00:00Doug Karsh, that's Scott Anderson.
00:0397.1, Mondays mean champ and chump.
00:06Get your votes in for champ and chump of the weekend.
00:08We'll get back to your phone calls in a moment.
00:10This kind of went viral over the weekend.
00:13Eric Weddle, who played in the NFL and played for Kyle Whittingham at Utah,
00:18went on the 0-60 podcast, which I guess covers Colorado football,
00:24and told that he went to a Michigan practice and said of Bryce Underwood,
00:28quote, mark my words, don't be surprised if the backups are playing early.
00:32That Underwood kid, I don't think you can throw or play quarterback.
00:37I don't understand.
00:38It's just quarterbacks in general,
00:39but I don't understand how the position isn't being taught from the pocket.
00:43Now, he has apparently got a son, Gage, who's a prospect.
00:48I tried to coach Gage.
00:50I've taught him from the ground up, pocket awareness, timing, footwork,
00:53all the stuff that matters because at the end of the day,
00:55your athleticism can only take over so much.
00:58When I went to nine schools of spring ball, I was like, dude,
01:02you're better than half these guys.
01:03You'd be a backup here fighting for the starter.
01:07Okay.
01:11If Eric Weddle saw Bryce Underwood for a practice and wasn't impressed,
01:18that's fine.
01:20That's fine.
01:21I can tell you I went to two spring practices and watch Bryce and Bryce
01:27looked just fine.
01:28Maybe he had a bad day.
01:30Maybe I don't know what I'm watching,
01:31but at no point did I walk away going,
01:34can't throw, can't play the position.
01:37No, no, no.
01:38Now, you know, would I, would I tell you otherwise?
01:45Like if I went there and I thought he looked awful,
01:47well, I certainly wouldn't say he looked fine.
01:49I'll tell you that.
01:50I would not come on the air and say something that I didn't believe.
01:54With that said, I always, you know, nothing is guaranteed in life.
01:59Like Underwood has to develop and, you know, they've,
02:03they've brought in Coy Detmer to be the quarterback coach.
02:06They got an offensive coordinator and Jason Beck,
02:08who's done good things with quarterbacks.
02:09They are putting together an offense that they think better suits his
02:13skillset than maybe the previous staff had.
02:16And we'll see.
02:17That'll be told over time.
02:18This stuff plays itself out on the field and Eric Weddle or Doug Karsh
02:22or anybody's opinion of a, of spring practice.
02:26I don't know if it was particularly impactful on reality.
02:30The reality will play itself on the, on the field in the falls on Saturday.
02:34And you know, the, the, the truth is no matter how good a prospect you are,
02:39there's no guarantees that you are going to develop and, you know,
02:43live up to what everybody thinks is a high potential.
02:46But I have not walked away from a spring practice thinking that Bryce
02:51Underwood is as bad as Eric Weddle just described him.
02:55Um, but he's got some developing to do, and there's no doubt about it.
02:59And, and Michigan is going about the business of, of developing Bryce
03:04Underwood as best they can.
03:05And if he doesn't, then they go another direction.
03:07Like that's, that's life in the big city.
03:10And, um, you know, and it might be a case where a prospect never pans out.
03:15I think based upon what I've seen, I would not make the call that Weddle made,
03:19but Weddle gave his opinion and that's fine.
03:23Yeah.
03:23I look, I think if you watch Bryce Underwood play, you understand there's serious
03:29talent there.
03:31Can he hone that talent to become one of the best that remains to be seen?
03:35Obviously made some mistakes last year, as you would expect being a true
03:38freshman, um, competition usually brings out the best in people see where he's at.
03:44But I, I think he's got a ton of talent.
03:45I think Michigan's, you know, upcoming season is, uh, it should be brighter
03:51because of a potential running game is they're, they're stocked at the running
03:55back position again.
03:57And that usually takes pressure off a quarterback, but a different offensive
04:01line.
04:01We'll see long way to go.
04:02I would, I would just say this about any long-term prognosis for Bryce.
04:08As you know, I'm not on the air saying he's going to be a Heisman trophy winner
04:11in all American either, because he has to develop, he has to develop.
04:16And do I think he can and be more than he was last year?
04:20Absolutely.
04:22Uh, but what else, what else made the call two, four, eight, five, three, nine,
04:2697, 97.
04:27You want to get in on that champion jump?
04:29We do it every Monday.
04:30Let's go to Dan Ann Arbor.
04:31You're next.
04:31Hello, Dan.
04:33Hey guys.
04:34Happy Monday.
04:35You know what?
04:35I'm going to go with my champ, my champ.
04:37Well, yeah, well, you know, you can always, it's, it's beautiful outside Gator.
04:40I think you can sort of say summer, you know, and despite our miserable baseball
04:44team right now, my champ is going to be Rob Brendamore.
04:47What he's done with the Carolina hurricanes and turned them into a perennial,
04:51you know, good hockey team through his coaching, I feel like has been surprising
04:56and I didn't see it coming and it's impressive.
05:01The chump is the tiger's offense.
05:04You cannot go four and 22 in the month of May without being bad at every level of your
05:09lineup.
05:10And it's not AJ Hintz's fault that they don't score with runners in scoring position or they
05:15don't hit or they don't.
05:16It was a brutal decision that he made yesterday to pull Montero after 65 pitches when he was
05:22dealing.
05:25But it's not all on AJ Hintz to hit the ball.
05:28And I watched Ben and Tiddy last night with, it was great, with Albert Pools and AJ, or with
05:35Anthony Rizzo talking through the game.
05:38And it's like, as players, you know, as June comes around, you earn your opportunities at the
05:43trade deadline.
05:44And I think both Albert and Rizzo talked about how the players know that that's what they're
05:51working with right now and how both the Cubs and the Cardinals were earning opportunities
05:56to get more talent at the trade deadline.
05:59And right now it's frustrating to see both of these teams, both of the, you know, all of
06:05the titles.
06:05Yeah, it sucks because the last two years, this has been a team that has made the playoffs
06:09and we've been excited when you get to the trade deadline, what are they going to add?
06:12How are they going to add?
06:13We as fans, we get impatient to go get your hand to go Suarez or go make this big deal
06:18and get this hall of players and do this and do that.
06:20And now it's like, all right, well, that's gone.
06:24That idea of making a playoffs is, is almost way out the window.
06:29I mean, a lot of people have already given up and say it's there.
06:31I mean, I'm almost there by, by a day and we'll see where, where it is.
06:35But now it's the thought of, okay, can they package now Tarek Skubal into something where
06:41we look at the trade deadline and say, this might be a moment in time where the Tigers
06:47started turning the corners in organization because they've got a handful of players.
06:51They really like to be the core of this group.
06:53And did they just add to it or not?
06:55Or is it a missed opportunity?
06:58You know, and Gatoru is so interesting when Albert said last night on the broadcast,
07:02you cannot take, you know, in St. Louis is playing beyond what anyone could
07:05have expected.
07:06You can't take that effort and lose sight of it and not reward it.
07:12And I think what you're saying is it's frustrating when you think of the past two Tiger seasons,
07:16you've seen like the past two seasons have left something on the table.
07:23Maybe certainly last season.
07:25But, but I, but then they rewarded them this year.
07:28It seems like with some off season moves that would have improved the team.
07:31But, but that maybe seems now like the wrong moves.
07:35Well, yeah.
07:35And it's, it's part of it.
07:36Like I said earlier, I think it's another thing is relying on people and players that
07:42help to contribute that just aren't getting it done.
07:46And, and then maybe they're in over their heads and thinking that they're, that this
07:49is something that they, that they're a better player than what they are.
07:51And I don't, I hate to signal single people play certain players out, but I mean, I shouldn't
07:57be counting on Zach McKinstry or Matt Veerling for being difference makers on a major league
08:04roster.
08:04I think they're fine at the end of the roster players, but these guys are counted on to play
08:08every day.
08:09And they're just not, not that good.
08:11Matt Veerling's played 50 games this year.
08:13He's got a 629 OPS.
08:15McKinstry was hurt for a period of time, but now he's, he's played 38 games.
08:19He's got over a hundred at bats and his OPS is, I can't believe I'm saying this.
08:23It's 457.
08:25Like these aren't players that should be playing every day.
08:28What's really cool about guys like that is when they're on a good team and the Tigers
08:32have been a good team, they're useful pieces.
08:35They can be.
08:36And they were, especially McKinstry last year for the first useful, useful piece on a
08:42good team.
08:43When more is being asked, that's where a player can get a little bit overextended.
08:49Um, and, and I think we've seen that happen in a couple of like, like a lot of the guys
08:52are playing right now.
08:55Probably shouldn't be playing.
08:56No.
08:56And then when you, when you go to the bench and bring up somebody to pinch hit, you're
09:01trying to bring up somebody that's going to deliver in that situation.
09:04Hey, he's got a skillset.
09:06Jemite Jones doesn't have a skillset this year and he barely had one before, but showed
09:12a propensity to hit left handers.
09:14Okay.
09:14Can he do it better than Andy Abanias?
09:16They banked on that.
09:17They let Abanias go.
09:19Neither player is an everyday player.
09:20And I get that.
09:21He's not.
09:21And I don't mean to pick on Jemite Jones.
09:23Right.
09:23But when you're, you know, 60 games into the season, he's not getting the job done in
09:29those situations.
09:30His OPS is below 500.
09:32He's a 498.
09:34I mean, these aren't guys that like you can't live without.
09:38Like if you're not getting the job done, let's go Johnny next guy who might be another for
09:43a player, which is fine because that's what you're looking at in that situation.
09:46But give me somebody else.
09:48Two, four, eight, five, three, nine, 97, 97.
09:50A baseball insider wrote about our guy Scooble, which is going to be a big talk of the summer.
09:56And, uh, yeah, we're probably going to do it again.
09:58It's like talking draft in October, talking trade deadline here on June 1st, but it's
10:04going to be one of the biggest stories that plays itself out is does our guy get moved
10:09and one of the Tigers get the comp that this insider made was interesting.
10:14And this is exactly what I guess we hope happens.
10:16We'll get to that at 1135.
10:18I'm 90 someone.
10:18I want to.
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