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WTKA Roundtable 6/1/2023: Page 128

Things Discussed:

• HAIL TO THE VICTORS 2023: The Michigan preview with the most mentions of 45-23.
• Alex Cook watches Braylonfest.
• Football preview: All the positions are great until we get to 2nd cornerback.
• Kicker: James Turner would be the #2 Michigan kicker since 2003.
• Realignment: What's driving it is TV contracts. Big 12 in best shape to be Conf3 because they have an ESPN contract.
• Streaming: It's not going to stay how it is now. The battle is the same it's always been, where they try to make you pay for as much of what you don't watch as possible and you try to streamline as much as possible.
• Future? There's more money to be made if you're not paying half of it to Fox.
• Basketball: Can they salvage the offseason now? Depends on how they do with a portal G and Big.

WTKA Roundtable 5/25/2023: Get an MBA and Walk Around Looking Cool

Things Discussed:

• Shemy: They had two months to do a cursory vetting. Harbaugh was trying to do a thing for Bo.
• Problem in coach culture that they feel the need to find everybody a job.
• Problem in Michigan's athletic department that they don't have enough attention to detail.
• The lesson isn't just check what you say in public; check some of these ideas when they're on their way into your head.
• NOTE: I erased a short bit where the panel got the Schembechler boys mixed up; Matt is the one who made dubious claims re: Anderson.
• To be clear, it was hundreds of likes of racist ideas, not just one tweet (though the one tweet was very bad), and once they were public it would have been a major issue for Michigan, which is in the PR business.
• In the break Brian explains how Twitter works to Craig.
• The Big Ten's contract situation: How did Kevin Warren screw this up so badly? Guy sold the rights to a game he didn't own, and promised night games in November—what was his job other than to know these things?
• OSU is going to host a night game vs MSU on November 11 (Michigan had the IU game just as late in the year).
• MSU is going to move their last home game, vs Penn State, to Ford Field on Friday night—MSU season ticket holders must be pissed? Seth: MSU's last home game is usually empty and miserable anyways.
• November night game solution: USC and UCLA can play them at home.
• And they're paying a search firm to understand if they need to pay him a bonus for a contract he didn't complete when his contract didn't say he gets one, why, because Delany got one? Brian: Executive culture is messed up—these guys are all replacement level.
• What's the fallout? Sam/Brian think Michigan didn't have any concessions; Seth thinks MSU horse-traded their Senior Day at Ford Field and a night game at OSU in return for an easier schedule when Michigan is going to get USC. We figured that would happen anyways.

WTKA Roundtable 5/18/2023: That Man is Orange

Things Discussed:

• Seth on early to talk about Michigan's transfer process.
• Caleb Love? Need to get on this because it's not tenable for the program.
• Are the other transfers at risk? TJ is a grad transfer, Nimari it's probably a thing where he's willing to give up credits to get here.
• RayJ Dennis: Was on campus. TAKE! Better than Love! Can we beat Illinois for him? Would you play for Brad Underwood?
• Phat-Phat: Think he's AJ Hoggard.
• Lacrosse: Big upset over Big Red, can they beat Duke? Yeah?
• Tennis: Women lost close, making a run next year. Men still in it.
• ACC Rumbles/Expansion: Washington and Oregon have been vetted, but vetting turned up they don't bring more than the mean. FSU if they can get into the AAU, Clemson, Notre Dame, and then maybe UNC, Virginia, and Duke are options.
• Why all this? Because teams are jockeying for an inevitable future where players are under contract and getting a piece of the TV money.

WTKA Roundtable 5/11/2023: I Like ’Em All

TCU After UFR:

• How disjoined was the offense? Lots because they weren't calling their run game on 3rd & 2, and they weren't calling their passing game on 2nd & long.
• Play-action was getting 25 yards per play because TCU was not going to leave their safeties back. They should have run the flea-flicker on the next play, and again after that, until the safety stayed back.
• RUN OUTSIDE! Frustrating that they didn't use the end-arounds and McCarthy's legs in the offense until very late in the game.
• Perspective: They still put up 45 points despite two turnovers inside the 2, a horrible touchdown-overturning review, and two pick-sixes.
• Constant wins against their nose didn't count because they'd throw another LB inside and bring down the safety. First Iso was fool's gold: Edwards beat a safety who came down at 3 yards.
• Michigan took way too long to figure out they could PA and attack on the edges.
• Passing game: haven't developed some of the things you do with a QB like JJ. Remember he was a young QB though. JJ's mechanics caused the first turnover, his lack of input contributed to the 2nd one.
• Guessing teams will use this strategy next year instead of sitting back like Iowa did. Teams are going to interpret Illinois/OSU/TCU as successes, and Kirk Campbell was part of the PSU Bombs Over Baghdad offense.
• QB run game? Michigan used a dumbed down version of the Ravens tricks with Lamar Jackson, but college players are too well trained and become free hitters. Find a medium between that and the way PSU beat the hell out of Trace McSorley and Sean Clifford.

Q&A Portion

• Breakout WR: Tyler Morris, then O'Leary, then Clemons is the order right now via Sam. Morris a chemistry with JJ, see him as a Ronnie Bell type. Seth notes Morris was on the field in high-leverage situations. O'Leary is a type they don't have with anyone else. Clemons is a year away; he's your next CJ.
• Mullings as a runner: They hadn't developed him for that situation. Seth: Fullbacks practice that dive play a million times because it's a high-rate fumble situation with how fast the snap comes. Appreciation for Khalid Hill: need a guy to spend time practicing that, and Mullings was practicing linebacker.
• Helow to Partridge? McNamara to McCarthy. LB is hard to coach, Barrett was a success story, Colson you wanted to see him further along after two years of starting. Helow did some work on the recruiting trail. Ernest Hausmann could be the best of them.

Portal Portal

• Spin from MSU is pathetic but they can't say the truth, which is outside of things every P5 school has (money, playing time) there's nothing to be loyal to.
• Hunter Dickinson: Tried the soft way, now he's speaking truth. Probably underrating what he got at Michigan because he's only talking about the real NIL versus projections—basketball, Dickinson excitement also came in well below projections. That's the NIL from the John Q. fans, which is our business too, and the amount of money you make in that business is correlated to success.
• NIL vs "NIL." The NIL from major donors is what he's getting from Kansas. When you sit down with these schools they tell you want the deal is, because they're used to operating that way. Michigan will get there, but even if the program is on board, their donors also need to be converted from old school thinking, and that's going to take time. Football donors are there; the basketball collective effort isn't there yet.

WTKA Roundtable 5/4/2023: The Herbertization Chamber

Things discussed:

• The boys are back in town: Michigan recruiting Ohio.
• The Draft: A Jim Harbaugh tight end is getting drafted, don't care where he was ranked.
• Michigan's player development: look no further than DJ Turner (didn't mean to rhyme that). Herbert fixed a glute problem that plagued DJ into his 2nd year of college.
• MSU Exodus: It's a bad sign when your starters are transferring after practice. Why? They're seeing how bad they are: Nobody's a better scout than your own team.
• Coach BT (Brandon Jordan) was the reason recruits were coming, because the NFL guys were coming to train here too. Spartan media are going to try to spin it as Kim/Houser but the question they should be asking is if money is the reason somebody's there, you can lose them for money as well. Lotta players married the mistress.
• Keon Coleman is from "OppahLOOsuh" Louisiana. AKA "The Slop."
• Also Deion Sanders looked at the Mel Tucker guys on his roster and got rid of them all.
• Lions Draft: Campbell was the most Lions guy in the draft. Sam likes the picks, not the order.
• Hunter Dickinson: There are more important things, like $3 million of them if you believe lying numbers, than having your name in the rafters. Seth/Brian disagree whether the flowers and candy for Michigan is necessary. Brian: Just go. Seth: Appreciate the gifts, never expect them.
• Losing Muck: He got passed over, so it's understandable. Bacon: if the report says you can't have him here, don't have him here; if it doesn't then that's not a reason not to hire him. Seth: Red did well to set up the hierarchy, but you don't have to follow it.

WTKA Roundtable 4/27/2023: CJ Stroud Needs a Lawyer

Things discussed:

• Recruiting is #1: Should Ohio State fans be freaking out? Well yeah, because Michigan has Ohio State's class.
• Why are centers underrated? High schools can't waste beasts at center, and Wonderlic scores don't come out in college recruiting.
• Jerod Smith: How that all went down. How committable were his Georgia and Alabama and Tennessee offers? Pretty committable.
• I'Marion Stewart is their #1 WR since the July camp. Marquise Lightfoot is turning into an elite, good to have Stewart at his school in his ear but that one's an uphill battle.
• The three transfers: Those are all depth chart things after spring. NHG was still hurt. Henning is a loss but there were other guys doing that and he wasn't going to be getting many targets. Moten really fell off a cliff last year, and if he's behind Quinten Johnson and Zeke Berry, it wasn't happening.
• NFL Draft: Don't like the quarterbacks.
• Seth thinks teams are going to pass on QBs and take the personality gamble on Jalen Carter. Everyone agrees he's the best player in the draft, but even Georgia coaches are saying they won't miss him: Todd McShay has 7 sources.
• Brian: Ignore these quarterbacks, all of them are going to be failures.
• CJ Stroud: Every time he opens his mouth it's like stop talking. Michael Vick and Deshaun Watson are the guys you model yourself after? Losing to Michigan doesn't define me? You're a football player not a test taker? Dude!
• All I'm hearing there is Georgia coaches are going to bad mouth their own players at the draft; seems like something the recruits should know about.
• Can the Lions trade down and get Devon Witherspoon lower? Only if the QBs fall down to 6th and someone wants to trade up five spots to get one.
• Wolverines in the draft? Mazi Smith doesn't have the pass rush to be in the 1st round but solid 2nd rounder. DJ Turner on the other hand could make it. Seth: there's a pretty tight group of CBs and they're all in a pretty solid order so that run could happen in the 1st round or 2nd. He's got a really high floor and some team is going to see the ceiling too, because his one issue is he's too slight.
• Here's the Brett Kollman video I referenced.

Michigan HockeyCast 5.26: Run It Back

1 hour and 19 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: Mostly Returnees at Forward

• Opener: Necessary Discussion
• Guys We've Seen
• The Fantilli Debate
• How Many Freshman Will Michigan Actually Take?

Segment 2: A Whole Lotta Guys At The Back

• So Many Bodies
• Transfer Fits
• Will There Be Any Freshmen?
• Goalie Chatter: New and Old

[Player after THE JUMP]

MUSIC

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "We'll Meet Again" -- Vera Lynn
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

WTKA Roundtable 4/20/2023: I Have No Use for the Written Word

Things discussed:

• Ohio State vs Michigan recruiting: Maybe you guys don't want to be bragging that your scouting at OL and DB sucks. Like, it's not a flex that you didn't recruit Rod Moore, bro.
• Roebuck vs the the Andersons—you can say the twins are good fits for OSU if they develop into pass protectors, but if you ask St. Eds people, Roebuck's been their monster and Michigan's been on him for years…it's not like 3-stars vs two 4-stars is a fair representation.
• Is Ryan Day in trouble if he loses in Ann Arbor? The manner matters.
• Rod Moore says Ja'den McBurrows is one of the best man coverage guys on the team. He can hit. Don't pencil Amorion ahead of Ja'den. He's got to develop as a film junkie but everything else is falling into place.
• "Jyaire Hill is gonna play." I preview the recruiting  profile, because I *love* this pickup. Think that Minter is looking at playing simpler coverages because it accesses all of these young players' abilities. We saw two busts in the spring game (Sabb and Hill) when their switching broke down. "Denard on defense."
• Linebacker is night and day: they have a full two-deep plus Partridge.
• Up front: seems like edge is a 4-3/3-4 platoon with McGregor/Stewart in the 40 sets and D.Moore/Harrell for 3-4.
• Portal shopping: Kicker, maybe a corner. Sam says receiver but we like what they have there. Tight end maybe? How about a fullback. Find a guy named Mack Stockbaker to be a pure fullback.
• Recruiting: Last guy in the picture: Prieskorn is M-OSU-PSU, with PSU the biggest fear, but none of the guys who developed those TEs are still there. Going for six guys on the OL: figure Guarnera is the center and then a 6th guy is a battle of 4 or 5 guys, like Max Anderson, Brandon Baker coming to visit, Bennett Warren might have M in the lead, Michael Uini almost put out a commitment graphic.
• Getting Sherrone done with OL recruiting by the end of June is great because he can help in other recruitments.
• Cole Cabana as a returner? Sure, but this year it's AJ Henning.
• Basketball: Hunter looks like he's going to sign with Kansas, which is where you sign if it's about the money because Kansas does not get outbid. Why are fans sour on Hunter?
• Ewing Theory potential: Michigan needs to find another guy who can play center but Tarris Reed and their portal pickups are all defensive guys.
• Olivier Nkamhoua? Sentiment from Tennessee is he'd rather be a pro, and college is a fallback option. Primarily a four but could slide to the five better than Tray Jackson.
• Hockey developments: Like the Warren pickup, ideal guy to pair with Edwards on the 2nd pairing so Truscott and Casey can be your top pair. If they get the Hobey Baker winner back they're going to have two of the best lines in hockey.
• Baseball: Tracy Smith has done a good job so far—seems more like Indiana Smith than ASU Smith.

Michigan HockeyCast 5.25: Card of Reports

1 hour and 44 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: Not the Highest Grades

• Opener: NHL First Round
• Goaling Grading
• The Offensive Defensemen
• The Not-As-Offensive Defensemen

Segment 2: Higher Grades

• Fantilli's Line Makes Smiles
• The Middle Six Gets Middle Grades
• We Wanted More From the Fourth Line and Alternates
• Team-Wide Talk

[Player after THE JUMP]

MUSIC

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "No Matter What" -- Badfinger
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

WTKA Roundtable 4/13/2023: You Sweet Summer Child

Things discussed:

• Seth on early, talks Hank Greenberg and gefilte fish.
• Hockeytalk: Soft goals override everything else you do in a hockey game. Quinnipiac is the best defensive team—you don't give that team three "pick-sixes" in soft goals.
• Step one is don't hit three posts.
• The first bank was inexcusable, the second was brain-exploding, and the weak saucer pass he gave up when Michigan had a chance to tie cemented Portillo's legacy as the next Billy Sauer.
• Who's coming back? Fantilli could get drafted by Chicago, who would be smart to leave him in college to put off his free agent year and tank for a better pick next year. Healthy Nazar, healthy Truscott, Casey breakout, Nick Moldenhauer from the freshman class, and a portal defender (Ryan Siedem from Harvard) and LFG.
• Goalie? West removed his name from the portal, gives you an okay floor. All in on Brown's Mathieu Caron in the portal, but you never know who can be pried loose.
• COVID year guys? Would like to bring back Ciccolini, think Pehrson can move on, Granowicz? Draper & Lapointe's turn to be the 4th liners.
• Hoops: Looking at some big portal additions. Everybody they got can defend. Could they get Olivier Nkamhoua (pronounced Kam-wa)? Could they get Hunter Dickinson back? He's probably assessing his market value, and whether Michigan's additions are going to make them contenders.
• Do the additions make them contenders? It makes them VERY athletic, can be a defensive nightmare with enough spacing and scoring options to be a passable offense.
• Love: Do not have him be your #1 pick and roll guy. Dug changes the math there, because he's going to progress from a 20/20 ATO guy to a 25/18 guy, and that's a *massive* difference to an offense.