Haven't done one of these in a while. News has been flowing so fast over the last month or so anything we'd recap would be immediately outdated. With things slowing down, felt like this week was a good time to bring it back.

Here's what we've posted this week inside The Den from an intel standpoint.

11/27: Intel: On Jim Harbaugh's contract and where things stand

Nothing new to report on Jim Harbaugh's contract situation and the NCAA investigation other than what I posted on Monday.

Here it is in full below:

Did some asking around about Jim Harbaugh's contract situation moving forward and was able to get a better sense of where things stand and the expectations moving forward.

I continue to feel confident that a deal between Michigan and Jim Harbaugh will get done in the near future. I hope to get more specifics on that soon but no one seems to be wavering in that regard. If I had to turn it into a football analogy, Michigan is in the red zone and driving in terms of completion.

There was talk about waiting until the university receives a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA to make sure there weren't any surprises in there. However, confidence is high that the evidence the NCAA claims to have won't be damning to derail any kind of extension talk between Harbaugh and U-M.

Let me be clear, the talks were never "on hold" and Santa Ono and Warde Manuel wanted to wait until after the investigation wrapped up. Harbaugh was fully aware of this and it hasn't discouraged him or his camp one bit.

There is a push from higher-ups in the university to get this deal done sooner. When will that be? I hope to find out soon.

I will add, that the NCAA said it would wrap up its investigation by the end of November.

While the timing with this week and the investigation line up, it's not a slam-dunk deal it gets done in the next few days. With that said, this certainly feels like only a matter of time at this point.

On a different note, there is also a push by the AD to lock up Sherrone Moore and make sure he's taken care of. Again, Moore has shown zero desire to leave and has done nothing but share his love for the program and for Jim Harbaugh. That tells you all you need to know. I suspect Moore will come after the Harbaugh extension is done and dusted.

We have been told that Moore has also turned down at least one job interview opportunity within the last few days.

Things seem to be on the same track moving forward.

More when I have it.

Continue to feel good about this deal getting done but I am hesitant to buy into any timelines until I get something more concrete. It feels like the goalposts continue to get moved. It'll get done when it gets done and I'll continue to stress patience here.

As far as the NCAA stuff, no one I have spoken to has heard anything new regarding the investigation, so I can't say with certainty that the investigation stage of the process is officially wrapped up just yet.

Will continue to dig on it.

11/28: Michigan offers DT portal prospect

Michigan extended an offer to Penn's Joey Slackman. Slackman is planning to set up a visit and hopes to do so soon. I expect U-M to be in contention if they push for him.

Full update is below:

Michigan isn’t wasting any time in the transfer portal, with the program extending an offer to UPenn DT Joey Slackman.

He was an All-Ivy League first-team selection this season and had 50 tackles, including 12 tackles for loss and 4 sacks.

I caught up with Slackman to get a sense of where things stand.

- He was happy to receive the offer from one of the best programs in college football.
- He is hoping to learn more about the scheme and how he would potentially fit into the culture. He’s also wanting to spend time with coaches as well.

“I’m looking to learn about their scheme more, where I fit among the interior DL’s, along with what grad programs are best for me,” Slackman said. “They are an awesome place to be and I’m looking forward to meeting the rest of the staff.”

He definitely sees Michigan as a potential fit but will need to visit before thinking about things further. He doesn’t have a date set in stone but is in the process of setting it up.

He has one year of eligibility remaining.

**Side Update** I do not expect Tobias Merriweather to be much of a factor, I reported U-M would inquire but I do not see that working out now. Things change.

11/30: On Will Johnson

It sounds as if Will Johnson will be a game-time decision for U-M on Saturday. He did practice this week but was limited.

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I guess this is supposed to be cute or something?

Maybe focus on pure garbage like msu and rutgers.

I guess that makes too much sense.

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Washington vs Oregon just kicked off, Solid first drive for UW so far. I'm thinking this game might be closer than the spread indicates it will be. Sad that this is (presumably) the very last Pac-12 football game that we'll ever see in our lifetimes.

I believe if we put constant pressure on McCord and make him uncomfortable, we can be successful. Force him into scrambling and bad throws. A couple of INTs could lead to points for us.

It didn’t take much digging but I decided to go ahead and place a FutureCast prediction in favor of Michigan for 2025 S Marcus Wimberly.

If you’ve been following along, I wrote last week that if Wimberly decided to move on from Arkansas, the Wolverines would be the top school.

After a strong visit last week, I believe that’s going to be the choice here.

Jay Harbaugh and Clink have done a really good job here, with Harbaugh remaining in contact despite his commitment to the Razorbacks this summer.

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Corner of the bar who's here come say hello

QB: No earthly idea
RB: Ben Hall and Darius Taylor*
TE: Colston Loveland (Marlin Klein, Zach Marshall, Max Bredeson)
LT: Andrew Gentry or Jeff Persi (Evan Link)
LG: Gio El-Hadi
C: Greg Crippen or Raheem Anderson
RG: Karsen Barnhart
RT: Trente Jones or Myles Hinton
WR: Tyler Morris (Fred Moore)
WR: Darrius Clemons or Peyton O'Leary or Tobias Merriweather**
SL: Semaj Morgan (Karmello English)

3T: Mason Graham (Cam Brandt)
NT: Kenneth Grant (Trey Pierce)
DE: Rayshaun Benny (Enow Etta)
EDGE: Derrick Moore and Braiden McGregor
ILB: Junior Colson (Jimmy Rolder)
ILB: Ernest Hausmann (Jaydon Hood or Christian Boivin)
EDGE: Jaylen Harrell and Josaiah Stewart
CB: Will Johnson (Cameron Calhoun)
CB: Amorion Walker or Jyaire Hill
NB: Ja'Den McBurrows or Zeke Berry
S: Rod Moore (DJ Waller)
S: Makari Paige (Keon Sabb)

Notes:

*Minnesota RB rumored to be portal-bound after a solid freshman year, Detroit native

Not expecting Edwards here next season, even though I don't think he'll be any better than a late round pick.

Gut feeling is Kalel Mullings takes his Ross degree and finds a program where he's going to have a pretty clear shot at RB1.

Likewise, if Quinten Johnson is interested in a sixth year of college, I think he does it someplace where he'll have a clear shot at more snaps.

Coming into the season, I expected Rod Moore, Makari Paige, Junior Colson and Jaylen Harrell to all be done after this season. I now think they could actually all be back - not that it would be a total stunner if Harrell, Paige or Colson left.

**Very little proven production returning at WR, not much size, and we're not deep on numbers either, so you can see why Merriweather would be a nice flyer as a reclamation project after things didn't work at ND.

Class of 2024 Michigan RB commit Jordan Marshall was named Mr. Ohio today.

Pretty neat seeing his reaction when his coach shared the news with him:

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No. 2 Michigan meets No. 16 Iowa with a Big Ten title on the line Saturday night at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Analyzing the matchup and making a prediction for this one:

From guest contributor Scott Kier. I think this is a really interesting look at what a new NCAA could look like.

Not able to get game here in the keys so following online, looks like the Lions are not playing well and in the stats I don’t see Hutch listed, is he playing?

Lucas Reimink & Dennis Fithian pick all the P5 title games over the weekend plus a prop and parlay that they like.
Looks like a lot of winners in this weeks show.
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The offensive numbers are putrid, I mean bottom-of-the-barrel tier stuff. The defense was the ONLY reason this program won 10 games this season, which is an indictment of just how terrible the Big Ten West truly was and also incredible that feat happened.

See you bitches down there.

Former Wolverine Jerry Diorio looks at film of UM/OSU from last week and looks ahead to tomorrow with some video of what Iowa will bring to Indy. Other topics disscussed are Jim Harbaugh, JJ McCarthy, The Rose Bowl and the CFB Playoff.
Breakdown
Open 00:00-1:42
Iowa keys 1:43-16:24
Michigan in with one loss 16:25-22:04
UM/OSU 22:05-31:37
Harbaugh contract 31:38-35:45
JJ McCarthy returning to UM 35:46-39:14
Feedback: On UM in Rose Bowl, playing UGA & CFB Playoff teams 39:15-54:42
UM/OSU film review 54:43-1:13:13
Iowa film 1:13:14-1:22:30
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Sharing this with the group for anyone who didn't see, OUR GUY ROD MOORE just released his own shirts and hoodies from his interception! Pretty cool stuff and he said he is paid on each one sold. I'm putting his post and the link below for anyone interested. Just got a hoodie and my two kids a t-shirt.

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Dave Revson didn’t give him any softball questions. He got JJ to admit he does his meditation routine on the field where he is shown on tv on purpose to raise awareness of eastern religions and how meditation can help with mental health.

Dave followed up and got JJ to admit he was in deep depression the Covid year and found comfort in strength in the eastern religion’s common use of meditation as a way to heal the mind and clear it’s focus…interesting. As an atheist, I searched most of the world religions for a way to calm the voices and chaos in my mind. Then I read the works of the legendary philosopher Lao Tzu, who around 500 B.C.E. wrote the main book of Taoism, the Tao Te Ching. Taoism, at its most basic definition, is living in balance physically and spiritually in the world around you. It may have been Lao Tzu, or some other Taoist master who wrote about a storm that blew up with high winds that were breaking tree branches and other dense inflexible bushes and plants. Then he noticed the reeds along the waterline, who were being blown every which way, yet when the storm passed, the flexibility of the reeds left them undamaged. It was then he formulated one of the Taoist sayings that stuck with me, “ when the sky goes dark, and fortune has turned against you with an ill wind arrives like a demon god of vengeance on a black horse. Though the supernatural winds destroyed the orchard, ruined the sand and stone garden, and ripped half the roof off the Minka (traditional pre 1st century farmhouse) by Aku, the Devil of storms, I was fascinated by watching the reeds by the shoreline., they would bend and then straighten up, until another blast of swirling wind tried to rip the reeds out to their roots. But the reeds twisted with no resistance while they were too solidly rooted. This angered Aku, who blasted the reeds with winds that struck like a typhoon, and the reeds were split and flattened on the banks of the water. Yet as the winds subsided, the reeds straightened up as if the storm did not happen at all. I repeated to myself in meditation “I am a reed in the wind”. No matter what life brings, I will bend with the wind, then rise back to a state of balance. “I am a reed in the wind. I can bend every which way no matter how dark the skies are..no matter what I must face. I will bend like it was nothing and begin again.” I’m glad JJ looked to the far East for answers, our country could do with some balance and being in synch with nature and the world around us.

I was impressed that JJ didn’t flinch opening up and sharing his struggle. I like him 5x more than I did before hearing his interview.

Dave finished the interview with the toughest question: are you gonna go pro or stay for your senior year? Again, JJ answered quickly and honestly, that he’s not thinking about that now, but what I saw on his face told me he’s seriously considering coming back. If he declared for the draft, he’d be the 4th qb taken at best behind Caleb, Nix, and Maye, but he could be passed by Pennix as well. There’s a good chance he might fall to Day 2. With his NIL, the new deal he signed with Brady’s apparel not even figured in his NIL yet, plus anything new on the horizon, JJ could get close to 3 million in NIL next year. He gets another 12+ games of experience that NFL gms consider invaluable, and next year’s QBs are nowhere near this class. He could go number 1 next year, and I got the feeling JJ is aware and meditating hard on the decision. If he has an “advisor/agent”, I’m sure they will make a decision quickly after the CFP.

Gut feeling from his facial expression, I’d say it’s about 65/35 that he comes back next year and be a top 5 pick.
Just a feeling…no information…just going by vocal tone change and going from Chillin to serious in a half a second. It won’t be just an immediate decision…I feel JJ doesn’t want to go in the late first or early second.

65% JJ comes back guys! And you know I’m right 9 out of ten times on this stuff.

4 tickets in Michigan section. Section 101 row 14. Below face, $125 a ticket.

The pistons really go 0 for November?

I wasn’t feeling too well last night so I went to bed around 7:00pm. Woke up this morning at 9:00am. 14hrs uninterrupted sleep.