SHOCK: Five NEW Signings TRANSFORM Michigan Wolverines Depth Chart—Superstar Power RISES!

0:00It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. What's up everybody? This is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Lockdown Podcast Network, and if you haven't heard yet, we started a club and we would love for you to join. It's called the Everydayer Club, and one of the things that you get as a member is an ad-free version of the podcast that you're listening to right now. It works with whatever podcast app you already use, same episodes every day, just no ad. There's also a member's only group chat for fans of your team, plus a lot more. You can check it out by tapping the Everydayer Club link in the show notes. You are Lockdown Wolverines, your daily podcast on the Michigan Wolverines, part of the Lockdown

1:06Podcast Network, your team every day. Happy Tuesday. We're back in doing it. Lockdown Wolverines podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network now, the number one sports podcast network. I'm your man on the ground as a whole publisher of Wolverines wire through USA Today Sports Media Group. Since basketball has signed five players today, we'll discuss what I think the depth chart will essentially look like with a better starting five and rotation, then we'll give the same treatment to football, giving a starting offense with a wildcard players instead of a true, true deep. And then we'll move on to defense. So we're going to do that. I do need to reset this program because it's, yeah, I never, you never know how it's working until you start the show. Unfortunately, that's how it goes. It's, uh, say a little V, um, all right. So as we wait for that to restart, uh, Michigan sign five players today and it's, uh, I think it's, it's really interesting just to see what this is going to end up looking

2:07like, uh, because we're just going to operate number one out of the assumption that we're not going to be seeing, um, that we're not going to see Maraz Johnson, right? I think that's fair. But so you're working with what you're working with at this point. And I still think that Michigan's got something good going here. Now we know that Elliot Kado is coming back, uh, despite entering the NBA draft, um, I, if here's one of the things I want to do is I'm going to include some of the, uh, the the heights here. So we kind of have a good idea of what you're working on. So starting five I have is Elliot Kado is six one, at least I think he's six, my P60. I mean, I was going off a memory on him. Uh, Trayma Kenny, you six four as you're shooting guard wing. I put as Jalen Reed, the LSU transfer, uh, that absolutely could be Brandon McCoy, who was signed today, the five star out of California. Uh, but I'm going to go with Jalen Reed as the wing, JPS trail, uh, it, it, it, it says how to pronounce it. I don't think I can't remember. It's just Estrella. Estrella. I can't remember.

3:08I'll have to look it up again. And Center Mustafa Chom, his name is pronounced Chom apparently, which phonetically doesn't make sense to me, but okay, um, that would be your starting five, I think if we're not including Maraz, who I just feel is starting to trend away from like, this is why it's like until things get announced, right? Like I do think that he obviously was intending on coming back, what was waiting on some feedback. He'll still wait to get more feedback. He might find out like, okay, I'm, might be like Yaxel last year, be like, uh, I could go 20 anywhere from 23rd to second round. Okay. I don't want to, I want to go and just build it again, right? Like we'll see what happens there, but we're just going to operate under the assumption that he's not returning at this point, because there's just been indications at this, since that, you know, I think John Rostin said it looks like he's going to stay in, which was not the Intel from right after the national championship game, and you can kind of tell that that wasn't the Intel, that the Intel after the championship game was he's going to return. I have five deep going, though, beyond those starting five, again, just to, to rehash

4:12Elie Kato, trademark NU64, Jalen Reed, who's six, 10 JPS trailer at six, 11 and Mustafa Chomb at seven, two looks pretty close to like Yaxel was six, nine. So Jalen Reed would, you know, it might be, you might play a little bit more like a forward. I'm not sure. I don't know. I'm just, I'm speculating. I haven't really watched any of his game. Maybe he plays a little bit more like a forward than, than Yax, who obviously was a good ballhand of their, again, you have to trust the fact that Dusty May is a guy who can, you know, can actually like change. It's not like a, we talked about this yesterday, the idea, it's not the idea of like, he has to have, right? It wasn't like Richrod, Richrod had to have a quarterback that could do with Denar Robinson did, you know, in order to run his offense. I don't think Dusty May is of that mindset, right? I don't think he's like, this is what I have to have in order to be successful. I think it's more of, I'm getting the best guys I feel like we can use to be successful

5:14in order to do the thing. So here's what you've got beyond that for the year, assuming. So first off, Lincoln Cosby was signed today. I was, they announced in there, or Neil Hill that he's, he's out for the, he's red shirting for the season due to a torn ACL that I did not know that. So there you go. And then again, the assumption that LJ Ksen will be red shirting again for the same reason. That's where we're going to go with that. So I have our six man here is Brandon McCoy, the true freshman, he's six five and he's a guard, right? Like kind of a combo guard. I'll be interested to see like, he's been phenomenal from what clips I've seen. I don't know as much about his handling and things of that nature. And he be a legitimate backup point guard. I don't know that Michigan has one right now. Like honestly, he's kind of more of a shooting guard. So that's kind of an area of concern to some degree a little bit that you don't really necessarily have that obvious point guard backup for Elliott Kado.

6:18So beyond that, it, you know, Ricky Lieberd, the second year player, I feel like mate, you know, you hope that he's developed well enough to where he can be a guy who can come in and his spell as well. Joseph Hartman is more of a shooting guard that who just signed with Michigan, the former four star. So I think that those guys are going to definitely be necessary outside of that. You've got Oscar Goodman, who's six seven and Quinn Costello, who's a true for incoming two freshmen at six, 10. So you can see where like, you know, you shift some things around a bit. Goodman can come in here and there. Costello could be more if you still want some length. But he's a first year player. So it's going to be a question of how quickly he can acclimate. You hope that Lieberd and Oscar Goodman are kind of ready to go. Oscar Goodman was probably the closest. We didn't see any Lieberd this past year. I don't believe what we did see. And he, you know, I talked to him at media day and he was talking about how he was aware that he was a developmental prospect. So it'll be interesting to see just where year over year he is, but it's interesting.

7:23If they were able to get more as then I think it opens up a lot more for you. But like if they're able to retain him or if they're able to find another guard or even center, right? Like I know there, there's still, you know, there's still some question about Obena Kessie. If he's going to be available for them in the train, not in the transport, but recruiting wise did seem like he was Arkansas drifting towards Arkansas canceled his visit to Ann Arbor. But we'll see if what happens there. But it would be nice to have more than the one seven footer because we, you know, even though they didn't really use Millie Cordell, you know, beyond a dime, or it would just be, you know, you'd feel like, well, maybe you want that insurance, especially since you don't have as many guards available to you. And I just, I'm just curious about the ball handlers. Well, you know, I'm sure they'll figure it out, but that's kind of where my questions lie in terms of them being able to go in and maybe kind of reset the board a little bit. All right. So that's what football, because that's probably going to take a heck of a lot more time. But that's what that's our basketball project is starting lineup.

8:24We'll see where that will go. We'll do that. And we'll get to start with the Michigan football offense, trying to speak ahead of where I'm at mentally to get to the offense. And then we'll go to the defense. We'll do that here in just a moment. But before we do the NBA playoffs are here in every possession matters. If you're looking to get closer to the action, Fandall has a great offer to get you started. Right now, new customers can bet $5 and get 150 and bonus bets if you're first bet wins. That's right. You're in five bucks and 150 bonus bets just for getting started. I like using Fandall during the playoffs because everything I need is right there in one place. You can check stats, trends and matchups before making your picks, which makes the whole experience feel a whole lot more informed whether you're looking at player props or just following your favorite stars that adds another level of excitement to every game. It's really easy app to navigate and makes playoff basketball even more engaging from start to finish. Now, I will, I will tell you that the line for Wednesday's game against for the Detroit Pistons against the Orlando Magic Favors Michigan, the Detroit Pistons by nine and a half,

9:26which after watching them in the last two games, because yes, I actually watched the last two games, at least bits and pieces of them. I don't know that they're going to win that. So you might want to hammer Orlando on that to finish out the series, eliminate the Pistons unless you have faith that the Pistons not only can come in and win at home, that they can cover nine and a half, I'm not sure. Regardless, that's what Fandals, therefore, so head to Fandall.com to get started, Fandall, play your game. Get locked on Wolverines, add free with the everyday or club, plus members only discord, access, join at locked on Wolverines, supercast.com. All right, let's get into some football. Again, we're not doing this in typical depth chart of fashion. I'm not sitting here and going like rice underwood and then Tommy Carr or Braden follow Nicola, we're not doing that. I'm going to give you the starters. I'm actually also going to give you the years that they are because it's going to kind

10:27of tell you a little bit about something where we've got another point here of the starters at least. And then we've got wild cards, which are guys who like could come in and really like kind of change things. I have altered one thing that is not that is currently not a thing out of pure projection. And it will get to why here once we get there. And honestly, I love it. And it could go another way, but like it's I feel like this is kind of where things will trend if everything goes again, it's a thing that is not not a thing that should not be, but a thing that is currently not that I am projecting without without anything. It's pure speculation on that part. You'll see it when we get to it. Quarterback is obviously by the underwood, a second year player running back Jordan Marshall a third year player. Hogan Hansen is your tight end a third year player. Here we go. Left tackle Blake Frazier a third year player left guard Evan link a fourth year player. Center Jake Warner a third year player right guard Andrew spray guy put there as a third

11:33year player right tackle Andrew Babylon as a second year player. We'll talk about it in a second. Okay. We'll talk about it. Wide receiver Andrew March second year. Wide receiver J.J. McCann at a second year. Wide receiver Jamie French second or flessie mama first because again, they tend to be 11 personnel is like the base until we get the official. We see we save you on height or out out there every single play, right? Until they do that for sure. That's where we're at. Okay. So obviously I changed the offensive line a little bit. Spray has the body of an interior player playing on the outside, which is why I put him inside because I do think that Andrew Babylonola. I do think that he despite having not played at all for this staff, I do believe that he is there based off of just the intel I do have. Their favorite offensive lineman that they have, they are like, I've had multiple conversations

12:36with people that matter names you know who have been just over the moon for like the staff is over the moon for this guy. So to me, I'm like, yes, they could run six at times. That has happened with Utah and in that case, then you know, all bets are off, but like, I feel like this is a similar type of deal where they're like, we want to get our best five out there one way or another. I think that's your best five. No offense to Nathan Afoby who I do have on as a wild card, but I think that that right now, I mean, that feels I feel good saying that I feel good giving those five. I mean, like, it that felt good. I felt like 2023. Maybe not quite. I missed Trevor Keegan and Zach's enter. Oh, how I love Trevor Keegan and Zach's and Trevor's maybe my favorite Wolverine of all time. I love Trevor Keegan and I love his parents too. They're they're amazing, amazing people. So shout out to to big mic and Amanda, but I love Trevor Keegan.

13:41This feels very close to me saying his name, how good it felt to breed those names, Blake Frazier, Evan Link, Jake Ornara, Andrew Spring, Andrew Babylon, that felt very good. Okay. So the one thing I want to point out here before we get to the before we get to the wild cards and discuss those, I don't think any of the names outside of the way I kind of change the offensive line here. I don't think anyone's a surprise. I think we all kind of know that that's what it likely is now, you could swap out like Hogan Hansen for Zach Marshall, could there be a time or saving on Heiter is the number one back? It's possible. Maybe not probable, but possible. But otherwise, I feel like we pretty much know and there's probably some of you out there being like, Tommy Carr could be the number that's starting court, like just stop with that nonsense. Again, this isn't that I'm a great denigrating Tommy car. This is me telling you to stop Brandon Petersing again. I'm not even denigrating Brandon Peters, but like I didn't have a show at that time.

14:46I think we had the Wolverine 24, seven podcasts with Zach Shaw's Steve Lorenz and I, and I was telling people then, like, stop it with that, like, okay. And just try to get you to live in reality, set a fantasy land. I say that as a fantasy reader, which just quick sidebar, live ship traders trilogy by Robin Hobb. I just finished yesterday. It's it's the office, the most incredible trilogy I've ever read. But it's close. Trilogy, yes, probably, but you know, if you consider red rising six, I mean, I think it's better. I like it better than red rising. I love red rising. Okay. Back, back to football. So all right. Outside of that, like, I just don't think there's, like, this is particularly controversial. Outside of me, kind of say, I'm like, Andrew Sprig, you're no longer a tackle. You're a right car. Just think that Babylon has more of a tackle again, like, I don't know, like, there, there

15:46have been times where I'm like, that guy's clearly an interior guy. Remember thinking that with, like, Andrew Suver, like, guys, 100% an interior guy. And he always played exterior, you know, the same thing with John running in junior. So I guess, you know, that's why I'm not an offensive line coach. Um, all right. Let's get to the wild cards here. I got six players offensively. I could change things up. There's more than six, right? Like, actually, I, I should have an ore here. So we'll say seven, obviously saving on Heiter is the biggest wild card for this offense. Because like, you could change everything. How much, how much you run, how much like, even just like having him out there as a threat if he establishes himself as much as or either a runner or a threat out of the, you know, threat to catch the ball out of the backfield, be, you know, having that, everything that we talked about being possible with the, uh, with the collel mullings, Donovan Edwards, having them out in the field at the same time thing or Blake Korman, Donovan Edwards on

16:47the field at the same time, like, this is that again, but it sounds like there's a staff that is 100% willing to actually deploy it. So he is the biggest wild card. Um, I will, I will do a split with tight end from Zach Marshall and Deacon Tony Elley. I thought we saw really good things from both Deacon, we didn't see Zach on the spring game. I don't believe Deacon. We saw briefly and he dropped a ball thrown right to him. So that's unfortunate. But, um, nonetheless, I think that that, that's a, those are two guys that can also change the game. If you want to throw an Eli Owens, who had four catches in the spring game, I'm not going to be mad at you. Um, I got two guards here, Avery Gash and Nathan Ophoby Ophoby. We've seen him. We've seen him play well. So it's just a question of, will, will Ophoby be able to take that next step? I did not think he had the greatest spring game, but I thought he was going, he had a tough task against Jonah Leia, um, so I mean, I think he played better in the, in the

17:48season last year than he did in the spring game this year. So there's that, um, but I also have Avery Gash, because I've heard some just good things off the cuff for about things that he's done. Second year guy, absolutely could be in the mix there might take an injury to do it, but like, you know, if you're, if the really Evan Link is the, the link here, like it's, that's that if they, if Evan Link is going to be that left guard, then like they're just going to have to, like that's going to be where it's going to be a challenge for him necessarily. Like, but if I'm moving sprig inside, then it's maybe not. I don't know. Again, this is all based off of my hypothetical fantasy land that I'm in. My own red rising, my own liveship traders, okay, I'm done. So there's some of you that complain if I use references, you don't know, because you can't just figure out what I'm trying to say. You just can't do it. Um, all right. Travis Johnson and Jamar Browder, I have both of those.

18:49There could be another name that's like Jacob Washington could absolutely get into this. Now I included Travis Johnson in large part due to the palaticking by Mr. Saviour Heiter in his interview in which he talked about how like I asked him what other freshmen impressing him, he says Travis Johnson admits that it is his roommate says Travis Johnson the fastest player on the team. It feels like politics to me, but still I'm going to go ahead and include Travis Johnson who actually looked really, really good in high school. We just didn't get to see anything other than the one four yard carry that he had. Jamar Browder had a couple of catches finally. So what it looks like when the height beast from last year spring ball actually came down with the football. He is the tallest wide receiver they have on the on the team, uh, tied with JJ Buchanan six five could actually go out there and be a difference maker got to come down with the football. And it's all about for all the wide receivers about trust.

19:50And I don't know if they've gotten or earned that trust yet, but like that's where it's at. Let's talk defense. Those are my wild cards and offense along with my starting lineup as of right now subject to change any moment now. So let's give the defense. Let's do that here in just a moment. All right, defensively, I've only got one play one one name I feel is maybe controversial. I forgot to even go through the list of like 30 years before defense is only the offense though. By the way, there's there's like I have like one starting second year guy, note, and then two third year guys. And otherwise you're looking at mostly like fourth and fifths. So that's a big difference. Um, I feel like I'm blanking on a name, just troubling. I could just look up the roster instead we don't said we do it off of the vibes and

20:52feelings. I haven't written down, but like after I wrote it down, I'm looking at it and I'm like, feel like something's missing. I feel like I'm missing something. It's an intuition and I'm not going to look it up to derail the show anymore that I currently am. Let's, let's read through it defensive and John Henry daily is a graduate defensive tackles. Trapeers and NO at a both fourth year guys, Dom Nichols at edge, third year player, Troy Bulls. I have as a starting linebacker who's a fourth year chase Taylor. I have narrowly over Nathaniel Usubote as a second year player at linebacker. I mean, they're both going to play. They're both going to play a lot. I know that the staff, when I'm doing this for effect, loves, if you're not watching you're listening, I did like one of those eye closes and slowly open things, it loves and I kind of messed it up because I had to think about it the second time I did loves chase Taylor. Nickelback Smith Snowden safeties.

21:54I went with Rod Moore who sixth, six year Mason Curtis, a third year, Zeke Berry, a fifth year and Jair Hill, a fourth year as your cornerbacks. So I feel like, I want to say, I feel like I'm missing something that's, I feel like I'm missing another safety here. And I forgot to add another name in my wild cards, but you wouldn't know that. I'm just looking at my own accounting here. So I've got a lot more, I've got a lot more, I got eight guys as wild cards here. And some names you should be expecting me to say, some really, actually, you should be expecting all of them to be honest. If you've been paying attention to this show, then none of these names are going to be unfamiliar to you. So number one, defensive tackle, generally, is, let me, he looked incredible in the spring game. Obviously transferred from Utah over, they didn't do it just because he really wanted to see what Ann Arbor's like, what the, you know, he wanted to see what it was like to go to skips and ricks. It's not why. Maybe it is. I mean, maybe the chances are he wanted to play a little bit of football.

22:57So he is one of my two defensive tackles, but I'm going to list him singularly. He looked really good in the spring game. And I don't think it's a surprise. Safety Chris Bracey and Jordan Young are two. I feel like I'm missing another name in there for some reason, though. Yeah, let me like, Jacob Odin could be one of those guys. I just want to see something, something from you, Jacob Odin, right? Like I just, I'm waiting for you, my guy corner back. I have Shamari Earls as the wild card here. I just, I admin, man, where you look great, like limited time freshman year. And then we just, you just haven't seen you since. So not really sure what that's all about. And backer, I have two here. And it's not Mark Kelly, I mean, we've talked about a lot. He's not on this. He's, we're going to wait for that. We got Nathaniel Usu Boatang and then Nate Staling, Nathaniel Staling, once he actually, I don't know if he goes by name.

23:58I keep on just saying Nate. I just want, it just sounds right. It feels good. Not as good as saying those five off, the five offensive linemen, but it feels good to call him Nate's nailing, said a Nathaniel Staling. But still, the two Nathaniel's makeup are other linebackers. I think you're going to see all four of those guys with relative regularity. You'll probably also see it weirdly or not. I've been saying, AC Moai, his name is actually Isaiah, or I see, like, it was my ice. His pronounce, I say, I say, or I say, or I say, it's just, it's not how I would spell my name. I've never seen it spelled that way. And it may be some max offer and I say, I'm how I looked pretty good when he was out there. And then in the mix as well. But like I would, I would bet that Nathaniel Nate's Nathan Staling will, will end up being a factor once he's healthy. He was very good at his FCS school. And it is a big jump. He's out at the time on task again. I'm telling you that conversations I had indicated that he was ahead of the one we all

25:02wanted machine Biles before he was gone. And then KB will have it became the new hotness. And then suddenly a name comes out of nowhere. Now again, he was in the middle between those two guys on Michigan's internal depth chart. So we'll be interesting to see David Pale, Pale, who is Ben, he has not been the height beast outside of this program. But he has been the height beast of this program, I'll spring ball, right? Like normally you've got a guy that everyone's talking about in the program, like just the name just won't, you know, it's like, oh man. Like this guy's really come alive. This guy's like, I would be hard pressed to tell you exactly who it is this year with this new staff. I mean, let me look back on the off-side. I mean, saving on height is probably it, ultimately, it's good, I mean, it has to be. But like it just makes, that just makes sense. It just makes too much sense. Maybe Celeste Moa a little bit, but you know, you can't count Andrew Marsh, you just can't,

26:06like he gets, he gets, he gets talked about is like, we know, we already know he's incredible. So let's just, let's just move off of it. I don't know that we've had another name that, like, has just been like the obvious guy, because like last year was Jamar Browder, the year before it was N-O-A-A, I don't know that there, there's one dude that they're just like, I mean, it's J-E-R-Hill certainly couldn't count as well, but like he gets talked about a lot. So for all intents and purposes, David Palais-Palais is that, but just singularly on this show. Like I think that he is so good, and I think you're going to see that this year. Nate Marshall, I've also included as an wild card edge. I want to talk about some of the guys a little bit more. We're not talking enough about Jordan Young, and I, they haven't talked at all about Jordan Young, which is kind of surprising to me, because like he kind of had that like I, a higher end recruit, but like that Rod Moore, like late in the season comes in, makes an

27:10impact. You're like, that guy does not look like a freshman. He's in the right place, the right time, and there's a transfer portal. It looks like he's definitely leaving, comes back, and then we just don't hear it all about him in spring. There's like not like any mention of like, like what defensive backs are impressing, and Jordan Young's name just doesn't really come up. So I think he could absolutely be in the mix. Chris Bracey, we've talked about a bit on this show. I was hoping to see a little bit more from him in the spring game. Didn't really notice him, which is not like that good, not bad. Unlike like the guy who he's quasi replacing, but not completely, right? Like because he was more of a nickel, like TJ Metcalf, we were talking about a ton this time last year before the spring game. And then after the spring game, you're like, okay. It's confirmed. Sweet. Awesome. Love me some TJ Metcalf comes out against Oklahoma gets an interception and you're like, yep. That's the dude. I don't know if Chris Bracey is that or not, but he was very good at Memphis. So better than he was at UAB.

28:10Also new yaks from that time. So it's fun. Jamari Erl's just overcoming the injuries, I think it was going to help, but like you hope that this is the year that he comes on and is like, I'm going to make myself be in rotation. So much that like, I, I'm going to make you want to find a way to take out one of the other corners. Someway somehow that's what you want to see is just like that good there that everyone else is like, okay, we got to figure out which of the other corners we just don't want on the field. One way or another, that's what you're hoping for. Nate Marshall, you're hoping kind of that, even though I have Dom Nichols in as a starter, you're kind of hoping that Nate Marshall and the five star status he had when he was on the old rivals that he kind of comes alive and it's like, okay, I can't branch should be on this list as well. I mean, I just feel like weirdly, this is really bizarre because you look at it, you're like the defense is older and it's almost twice as deep.

29:18And we're hoping that the offense is much improved, but weirdly, I just look at the offense and I'm like, I don't see how like the offense isn't better in so many ways. But yet, it's done nothing to prove that. Interesting that. All right, we're out of time. We'll be back on Wednesday. Thank you so much for watching. Thank you for listening. We'll talk to you again soon. Peace.