MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

Special guest: Everybody wave hi to Mira. Things Discussed: * Spring game: Craig watched the line, wasn't that impressed. * Bryce was throwing flat; overthrowing McCulley is a sin. There's a guy across the aisle who's already mad. Seth thinks when the threw that small window past a dropping DE was good; Brian thought he didn't see the drop. * Jadyn Davis: Didn't look that polished but much improved. * Mikey Keene? Brian thinks he's not a P4 quarterback. * Receivers? If you go in the portal you can get a bunch of CJ Charlestons at this point. McCulley had the one contested ball and did the George Costanza. * Keeps the expectations for Bryce in context, because Trevor Lawrence had NFL wideouts to throw at as a freshman. Want guys to step up: Marsh, Browder: turn around and context that. Seth: comp is what Nebraska got out of Raiola last year. Need the running game to be the engine of the offense. Get to functional. * Hey Sam, how many targets is Jalen Hoffman getting? * Are they going to do zone reads for Bryce? * OL: Sprague up, Link down—if they're not naming him the starter now maybe he needs to move inside. Sam thinks Frazier can get healthy and get back his agility. Seth thinks they're gonna survive until Babalola is ready, ETA midseason. * Break: Sam talks about his colon (I left this out of the podcast version). * Defense: Tackles go six deep with big dudes. With them it's more about who they're going against. * Linebacker: We are RICH. Seth thinks we have two guys who are better than the top six guys in the Draft, AND Rolder made it through spring without getting hurt. Barham has many uses, Sam thinks he's going to be an All-American. Sullivan can do Barham things. * Big Nickel Mason Curtis: think this is a thing. * Seth thinks Efobi looked like he was moving them. * Dom Nichols: not surprised that a guy who played a lot as a true freshman is getting talk as DE#3. * Who's got bend? Sam says Barham is #1. Seth wants to see it from Edokpayi.

2 hour and 14 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing [https://undergroundshirts.com/custom-t-shirts?callout=mgoblog] 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 [http://undergroundshirts.com]. 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Spring Game Vibes and Offense Starts at 1:00 Michigan didn’t televise the spring game so now you have to listen to this one! Shout out to men’s gymnastics on winning a national championship. Blue team won 17-0, yay. Did Michigan have enough offensive players to reasonably fill out two offenses? Both QBs threw deep balls, most of them weren’t particularly close. Bryce had a few Freshman moments as well and everything over 10-15 yards was very flat. There aren’t very many receivers but Donaven McCulley wasn’t even on the same team as Underwood and was benched after the first quarter (along with most starters). Marlin Klein and Hogan Hansen didn’t play. The spring game is delayed on broadcast for a week because of the portal deadline. Haynes and Marshal are it at running back, Micah Ka’apana was slippery like Chris Evans but Michigan hasn’t thrown to a running back since 2016. Bryson Kuzdzal looked pretty good! The receivers aren’t adjusting to the ball much, Semaj also didn’t do much. The 2nd string fullback (Jalen Hoffman) has gotten more targets in a spring game than Max Bredeson has in his whole career and is the highest stock rise of the spring game. Maybe they can stack two wide receivers on top of each other like Vincent Adultman. When Michigan had three tight ends on the field they ran the ball pretty well. According to Sherrone, the three offensive linemen who are locked in are El-Hadi, Crippen, and Sprague. Babalola is big but made freshman mistakes (which is fine).  2. Spring Game Defense Starts at 50:17 Michigan looks like they'll be very tough once again and has a lot of depth. Defensive end is loaded with Big Ten starters. Rayshaun Benny is established where we want him to be at this point in his development. There's going to be a drop-off from Graham and Grant but it'll be fine. It felt like the lines were two good units going against each other. We like the way Deyvid Palepale is shaped, he might be Brian Mone. We didn't learn much about the linebackers but Cole Sullivan was in the backfield a lot. The defensive backs played really well without Jyaire Hill. Shamari Earls is wearing #2 and is looking like #2. All of these defensive backs seem plausible, McBurrows hitting the portal makes more sense now. The secondary might not have any real stars but they won't have any holes, even without Rod Moore. Safeties don't have a real rock like we're used to.  3. Hot Takes and Michigan Hockey Roster Starts at 1:14:49 Takes hotter than the one guy across the aisle at the Spring Game who is already mad at Bryce Underwood. The hockey roster is in a state of flux, we're all awaiting what will happen with the CHL kids. Michigan gets four defensemen back and brings in some transfers and CHL players. Ben Robertson comes in from Cornell after averaging 21 minutes per game. The defense has nine players on roster currently which is probably too many. They could use a goalie! Right now they have 10 forwards on a team that usually carries 14. They have a roster spot for McKenna (the Bryce Underwood of hockey), can they get him? The Big Ten might be top-to-bottom the best quality hockey in the country that isn't the NHL.  4. Potpourri Starts at 1:52:20 Danny Wolf is officially out and headed for the NBA, Aday Mara commits. They're waiting on Lendeborg but they'll still be a good team without him. One more summer of polishing Will Tschetter could make him a really good 4. In football, Luke Bauer comes in as a punter from Missouri - he's an average punter. They get CJ Hester at running back from UMass to replace Ben Hall. He's a little bowling ball. The concession lines at the Spring Game were long! Michigan Stadium isn't catering to the average fan who wants to bring their kids. There are now kids who have attended the Spring Game and didn't have a good time and now they probably won't want to go next year.  MUSIC: * "Let's Get Down"—Toni Toni Tone * "Bendicion Mami"—Fat Joe * "Check The Technique"—Gang Starr * “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: * Honoring the life of Mike DeBord. Long list of great players and coaches he created. Really kind man. Whoever you were, whatever you were doing, he wanted to make you better at it, and he leaves quite a legacy here. * Bryce: What are you looking for? Want to see how he does against all the weird Minter stuff. * I want to see him trapped against the right sideline, because that's how young Denard and JJ showed when they could do. * Jadyn Davis: Sam says the confidence has been restored; the lack of confidence last year was a two-way street and they're a lot more committed to him. Seth says it was always a long-term project, but now we know he wasn't viable last year. If they weren't seriously investing him, showing confidence in him, he'd be in the portal. Chip and Sinagoga have invested in him. Perfect guy to have behind Bryce Underwood. * Good thing for the program long-term that Keene got hurt in spring because they were able to get those two guys reps and put their eggs in the Bryce basket. * OL: They miscalculated how bad they were going to be last year, can't do that again. Talked about going to the portal to get help at left tackle if they're talking about Brady Norton. Blake Frazier was hurt and that set back his physical development, Babalola has a lot to learn. OL is VERY hard to learn; you have to be able to ID what they're doing in a fraction of a second at this level or you're dead. * "We're passing more this year." If you're going to do that you need to keep Bryce upright. * Getting a receiver in the portal is impossible: in recruiting they're getting more traction because Bryce is there and there's time to see it. But they don't have anything to show, e.g. the guy from UConn, that they're going to have a passing game where they can be productive. Productive guys are NFL guys: big, fast, can catch, knows routes. Really hard to learn a new offense in fall. * Defensively: Believe in the front seven enough that I would rather see the offense doing well against them. Not concerned about the DTs, DEs, LBs. Think they had everything break their way this offseason: kept both senior stars, Rolder is healthy, Sullivan is emerging, one of the freshmen (Owusu-Boateng) is showing out. Get Bowles back in fall. * Want to see Mason Curtis at the big nickel position—haven't seen it since Michael Barrett in 2021 but it's a big deal in the NFL and addresses a thing that opponents have been hitting us with. * TJ Metcalf is the leader at regular nickel. Brandyn Hillman has really come forward. * Cornerback depth is a bit of a concern. Earls has a lot to learn, Sam: I wonder about Jyaire Hill—it's a matter of football maturation. Caleb Anderson might be dinged up. JoJo Edmond has the ability but he moved late from offense so he's got a long way to go. Might want to get depth in the portal.

I made the cover thinking we were going to talk about spring ball and safety rotation. We just talked hoops. Things Discussed: * Craig stopped being a Cleveland fan when they traded Rocky Colavito and says nobody will get that reference, Seth goes: "I like hamburger! [https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/04/transaction-retrospection-the-rocky-colavitoharvey-kuenn-blockbuster.html]" Aside: If you ever see a copy of Baseball Anecdotes by Daniel Okrent [https://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Anecdotes-RI-Daniel-Okrent/dp/0062732064] and Steve Wulf, I highly recommend you pick it up. * Dusty May is able to multitask, unlike Tom Izzo. Realities of building a roster in 2024-25. * Cadeau vs Donaldson: Michigan lost its top two shot creators in their two bigs so they needed creation. * Concern is you need to put shooting around that PnR game, and Gayle/Cason a bit questionable as knockdown spacers. * We're in a weird transitional period where House hasn't been approved yet and people are trying to get all their deals done—"Mad dash to hand people cash"—before this clearinghouse is checking NIL deals to make sure they're "fair market value." * Dusty May listened to Dusty May saying "we need to get tougher." * Morez Johnson: 100% chance Craig Ross is going to call him a "brute." Love the Pippi Longstocking pigtails. * Dusty's mindset: I'm going after the best players in the country. * Aday Mara: could be an awesome pickup. 7'3" finisher who had norovirus and lost some conditioning in the middle of last year, but when UCLA made their run he was playing up to 31 minutes. Would be a great one-two punch with Johnson, in that you've got the big motor guy and the extremely tall/long rim protector, who both serve the same role in the offense so you're keeping your offense the same, but need to be defended differently. Bigs have a slower progression. * We can beat 2nd round money. Chances of getting NBA fours back: 5% for Wolf since he's projected to the 1st round. 20% for Yax. * Izzo is not allowed to retire until he's had ten years of Paternoing. Better yet: MSU basketball should be U.Chicago football: ride your legendary coach into total irrelevance. Honestly though: developing players is a very good strategy, so long as they can do it. Izzo's mix of tryhad bigs, athletic guards, and lots of defense and rebounding has a ceiling. * Trey McKenney scouting report: super strong dribbler, creates his own shot and makes it, can score in the mid-range. Question whether he's got that explosiveness—can he jump, can he move his feet well enough to be a great defender? Won't be a guy who guards quickness but he can help you with the Lu'Cye Patterson bullies, which you're going to see more of in the Big Ten than the super-quick guards. Like Trey in an offense with Cadeau because if you switch on the PnR you're creating bad matchups. * Projecting development: it doesn't just "happen." It's about what these guys put in their workouts and hours of exercises and shot development that we never see. Hard for us to project what that is.

1 Hour and 28 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul [http://www.michiganlawgrad.com/] 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: Where is Everyone Going?   * Opener * Alex Loves Pistons * Those Who Left... * Who Do We Get? Segment 2: Frozen Four, Stick Ball, et al   * Some Teams Are Still Playing * Baseball Catchup * Softball Update * Someone Name the Athletics!   MUSIC * NHL on ESPN Theme * "I Think We're Alone Now" -- Tiffany * Ice Hockey (NES) theme