Today I had a chance to speak with Donovan Edwards, Mason Graham, Alex Orji, Colston Loveland, Will Johnson and Blake Frazier at an NIL event.

Wanted to share some interesting things they told me before I publish some articles tomorrow.

- Donovan Edwards is only taking one class this fall. Last fall, he says he took 14 or 15 credits, but it'll be a much lighter workload for him this fall. He says it will give him much more time to watch film and focus on football.
- Will Johnson says he was only about 70 percent healthy until about mid way through last season.
- Johnson also says Tyler Morris is the toughest receiver to cover on the team.
- Blake Frazier says even though he was with the team for the Rose Bowl and National Championship, he doesn't consider himself a national champion. Says he wants to win one for himself.
- Johnson says sometimes the Michigan players tease former Spartan Jaden Mangham about the 49-0 victory in East Lansing last season.

More to come tomorrow!

My good news is we are only about 60 days from football. It's a new era with new teams and new opportunities in the conference. I'm excited.

I'm finally back in the gym. It's the last piece of my fitness puzzle, and boy, do I need it.

The weather is good, work is good, and family is good.

What's your good news?

Go Blue!

Our 2025 recruiting class is full of great talent. I want to get some player comparisons for each commit. Give me your comparisons

It might not be this season, but Jadyn Davis is the future of Michigan Football.
Why head coach Sherrone Moore thinks Jadyn Davis has "a bit of JJ" and what it takes to be the starting quarterback at Michigan.
🔗🔽

Mason Graham says Michigan is focused on itself, and the guys inside their building.
But they've heard the talk, and with Coach Moore the mindset is the same, and they're "not gonna fall off."
🔗🔽

We are back with another edition of our Subscriber Chat inside The Den!

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Fire away with your questions and we’ll get back to you

Former Wolverine Jim Scarcelli joins the show and runs thru a myriad of topics regarding UM football: Recruiting, Mason Graham comments on UM not falling off, Phil Steele, being a game manager at QB, Alex Orji, Nick Saban as a broadcaster, UGA fining its players, Nebraksa going to a grass field and how much NIL is Michigan throwing around compared to Ohio State.
Breakdown
Open 00:00-1:57
Recruiting 1:58-8:47
Mason Graham 8:48-11:40
Phil Steele (game manager talk) 11:41-22:23
Orji 22:24-27:40
Saban 27:41-32:07
UGA fines 32:08-37:23
Nebraska grass 37:24-40:50
NIL 40:51-56:31
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Ebbs and flows, obviously, but there's an excellent chance to sneak into the top 10 if some future announcements go their way in the future.

I felt strangely optimistic, as I saw the blueprint in UGA for what I thought that Michigan could become.

I stated this back in 2021 after the Bowl Game; Michigan is trying to build like UGA: from the inside out, defense and OL first...Maybe not expecting a walk-on like Stetson Bennett to win back-to-back titles, but also not a program with an insane focus of signing 5-star QBs or big $ QB transfers.

In fact, UGA's "big $ transfer" was the return from the portal of their starter from last season, who was a whisker away from getting UGA their third straight #1 seed. They "missed on" (or probably wouldn't match Nebraska's bid for) Raiola. So they settled for the best statistical QB returnee in 2024, Mr. Beck...4-star, #16 QB Nationally, ranked 225 nationally in the composite rankings...In other words not an "elite recruit" originally.
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In other words, when thinking back to UGA's recent dominance, names like Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter bottling up Michigan's run game for the first time all season. Then, a combination of Nolan Smith, Nakobe Dean, "Walker" (could've been Quay or Travon, probably both), DeVonte Wyatt, Derrion Kendrick, and Louis Cine cleaned up on tackles, TFL's, sacks, and turnovers.

Looking at Michigan last season, it was like seeing a trio of DTs like Davis, Carter, and Wyatt in maize and blue watching Jenkins, Graham, and Grant. Keep in mind that Jordan Davis and DeVonte Wyatt were both solidly-ranked 5.8 4-stars, both outside the top 250, but neither were elite-ranked recruits, like Carter, who was a 6.0 4-star in the top 60 nationally.

But like UGA's 2021 D, Michigan's 2023 D came in waves, which was one of the main reasons offenses struggled- Ask Jalen Milroe and Alabama's OL, which gave up 6 first half sacks, and most of them could've been shared by three or four different defenders.

We were mobbing teams on the outside with sheer numbers: Not one of Harrell (who led Michigan in sack), McGregor, D. Moore, or Stewart were dominant along the lines of Hutch or Ojabo, but the variance in styles and skills led to matchups: Smaller OL struggled more with Moore's power and McGregor's size. Those who had issue with quickness struggled against Stewart. Harrell was the "jack-of -all trades" pass-rusher and best run stopper of the bunch (though all were + run stoppers).

I love to point at the Alabama game as key proof: Higher-ranked and more highly-touted pass rush combo Dallas Turner and Chris Braswell were supposed to dominate (rankings, again being the "proof") our not 100% (missing Zinter) OL.

1 sack for them. Their Damon Payne (remember the 2021 top 100 DT recruit from Bellevillle?) sat and watched as younger (2022) and lower-ranked DTs from Michigan dominated at the level a recruit like him should be dominating.

That's why I look at every top 100 recruit Michigan has committed for the future as the "cherry on top" of great scouting stories- High-upside players like Edokpayi have a place on the roster right next to top 100 players like Marshall and our roster will look even more like UGA's.
I'm sure nobody should be surprised when I see UGA as a huge favorite over the field.

A handful of Michigan players met with selected media today for an NIL event with Champions Circle and Wolverine Boots. Here's everything Alex Orji had to say, a lot of good stuff.

M&BR has the latest on a handful of 2025 recruiting targets for Michigan.

Phil Steele has his college football preview magazine out for '24 and we talk with him about how he sees Michigan doing this year.
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Here’s an idea on how our scheduling might be improved. This would work doubly well if the B1G could negotiate with the SEC to also adopt this scheduling system.

• Ten conference games (5 home-and-home).
• Each team to have 2 “rivalry” opponents to be played every season.
• One non-conference game to always be played at home on the first weekend in September against an opponent from the Group of Five conferences.
• The second non-conference game to be a home-and-home “challenge” series against an SEC opponent on the second weekend in September.
• The B1G championship to be played by the two teams with the best records in conference games only,
• The results of the 2 non-conference games to be used as one of the tie-breakers.
• Conference schedules to be re-balanced every year, two years in advance (the results of the 2024 regular season to re-balance the 2026 regular season schedule).

This system will result in every conference member having 6 or 7 home games in alternating years. The regularly re-balanced 10 game schedule will produce a fair and accurate conference champion. The annual challenge game with an SEC opponent will be favored by TV network partners, increasing early season viewership and possibly increasing TV rights fees.

Thoughts?

Starting soon, Tigers take on the Dodgers. Tarik Skubal is having a Cy Young level season and big night tonight could be quite the resume builder.

I really hope the trade rumors go away and Detroit doesn't do something stupid. You have him under team control for two more years.
You're looking at a rotation of Skubal, Olson, and Jobe. With plenty of other young arms available.
Not like young Illich cares...

Recruiting weekend, EA CFB '25 debut and a comp of Alex Orji and Denard Robinson. Does it tell you anything about the upcoming season?
Breakdown
Open 00:00-1:58
Phillip Wright III 1:59-6:51
EA CFB 6:52-10:23
Orji & Robinson 10:24-17:38
Feedback 17:39-1:10:32
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M&BR has confirmed Michigan is set to host a big-time 2026 OL visitor next week.

BR ran a live sim of the game.

UM won 24-17 after OSU jumped out to a 14-0 lead.

Dono did what he does best - huge plays in huge moments. 200 yds and 3 TDs.

QJ sealed the game with an interception.

Love to see it play out just like that in real life!

....my wife and I have sponsored The PROFOOTBALLCAMP for 19 years. We bring in current and former NFL players to work with and talk to kids ages 7 to 14. Every year we twist a few arms along with our agent friend to bring about 20 guys. This year we had 475 kids.

Anyway one of our young pro friends likes to tell us recruiting stories. I talked about him basically holding court in L.A. at the Michigan host hotel. He had Fred Jackson there who said our friend was the by far the best safety he ever recruited. Fred stuck around for over an hour with Ron Bellamy and Mike Hart stopping by. Our friend is originally from Louisiana so he and Bellamy knew each other a little. Unfortunately our friends grandma got sick so he decided to stay close to home.

Today I was talking to him and he was telling me more about Michigan recruiting him. He said in 2004 he's was "hunkered down" with his Coke and chips and was waiting for the Rosebowl game to start when the phone rang. It was Lloyd Carr calling him from the tunnel just before Michigan took the field...Lloyd said "listen...listen to that...you belong at Michigan...you need to play in games like this"! Our friend said he could hear the crowd and the tunnel going crazy while watching it on TV. Our friend said he doesn't regret going to OU but his fondest memories of his recruitment were of Michigan. He was all but packed to go to Michigan before grandma got sick.

He is one of our favorite pros. Just a great young man! Wish he would have been a Wolverine!