MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

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THE VIDEO

[After THE JUMP: the player and what we said]

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1. Across the Crooked Blue Line, Offense

• QB JAYDEN DENEGAL: Big-bodied, M had him up for a throwing session, camper, * fell, Speight. Teams were wary of weight issues. “Inconsistent” delivery. Slow release. Good deep ball. Cerebral. Owns a tortoise.
• QB ALEX ORJI: VT decommit. Tough Dallas leaguer, kind of a Michael Barrett where he’s linebacker shaped and could move there if QB doesn’t work out. Or “backfield TE” just sayin.
• RB CJ STOKES: Low league. Great balance, serious jump cut, runs good routes and wants to catch the ball a lot.
• WR TYLER MORRIS: Golden Tate smooth and post-catch burst. Injured this year and no drama in his recruitment or he’d be a top 25 player. Also comped to Garrett Wilson. Great routes. Olympic-caliber high-jumper. (Junior Olympics champion).
• WR DARRIUS CLEMONS: Huge dude who makes crazy catches and has a “verified” 40 of 4.37. Route running is a work in progress.
• WR AMORION WALKER: Long, tall, leapy. M has done well with wingspans from the South.
• TE COLSON LOVELAND: Flex you can play immediately, Erick All potential. Staff enamored. Bama looked.
• TE MARLIN KLEIN: Receiver build, still rather fresh from Germany, plays in a low-level Georgia league so he’s more a Schoonmaker project.
• OT ANDREW GENTRY: Counting him as a 2022 even though he was in the 2020 class. Crazy Mormon mission story recruitment after that. Stueber comp.

OL ALLESSANDRO LORENZETTI: Fell off the recruiting industrial complex tree and hit every blind spot on the way down: Quebecois, mid-career transfer, no junior film, highest-ranked player ever at his school in Connecticut, and extremely short recruitment that didn’t reciprocate SEC interest.

OL CONNOR JONES: One of us! Comes through the same Colorado OL factory as the rest, going to need some development. Fan favorite.

2. Across the Crooked Blue Line, Defense Front

(starts at 43:21)

• NT KENNETH GRANT: Mammoth, underrated as far as his get-off and agility. Might need some time to develop. OSU slow-played and wished they hadn’t when he rose up the rankings.
• DT MASON GRAHAM: Ryan Glasgow. Can play immediately.
• DE/DT DERRICK MOORE: National top-50 heavy DE affected by M’s late rise, may be a play immediately. We honestly haven’t scouted him much yet.
• EDGE KEVONTE HENRY: Didn’t sign with M today, didn’t sign with Courtney Morgan’s new place either. Uche-level edge-bender they’re going to go all-out for down the stretch.
• EDGE/LB MICAH POLLARD: Popped when scouting someone else, development time, staff might see him at either role. Braylon’s nephew, Marcus’s son.
• LB JIMMY ROLDER: Late pop and thank god because they were struggling at MLB this cycle. Athlete in the mold of Ben Gedeon.
• LB DEUCE SPURLOCK: M had to go back hat in hand but smart player, sideline to sideline, underrated athlete, had to fend off Southern schools late.
• LB AARON ALEXANDER: Don’t know much about him because he was a converted RB then got hurt. Had a good playoffs for Belleville. Also: Belleville.

3. Across the Crooked Blue Line, Defensivee Secondary

(starts at 1:06:06)

• HSP KEON SABB. Brian has the worst memories of Cato June but yeah: linebacker who moves like a safety. Big piece for the amoeba stuff they want to do.
• S ZEKE BERRY. Lorenz’s favorite player of the class. Peppers-like, even on offense. Maybe not as twitch but that sort of player.
• S DAMANI DENT. Underrated player of the class, nationally. Oregon loved him after he went to their camp. Dax Hill minus the rankings.
• CB WILL JOHNSON. Ideal cornerback, great upside for a top-20 guy because he can play anywhere in their system, runs WR routes like a WR.
• CB KODY JONES. “SEC-style” cornerback who just can turn on a dime and competes like mad then goes in the 2nd round. Nickel early? Big recruiting win down the stretch.
• CB MYLES POLLARD. Every Michigan fan, starting with Josh Newkirk, saw it before Michigan did, but he balls out against top competition. If he was a 4.4 instead of 4.5 guy he’d be Will Johnson.

4. Lightning Round and Superlatives

(starts at 1:27:18)

5Q5A: When do they get the bump from the end of this season? When does this secondary take over? Any LB/DE in the mix immediately? Affect of losing of Courtney Morgan? How do they finish?

LIGHTNING ROUND: Best player? Best player still on the roster in 4 years? Most underrated? Biggest recruiting win?

MUSIC:

• “Hi, Hey There, Hello”—The Mowgli's
• “Sorry I Stole Your Man”—Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas
• “Starman”—David Bowie

Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken now now, the opener and outro:

• “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark
• “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat