is Michigan reloading or rebuilding welcome to the Big 10 team rivalry show the spring game is over the transfer portal is closed and questions still abound for the reigning college football national champions your Michigan Wolverines some say Michigan is starting over While others say Michigan is doing okay not exactly resounding endorsement hello my name is Cliff with me as always is ma ma I found this article over at yard Barker by Nicholas Meer he said there's five burning questions for Chiron Moore and I thought we could go through those are you ready for that Nicholas Meer he's the guy who directed Star Trek 2 I heard that somewhere Star Trek 2 and Star Trek 6 there are six of those whatever Moving on but Star Trek 2 is the superior movie it is one of the greatest movies of all time got it all right but here we go question number one is Alex orgy the answer at quarterback now we know it's pretty much down to orgy and Warren right so what do you think yeah so I mean this as positively as I can possibly say it obviously Michigan's in a whole new era of football right we got a new coach we got largely a new staff even though a lot of them were just kind of promoted at Michigan so they still you know are familiar with the program got a lot of new players on the offense or at least not a lot of new players but a lot of new starters on the offense in my opinion I still think that Alex orgy represents Michigan's best shot at a fourth straight Big 10 title man there's a really real nice ring to that isn't there um he's an extremely athletic quarterback he just doesn't quite have the Polish of JJ McCarthy but you know that's okay he needs to gain experience the problem is that he's going to be gaining experience during one of the toughest schedules that I can remember for Michigan since what 1902 when Chicago was relevant I can't even man week two is against Texas they go on the road to oron there's an inside joke there that nobody's going to get whatever and then they go on the road to Ohio State too so it's a really crappy schedule to be breaking in a fresh quarterback you don't want to be doing that in those games that being said I think that when it comes down to it the quarterback that he chur emotionally in confidence and leadership ability the most before the Texas game a lot of qualifiers there I think that quarterback represents Michigan's best shot at a conference Championship and I do expect that to be Alex orgy but if we're talking just from a pure uh Talent standpoint I still think it's it's Alex orgy um just simply because I'm not entirely sure Davis Warren quite has the abilities that Alex orgy has in fact I I know he doesn't okay so we know that so Alex orgy may not have had a lot of snaps but he he is the one with the experience now especially with Tuttle injured um so it just seems to me like he's he does have that which is why I think he would be the quarterback I I also think it's funny slightly off topic here that I consistently refer to orgy and Warren orgy being Alex's last name Warren being Warren Davis's first name it's a quirk it's what I do all right question number two can the defense carry the team defense wins championships right we know this this should be a given plus the new DC wink marale isn't exactly a rookie so can the defense carry the team I think to a point you know I don't think people understand that despite losing a ton of talent to the NFL this year Michigan still returns a bunch of depth chart players from last year who got playing time in because Michigan was blowing out nine of the 12 opponents that they played last year shout out to Maryland nice job guys they do return some decent experience despite uh some transfers in the secondary they have a lot of experience coming back on the D line especially this all being said defense might win championships but I wouldn't necessarily want to ask my defense to hold every single opponent under 10 or 20 points a game just because the offense can't get their crap together I mean it takes an extremely mentally tough defense to do that week in week out with a good offense scoring you points let alone an offense that can't do anything now I'm not saying that Michigan's offense isn't going to do anything but we'll just leave that there that all being said I think that there are two teams in the country that year in year out can generally field a defense capable of carrying their team all season long the first being Iowa shout out Kirk fence the second being Michigan I just think that you know coming to what I or coming back to what I said about the schedule it's too difficult it's too difficult for Michigan to rely on a perfect defense or even as close to perfect as they can get I do expect them to be really good this year just they're they're going to need to score points too absolutely they're going to need to score points to win you think it's possible oh the defense the defense will need to score points to win no I meant the offense I you me the something that stupid that's all right announcers who get paid millions of dollars a year say the same thing so this is true this is true unironically even question number three who will replace Rod Moore rodm more Michigan's star safety from 2023 suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament which we all know is the ACL uh during spring practice on March 24th three weeks before the spring game surgery was April 25th and apparently he came through with flying colors he entered Michigan's Champions circle on May 3rd which is Michigan's version of nil which says to me maybe they expect him to come back this year um so does he need to replace need to be replaced and if he does who's going to replace so yeah he needs to be replaced the guy tore his whatever you just called it and ACL ACL what the other name sounded interior cruciate ligament ouch stop it that hurts my brain to even I might not even be pronouncing that right probably aren't anyway yeah he needs to be replaced obviously he needs to be replaced tearing an ACL gets you out for 8 to 12 months just to just to try and rehabilitate it back to where you're not walking like imoto let alone get back to being an elite football player like he is so he's going to need to be replaced marari page and Jaden mcburrows seem to be the guys that are going to replace him um mcari page has actually already been there for four years so it's not like he's a raw talent or anything I expect he'll be able to fill in just fine they are a bit light on the depth chart so they might might want to bring in some portal additions possibly even a few of them if they can um but they do have zek and Brandon Hillman who can fill out the two deep a bit so you know they do have some players there those are both sophomores it's something but I still think that they could benefit from a bit of experience in the portal question number four is about the kicking game does the kicking game need portal help now we saw in the spring game that missed kick I think it was a field goal um and I hate to judge a kid by one kick but nevertheless people are saying the kicking game might need some help they did pick up Dominique Zada Dominic Zada uh who committed on April 26th is he the help they're looking for yeah I definitely think he's he's the help that they needed for sure he's a solid kicker I mean he's from Arkansas State he was on the Lou groa award watch list in 2023 the guy only missed one field goal in his freshman season and that was a 51 y I mean that's impressive I can hit like a 51 incher I feel pretty good about that although apparently he did struggle a little bit through uh 2023 but that being said he still hit about 77% of his field goal so I still think he's definitely someone who can be counted on for the most part to get Michigan points if needed so yeah I think that they're pretty much uh pretty much good there question number five will the running game smash like last season now shiron Moore was famous for uh starting that phrase smash as he's talking about his team but it's all about Don isn't it Donovan Edwards um after the spring game even Donovan said that as a team and offense wise that yes they were where they need to be but they do have to get better which is what you always want to hear your players say if you ever hear a player say no we're fine we don't need to do anything then you have a problem when you hear a good player say we have to get better I to me that's always promising so what do you think will the running game smash like last season you know every time I hear the dawn I keep thinking about that call from the 2022 Ohio State game Gus Johnson Donovan Edwards whoa can they catch him no 85 yards the Don all right anyway yes I think Gus is the best shout out Gus anyway um yes I think that the running game is going to smash and honestly in my opinion I think it's all on the offensive line not the running backs we know Donovan Edwards and khle mullings are both more than ready to pick up from last year's success I think it's whether or not the offensive line can still open up the holes judging from the spring game I think so they look pretty good but that's one of those position groups that I don't think you really fully understand how capable they are until the the season starts the rumors that I'm hearing out of spring camp though are very positive despite the fact that maybe they might be a little light on the uh on the depth chart uh especially if they were to incur some injuries but overall I think the answer is yes Michigan's running game is still going to smash and there you have it five burning questions for Chiron Moore after the spring game what do you think is there another question you would ask if there is drop it in the comments and we'll see if we can find the answer for you in the meantime uh if you liked what you saw don't forget to like And subscribe and leave a comment we do a live show Monday nights at 8 join us for that and uh Mac take us out this is the Big 10 team rivalry show Sam harman's looking down field for AJ almost has a one-handed catch almost football