January 08, 2026

WTKA Roundtable 1/8/2026: We're Not in the News!

49 minutes

Thing Discussed:

Most excited about the hire: there are adults in the room. Spent 20+ coaching in one place with no scandals.

Impressed that they stabilized the program so quickly.

Portal recruiting happens in December; they're playing from behind because IU was setting up all of these visits weeks ago. Notice they're getting special teams guys because Coombs was already in his job.

Whittingham as Crisler (Brian: [moans]), as an established outsider who locked down Harmon to survive the transition. That was the end of the Yost Cycle, and likewise this is the end of the Bo Cycle. What happens next? How does he develop ways to take advantage of Michigan's place in the new world.

Money allocation is a big conversation going forward. Indiana puts all of its resources into the portal, Michigan will pay a NOB and also pay a Rolder.

New offense: Not a whole lot different under Harbaugh? Utah fans: "get ready to run QB Power!"...okay! "Tell your TEs to prepare to be blockers." Sure. "Don't expect any

Seth: More Urban Meyer approach where it's about efficiency more than explosives. Loaded at OL, have great RBs.

Main feature of Beck is he plays a "tight end" who's really a receiver. Brian points out JJ Buchanan is 6'3"/225 and only played five snaps inline—that's just a wide receiver. Point is they're way more spread than people realize.

In Break: Ryan Mallett (RIP). Craig says Lloyd tried to broker a conference with Mallett's dad and Rich Rod, neither side was interested.

Jay Hill: Has the bona fides, knows where the hashes are, made Weber State a power.

Schematically, going back to more of a Cover-1 look. Notre Dame defense is similar, also a lot like the Ryan Walters stuff where they turn their 4-2 into a 5-1 regularly. Really wanted to keep Cole Sullivan (as a WLB who can DE or S) and Jordan Young (as a nickel who can S or CB) for this system. Think Jyaire or Shamari would be good in that nickel role.

Biggest hurdle for this staff? Probably learning how to recruit as Michigan instead of Utah.

...more

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