayden Maiava, but they replace Makai Lemon. The receiver conveyer belt is moving. Everybody loves Waymond (and they bring back King Miller). Their new defensive coordinator is Gary Patterson (yeah that Gary Patterson). Too bad they don't play Northwestern. They always have a top 10 offense and they just need the defense to be okay. The schedule is brutal, though. Are they just permanently the 15th best team in college football under Lincoln Riley? 4 - Michigan? See: all other content. 3 - Indiana They are the portal team now. Despite losing so many players they recruited the transfer portal like an SEC team. QB Josh Hoover comes in from TCU, he's a good conference starter. They also bring in Nick Marsh (MSU) and Shazz Preston from Tulane. Add that to Charlie Becker and their WR room is stacked (also two time winning national champion Tyler Morris!). They bring in a RB named Turbo! They reload on defense and keep their defensive coordinator. Brian is not a believer and predicts 8-4, Alex thinks they'll be really good, Seth is somewhere in between. 2 - Oregon They get Dante Moore back with the regular trope of skill position players. The offensive line is a big question mark and they replace both of their coordinators with in-house hires. The defense has some good players including one of the best corners in the country. They have a Rimmington-quality center but that's about it for the line (the starting right tackle is a true freshman). Their talent is undeniable, but can they win the big game? 1 - Ohio State Last year they had the Penn State schedule of this year. Sayin's stats looked unbelievable through 12 games, then they couldn't score against Indiana and Miami. That needs to improve. Jeremiah Smith is a generational wide receiver, Chris Henry Jr will be really good but probably not quite Jeremiah Smith's level. The offense will need to make that next step. The defense was what was considered generational on SP+. They lose 9 of 11 starters on defense but they always have a conveyer belt. They had to portal some guys, though. They'll probably take a step back on defense but the offense stepping forward probably cancels that out. The schedule is pretty brutal. 4. Lightning Round Starts at 2:09:30 Predictions! List yours in the comments. -Who will be offensive MVP? -Who will be defensive MVP? -Breakout player on offense? -Breakout player on defense? -X-factor on offense? (Most variable in your estimation) -X-factor on defense? -Biggest strength on offense? -Biggest strength on defense? -Biggest concern on offense? -Biggest concern on defense? -Who's your guy on offense? -Who's your guy on defense? -Michigan's record? MUSIC: "The Latter Teens"—Vansire "Black Bear"—Hey, Nothing "Funky Fanfare"—Keith Mansfield “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra
S18 · E2
August 19 · 1 hr 49 min
MGoPodcast 18.0.b: Adonises of the Shield Wall
1 hour and 49 minutes 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, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, The Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and Venue by 4M where recorded this. 1. Defensive Line Starts at 0:54 The defense is older and more experienced overall compared to the offense, but there are some holes to fill. John Henry Daley transfers from Utah and claims to be ready to go. Aidan Hutchinson as his ceiling might be tough coming off of an injury, but Aidan Hutchinson's 2021 season was also coming off of an injury. There's also a version of JHD where he's not all the way back and is only pretty good. The other starter is either Cam Brandt or Dom Nichols. We're not hearing a lot about Nate Marshall. Benny Patterson, on the other hand, could be a guy that's coming on. A lot of the defensive ends have some experience and are just waiting for their turn. Defensive tackle is not as deep, has some question marks, and doesn't have an established star. Trey Pierce could be solid. Enow Etta has a chance of taking a big step forward. By the end of the season he was the one still standing up against Ohio State. Seth is not high on Jonah Lea'ea. Palepale is probably the 3rd defensive tackle, he's a big dude. Don't give up on defensive tackles. Everyone wants Alister Vallejo to be the high riser, the Mason Graham comparisons are out there. Bobby Kanka flashed in the spring game. Defensive tackle seems like a not great situation overall - there are a couple guys who are serviceable to good and then a lot of questions marks. You always need at least four. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 2. Linebackers Starts at 33:40 The group that is probably the most uncertain, more-so than defensive tackle. They had a first and second team of linebackers that have left after last season. We get to see Cole Sullivan again this year after he transferred to Oklahoma. Nate Staehling is the guy we're most excited about, the transfer from North Dakota State. It would be so lovely if he was a generic Iowa linebacker! He has the ability to take on a lead block. The other portal takes are much less inspiring. Troy Bowles, Chase Taylor, and Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng are the other major contributors. A lot of them look like safeties. Chase Taylor has high shoulder pads! Staehling probably starts with Bowles? After these three it drops off pretty quickly. The recruiting class has three guys that all ranked in flyer territory. Nobody in the program is complaining about defensive tackle, but there are a lot of concerns about linebackers. Keep the top guys mostly healthy and you've got a shot, though. 3. Hot Takes and Secondary Starts at 53:56 Takes hotter than that other week this summer that wasn't even Art Fair but it was like 100 billion degrees and Brian was sitting outside watching his kids play tennis badly. This is a surprisingly veteran group! Not a lot of questions at cornerback, your starters are Jyaire Hill, Zeke Berry, and they import Smith Snowden from Utah. Jyaire Hill has first round upside and this year should be a star. Zeke Berry is at least solid but is he better than that? Could Shamari Earls start over Zeke by the end of the season? The other cornerbacks are Jo'Ziah Edmond, I'Marion Stewart, and Jamarion Vincent. Vincent is a freshman and Stewart is a flip from wide receiver; they're not generating a lot of buzz. Seth is ridiculously high on Smith Snowden at nickel. At safety - is Rod Moore going to be healthy? He says he's healthy but he's on a pitch count. If he's healthy and he's Rod Moore he's one of the best safeties in the country, but he might not be Rod Moore. Chris Bracy transfers in from Memphis and is one of the best transfers in the country. He's a huge asset in stopping the run. Too bad he's not big enough to play linebacker. Mason Curtis got a lot of experience last year and is the 3rd safety, he'll get a lot of opportunities this year. Jordan Young has some upside despite inexplicable snaps last season. 4. Special Teams and Overall Thoughts Starts at 1:28:04 This defense feels like it's going to be pretty decent but there are a lot of questions. If you get the ceiling of a lot of guys on the edge and maybe Staehling then they could be really good. But the middle of the field and the backup defensive tackles are shaky. Will it be fine and are we just spoiled as Michigan fans? There are a lot of guys that will be big pieces on the defense in two or three years and they're on the roster right now. The secondary will be especially exciting if Rod Moore is back, but could weird teams like Iowa take advantage of what Michigan's missing? Also, Michigan has a college defensive coordinator and not Wink Martindale. Michigan imported Trey Butkowski (kicker) and Cam Brown (Aussie punter). Pat Narduzzi was really mad that he lost his kicker so he must be really good. He's not Moody or Zvada but he makes a lot of kicks. The 25 yard line is probably field goal range now, rather than the 35, Justin Turner is your likely comparison. Cam Brown's an odd one. He's a Hudson Hollenbeck comparison but kicks it a little further. Michigan's long snapper, Gavin Magorien, is the only Michigan player on the Freaks List this year. Who do you want returning kickoffs, Moa? And Andrew Marsh on punts? MUSIC: "Take It"—Donnie and Joe Emerson "Rabbits"—Thomas Dollbaum "Dog Bite"—Mickey Leao “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra
S18 · E1
August 17 · 2 hr 26 min
MGoPodcast 18.0.a: Surprise! We're Running Cam Newton
2 hours and 26 minutes 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, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, The Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and Venue by 4M where recorded this. 1. 2026 Season Vibes Starts at 0:54 Well, that was an offseason! We win national championships and commit crimes, we are now an SEC program. Michigan has a good dude in Kyle Whittingham now, though! Everyone deserves a freshly showered Brian Cook. What's your excitement level going into this season? It's nice that there are adults in charge now. Some of the things that felt 'off' last season make more sense. There aren't many players on offense this year who you wouldn't project to come back next year, it's a big building year. We're in 2015 mode right now. They actually imported an entire wide receiver room. It feels like Bryce lost a year of development but at least he goes into this year knowing what to expect. The strength and conditioning should be greatly improved, it's telling when coaches leave somewhere and end up at a worse program. 2. Quarterback and Running Back Starts at 25:15 It felt like last year was a lost cause. Pass protection wasn't good enough because the line was super young, the wide receivers were... not sufficient enough. Tyler Huntley in his second year at Utah ran probably three times as much as Bryce, he's still in the NFL with the Ravens. The potential is still there but it feels like he's still a freshman. They ran Bryce like you would run John Navarre, thinking nobody will expect this! This year it will be a team that runs the quarterback. This is the most talent Kyle Whittingham's staff has ever had, they come from a college background and should be excited to execute with it. Bryce struggled passing last year but he was thrown into a bad situation with his receivers. Do you think Bryce will have fewer pass attempts this season? Physically Bryce is everything you could ask for, he just needs to get there mentally. He hasn't been golfing this offseason. Progress is not linear, he might not look great early but hope for him to get slowly better over the course of the season and have a watershed moment by mid-season. Some QBs you can tell just aren't happening in the spring game, but Tommy Carr was happening. Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi is here but did not enroll for spring, he's a multi-year starter at Colorado State but lost his job. Chase Herbstreit and Brady Smigiel... don't exist right now. Running back is similar to last year where the one-two punch is among the best in the country and Bryson Kuzdzal is the third guy. This is Jordan Marshall's year and just by the way he talks there's no way he's not going to try and be the best running back in the country. Savion Hiter already looks like the best running back prospect out of high school in many years. Is Kuzdzal the ceiling for an RB3? Any other program who looks at this running back room will look at us and say "shut up". You wouldn't expect meaningful playing time from anyone else. 3. Hot Takes, Wide Receivers, and Tight Ends Starts at 1:14:40 Takes hotter than Ann Arbor during Art Fair. The wide receiver room... exists! Do you remember the last Michigan receiver to have a 1,000 yard season? Some guys just have it, Andrew Marsh has it. Who's the last Michigan receiver to live up to this hype? Nico Collins? They import JJ Buchanan in the way that Devin Funchess was a tight end, he's your jump ball guy. Salesi Moa and Travis Johnson are true freshmen but they're the next two guys being mentioned. Salesi Moa blew everyone away at the Polynesian Bowl, you hope for him to be Michigan's Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Travis Johnson seems to be WR4 but also one of the fastest guys on the team, how much play time can you expect? Jaime Ffrench comes in from Texas, Michigan barely had a receiver room when he committed, he's in a weird situation. Channing Goodwin is getting some chatter again. Who are the jet sweep guys, Moa and Marsh? This is the thinnest tight end room we can remember. There isn't a Colston Loveland type guy but Zack Marshall looked really good last year and has a captain mentality. They say Hogan Hansen is healthy and ready to go but he's been hampered by injury and is probably a bit behind physically. Jalen Hoffman is ready to step up and be that dude as a blocker. Also he can catch the ball! They're talking about freshman Mason Bonner in wide receiver-y ways. Eli Owens (Thump) wants to be Max Bredeson but it's only his 2nd year. 4. Offensive Line Starts at 1:57:36 Brian was despondent when linemen hit the portal in the offseason but they all came back. Jake Guarnera is the center and there's no question about it - that being locked down is so important. Andrew Sprague should also be great, he's the locked in right tackle. It's a good thing when Texas comes for your linemen (as long as you keep them). How good of a pass protector can he be, though? They just imported Jim Harding from Utah, regarded as one of the best offensive line coaches in the country. The offensive line has question marks but they're good question marks. Blake Frazier was the lightest guy on the line but he's put on 20 lbs, he should be improved at left tackle. Babalola's progress is the only reason he's not locked in. There's the "Rhino" role for a 6th offensive lineman so there are positions for everyone. They're hyping up Babalola a lot in practice. The incoming freshmen are great but they're freshmen. Evan Link looks to be your starting left guard, he massively improved at left tackle last year after a rough freshman year but this should be a better suited role for him. There's competition for right guard but not for left guard so he might be a pretty solid option. Right guard is a competition between Brady Norton and Nathan Efobi. People are very high on Ace Hamilton. The offense as a whole has a lot of talent but it's so young, they don't have a senior leader. This team will probably still feel like they're a year away. MUSIC: "King of the Night"—Rubber Band Gum "Fools"—Drugdealer "Mobile Home"—Jesse Woods “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra
#545
August 13 · 50 min
WTKA Roundtable 8/13/2026: Mike Sainristils But Fast
Things Discussed: We need a Sicario entrance. Special guest Ron English got to see practice. Recalls 2011 Sugar Bowl prep was all Kyle Whittingham. Strength gains: different S&C approach, or different feel in the program? Jay Hill defense: A lot of disguise, a lot of movement. Reminded Ron he came to visit in 2005. Ron's a big fan of Jyaire Hill, recruited the hell out of him when at Purdue. When a hyperathletic quarterback comes to college they run a lot, was coaching malpractice not to let Bryce develop the way QBs like him are supposed to. Change in philosophy will be helpful on multiple levels. The 2023 mission was get JJ to the championship game healthy. The 2025 mission is run Bryce into the ground. Zone reads are a basketball play; you need to rep it to get a feel for who you can beat, when a scrape exchange is coming, because everyone practices how to defend it. It was the height of arrogance to put Bryce in and expect him to run it. Coaching philosophy change: more go-get-it. Are we a 2026 is a process year: let's see them get better and buy in so they can make a run (comp: 2015). This is a very good, very experienced secondary. Probably can get those guys to play Don Brown I'm-gonna-beat-ya and play Mac/Minter/Martindale complex zone-swapping games. Jay Hill does a great job of running confusing defense without confusing his defense. Minter got it: in college you can threaten and threaten without running what you're threatening.
#544
August 6 · 56 min
WTKA Roundtable 8/6/2026: All Phonebooks Are Real
Things Discussed: Seth and Craig are on early to talk about 5th year seniors returning if they're able (won't be that many because roster spots and NIL budgets are used up). Also Detroit Tigers trades. You coulda been a contender, given the next generation something to love. Dads with young kids in Polanco jerseys, but you never see a Deivi Cruz jersey because they weren't watchable enough to care. FOOOOOOOTBALL!!! Weight gains/strength gains? Sort of an indictment on the state of the program last year if guys like Etta are making big gains (Staehling makes more sense). May also just mean the team is marketing this. Frazier we believe in, because we hear it from many places. OL was good last year but when they got to Ohio State that was a bridge too far. Babalola/Frazier/Sprague/Link? They're all tackles. Can't move Sprague. We don't know this staff well enough yet to read between the lines. Whittingham walked in like "this cupboard ain't bare." Jake Guarnera will be a great center. One thing Sherrone did well was recruit Cs. Can tell because Texas went right at him in the offseason. Bracy is going to start. Second-best safety in run support on PFF, and it really translated on his tape. That guy fills! Players insist Staehling will be a breakout guy. Sam recalls the interviews he did with a bunch of players. Expecting the anchor of the defense will be the DL. Dom Nichols will step up. Deyvid Palepale will be an impact guy. Brian: This is a harder sell for me. Let Urban in the building? Sure but don't let him see anything.
#543
July 30 · 53 min
WTKA Roundtable 7/30/2026: Come Together
Things Discussed: Surprised how fast they're speed-running into a 24-team Playoff. They're on a gold rush now because they discovered they can draw out all the goodwill and passion obtained from 100 years of this being a good deal. Jordan Marshall: Excited to be a captain because it's about bringing people together. Said it's why we beat OSU 13-10, and that OSU had to become more connected to come back and beat them. THAT is what it's about. Seeing nugs of the good college football we're here for all over the place. M's front seven next year? Not natty-level because not enough superstars. LBs are so young—liked NOB and Chase last year more for freshmen. Staehling doesn't do it for me. Think their depth is shaky. Team is a work in progress. Who's the best player on the defense this year? We can't answer it. Reviewing Wink: Was too clever. I have a greater appreciation for the collaborative nature of football. Bring back Doug Mallory as an analyst. He's a nerd, like Kyle Church or Jay Harbaugh, just doesn't put himself forward enough. Nicknaming: Moustapha Thiam is Moose. Hockey guys all get a –y, except Seth who was Fat Fish. Boynton presser: seemed to have a handle on things. Confident, relaxed. VERY happy to have Kyle Church around; Brown was a Dusty guy. First impressions of new guys: Costello can SHOOT and is a real 6-10. Different types of dudes you encounter in different sports. What do you want to hear from Media Days? Bryce is getting it, mention guys we haven't heard before.
S8 · E27
July 29 · 1 hr 13 min
Michigan HockeyCast 8.27: Brand New Paint Scheme
1 Hour and 13 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 The reason we did this podcast. A review of DuPont’s playing style follows- good fit with Michigan’s offensive system, will thrive with the creativity afforded to him. Some kinks to work out in his game but he should be great. After that, discussion of defense pairs, where DuPont fits, and whether this makes Michigan the odds-on favorite to win the national title. Segment 2 Much talk of many NHL trades and trade requests… yet did the balance of power shift in the league? Skip forward for some Yzerman firing talk and where the Red Wings go from here. Does this move even matter? Podcast concludes with a couple brief Michigan Hockey notes on the non-conference schedule and the loss of Rob Rassey. MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "In the Summertime" -- Mungo Jerry Ice Hockey (NES) theme
#542
July 23 · 50 min
WTKA Roundtable 7/23/2026: No More FAQing Around
Things Discussed: Craig asks AI if any of us should be athletic director. Brian on Warde: Not an easy tenure to assess. The case against him is we're spending $11 million on an investigation because there were too many scandals that were explainable (Weiss) or went away (Shoop, Xavier Simpson crashes Warde's wife's car), on top of $30 million for the Stalions thing, on top of what it costs to send him on his way. There wasn't a lot of coherence. Mixed legacy, but there are a couple of national championships on his resume, graduated athletes, good hires. Seth: Ends as it lived: waiting around five months to write a big check. He accumulated enemies. If he won some of these battles—kept Harbaugh, kept Bakich, kept Dusty—or had a few more instances where he acted decisively on a scandal (like Weiss). Sam violates a confidence with Greg Harden to clear up something: the *SCHOOL* had a firm they use to vet people like Shemy; when they failed it fell on Warde, but he didn't have a choice which firm. Sam thinks Grasso told him "I've got your back, but I'm gone soon, so do you want to go out on your own terms or somebody else's?" Seth & Sam: The decision not to release the report doesn't look good for the president and regents. Warde was probably the target of the investigation, but they probably turned up things that the vetting org, where the people who commissioned the report are the ones who botched it. This is how Baylor handles things. Why would you spend $12 million when the buyout is $7.5? Is Warde getting more than his buyout? If so, what are we paying for? Is it to keep quiet about other things? Our rivals want to know, we want to know. Can't think of a good faith reason not to present all of the findings in a report, except to prevent, e.g. Shriver from fishing. Brian: Michigan has a policy of not complying with FOIA. Sam: Why would they release that? Seth: Grasso is independent now, because what are they gonna do, fire him? But the regents are elected by the people of the State of Michigan, and too many people who investigate Michigan are too good at their jobs. Not me, but we have real journalists around here. We just got the real story of the botched Shemy background check. Do you really want to wait for Kim Kozlowski to dig out more stories like that? Or the Daily? Because she/they fucking will, and you'll all look like idiots. Sam reacts to the "Warde is lazy" talk. He was very hands-on when he re-hired Harbaugh in 2020, e.g. there's no way Harbaugh hires Mike Hart. If you were to FOIA conversations about waiting to make a decision on Mel, he's sure you'll find Warde wasn't alone in sitting on the report. What if it wasn't (just) Warde? Talking about the next president. They're considering Duggan (a politician). Only if it's someone who got out of politics because they're too honest. Craig recommends Obama—he couldn't be *that* bored. Think it will be an academic. According to one donor, the AD's #1 job: fundraising. A lot of them are going to be super pro-Katie Fraumann, though she doesn't have AD experience. Sam: like going with a politician for president. Seth: no, it's more like raising the OC. It's not direct AD experience, but it's a lot closer to being an AD. Who are our candidates? We can do a better job of laying out what we want. Winning, obviously. Brian wants someone who *REALLY* cares about the university. Seth wants transparency, who changes Michigan's culture, where you know not to fuck around because we won't cover it up for you. Sam agrees that wasn't a strength for Warde, though he was doing better with it at the end. Craig: someone who really loves the university, because Santa Ono didn't. Sam needs someone who can manage the academic space and also fundraise. Fair to say politicians do more of extracting money without giving anything back. Fraumann? Donors' pick. Not a seasoned AD, but someone who's been next to the AD. Seth: Warde was very good at raising money without annoying me. I love nothing better than when donors give millions and millions, and I don't have to hear about it, and Katie must have been part of that. I've heard the same things from donors, which is important; I want Sam to find out what the coaches think, because that was a key issue w Warde, and it's important that they want to work for her. Brian: on the surface she looks like a good pick, notable that she was hired for an academic job at DePaul.
#541
July 16 · 48 min
WTKA Roundtable 7/16/2026: Al Capone's Secret Tomb
Things Discussed: The Warde Report: Did they find anything? Apparently not. Do we get anything? Apparently not. Really? Eleven months of waiting and the answer is "nothing to see here?" Do we get a "report"? Does one exist? To avoid FOIA it's possible that the findings of the investigation were delivered orally so that they could not be used in litigation (e.g. Shiver's). That's a sad state of affairs, because we are interested parties who deserve access to the findings. The WSJ's thing: Claims Warde was aware of the relationship enough to warn Moore not to bring Shiver on a trip. Doesn't mean anything, unless you really want to stretch it, because the timeline shows the program conducted that investigation after it was brought to the university, and didn't have enough to do anything until Shiver came forward in December, at which point they fired Moore on the spot. Relitigating the scandals and "scandals." Craig says again he thought the Mel Pearson situation was handled correctly, which gets a lot of pushback. Seth says Warde wasn't playing the long game with the NCAA, and his indifferent approach to the buildup of Ohio State influence plus Harbaugh's inability to separate the little reportable stuff from the fights made all of it into a maximal storm over really miniscule events. The one thing that bothered in all of it was letting people into the building during COVID. That's a minor violation that should have been reported. The Bad Faith people—sparties, buckeyes, haters—don't need to be reasoned with. Just block and move on, because trying to reason with hate is a waste of time. Summary of status: They spent $X million(s) on an investigation, the results of which did not lead to the immediate termination of Warde Manuel, and which are not being shared. There is talk of a buyout, which means he's not getting removed now, and probably not for a year at least (there's 3 or 4 years left on his contract). There's clearly a faction that wants him gone, and clearly a faction that needs convincing, and this report did not do any convincing. I feel so....unsatisfied.
#540
July 9 · 49 min
WTKA Roundtable 7/9/2026: Don't Test Me on 1999
Things Discussed: McKenny, Trey: Present. Cadeau, Elliot: Present. Thiam, Moustapha: Present. Estrella, J.P.: Present. McCoy, Brandon: Present. Reed, Jalen: Present. Liburd, Patrick: Present. Goodman, Oscar: Present! Cosby, Brown, Costello...they're rolling 'em out and we expect Moller and Cason back as well. Retaining staff, especially Akeem Miskdeen. Is he? Leaning that way, not entirely sure. Would you let Warde give staffers 3-year contracts? Yeah. If I'm Manuel and they just spent millions to investigate me I'm spending all I can because why not? If you fail it's somebody else's problem. It's an issue in the way we run institutions but that's not Warde's problem today either. If you have a coach on his way up, PAY. Odds are he's moving up and you're getting that money back. You also might get the Super Bowl-winning head coach of 2025 as your defensive coordinator in 2021. Credit to Warde for going with the interim route to start, because that pushes the period when teams could actually retrieve poached Michigan players into August, and by then it's really hard to change the chemistry of your roster, especially at guard. Do you give Boynton a 2-year contract? Not right now, because there's no need to, unless that's a prerequisite to holding your team together. Boynton right now has proven he can hold a roster together. Not new: He got Cade Cunningham to play for Oklahoma State. Can he DEVELOP them over the year is the question. People had Michigan a 1-seed even if they look like a 3-seed roster because they thought Dusty May could develop Thiam, Estrella, McCoy, McKenny, Liburd, Cadeau into that much more effective players over the season. OFFENSIVE LINE: What do you do if Frazier and Babalola are both able to play left tackle, because it looks like Sprague is a RT only. Seth gives the copout answer, which is the true answer: You play your best five each week and reassess. Sam things Frazier could be a 1st round tackle after this year, or at least his camp does. Seth says don't say that out loud, Blake; you have to be on the team you're on now before you think too much about your next one, or you diminish your value. Frazier to center? Sam thinks he can do it, which puts GWAR back at guard, and that would be a MONSTER offensive line. Like that this gives you redundancy, because nobody ever got through a season without injuries.
#539
July 2 · 51 min
WTKA Roundtable 7/2/2026: Retention Dominos
Things Discussed: World Cup: When our nation needed rascally anti-slavery hicks with guns, Michigan provided. When our nation needed factories that could turn out more war machines than the rest of the world combined, Michigan provided. When our nation needs unfathomably pedantic sports lawyers, Mo Thiam returning: HUGE news for Michigan, because they needed a frontcourt. Sam: strategy is a retention domino effect: keeping Boynton helped the keep McKenney, which may have influenced Akeem Miskdeen to stick around, which means holding onto Cadeau, which was a big question for Thiam, and if everyone's here you have a shot to keep Estrella. Sam: needs to be more strategy here. Got to back Mike Boynton, let him sign his staff to long-term contracts so he can attract good people. Craig: Misrepresenting how Dusty left. Not okay with the way his players found out, don't think he left for the same reasons as Beilein, despite the interview, because the context of that interview was the NCAA issues were an aside and the main reason was the Mavs were willing to pour resources into him and it's the friggin' NBA. Seth: don't make the 2024 football mistake again by prioritizing keeping the roster together, because most of them—Cadeau, McKenney, Thiam, Estrella, McCoy, Reed—are only around for one more year. You can give Boynton a chance, but obviously Warde is working the back-channels. Sam: Need to support Boynton without boxing yourself in. Craig: Can't hamstring your current guy with less than full support. Ideally Boynton does a fantastic job, is lining up guys for beyond, wins again, and is Tom Izzo but with championships for 30 years. Craig: Schertz is this year's model. He isn't just the hot name; in Ken Pomeroy's article for VALIANT he showed which coaches were dominating in 2PAD: the top-six teams went Schertz, Schertz, Nate Oats, Dusty May, Dusty May, Dusty May. Dusty got Boynton because he defended the rim. Cason to return? Sam thinks so. Break: Craig thinks Dusty should have exited more gracefully. Seth says if you're getting a divorce because you fell in love with someone else, *how* you tell your wife isn't the reason she's mad at you. Football recruiting: Big deal that they can go into a Buckeye family in Cincinnati and get a cornerback that Ohio State wanted. Scouting report: Monsanna Torbert is FAST. Saban always talked about DBs with basketball skills because they can play the ball. Nickname is "Sookie" (sp? Suki? Sukki? Siucci?). Need to watch the film still—love when we get a kid from Cincy because the competition level is strong and the kids are so well-coached. Height: only 5'11 man in America who's really 5'11. Sam was thinking he'd be Smith Snowden's size. If Ohio State wants you that bad—was trying to get him to not even take a Michigan visit—you're probably something. Comp: DJ Turner II. Good to see how their GM is working with the coaches regarding what level they can recruit. Was an issue last year when they had Coach BJ recruiting linebackers that he didn't have the money for.
#538
June 25 · 46 min
WTKA Roundtable 6/25/2026: Napoleon But Good
EVENT: THIS SATURDAY EDSBS will be in town to celebrate Michigan fans once again dominating the Charity Bowl. Brush up on your shipwrecks trivia, find us at the library, and meet up for drinks afterwards at Venue. It's free but RSVP here so we can get a head count. BOOK: If you want a VALIANT, THE KICKSTARTER is still going on. If you want your name in it or need to add something to your order, email me. Things Discussed: Make Sam happy: We've got the #1 pick in the 2027 NHL Draft coming. Even better, DuPont falls under The Shouneyia Law: All Michigan stars should be 5'11" wigglers who score in droves. Dusty May reaction: We're blindsided that it happened in late June, but didn't expect Dusty to be here for 30 years. It takes a Tom Izzo who loves being the king of a tiny country to do that. Could be a Mike Macdonald/Jesse Minter thing: sometimes you get a legend on his way. Circumstances of college basketball today amplified Dusty's genius. His ability to put together a roster was especially effective in a situation where everybody's rosters are poachable. Converse of Bo, who was the right guy for a time when players were really trapped at one school through the course of their development. Sam: Dusty could have won in any era (point conceded). Boynton/staff? What does "interim" mean? Probably that it's a "you've got a year to show it." Will he be interim for the entirety of next season? Yeah. Then why aren't we calling Josh Schertz? Brian: Disabuse people of the notion that going from college to the NBA is a good idea. Brad Stevens is one man. Dusty? Based on history he'll get chewed up, because NBA coaches are disposable and not really in charge. Beilein lost his damn mind (yes, would say this to his face); he was a fundamentals-teaching college lifer. Counterpoint: Dusty's not as much of a college coach; he's a roster-builder and a locker room guy who loves to watch film, isn't interested in spending half of his time fundraising. Brian goes off on Warde for losing four great coaches to better jobs, Craig argues Dusty told Warde I'm staying and every one of those events is explainable. Sam: There was plenty of evidence you were going to lose Dusty next year, but not this June. Seth argues (borrowing from a commenter) is it doesn't look like we're being proactive (is there any AD in America who wouldn't give Dusty the best contract in the Big Ten?). Consideration: If you poach another coach, that's two rosters and coaching staffs you can build from rather than fighting Dusty for your staff and fighting everyone else in college basketball for your roster. Canham always had three coaches in his drawer. Being a leader doesn't just mean defending your tower; you have to be agile, and ready to make decisive, advantageous moves. From an outsider's perspective, does it look like that's what's going on in our athletics department, or does it look like we're making decisions on ChatGPT? Why Duke kept Scheyer: they grew him, and they have a basketball culture.
S17 · E39
June 24 · 2 hr 22 min
MGoPodcast 17.35: What's Water?
2 hours and 23 minutes 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, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, The Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and Venue by 4M where recorded this. 1. What Dusty Just Done Did Starts at 0:51 Not only did we have this team come out of nowhere to be the best in the history Michigan basketball. The Dusty May Era is now a fever dream. Takes a little bit out of it. This is college basketball now. Understand why he wouldn't want to be a college coach today; he explicitly said he never got to feel like they won a championship. NCAA can be blamed for letting it get here but also they have no power whatsoever to fix all the things that mean the second you win a title you have to recruit your new team. Second time in a row the college coach the NBA took was Michigan's. This is not the Cavs; Dallas is a good gig. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 2. The Future of Michigan Basketball Starts at 19:04 They're promoting Mike Boynton to interim head coach, with a possibility of permanence. Greater that 50% chance he's the HC without the interim title, but might execute a search. Five days after they announce a hire the portal is open for Michigan alone, which is probably what scared them into this now. McKenney is back, probably Cadeau back, direction of things is a battle to hold onto the transfer bigs. Boynton: got tagged by the FBI thing, can see his tenure as not successful, or successful for the Minnesota of the Big 12. He has a trademark, which is defense: five of six years with a top-20 unit. Still relatively young, can recruit. Program: "What option do we have?" UNNNNNGGGGGHHHHHH. Actual option: Josh Schertz! Trademark is twos, built a real roster there, is Dusty's best coaching buddy. Don't care as much about roster continuity (Brian Ellerbe, Sherrone Moore) because the players won't be around long. Also if you poach a coach you have access to another team's roster and coaching staff, whereas right now Michigan and the Mavs are competing for Michigan staff and Michigan and the world are competing for Michigan's players. Other names to look at: Niko Medved was our next pick two years ago, did as well as possible with Minnesota last year. Where is Michigan Basketball in program rankings? Would Purdue swap with us? Purdue built their fanbase over years of having a program, just like Michigan hockey. 3. The Warde Talk Starts at 53:17 What are you supposed to do with a guy who alternates between asleep-at-the-wheel scandals and national championships? Push back against Brian's assertion that people "don't want to work for him" because these are all individual situations. He's not a bad guy, but he's also not a guy who *does* things, unless that's milking the fanbase or turning Michigan Stadium into an F1 race of ads. His oeuvre is not doing anything, because that worked with Harbaugh in 2020, and now that's a modus operandi. Talking ADs history since Canham. Push back against Brian's lionizing of Canham: he was a visionary, but his record also includes Dr. Anderson and trying to prevent/undermine Title IX. We end up preferring Bill Martin of all our lifetime ADs—he built the boxes to prevent ads in the stadium. Don't think missing out on Les Miles was a loss. Brian's Warde assessment: He typed "how to AD" into ChatGPT. Does losing Dusty May like this change your opinion on Warde Manuel? No. But it's weird that he keeps surviving (no president to fire him). 4. 2027 Football Recruiting Starts at 1:20:46 Doesn't look any different from a Harbaugh class at this point. If you're good at scouting and developing you're fine. OL class is small but Lipsey stacks another elite tackle and they had to fend off ND for Louis Esposito, Rouleau is a Frey-type. Xavier Muhammad is a very good DT, Tavares Harrington a find at CB, and they held onto some important guys in-state in a good Michigan year. LB recruiting is still underfunded, Brian is fine with that because it's very a "what's in your head" position with no consensus on what schools want. State of the recruiting industry: Paramount got bought and 247 is getting raided as incompetent ownership sets in. On3 is more reactive to scouting this cycle, and almost universally rate M commits higher. White whales: #1 is CB Josh Dobson, Seth Tillman would be a big, big deal because DTs are hard to come by, Monsanna Torbert would be a big win over Ohio State. Lincoln Mageo would be a good OL to finish with. Would like to have more TEs coming in. 5. World Cup Starts at 1:50:04 Takes hotter than Dusty May's agent. Count how many times Brian calls USA "Michigan." Are the Americans the most pleased with their performance in Group Phase (2nd to Canadians). Freeman (son of Antonio) is very reliable defensively, main thing is you can put Dest at wing. Sauciest player in US history? McKenzie is everywhere, runs into the box from deep were especially effective vs Paraguay. Pulisic injury: not going to play him in the useless Turkey game, should be fine. Tim Ream has been trying to play soccer for us forever, always been the best guy on the ball. Decent draw, should be favored (when they make the field) for a couple of rounds. Success point is get to the quarters; they can go into a game against a world power and expect to compete, not win, and not win three in a row. Four years ago they were too young. Don't mind the 48-team format; it saps a lot of tension out of the Group Stage when three teams advance, but a lot of "small teams" have battled. Brazil is still working back to being BRAZIL. Germany is Ohio State but not a peak year Ohio State. France is super talented. Alex: If you play Bosnia and Herzegovina you play two countries at once. Seth: Actually it's more like seven point eight. MUSIC: "Hit or Miss"—Odetta "Take Da Charge"—Project Pat "Love on My Brain"—Jim Ford "Dog Has Its Day"—Toledo “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra
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June 11 · 50 min
WTKA Roundtable 6/11/2026: Don't Be Like Iowa
GET IN WE'RE BOOKING: THE VALIANT KICKSTARTER ENDS TODAY. If you want your name in the book, today's the last day to do that. Things Discussed: VALIANT: Sam's getting background to tell stories nobody's heard yet from Dusty May. Ken Pomeroy is going to walk us through the 2PA Revolution and how it led to some of the best basketball teams ever. John Gasaway is going through the history of his understanding of the game, and the Michigan fans who pulled him along that journey. Will Warren is going to get into the way strategy and analytics created a special team. Craig's book too. Alex Drain chopped it in half, and it's finally written. Texas Tech and Sorsby: Craig walks us through the judge's insane decision, notes there's still a four-judge panel (of all TTU grads) that it needs to get through before this really is a thing. The reaction of the league is loud, but they're not going to do 90% of what they threaten, for many reasons. Comparison with reaction to Signgate: Difference was anyone who knows ball was saying it's horseshit. What do TTU fans say? They say Texas has been getting players off for worse for a century. What's the fix? Probably one part of the story that eventually leads to a CBA, because that's how the pro leagues control this. In break: the 1950s NYU scandal in the context of 1950s NCAA and the players making no money as everyone was getting rich. In-state recruiting: Some big guys going out of state. Guerrant: let's see if Michigan passes the ball this year before we take an impending Oregon commitment seriously. Gideon Gash: TTU means Michigan can come back around; big loss for MSU. Whittingham has done a good job adapting to Michigan recruiting. Retaining Bellamy retained connections in Michigan and the East. Harding gives him credibility all over the Midwest. Way they reacted to the NCAA attacking SMSB was like early Harbaugh. Pat Fitzgerald's slow start means little; he's got some OL, and that's what you really need. Seth likes the Frey-type tackle they got from Brighton.

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