August 29, 2024 • 18 mins
Welcome to the Jolly Goodfellow podcast! I'm your host, Jake Akers, and today we're diving deep into Michigan football just days before the opening game against Fresno State. While we've already covered previews for both the game and the season, today's episode has a unique twist—we're applying the principle of Occam's Razor to some of the most pressing questions surrounding the Michigan team.
Occam's Razor suggests that the simplest explanation with the fewest assumptions is often the correct one. We'll use this principle to analyze the quarterback battle between Orgy, Davis Warren, and Tuttle, and predict who might start. We'll also evaluate the strength of Michigan's wide receivers, running backs, and tight ends, as well as the offensive line's potential performance this season.
Join me as we unravel these complexities and get a clearer picture of what to expect from the Wolverines in 2023. Whether you're a die-hard fan or new to Michigan football, this episode is packed with insights that you won't want to miss. Go blue!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.
(00:17):
Welcome to the Jolly Goodfellow podcast. I'm Jake Akers and I'm your host.
Of course, we're talking Michigan football as we're just a few short days from
the opening game against Fresno State.
I've already done a preview of that and also a season preview.
Today we're going to talk more Michigan football. That's not a surprise.
(00:40):
But what might surprise you is we're going to talk some philosophy.
Philosophy 101, as we're going to try to apply Occam's Razor to some of the
most pressing questions on this Michigan team as we head into the season.
And so Occam's Razor is a principle. It's often misused.
(01:01):
I'm sure I will misuse it at times on this pod, but it's a principle that suggests
the simplest explanation with the fewest assumptions is often the correct one.
And the idea is to shave away any unnecessary complexities and focus on the
most straightforward solution.
So the best way to explain this is using an example. Let's imagine you wake
(01:24):
up and you find that your lawn is wet.
Well there's a few possible explanations obviously.
The most obvious one is that it rained last night.
It could also be that aliens came
in from outer space and turned on your hose and watered your lawn down for some
reason right now just because your lawn's wet doesn't necessarily mean and just
(01:46):
because it's the most simple explanation doesn't necessarily mean that it did
in fact rain last night the other possibility i guess is plausible but.
Using Occam's Razor, you're able to see that the explanation that's most likely
true is also most often true.
I just do want to point out, it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to happen.
I think that's where it's misused sometimes.
(02:08):
So, according to Occam's Razor, the first explanation, so in the example that
it rained, is more likely because it requires fewer assumptions.
So, how do we apply this to Michigan's most pressing questions?
I think the biggest question we all have, we don't even know a few days from
now, who's going to be starting at quarterback.
We have three guys. We have Orgy, we have Davis Warren, and we have Tuttle.
(02:31):
I think most fans, if you made them guess, you'd think Orgy would be the starter
there. And we'll go into some of the reasons why.
But I am hearing some chatter that Davis Warren is making a late push and may
indeed be the starter. So if you see that on Saturday night, do not be shocked.
It does seem like this truly is a 50-50 battle going into that game.
(02:52):
And I don't think anyone outside of Schembechler Hall really knows what's going
to take place on Saturday and who will be lining up under center,
at least to start the game.
I imagine we'll see both of them at points. But that being said,
when we apply Occam's Razor, we want to look at the quarterback position.
What do we actually know? What do we have evidence for?
And so we have these three guys. We have Orgy. We have Warren. We have Tuttle.
(03:16):
They've all been in the program for several years. None of these guys are transfers
in. They've all been in the program at least two years.
So the coaching staff that's currently there, as well as the previous staff,
Jim Harbaugh, knows these guys, has evaluated them.
And they've been here long enough where they're seen as plausible starters and
(03:38):
plausible contributors to this team. How do we know that?
Well, one, the staff did not choose to bring in any transfers and there could
be other reasons, right?
Like, but the fewest assumptions would be they're comfortable with one of these guys leading the team.
I think they have enough to win with these guys.
And if they didn't, right, you'd go out and you'd bring someone in.
(03:59):
There's enough options.
Michigan's enough of a brand name, right? NIL, I'm hearing is ramping up at
Michigan where we'd be able to bring in a guy.
Also on top of that, none of these guys was so outclassed. They saw the writing
on the wall and transferred out for greener pastures and a better spot to play.
What do we know about these players? Well, we'll start with Orgy.
(04:20):
We know Orgy has elite athleticism.
And the clearest evidence of this, that he's that type of player,
the player that is a contributor and potentially a game-breaker,
is Michigan under Jim Harbaugh during the national championship season.
I mentioned this in the preview.
They took J.J. McCarthy, who Jim Harbaugh widely praised as being the best Michigan
(04:44):
quarterback ever, took him off the field to give Orgy snaps in the biggest games of the season,
Ohio State, Alabama, right?
They believe that obviously shows they believe he's an athlete you can't keep off the field.
Also, another piece of evidence here around Orgy being a legitimate quarterback.
(05:04):
Jim Harbaugh is likely the greatest modern coach when it comes to position switching.
To give you some examples, we all know about Stanford and switching Richard
Sherman over to cornerback, how that played out.
We had Michigan running backs, Hassan Haskins and Kalel Mullings.
They start off as linebackers, switch to running backs, and of course,
(05:25):
the legend, Mikey Sanders still.
And in college, especially nowadays, when you see a guy switch a position,
it's generally like, well, he's there doing that for depth and it's an emergency situation.
You don't really expect that guy to be able to pick up the position.
All of those guys I just mentioned out, widely successful.
Jim Harbaugh had an eye for knowing what position guys should play,
(05:45):
but there's one guy that was an obvious position switch candidate that he kept
at the position, and that's Orgy at quarterback,
a position Jim Harbaugh knows best, right?
He didn't make him a tight end or a linebacker, just make him solely an offensive
or weapon or some sort of edge rush guy.
(06:06):
It's very telling that he thought he had a future and potential at quarterback.
You look at Orji's athleticism and size comparables. This is a big guy.
This is a guy with Tim Tebow-esque size, but faster. A 41-inch vert.
This is a guy that's going to be, if he's playing the quarterback position, an elite runner.
(06:28):
And we know elite runners can be game changers. We've seen that back Denard
Robinson, but we've also seen that across college football.
There's too many examples to name.
We also saw him in the spring game where he looked competent.
And then we look at the other guys, right? So we'll start with Davis Warren.
Seemingly has a high floor. And if you don't know Davis Warren's backstory,
(06:50):
I encourage you to look it up. it actually makes you really root for the guy.
I'm really rooting for this guy.
He was a four-star high recruit, someone that definitely would have had many
offers, but ended up walking on here because he came down with health issues
that derailed his career.
But he came back as a walk-on, has been here since.
(07:11):
And we've always seen him in the spots.
We've seen him like spring games, be relatively successful and almost living
up to that recruiting pedigree that he had before the health issues.
From what I've seen from this guy, he can run almost in the mold of JJ.
I don't know if he's quite as explosive as JJ was, but he can definitely move around a little bit.
(07:32):
And he doesn't look like he has the size, but he doesn't look like he'd be out
of place starting in the big.
This is a guy that I think can be an above average starter in the big.
I don't know if he's going to be maybe this, the superstar that JJ was,
but you know, we still haven't seen enough.
And some of the interesting things about Davis is there was some buzz that he
(07:54):
had the strongest arm on the team last year.
I said that right last year. So talking about when JJ was on the team,
this other guy has a stronger arm.
Now that doesn't mean he has better accuracy and is a better pure thrower. We know JJ had a cannon.
So when you look at him sticking around all these years, his pedigree before
(08:15):
the health issues, he's a high floor guy guy.
And if Orgy were to beat him out, if Davis Warren isn't the starter,
I mean, I think he had to think that Orgy at that point is Jalen Milrow, right?
Because otherwise you roll with this guy, Davis Warren, who looks like he can
be average to above average Big Ten quarterback.
(08:36):
And then you have Tuttle, who I think is working through some health issues,
everything I've heard. But I think it's more of the same, right? He's a good recruit.
He sat behind guys like Penix and And JJ, no shame in any of that.
He has a ton of experience.
I think he would be a competent, if not spectacular starter.
Maybe he's a Cade McNamara type player where he can run the offense.
(08:57):
So if Orgy was a disaster and one of these guys were to get the nod,
I think we're going to be in okay shape.
And so really wrapping it up,
you know, it's not very likely that going through all these three guys.
They give you reasons. They do give you reasons to believe in their success.
They're all multi-year program guys in a very successful program,
the best developing program for my money in the country in terms of taking guys
(09:21):
and getting the most out of them, really putting them into the NFL.
If you want to judge it based on that, there's no one better,
at least based on the recruiting rankings to draft.
And on top of that, Michigan's not going to ask a lot out of the quarterback situation.
They're going to want these guys to come in, take care of the ball,
(09:41):
and move the chains. We're going to run on our offensive line and being able to run the ball.
And so it's really difficult for me to think that quarterback's going to be
the thing that really holds the team back.
I think if it's Orgy, he's going to be dynamic enough on the ground to make
plays and make this a difficult defense to defend.
If Davis Warren beats out Orgy, it means the guy can sling the rock and is going
(10:05):
to give us a more balanced offense.
So either way, I, you know, the take from all this evidence is the QB position
is going to be average at worst, in my opinion, and could actually be something
that is a strength. I say strength relatively.
I don't think, you know, we're going to have a Heisman Trophy winner out there,
but I think we could have an above average quarterback.
(10:27):
Next question is who's going to catch the ball, right?
Let's say it is Davis whistle horn, or even orgy, right? You need guys that can catch the ball.
And so I'm going to start the wide receiver section by talking about our running backs and tight ends.
Very unconventional, I know. Donovan Edwards, no matter how you say it,
(10:49):
I wish the team would maybe use this weapon a little bit more,
but he is an elite receiving option.
We know this. He's proven it.
There's been coaches on the team that said, if he wasn't a running back,
he could start at receiver. Wholesome Loveland.
I think he's very likely the odds-on favorite to win the MAPG award.
He's a projected first-rounder at tight end. We've seen in the NFL what elite
(11:12):
receiving tight ends can do. We can split them out wide.
Both of these guys are weapons that this team can use in the air game.
And that's why I bring them up is because they're going to give this passing
offense a very high floor when it comes to weapons.
When you can stress a defense, not only with our running game,
right, that's going to attract extra attention.
(11:35):
But you have a running back and a tight end that needs extra attention.
Now the other guys on the outside, if they're not the elite go-to superstar
receivers, they don't have to be quite as good to win those one-on-one matchups that they'll see.
That being said, what do we know about those receivers? I'm going to focus on two guys in particular.
(11:56):
I think there's more in the supporting cast. But we know Tyler Morris was a solid recruit.
Recruit he has a year under his belt where he got meaningful snaps
again I sound like a broken record but on
a national championship team he caught and housed
the pass in the Rose Bowl against SEC Speed which as Michigan fans we've all
heard so much about right he didn't look slow on that play is he going to be
(12:19):
a bona fide star number one go-to receiver that you want in the terms of like
what Ohio State continually has with Marvin Harrison and some of these guys.
Occam's Razor says no. Let's be real.
Can he be a Ronnie Bell White? A guy that's solid, gives you strong production, makes plays.
All signs point to yes.
(12:42):
Also, you have Samaj Morgan. This is one of my sleepers of the year.
I don't, quite frankly, don't think this guy's getting enough hype.
Last year, as a true freshman, he finally broke the Michigan no-slot receiver curse. course.
What I mean by that is even going back to the days of Lloyd Carr and guys like
Calvin Bell, that's a name from the past.
(13:04):
You get excited because we use these guys on end-of-rounds and reverses,
but very rarely would we throw the ball to them. Very rarely would we get them seriously involved.
We've had some guys over the years you get excited about, but they really don't
live up to what you think they could be and what we see maybe on some other
teams that use these gadget-type guys.
Anytime Samaj Mor was on the screen he popped usually for good reasons right
(13:28):
it's caught some deep passes for touchdowns they would get the ball in his hands
and screens reverses right you can tell he has he just has it a couple times
he popped in not a great way,
cough cough punt return in the Rose Bowl but there's no denying this guy especially
for a freshman is electric with the ball in his hands caught a few passes down the field for the team.
(13:53):
And a guy like this, like that, that can spread the field horizontally,
make you cover those ender rounds, make you cover those screens and bubble passes.
A team that needs weapons in the pass game and has an unproven QB,
you combine them with guys like Donovan and Colston who do the same thing,
I think that's going to really help our passing game.
(14:14):
I think he's going to get involved a lot more than last year.
He was pretty involved last year. He's clearly a part of the game planning.
I think he makes a lot of big plays and really stands out.
So overall, we look at this evidence. While this team lacks that true number
one receiver who scares you, when you consider those four pass catchers that I mentioned,
there's more than enough difference makers to move the ball,
(14:36):
especially when you combine it with our run game and we want that to stay our bread and butter.
It might turn out those four guys in the pass game, we have more weapons than
your average team, right?
Especially if it's a mod more than it can turn out to be. can be
a stud and just attract that extra
attention well who do you give that extra attention to you have
Donovan motioning out of the backfield you have Colson split
(14:57):
wide you have Tyler Morris out there you have Samaj in
the slot but you can't double cover everyone you can't shade coverage towards
everyone so I do think we're going to have a plethora of weapons at our disposal
and that's not even getting into like backup tight ends Marlon Klein who people
go say is Colson Loveland plus in terms of athleticism and even faster than Colson Loveland.
(15:21):
I think we have a lot to be excited for. I don't know how much we're going to use the receivers.
There were times last year where we wouldn't, you know, again, I keep talking about JJ.
We wouldn't even let JJ throw the ball. And so, you know, I don't know how much
we're going to open it up.
I have heard things where we might open it up, but you can't hear that every year.
And I'm quite okay with continuing to smash the ball through opponents.
(15:45):
The final question I want to cover is our offensive line.
And I talked about this in the preview too, but I heard something today about
Notre Dame, a team I believe just off the top of my head is like seventh in
the AP, so slightly above Michigan.
Their offensive line, because of an injury to their left tackle,
they're going to be starting a true freshman left tackle.
(16:07):
And their offensive line as a whole, they're returning four combined starts.
Four combined starts across those five guys. right and
so a lot's being made of michigan oh you're starting
five news five new starters how is
this going to work these are new guys you have to understand these
five guys combined have over 100 starts over 100 starts these are all juniors
(16:33):
redshirt juniors seniors grad transfers we have pre from northwestern who was
the third team all big 10 miles hidden former five star it's his This fifth year,
he's saying that he finally has his grown man strength.
Another year of tutelage in his second year under Sean Moore.
(16:53):
We're expecting him to take a big step, and it wouldn't be surprising if this
guy is an NFL player in the future.
We have El Hadi, who's gotten starts over the past three years and gotten tons of meaningful snaps.
All of these guys have been around the program outside of Preeb, who's 13 All-Big Ten.
I think we can expect a high floor from them.
(17:16):
And I don't know if they're going to be.
One of the Joe Moore winning team winning lines. Like we had two out of the
three previous years, but I think this is going to be a top 10 line when it's all said and done.
I think Sean Moore and his coaching is going to get these guys that have been in the program,
but going against that strong defensive line, I, it just, it would be more shocking
(17:40):
to me than not if they really struggled.
Now, that being said, maybe they come out,
maybe we don't come out super cohesive right out
of the gate that's a possibility it
could take some time for a line to you know with that
many new starters to really gel but I do think as we get into the season we're
(18:00):
going to be with that type of coaching and development that we've seen also
the experience in these guys we're going to be able to figure this out and this
line is going to be a strength by the end of the year well that's applying some
Occam's razor and some of the things that we know.
I'm sure I made some leaps and too many assumptions there.
So if you're a philosophy major, you can leave me a comment saying how I butchered that concept.
(18:23):
But if you haven't yet, go check out my Fresno State preview as well as my season preview.
But I appreciate the listen. I'm so excited for this upcoming season.
Thank you for supporting this passion project of mine.
You can certainly support me by giving me a five-star review as well as subscribing
to the channel. Thanks again. Go blue.
(18:46):
Music.
Music.
(00:17):
Welcome to the Jolly Goodfellow podcast. I'm Jake Akers and I'm your host.
Of course, we're talking Michigan football as we're just a few short days from
the opening game against Fresno State.
I've already done a preview of that and also a season preview.
Today we're going to talk more Michigan football. That's not a surprise.
(00:40):
But what might surprise you is we're going to talk some philosophy.
Philosophy 101, as we're going to try to apply Occam's Razor to some of the
most pressing questions on this Michigan team as we head into the season.
And so Occam's Razor is a principle. It's often misused.
(01:01):
I'm sure I will misuse it at times on this pod, but it's a principle that suggests
the simplest explanation with the fewest assumptions is often the correct one.
And the idea is to shave away any unnecessary complexities and focus on the
most straightforward solution.
So the best way to explain this is using an example. Let's imagine you wake
(01:24):
up and you find that your lawn is wet.
Well there's a few possible explanations obviously.
The most obvious one is that it rained last night.
It could also be that aliens came
in from outer space and turned on your hose and watered your lawn down for some
reason right now just because your lawn's wet doesn't necessarily mean and just
(01:46):
because it's the most simple explanation doesn't necessarily mean that it did
in fact rain last night the other possibility i guess is plausible but.
Using Occam's Razor, you're able to see that the explanation that's most likely
true is also most often true.
I just do want to point out, it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to happen.
I think that's where it's misused sometimes.
(02:08):
So, according to Occam's Razor, the first explanation, so in the example that
it rained, is more likely because it requires fewer assumptions.
So, how do we apply this to Michigan's most pressing questions?
I think the biggest question we all have, we don't even know a few days from
now, who's going to be starting at quarterback.
We have three guys. We have Orgy, we have Davis Warren, and we have Tuttle.
(02:31):
I think most fans, if you made them guess, you'd think Orgy would be the starter
there. And we'll go into some of the reasons why.
But I am hearing some chatter that Davis Warren is making a late push and may
indeed be the starter. So if you see that on Saturday night, do not be shocked.
It does seem like this truly is a 50-50 battle going into that game.
(02:52):
And I don't think anyone outside of Schembechler Hall really knows what's going
to take place on Saturday and who will be lining up under center,
at least to start the game.
I imagine we'll see both of them at points. But that being said,
when we apply Occam's Razor, we want to look at the quarterback position.
What do we actually know? What do we have evidence for?
And so we have these three guys. We have Orgy. We have Warren. We have Tuttle.
(03:16):
They've all been in the program for several years. None of these guys are transfers
in. They've all been in the program at least two years.
So the coaching staff that's currently there, as well as the previous staff,
Jim Harbaugh, knows these guys, has evaluated them.
And they've been here long enough where they're seen as plausible starters and
(03:38):
plausible contributors to this team. How do we know that?
Well, one, the staff did not choose to bring in any transfers and there could
be other reasons, right?
Like, but the fewest assumptions would be they're comfortable with one of these guys leading the team.
I think they have enough to win with these guys.
And if they didn't, right, you'd go out and you'd bring someone in.
(03:59):
There's enough options.
Michigan's enough of a brand name, right? NIL, I'm hearing is ramping up at
Michigan where we'd be able to bring in a guy.
Also on top of that, none of these guys was so outclassed. They saw the writing
on the wall and transferred out for greener pastures and a better spot to play.
What do we know about these players? Well, we'll start with Orgy.
(04:20):
We know Orgy has elite athleticism.
And the clearest evidence of this, that he's that type of player,
the player that is a contributor and potentially a game-breaker,
is Michigan under Jim Harbaugh during the national championship season.
I mentioned this in the preview.
They took J.J. McCarthy, who Jim Harbaugh widely praised as being the best Michigan
(04:44):
quarterback ever, took him off the field to give Orgy snaps in the biggest games of the season,
Ohio State, Alabama, right?
They believe that obviously shows they believe he's an athlete you can't keep off the field.
Also, another piece of evidence here around Orgy being a legitimate quarterback.
(05:04):
Jim Harbaugh is likely the greatest modern coach when it comes to position switching.
To give you some examples, we all know about Stanford and switching Richard
Sherman over to cornerback, how that played out.
We had Michigan running backs, Hassan Haskins and Kalel Mullings.
They start off as linebackers, switch to running backs, and of course,
(05:25):
the legend, Mikey Sanders still.
And in college, especially nowadays, when you see a guy switch a position,
it's generally like, well, he's there doing that for depth and it's an emergency situation.
You don't really expect that guy to be able to pick up the position.
All of those guys I just mentioned out, widely successful.
Jim Harbaugh had an eye for knowing what position guys should play,
(05:45):
but there's one guy that was an obvious position switch candidate that he kept
at the position, and that's Orgy at quarterback,
a position Jim Harbaugh knows best, right?
He didn't make him a tight end or a linebacker, just make him solely an offensive
or weapon or some sort of edge rush guy.
(06:06):
It's very telling that he thought he had a future and potential at quarterback.
You look at Orji's athleticism and size comparables. This is a big guy.
This is a guy with Tim Tebow-esque size, but faster. A 41-inch vert.
This is a guy that's going to be, if he's playing the quarterback position, an elite runner.
(06:28):
And we know elite runners can be game changers. We've seen that back Denard
Robinson, but we've also seen that across college football.
There's too many examples to name.
We also saw him in the spring game where he looked competent.
And then we look at the other guys, right? So we'll start with Davis Warren.
Seemingly has a high floor. And if you don't know Davis Warren's backstory,
(06:50):
I encourage you to look it up. it actually makes you really root for the guy.
I'm really rooting for this guy.
He was a four-star high recruit, someone that definitely would have had many
offers, but ended up walking on here because he came down with health issues
that derailed his career.
But he came back as a walk-on, has been here since.
(07:11):
And we've always seen him in the spots.
We've seen him like spring games, be relatively successful and almost living
up to that recruiting pedigree that he had before the health issues.
From what I've seen from this guy, he can run almost in the mold of JJ.
I don't know if he's quite as explosive as JJ was, but he can definitely move around a little bit.
(07:32):
And he doesn't look like he has the size, but he doesn't look like he'd be out
of place starting in the big.
This is a guy that I think can be an above average starter in the big.
I don't know if he's going to be maybe this, the superstar that JJ was,
but you know, we still haven't seen enough.
And some of the interesting things about Davis is there was some buzz that he
(07:54):
had the strongest arm on the team last year.
I said that right last year. So talking about when JJ was on the team,
this other guy has a stronger arm.
Now that doesn't mean he has better accuracy and is a better pure thrower. We know JJ had a cannon.
So when you look at him sticking around all these years, his pedigree before
(08:15):
the health issues, he's a high floor guy guy.
And if Orgy were to beat him out, if Davis Warren isn't the starter,
I mean, I think he had to think that Orgy at that point is Jalen Milrow, right?
Because otherwise you roll with this guy, Davis Warren, who looks like he can
be average to above average Big Ten quarterback.
(08:36):
And then you have Tuttle, who I think is working through some health issues,
everything I've heard. But I think it's more of the same, right? He's a good recruit.
He sat behind guys like Penix and And JJ, no shame in any of that.
He has a ton of experience.
I think he would be a competent, if not spectacular starter.
Maybe he's a Cade McNamara type player where he can run the offense.
(08:57):
So if Orgy was a disaster and one of these guys were to get the nod,
I think we're going to be in okay shape.
And so really wrapping it up,
you know, it's not very likely that going through all these three guys.
They give you reasons. They do give you reasons to believe in their success.
They're all multi-year program guys in a very successful program,
the best developing program for my money in the country in terms of taking guys
(09:21):
and getting the most out of them, really putting them into the NFL.
If you want to judge it based on that, there's no one better,
at least based on the recruiting rankings to draft.
And on top of that, Michigan's not going to ask a lot out of the quarterback situation.
They're going to want these guys to come in, take care of the ball,
(09:41):
and move the chains. We're going to run on our offensive line and being able to run the ball.
And so it's really difficult for me to think that quarterback's going to be
the thing that really holds the team back.
I think if it's Orgy, he's going to be dynamic enough on the ground to make
plays and make this a difficult defense to defend.
If Davis Warren beats out Orgy, it means the guy can sling the rock and is going
(10:05):
to give us a more balanced offense.
So either way, I, you know, the take from all this evidence is the QB position
is going to be average at worst, in my opinion, and could actually be something
that is a strength. I say strength relatively.
I don't think, you know, we're going to have a Heisman Trophy winner out there,
but I think we could have an above average quarterback.
(10:27):
Next question is who's going to catch the ball, right?
Let's say it is Davis whistle horn, or even orgy, right? You need guys that can catch the ball.
And so I'm going to start the wide receiver section by talking about our running backs and tight ends.
Very unconventional, I know. Donovan Edwards, no matter how you say it,
(10:49):
I wish the team would maybe use this weapon a little bit more,
but he is an elite receiving option.
We know this. He's proven it.
There's been coaches on the team that said, if he wasn't a running back,
he could start at receiver. Wholesome Loveland.
I think he's very likely the odds-on favorite to win the MAPG award.
He's a projected first-rounder at tight end. We've seen in the NFL what elite
(11:12):
receiving tight ends can do. We can split them out wide.
Both of these guys are weapons that this team can use in the air game.
And that's why I bring them up is because they're going to give this passing
offense a very high floor when it comes to weapons.
When you can stress a defense, not only with our running game,
right, that's going to attract extra attention.
(11:35):
But you have a running back and a tight end that needs extra attention.
Now the other guys on the outside, if they're not the elite go-to superstar
receivers, they don't have to be quite as good to win those one-on-one matchups that they'll see.
That being said, what do we know about those receivers? I'm going to focus on two guys in particular.
(11:56):
I think there's more in the supporting cast. But we know Tyler Morris was a solid recruit.
Recruit he has a year under his belt where he got meaningful snaps
again I sound like a broken record but on
a national championship team he caught and housed
the pass in the Rose Bowl against SEC Speed which as Michigan fans we've all
heard so much about right he didn't look slow on that play is he going to be
(12:19):
a bona fide star number one go-to receiver that you want in the terms of like
what Ohio State continually has with Marvin Harrison and some of these guys.
Occam's Razor says no. Let's be real.
Can he be a Ronnie Bell White? A guy that's solid, gives you strong production, makes plays.
All signs point to yes.
(12:42):
Also, you have Samaj Morgan. This is one of my sleepers of the year.
I don't, quite frankly, don't think this guy's getting enough hype.
Last year, as a true freshman, he finally broke the Michigan no-slot receiver curse. course.
What I mean by that is even going back to the days of Lloyd Carr and guys like
Calvin Bell, that's a name from the past.
(13:04):
You get excited because we use these guys on end-of-rounds and reverses,
but very rarely would we throw the ball to them. Very rarely would we get them seriously involved.
We've had some guys over the years you get excited about, but they really don't
live up to what you think they could be and what we see maybe on some other
teams that use these gadget-type guys.
Anytime Samaj Mor was on the screen he popped usually for good reasons right
(13:28):
it's caught some deep passes for touchdowns they would get the ball in his hands
and screens reverses right you can tell he has he just has it a couple times
he popped in not a great way,
cough cough punt return in the Rose Bowl but there's no denying this guy especially
for a freshman is electric with the ball in his hands caught a few passes down the field for the team.
(13:53):
And a guy like this, like that, that can spread the field horizontally,
make you cover those ender rounds, make you cover those screens and bubble passes.
A team that needs weapons in the pass game and has an unproven QB,
you combine them with guys like Donovan and Colston who do the same thing,
I think that's going to really help our passing game.
(14:14):
I think he's going to get involved a lot more than last year.
He was pretty involved last year. He's clearly a part of the game planning.
I think he makes a lot of big plays and really stands out.
So overall, we look at this evidence. While this team lacks that true number
one receiver who scares you, when you consider those four pass catchers that I mentioned,
there's more than enough difference makers to move the ball,
(14:36):
especially when you combine it with our run game and we want that to stay our bread and butter.
It might turn out those four guys in the pass game, we have more weapons than
your average team, right?
Especially if it's a mod more than it can turn out to be. can be
a stud and just attract that extra
attention well who do you give that extra attention to you have
Donovan motioning out of the backfield you have Colson split
(14:57):
wide you have Tyler Morris out there you have Samaj in
the slot but you can't double cover everyone you can't shade coverage towards
everyone so I do think we're going to have a plethora of weapons at our disposal
and that's not even getting into like backup tight ends Marlon Klein who people
go say is Colson Loveland plus in terms of athleticism and even faster than Colson Loveland.
(15:21):
I think we have a lot to be excited for. I don't know how much we're going to use the receivers.
There were times last year where we wouldn't, you know, again, I keep talking about JJ.
We wouldn't even let JJ throw the ball. And so, you know, I don't know how much
we're going to open it up.
I have heard things where we might open it up, but you can't hear that every year.
And I'm quite okay with continuing to smash the ball through opponents.
(15:45):
The final question I want to cover is our offensive line.
And I talked about this in the preview too, but I heard something today about
Notre Dame, a team I believe just off the top of my head is like seventh in
the AP, so slightly above Michigan.
Their offensive line, because of an injury to their left tackle,
they're going to be starting a true freshman left tackle.
(16:07):
And their offensive line as a whole, they're returning four combined starts.
Four combined starts across those five guys. right and
so a lot's being made of michigan oh you're starting
five news five new starters how is
this going to work these are new guys you have to understand these
five guys combined have over 100 starts over 100 starts these are all juniors
(16:33):
redshirt juniors seniors grad transfers we have pre from northwestern who was
the third team all big 10 miles hidden former five star it's his This fifth year,
he's saying that he finally has his grown man strength.
Another year of tutelage in his second year under Sean Moore.
(16:53):
We're expecting him to take a big step, and it wouldn't be surprising if this
guy is an NFL player in the future.
We have El Hadi, who's gotten starts over the past three years and gotten tons of meaningful snaps.
All of these guys have been around the program outside of Preeb, who's 13 All-Big Ten.
I think we can expect a high floor from them.
(17:16):
And I don't know if they're going to be.
One of the Joe Moore winning team winning lines. Like we had two out of the
three previous years, but I think this is going to be a top 10 line when it's all said and done.
I think Sean Moore and his coaching is going to get these guys that have been in the program,
but going against that strong defensive line, I, it just, it would be more shocking
(17:40):
to me than not if they really struggled.
Now, that being said, maybe they come out,
maybe we don't come out super cohesive right out
of the gate that's a possibility it
could take some time for a line to you know with that
many new starters to really gel but I do think as we get into the season we're
(18:00):
going to be with that type of coaching and development that we've seen also
the experience in these guys we're going to be able to figure this out and this
line is going to be a strength by the end of the year well that's applying some
Occam's razor and some of the things that we know.
I'm sure I made some leaps and too many assumptions there.
So if you're a philosophy major, you can leave me a comment saying how I butchered that concept.
(18:23):
But if you haven't yet, go check out my Fresno State preview as well as my season preview.
But I appreciate the listen. I'm so excited for this upcoming season.
Thank you for supporting this passion project of mine.
You can certainly support me by giving me a five-star review as well as subscribing
to the channel. Thanks again. Go blue.
(18:46):
Music.
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