Michigan has had questions at right tackle since 2022. With Evan Link's early struggles after winning the job over Andrew Gentry and Jeffrey Persi, could the Wolverines again make a change at RT, or will they ride the "growing pains" with Link?
🔗🔽

Anyone? Thanks?

https://www.si.com/college-football...-intent-to-transfer-for-perceived-nil-reasons

"I have decided to utilize my redshirt year and will not be playing in any additional games this season," Sluka's statement read on his official X account. "I committed to UNLV based on certain representations that were made to me, which were not upheld after I enrolled. Despite discussions, it became clear that these commitments would not be fulfilled in the future. I wish my teammates the best of luck this season and hope for the continued success of the program."

Click to expand...

On today's pod we see where Michigan fans are at after Saturday's thrilling win over USC. How much better does Alex Orji have to be at QB? Does UM still have a legit shot at making the college footbal playoffs
Breakdown
Open 00:00-2:59
Where are you at after Saturday? 3:00-12:51
Fan reaction 12:52-24:52
Orji 24:53-31:23
Little Brown Jug 31:24-33:27
10-2? 33:28-59:20
Login to view embedded media

The latest on a lot of big names around the country:

The Good:
Big Play Mullings has separated himself from the other backs. The Don is still a factor, and his long run was a thing of beauty, but KM is big, fast, powerful, and has great vision and balance.

The O-line run game. The line played a little better last week, but today, it looked like they made a positive jump in the run game. They would look even better if they let Mullings have more carries.

Perimeter Blocking.
In the run game, it was outstanding all day long.

D-Line:
Today was the best we have seen this group play. The USC QB was punished all day. Aside from one long run, they kept the run game in check.

Punting:
It was better today. It was the best we've seen this year.

Wink:
Credit where credit is due. He called a good game. It's not perfect, but it's good enough against a good offense.

The Bad:

Pass Blocking:
USC was in the backfield on every pass play. As good as the O-line was in the run game it was that bad in the pass game.

Attacking the outside:
The inside run game worked, but we kept trying the outside with minimal benefit. We haven't had a pass behind the LOS that has worked all year.

Pass Game:
It was horrible. I know people are saying the quarterback didn't turn the ball over, but it's not that hard when all you are doing is handing the ball off.

The Ugly:

The passing game was not only bad but ugly. The few passes downfield were into coverage and not close to being completed. A couple of times, we had receivers wide open downfield, and they were either not seen or the quarterback was unable to get the ball downfield because USC was in his face.

The D backfield. While the D gets a good grade overall, there were blown calls that cost us big time.

Playcalling:
The second and goal call was about as bad as it gets. We have not had any success passing all day. If it's incomplete, it stops the clock, and if it's intercepted, we lose. In my opinion, it was a bonehead call.

Missed PAT:
It can't happen. It almost cost us.

Conclusion:
It was a great win and largely unexpected by most across the country. Many things improved, and these guys grew a little steel in their spines during the week.

The elephant in the room is the passing offense. If you are honest, you must know that Alex will not suddenly become a great passer. Clearly, he's not the dynamic rusher we hoped he would be, either. So what do we do here?

Are we playing Alex to hand the ball off and run five times a game? Is it less tempting to call a pass play because Orji is in the game? Alex will never have a turnover if all he does is hand the ball off, but we will never have a passing offense. I guess at this point, it's pick your poison. I would rather have Davis or Tuttle in and let them hand it off if it were me. At least with them in the game, there is a threat of a pass.

Finally, it was a great win against a team with outstanding talent. USC has a very good offense and an excellent quarterback. We won because we were more physical, didn't quit, and were in front of a great home crowd. We won in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Mullings is a difference maker, and while this game answered many questions, it also promoted many more.

We are 1-0 in the BIG and took care of one of the bigger challenges on our schedule. We have a completely different outlook with the win than what it would look like if we lost.

Keep the jug.

Go Blue!

PSU is good, but not amazing.

Michigan class of 2026 QB Brady Hart put together another electric performance, while 2025 WR Andrew Marsh continues to show that he is a big play threat.

A look at how some future Wolverines performed on the field last weekend:

Login to view embedded media
The elite 2027 tight end was in the Big House last weekend for the win over USC. His comments were pretty telling:

"Something that really stood out was when the players moms talked pregame and you can really tell that they have a real connection with not only just their student athlete but also with all the coaches and staff at Michigan," Brewer said. "I think that is something super cool. I want my parents to be able to know exactly what i’m up to during the day and if they ever need to check in, them having the ability to contact any coach is something you don’t see all the time.

"Also the crowd and atmosphere stood out. I was talking to guys left and right about the game and the passion those people had was crazy! Also not to mention there is 110,000 people there so that was wild!"

Brewer is already a national recruit with early offers from Georgia, Tennessee, Miami and others.

Link's pass-pro technique is awful (which is putting it nicely) as a P5 or even MAC-caliber starter. While that's often the case with bad Olineman, he has a long way to go to even be a serviceable tackle for UM.

While we discussed it as a group a bit, I didn't truly grasp how much he's hampering the passing game until a rewatch of the film. Over the past four games - which was about as fun as re-watching the 2020 season; I came away even less impressed than I already was.

He gets beat on inside moves, speed rushes, AND bull rushes because he doesn't get enough depth on his initial kick and loses his center of gravity with poor footwork adjusting to the defender - making him an absolute turnstile. The coaching staff has thrown him into a role he's not ready for...

While the good news is that technique is fixable, the jump of improvement he needs to make leads me to believe it's time to give somebody else a try...If you're rolling out Gentry as a 6th OL, then at least according to PFF's passing grades, it literally cannot get any worse 2 out of his 4 games. It's time for him to get his shot, similar to how Orji was given his.

Simply put, if the offense has any chance of improving the passing game or at least achieving some semblance of balance, it needs to fix the RT issue. This issue is only going to get worse as teams get creative with their best rushers and blitzes toward the right side of the line.

My good news is we are 3-1. The USC game was an unlikely and welcome win against a quality team. It was gritty, and Mullings big run was about as good a run as I have ever seen. He drug the USC guy more than 5 yards before he broke free for 50 more yards. Wow!

Our special needs son's stent removal was quick and uneventful. We arrived at the hospital at 7:45 am and were on our way back home by 1:00 pm.

We celebrated my sister's birthday on Sunday with a great meal at a beautiful restaurant on the water, and we'll celebrate my daughter-in-law's birthday this weekend.

We are preparing for some wind and rain tomorrow and the next day. I hope it moves through quickly. Our pumpkins for the church pumpkin patch are coming this weekend, so I'm hoping for some good weather.

What's your good news?

Go Blue!

How could I forget the Tigers! Go Kerry! Go Tigers!

I'll never say never when it comes to recruiting but RIGHT NOW I feel confident that Michigan is going to be able to hang on to a few key members of its class who are expected to visit elsewhere, including TE Andrew Olesh.

Michigan has sold him on an opportunity next season and there's obviously a reason he chose the Wolverines in the first place. He was on campus this weekend and obviously had a strong visit. Does have plans to make other visits, Jacob Washington, too, but there is some confidence right now that things will stay the course in the weeks leading up to the early signing period.

As I said to lead off, never say never, but the staff is going to do whatever it can to keep this class together. And I think they will if things continue in the right direction when it comes to recruiting momentum.

Wasn't asked about Michigan today so can't do an article as a result but here is his weekly presser from yesterday. Mentioned Michigan once in his opening statement.

Login to view embedded media

Kinda crazy that tonight's MNF game involves two guys who UM tried to convince to medically retire.

Login to view embedded media
Orji doesn’t pull this one it’s another house call for Mullings

Going to be in Santa Barbara CA Saturday anyone know of a good place to watch the game?? Thanks

It sounds pretty bad. Would not be surprised if there were more twists to the story.

Something to watch for sure.

It’s a subscriber story so it’s behind a paywall. Headline tells you all you need to know.