WTKA Roundtable 7/10/2025: The Sleeves Were the Best Part
THE BOOK: Is done. Yes you can still get in on The Kickstarter (but not the name/sentence levels). Also a Kindle Edition is now live. MGoBlog.com/25
Lineup: Sam, Seth, Craig, and Miz. Brian's still on dad duty; Ira's on a plane.
Things Discussed:
Wink Martindale criticism: The Emotional Rollercoaster sweatshirt from Sack the Stigma is great but Wink is cutting off the sleeves, which are the best part.
Wink Martindale praise: His defensive approach changed to be much more college late in the season. Can't be in his head but we think he was having guys make reads that they were missing (examples: Zeke Berry nickel blitz from nowhere on the USC TD, or Barham leaving an RB wide open in the flat) and trying to play attention games with Mason Graham (see: the 3rd down sets). That's how the game is played in the NFL but in college it's much more straightforward. This is praise because he realized what was happening and changed what he was doing, which is extremely hard for people to do.
Everybody was coming from success, so they had to get comfortable with each other. Was a big thing for the player as well. Will Johnson noted some of these players need the A and B explained before you tell them to do C.
Rod Moore: Expect him to play, not sure how rusty he's going to be and what's the timeline. We'll hear from Rod when Sam interviews him.
Mikey Keene vs Bryce Underwood: VERY different offensive planning. Kinds of passes are different, how you use his legs is different, how much pre-snap reading you're doing is different. Having Keene out in spring gave the offense clarity.
Chip Lindsey offense: He uses RPOs and running QBs but he cuts back on the running and focuses on making the QBs more efficient. He also will turn regular routes into long bombs—they missed one to Channing Goodwin in the spring but it was open.
RPOs and screens? Well you have to show you can beat man coverage to access those, and that means dropping back with a QB who can be safe in the pocket long enough to find his leverage and deliver an accurate pass all over the field to receives who create their own space. Do we have that QB, those WRs, that OL?
OL: Sam's discussion with Sherrone started with Blake Frazier (because Sam asked) but he also said Andrew Babalola and Ty Haywood are more athletically talented than ANY guy they've had at Michigan until now. Link is battling with Frazier and Babalola for LT.
Crippen: Not sure how much better he can get because his reads are spot-on, but versus top-of-the-line DTs who knew what's coming Crippen got physically manhandled. He's alright, but you need something on this offense that is better than alright if you want to take the pressure off of Bryce/his protection/his receivers. That said, centers pop late—how many times have we seen an Anderson or Bihl or Kugler or Vastardis have a great 5th year.
WRs: Are probably a lot better than their stats last year (fewest WR yards since 1973, would have been bottom-third among Bo teams.) But there could be a player or three in there—they didn't have the passing. Warren didn't know what he was looking at half the time and wasn't accurate. Orji had no downfield accuracy at all. Defense knew it.
Link vs Ohio State/Alabama? Did well, but the context was Michigan took dropbacks out of the offense.
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WTKA Roundtable 6/26/2025: I Like My Tackles Incorrigible
THE BOOK: Kickstarter is still active. MGoBlog.com/25
REMINDER: Michigan fans won the Charity Bowl, so we'll be getting together with Spencer, Holly, and Jason on JUNE 28, 6PM at the Ann Arbor District Library, then going to Venue for drinks at 8:00. Signup is here so I can give them a final count (we're at ~200 right now), or go to pizzawestern.com.
THE LINEUP: Brian still on break. Seth & Craig & Sam today.
NO SHOW NEXT WEEK: July 4th.
Things Discussed:
HTTV 2025: Craig's article on 1898 has a surprise for Buckeye Fans, because the NCAA is going to vacate Michigan's 1897 wins ANY DAY NOW.
Warde with Sam last week: Credit to him for being more transparent. Sam notes he specifically came out of his no-comment stance to put to rest any ideas of vacated wins/championships.
Our favorite recent commits. Seth loves Alister Vallejo: he's incorrigible. Even has Mason Graham's baby face.
Craig likes Bear McWhorter.
Titan Davis: really good example of the type of player you see from Lou Esposito: good length and good burst.
Marky Walbridge: Most Massachusetts name ever. He looks like a TACKLE—reminds me of Blake Frazier. Sam: I think Blake is going to be the starting LT.
Philosophy for how to spend your money?
Seth: Baltimore Ravens. Start by putting more money to your top players. Positionally, you look at what system you run and where you can get value. Michigan runs the Ravens system, which spent less on Edge and LB to get big-time athletes in the secondary. Spend on a cornerback.
Sam: Spend on a cornerback every year, because Ohio State is a receiver team, and cornerback is mostly about talent. QB, Edge, and Cornerback.
Seth: if you can develop edges you can save money there. If you're struggling to develop something you spend on it (e.g. OSU with
(Break: Naming the people who are in our chat)
NIL Clearinghouse. The ADs don't even know what the standard will be. Guessing it will be like every other NCAA enforcement attempt, IE they will ignore 99% of it and then come down hard on Michigan when they're mad. Next battleground is in legislatures.
NBA Draft: Wolf slipped to 27th but only because the Nets had 1/6th of the picks and could slot him lower. Took another Jewish guy right before him. Top of the draft: Ace Bailey was the last difference-maker; if he won't play in Salt Lake they can trade him, but the value dropped after that.
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Bonus WTKA Show: Hail to the Victors 2025 Preview
Thing Discussed:
Warde Manuel kindly filled in for us last Thursday so Sam invited me on this morning. We mostly discussed the article he wrote for HTTV 2025 (now Kickstarting) about Michigan's recruitment of Bryce Underwood, and all of the things that had to come together on Michigan's end to make that possible, as well as an assist from LSU and Michigan fans that nobody expected to close the deal. Also discussed every other feature in the book.
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WTKA Roundtable 6/5/2025: Cryin Out for Kobe Assists
EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: Once again Michigan won the Charity Bowl, so we'll be getting together with the Fullcastians on JUNE 28, 6PM at the Ann Arbor District Library, then going to Venue for drinks at 8:30. Signup is here so we can plan a good numbers count, or just remember pizzawestern.com.
Things Discussed:
House: We're in prime recruiting season but schools are starting to tell kids the distribution money isn't coming to recruit against Michigan.
What's the holdup? In a vacuum liars will come up with B.S. to sell. We're sure Ohio State is pushing for some kind of system where they can go back to exploiting a black market and controlling the enforcement mechanism so that Michigan won't/can't participate in it.
Best guess at what's holding it up: they're trying to make a clearinghouse that won't the agreement immediately sued out of existence, which is tricky because any regulation of what people can make without Congressional dispensation tends to lose in court.
Playoff expansion: Why, who, will it? Petitti is a dumb TV suit and put out a dumb TV suit idea so he can make this end-of-year playoff to get into the Playoff. No this is not the Showcase (which is a +1 format to finish the season with the best games that weren't played and determine a conference champion by strength of season). Sankey is predictably honestly dishonest in that he'll keep saying and doing whatever gets more for his schools, and that means he's going to run absolute circles around Petitti the spineless moron.
Why are things this way? Powers in control are approaching it from how much more TV inventory can they generate, don't think about where the value is coming out of except they're very protective of their own money. Schools imagining themselves #16 and dealing with opt-outs. Who really pays: fans. Fans who buy another expensive last-minute ticket, and travel.
For years nobody in power has put any thought into what really makes college football valuable, so they're willing to cannibalize the Every Game Matters. Already happened with 12 teams, where Ohio State finished the season with a worse strength of record than Oregon and shouldn't have had a path to redemption.
With 16 teams you're going to get a 3- or 4-loss champion who gets hot or beneficial matchups in a year with a team that went 14-1. Also guarantee Sankey will know how to get an 8-4 Ole Miss team that played three Sun Belts and an FCS with one ranked win in the SEC ranked above a 10-2 Iowa that beat nobody because they were in the "Not playing Michigan-Ohio State-USC-Oregon" tier when Petitti was making his schedules for inventory.
Our dream: If Congress were to demand your conference can't have more than 12 members or you can't pay anybody.
In the break: McKenna
Yaxeltalk: Watching his film last year there was a lot more Buzz Williams ball where they would Iso then rebound. Hopefully he gets better looks with better creators on the court with him.
Don't forget defense: Yaxel's length makes him switchable, and you have some major rim protection that won't have to get tired.
Need to develop 36%+ shooting so opponents don't just collapse, because Yax isn't an off-the-dribble shooter at all. Can Gayle? Can Cason? Freshmen? Nimari is who he is.
Kobe Assist team: have guys like Gayle, Cason drawing multiple defenders and there will be a lot of opportunities to "pass" the ball to the basket.
Turnovers again? There are some Danny Wolf howlers from Cadeau but hoping they can coach him to better options.
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WTKA Roundtable 5/29/2025: The Yaxel Hour
Things Discussed:
On early: Talkin Detroit Tigers.
How this went down: Yax started with college as a fallback, Michigan visit shifted things.
NBA side of it stayed—if anything the measurements at the Combine improved his NBA stock.
But Michigan convinced him. Laid out the red carpet. Coaches went to the Combine to support him.
Did we out-recruit the NBA? Yes, because the NBA wasn't recruiting him, and we are very good at recruiting.
Good sign for the future: Dusty May knows how to convince a fringe NBA guy to come back to college. Going to have an advantage when they're the competition because we're always going to want these players more than the NBA for the same money.
What does this do? Cross between Danny Wolf and Johni Broome. Danny measured 6'10.5, but Yaxel is 6'9", much better about turnovers, much better free throw shooter, better face-up guy, close to that level of defender.
Team: Cadeau and Yaxel are your creators, need Cason to be a breakdown threat, need Gayle and Nimari to be your finishers, and then center is Johnson's defensive presence.
Big Ten next year: Purdue is still #1, they are going to have a 7'3" guy from Belgium so they don't die whenever TKR gets in foul trouble. Michigan is in that tier with them.
Proven shooting on this roster? Uh, Tschetter? Need three or four of Cason/Gayle/McKenney/Burnett/Grady to be that.
Minutes? Cadeau most of them at the point with Cason taking some. McKenny backup up Gayle and Nimari at the SG spots, Tschetter backing up Lendeborg, Johnson/Mara at center.
Upside: Team is all about creation: Cadeau, Lendeborg are creators, Gayle and Cason are secondary creators, McKenney has that upside.
Rotation: 8+2 like Dusty likes. Think they'll work in the freshmen some but Goodman probably redshirts unless there's an injury, Grady gets maybe 10% of minutes as a spacer depending on how the others are shooting, Trey develops into a major part of the rotation by season's end but needs time to adjust.
Defensively this team will be a nightmare to play against.
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