2019 season preview

Special Guests: New York Times bestselling author John U. Bacon joins us to talk about his latest book, Overtime

The Sponsors

We can do this because people support us. You should support them! The show is presented by UGP & The Bo Store, and if it wasn’t for Rishi and Ryan we’d be all be very sad ex-Vox employees with “real” jobs.

Our other sponsors are also key to all of this: HomeSure Lending, Peak Wealth Management, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, the University of Michigan Alumni Association, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, FuegoBox, and Perrin Brewing

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[After THE JUMP: Off the rails as usual

1 hour and 25 minutes. Previously: The Offense Preview, The Defense Preview

1 hour and 2 minutes

The Sponsors

This show is presented by The UGP & The Bo Store, and if it wasn’t for Rishi and Ryan, instead of 11 years of MGoPodcasts this would be entirely about salsa takes.

Our other sponsors are also key to all of this: The Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, The HomeSure Lending, The University of Michigan Alumni Association, The Ann Arbor Elder Law, The Michigan Law Grad, The Human Element , The Phil Klein Insurance Group, The Peak Wealth Management, The Fuegobox, and introducing The Randy Wise Chevrolet, and The Perrin Brewing.

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1. Defensive Line

(starts at 1:00)

She's been comin' round the mountain. We all have different defensive ends. Danna is a super-Roh—gets very low and MAC types can't handle him. Doesn't make mistakes. Kwity Paye is Don Brown's perfect human, but we need to see some pass rush before we declare him so. Ace is all about Aidan Hutchinson. Vilain, Upshaw (who's 240) and Welschof and Ojabo are all in the future.

Tackle…maybe not terrible? They need to get pass rush; Dwumfour is important and it appears he's got a soft cast on his hand so the injury holding him out currently isn't related to the injury last year. They're talking up Kemp as a guy who can hack it at nose but he's not going to be more than an undersized plugger. Jeter hype means that guy should be useful at least. Hard not to improve on a Kemp/Mone pass rush. More about not getting gashed in the run game; short version is they will.

Now can we talk about Uche? What does Michigan need to go to a 3-3-5? The way the stack works is you're not supposed to know where it's coming from.

2. Linebackers and Hybrids

(starts at 18:57)

More Uche—they're going to get to 3rd downs for him—what can he do on 1st and 2nd? We're going to like Josh Ross just fine. Gil is an okay floor, we'd like McGrone, then Anthony, to pop. It sounds like it's Anthony and Glasgow as the primary challengers, with McGrone maybe one more year away. Need LBs who can keep up with running backs, maybe use a different one each week.

3. Cornerbacks and Safeties

(starts at 34:47)

So that's a bummer. We're taking the pessimistic road with Ambry but the optimistic road with Gray, because last year didn't happen until the very end and not many teams can do that to us. Daxton Hill is going to need some time to develop. At least they're saying the right things about DJ Turner. And okay, we'll buy Brad Hawkins. After those guys…euhhhh. Lamenting the 2018 class (and honorary 2018 Ben St-Juste).

4. Special Teams & Defense: Holistically

(starts at 51:01)

Moody is hitting those long ones now so it's him to start, but let's not forget Wild Thing is great and college kickers are weird. Will Hart outta nowhere. Not going to be a great but we're still top 25 and that should be enough. Seth thinks Don Brown has more interesting stuff to do.

MUSIC

• "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love"—Usher ft. Pitbull
• "Don't Stop The Party"—Pitbull ft. TJR
• "Feel This Moment"—Pitbull ft. Christina Aguilera
• “Across 110th Street”

THE USUAL LINKS

• Helpful iTunes subscribe link
• General podcast feed link
• Direct download link (right click/save as)
• What's with the theme music?

I have opinions Brian. About football. You should stop doing that.