March 14: Brewers, Badgermbb Big Ten Tourney, Packers Free Agency

We juggle a Wisconsin weekend storm watch with big updates across the Brewers, Badgers, and Packers, then zoom in on what depth and toughness look like when injuries and pressure hit at the same time. We break down Wisconsin’s gritty win over Illinois, preview the Michigan rematch, and debate what Green Bay’s free agency choices say about development, coaching, and special teams.

• looming winter storm prep and weekend life check-in 
• Quinn Priester likely starting on the IL and what it means for Brewers pitching depth 
• why we are concerned but not panicking about Milwaukee’s early rotation options 
• why the Illinois comeback feels like the Badgers’ best win 
• adjustments when the threes are not falling and attacking the rim 
• rebounding without Nolan Winter and role players stepping up 
• Boyd and Blackwell’s edge, confidence and “villains” mindset 
• Michigan preview plus fatigue, seeding and NCAA tournament reality 
• Rasheed Walker leaving for Carolina and why we are fine moving on 
• Jordan Morgan at left tackle and what we need to see 
• tight end room notes with Tucker Kraft, Musgrave and Josh Wiley 
• player development questions and why new voices matter 
• veteran leadership on defense and why Franklin and Hargrave help 
• special teams emphasis and why Skyy Moore matters as a returner 

If you guys missed any portion of the show here today, make sure you listen next day across all the podcast platforms out there, Wisconsin Sports on the Go Trades, like, subscribe, follow. Also, go over to the Facebook page, check out the link to our storefronts. You can buy a t-shirt, sweatshirt, hat, stocking cap, whatever you need, and part of the proceeds go to Warm Kids, Wisconsin to help a kid stay warm in the winter season.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

This is Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trade. Your place for all things Wisconsin Sports. Now, your host, Trade.

Storm Prep And Birthday Balloons

Brewers Pitching Injuries And Depth

Badgers Survive And Advance

SPEAKER_02 0:18

How are we doing, everybody? And welcome in to Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trade. I'm your host, Trade, as we're coming in here on this Saturday. I hope you guys are enjoying your Saturday so far here. Hope you guys are enjoying your weekend before tonight, tomorrow, Monday, when the nasty comes in, that winter storm that they're talking about there. At first they were talking like two plus feet of snow. Now I've seen like 12 to 18. So who knows? We're gonna be somewhere within like, I don't know, two to seven feet of snow. So we'll just see what happens there. But, anyways, anyways, hopefully you guys got all your grocery shopping out of the way like I did. We usually go on Sundays. I was like, well, I'll go on Friday. So Friday went and got the groceries, got all that kind of stuff. So that was good. That was good, got that out of the way. Now just have the kid's birthday coming up today. I can't wait to celebrate that. My kid turned one this last week. So we have his birthday party coming up today here. Well, the weather's still semi-nice before the snow gets here. So got that going on. I was, man, yesterday I spent a lot of the day pumping it. It felt like a lot of the day. It was probably only like a half an hour, but it seemed like I pumped up probably oh my goodness. There were six garbage bags, six black garbage bags. Full those big ones for the leaves, right? Six of those filled with balloons. That's a lot of balloons. And I don't know the number because I lost count at 10. Because I, you know, numbers. Lost count at 10. But there was a lot of balloons in there. And I know one thing coming off of that. I could never work in the carnival. I could never be that guy who ties balloons, you know, makes those little balloon animals and stuff like that. Not because of skill, because I feel like I can figure out how to make a giraffe. But because I just couldn't do it all day. I would get so sick of it, I'd tie one giraffe and I'd be like, I'm done. I'm putting in my two weeks. And then I'd just leave. I'd just be done with it. I couldn't do it. So I'm gonna stay as an electrician and I'm gonna stay as a radio guy, and that's gonna be it. That's just gonna be it. Done. Done. No more carnival for me. So now we know. Now we know. That was a uh wow. My wife, she was like, we're gonna get this balloon pumper upper thing. And I was like, no, no, no, no, no. I got an air compressor in the garage. I got a nozzle on there, I'll pop it on, I'll just pump them up. It was good. It was good. But yeah, the the tying, repetitive tying of balloons, that got old really fast. So, anyways, anyways, lots of stuff to talk about today. Lots of good. I mean, we haven't we haven't had a day where we can just talk about a lot of good stuff in a while. So today's the day, right? We're all, I shouldn't say that. The thing I'm gonna start with, words, right? The thing I'm gonna start with, not so good. But after that, we're gonna talk about the bad. Just got the win against Illinois yesterday. That was fantastic. So we're gonna talk about that. Talk about the Michigan game coming up today at noon. So we're gonna get into that. We have talked with uh Ummer about the Packers, so we're gonna get into that later on here in the show. But where I wanted to start was some troubling, troubling stuff that I saw over the weekend. And that was Quinn Priester talking about what is going on with him and when he will possibly be back to the Brewers. It looks like he's gonna start the season on the IL, which was like the last thing I wanted to see. Because you have him dealing with this wrist, you have Brandon Woodruff still ramping up, and then on top of that, Logan Henderson has a sore elbow. Wrap it all up together. My pitching staff I thought was really deep. I'm glad it's really deep because they're slowly, guys are slowly working their way back, but it seems like not it's well, I shouldn't say there's a lot of people worried. There's a lot of people worried. I'm not super worried about it right now. That's where I want to start. I'm not super worried about it right now. What I like to see Quinn Priester out there, week one, opening day. What I love to see him out there, yes, I'd love to see it. Is it the end of the world that he's gonna miss the first month? Not necessarily. You have a lot of depth in this pitching staff for the Brewers. You know, we're seeing Harrison do some good things right now. Across the board, we're seeing a lot of good things. You're seeing Harrison do some good things. You're seeing Chad Patrick's been pitching well. You have a lot of good pieces that you can fit in there. Brandon Sprout is another guy that we've seen that we've talked about here. Gasser is another guy you're gonna be talking about. There's a lot of options. Ms. Right, Ms. Of course, you're gonna have Ms. Arowski in that fold. So there's a lot of different moving pieces that you can have in there in the rotation. So I think they can weather the storm. Now it's about, I don't know why this wasn't surgery to begin with. I don't know what the exact timeline would have been then, but it seems like this has been going on since last season now for Quinn for Easter. So hopefully now maybe he gets it figured out. You can get him back, keep him healthy, get him going through the entire season. I'm not as worried as a lot of people were going into the year here, going into this. I'm not as I shouldn't say not worried. You're gonna rely on a lot of young guys, and you're gonna rely on that depth that we were talking about. So hopefully, hopefully they proved the brewers right into saying that this was good, good pieces they were bringing in, and it's all gonna work out here. Maybe that's why they went after all this depth, was they were like, ah, well, I don't trust anybody to stay healthy, so we got to bring in a lot of pieces to make sure that we're good. Maybe that's why the brewers were shaking it there. But that was some interesting stuff going out the weekend. So we'll see what kind of happens with Quinn Priester there, hopefully back within that month range there. But going to start the season on the I. I'm your host, Trage, as we're coming back in here on this Saturday. Hope you guys are enjoying your Saturday so far here. We're gonna talk some Badgers coming up next year. Badgers got the win against Washington, a very wow, nail-biting finish in that one there. And then another nail biter against Illinois. So two fantastic games here on Thursday and Friday. Today, they have the most daunting of them all. Michigan. The Wolverines, right? Got the win against Michigan going back to early on in the Big Ten slate in Ann Arbor. The only team outside of Duke to beat Michigan this season is these Wisconsin Badgers in Ann Arbor. So that, I mean, something they've been holding above everybody all season. Now they get to try to do it again. It's really hard to do it twice. We said that going into the Illinois game. It was gonna be really hard to beat a team like Illinois twice. They did it. Now, Michigan, that's a whole different animal. But Ohio State played very well against Michigan yesterday. So maybe Greg Guard took some notes, said, What did they do against Michigan? What's it gonna be? What do we got to do in this game? Last time out, they just knocked down shots and just won a slug fest. That's all you can do against them, right there. This time, no, no in winter, which is gonna add a whole nother element to this one here. No, well, I mean, I shouldn't say that. I thought it was gonna kind of kill them there in that Illinois game, and well, they found a way. And it was one of the, and I I'm gonna, I'm gonna go there. I'm gonna go there with this. I think it was one of the best wins of the season for the Wisconsin Badgers, just because of everything they had going against them, going into that game, injuries, etc., to find a way to win that game, going down big in the second half and finding a way to claw their way back at the 11-minute mark, claw their way back into this one, find a way to win it at the end. Nothing but impressive. So I'm gonna bring up my guy here, Christian. We're gonna talk a little badges here. Christian, how are we doing on this Saturday?

SPEAKER_01 7:29

We're good, man. It's uh it's good. The badges are winning, they're hot. Let's see if they can take on Michigan, take Michigan down again.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

Oh man, I mean, would you say? So, I mean, I just said it off top there, and I want to hear what everybody thinks out there. 715-990-4914. There's 715-990-4914. Would you say the Illinois game from yesterday was the best win for the Badgers this year?

Illinois Comeback Keys And Officiating

SPEAKER_01 7:55

Absolutely. I think this it goes back to like everything we've kind of talked about so far this year is um if they get punched in the face, how do they react? Well, they got punched in the face multiple times today. I think Illinois went on a couple of big runs, just like we saw do with Purdue, right? I think Illinois went on some bigger runs. They were down 15 twice, right? Or like 12 and then 15 came, still came back, took the lead, went OT, and just ended up taking it to them and ended up winning the game. Um, we also talked all pretty much all season about what do they do when they aren't hitting threes. Well, this is a game, this is a game where they weren't hitting threes. Uh now they they actually changed it up and just started attacking the hoop. Whereas I think earlier in the season, or even just as far back as the Oregon game, when they are hitting threes, they just keep shooting anyway. So I think I think this team's kind of maturing a little bit. I think they're figuring out you know some things here and there that can help them when they're not just absolutely on fire from three. And I think it's that's gonna help them build some confidence and uh going at least going into the Michigan game, if not at least the big 10 or the uh NCAA tournament. So I think this was a huge win, probably their best one. And then I don't know, we'll see how it goes uh today. But I think the Illinois game was definitely a huge confidence booster.

SPEAKER_02 9:13

I mean, we talked about it in that second half. I texted you and I kind of said like win or lose, it was trending in the wrong direction. I mean, I said I don't take anything out of this game outside of their missing Noah and Winter, and that's leading to a lot of troubles here. And I mean, holding Illinois one of the best, I think they might be the best, if not third best. They're top three in offensive rebounds in the nation. To hold them to nine offensive rebounds in this game, and you had 11 yourself, that's an impressive stat line, especially without Noan Winter. Because Nolan Winter is your glass guy. I mean, Bealowski, he's actually I want to praise Bealowskis. He's been fantastic in this tournament. Offensive on the offensive glass, Bielowskis has kept some possessions alive, a huge one in the Washington game. And then in this game, too, here, gathering up some balls for the Badgers there. Bialowskis has been good. Rap's been good down uh down low there. Garlock has actually played some pretty good minutes. We were talking about Garlock early on in the season said I don't know how he's gonna really fit in. And he's kind of still, you know, he's young. We know that, and he's still growing into it. But I thought in this tournament so far, he's played some good minutes. He's given the badger some good things. Now, and this one got in foul trouble early, which didn't help, but everybody was in foul trouble in this game here. And I don't want to hear from any Illinois fan that the refing stunk because the Badger fans have the same argument coming out of this game here. It was bad both ways. The whistle was too tight, the whistle was too tight. Early on, when they had the offsetting technical fouls, basically at the start of the game, they had tip and then it was offsetting technical fouls. I was like, oh boy, here we go. Here we go. And then you're listening on the radio. I was on the radio because I was out grocery shopping and I was listening to Matt LeBay and Brian Butch. And Butchie was even talking about the refing, and you know, Butchie, it takes a lot for Butchie to start talking about the refing, but he was talking about the reffing on the radio and how bad it was. And he wasn't just saying just for Wisconsin, he was saying both like, oh, I don't know if that was a foul on you know, whatever. And it was like, I agree. I'm watching back on the replay, watching some of this stuff, and it's like that was not a foul. The step back for Blackwell there, the fader at the elbow, definitely not a foul. So, I mean, there's a lot of bad calls, a lot of bad calls both ways. Refing aside, badgers did, like you said, really good job getting downhill and getting themselves to the free throw line. 25 for 30 in this game. Now you look at Illinois, nine for 15. Those misses, though, and we were talking about at the break, those misses were crucial misses in this game. Ones that could have put them up in this game here, ones that could have made it. Maybe it didn't even go to overtime if they knocked down the free throws in regulation. There was just those crucial misses by Illinois, and that's where I want to praise the Badgers. They executed when it counted, they executed down the stretch. Now, I shouldn't say that. Overtime, they didn't execute with a seven-point lead, and it should have been game over, and then all of a sudden, Andrew Roadie flipped the ball away, and it was like, oh boy, here we go. We got a ball game with two-point lead. Not great execution, I should say, at the end of overtime. But the badgers found a way to claw back in this one, take the lead, win this one. It has to be, if not the best win of the season. The only one I would say you'd rival it to would be Michigan. Michigan. You could say Illinois the first time. You they clawed their way back in that game, too. That was in Champaign, that was a butt kicking, too. Badgers found a way to come back in that one. But I just without Nolan Winter, that's a huge piece that you're missing. We're seeing it on the offensive glass. We're seeing it rebounding for the badgers here. And in this game here, that's where that's why I say the rebounding in this game was so refreshing to see. Was because now I know, like going into this one, I got a little nervous. I was like, Oh, without Nolan Winter, they're gonna have the glass controlled. I'm worried about this team, second chance points, all that stuff. This one here, I I was surprised. I was surprised coming out of this game here. I mean, were there any other performances you saw in this one, Christian, that you liked?

SPEAKER_01 13:07

I mean, I just I'm I'm really, really impressed with what I obviously I may start. I'm just expecting this out of uh Nick Boyd from now on, right? Like it's just that's just he's been consistent all season. Um, but I'm just I'm very impressed with what we're seeing out of Blackwell now. He's like we've talked, like I've talked about constantly, he's had such a roller coaster season. He either goes he goes on a streak or he's absolutely on fire, or he goes through these like four, five, six game lulls where he just like disappears. And I think hopefully it keeps going. But right now, I'm impressed with how he's playing. He scored 34 yesterday, or I'm sorry, on two on Thursday, and then yesterday what did he score yesterday? And it was 31. Yeah, what he finished with 30 30 30 games and back 30 points and back-to-back games. That's what the badgers absolutely have to have, obviously, without Nolan Winter, too. But I mean, if you got Nick Boyd's gonna be Nick Boyd, but if you got Blackwell doing that too, I think this is the best guard duo in obviously the Big Ten, easily. And I think they're right up there in the in all of college basketball for like the you know, the best duo at guards. So oh 100%.

Boyd And Blackwell Play With A Chip

SPEAKER_02 14:18

You could argue with anybody out there at this point here. There's some really good guards, and we're not denying that. But these two, when they're playing right together, I honestly think I'm gonna be honest with you, they're ticked off. I I really think they are watching Boyd and Blackwell play. They're playing with an aggressiveness that we were asking to see out of Blackwell all season long. And I really think it's when those awards came out. I really do. I really think it's when those uh postseason awards came out because after the game, I saw a tweet. It was by Evan Flood, and he said it was Boyd walking down the tunnel there, and he said he followed that up with first team, second team, we'll put belt to anyone, any team out there. And that's what that's what Boyd had to say. And I just I just I love that mentality now because they're playing with chip. And it looks like John Blackwell is playing with the chip on his shoulder, where he saw that third team and he's like, Oh, that's that's not me. That's not me. I shouldn't have been on there, and he's like, All right, I'm gonna prove that I'm one of the best guards of the Big Ten. And that's what he's doing right now. He's knocking out shots. This is an aggressiveness that we saw out of him early in the year and at certain times, right? But now this is the most consistent we've seen it in a very long time out of John Blackwell. And you know, after the game, they're listening in that press conference where Boyd yells to Blackwell and says, I took your record, and then Blackwell's like, records are supposed to be broken, like because he scored 38 there, and John Blackwell, Damien Flores set a record. So just I mean, those two having fun right now, they're having fun, but when you watch Mount on the floor, it's a different kind of intensity out of these two right now. And you saw it at the beginning, you saw it at the beginning. There was no reason why you're going after Boswell or going after because it was chippy the whole game between the Badgers and Illinois. I mean, at one point Hayden Jones was getting chippy. I knew right then that they were getting serious because Hayden Jones isn't a guy who really talks. And then once he got a little chippy out there, I was like, oh boy, here we go.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

Well, I think I think everyone heard, I think Illinois was, you know, they loved, they really laid into the well, if we had Boswell and Stoyakovich for that game at Illinois with you guys barely won an overtime, we would have, you know, smoked you, you know. But I think there was a lot of you know that kind of talk going on. I think they kind of came in with that confidence and hubris that they were just gonna like roll the badgers because they're you know, they got all their guys back, they're healthy, the badgers don't have no one winter. So I'm guessing I I would be willing to barter a good amount of money that Nick Boyd has probably done his fair share of talking to. So I think right at the beginning of that game when he traveled and turned it over, I'm guessing Boswell had something to say to him, and we know Nick Boyd won't back down from him, and I'm sure he'll say something right back. So I think I I think that obviously benefited the badgers. I think it's he even talked about it. Like he had he had all his teammates clapping and laughing behind him when it happened and everything, and it kind of like sent a message like we're not gonna back down to you guys, you know. So I think I think that backfired on Illinois, and I think it's just I don't know. I just I'm very impressed with the team, and I love the aggressiveness, and they're not gonna back down from anyone. They are I love how they just coin themselves the villains. And usually we don't think of like the badgers, they're always like, oh, the nice, good guys, you know, they they you know, sportsmanship, all this stuff, but like this is a different badger, and I love it. They're chippy, they you know, they don't back down to anyone. Nick Boyd's always talking. I think on the on the uh telecaster, whoever the commentator was. Like, I think every time Boyd did something, he just like, oh man, now he found someone else to talk to, or he's like talking trash to the Illinois bench, or he's finding fans in the crowd. He's just I don't know. I I love it. I love watching it, it's entertaining, and it's just they they have like just an attitude to them, and I love it.

SPEAKER_02 17:57

It's fun because when you can back it up too along with it, it's fun, it's fun to watch out there, and you know, you you talk about after the game of the press conference there, and Boyd was talking to the media and he's talking about ain't no rest, you know what I'm saying? No rest, you've got to keep going. It gets played Michigan, right? And he went on this whole like long talk about Michigan and no rest, and they'll play X amount of games, whatever. And he goes on this long speech, and then they ask John Blackwell, and Blackwell's like, I'm if my dad's watching, happy birthday. Like, that's all he says. Like, that's the personalities of these guys is like Boyd is the outgoing, go get him, get up to the crowd, get him pumped up, everything like that. Blackwell's like, if my dad's watching, happy birthday. Like, just just this difference between these two guys. Right, but it's just you need that, right? You have that Jack's and Hyde mentality of those two, where it's like Boyd's the I'm gonna go get fire everybody up. You know, we're talking about that Boswell incident. He's like, I needed that right off the bat there, just to get the extra juice and get them fired up. And then you have Blackwell, where it's like, you know, honestly, at this point, Christian, I hope they play on the road somewhere in a like, you know, BYU where they played in Salt Lake City, and it felt like it was a road game for the Badgers playing, you know, basically all BYU fans. I think they want that. Like this team might want that because when they go on the road places, I think it jacks them up more than when they're at home. Like, you look at what they've done on the road and look at the road wins that they have, they're impressive. But you look at what they do on the road and the way that they shoot the ball, the way they attack, how aggressive they are, the chippiness, right? Talking about that. Every road environment that you've seen them in, you get the best out of this badger team. It just seems that way. I mean, I don't know what I don't know why, because you would think you'd want a home game. You'd think they'd want to play in Milwaukee or something, but I don't know if that's the case. I think this team might want to go to the West Coast, they might want to go play basically in Gonzaga and just say, bring the Gonzaga fans in because I'm gonna go chirp to one of them there if I'm Nick Boyd. Like it just seems like this team does so well in hostile environments and they invite it and they love it. And that's a different kind of a different kind of beast to try and tame. Because when you have a team like that, like that, who they aren't they're unfaced, they'll go anywhere, they'll go anywhere, play you anytime. It doesn't matter. Now, the West Coast, I don't know, because the Oregon game kind of scared me about it.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

Except the Oregon game there.

Role Players Growing Before March

SPEAKER_02 20:17

The Oregon game kind of scared me, but they were half asleep. They didn't understand West Coast. Now they understand West Coast, now they get it. Now they get it, right? I just I just feel that way about this team. Like you said, they just have that chip on their shoulder, and it just seems like it gets amplified in games where they play a team like Illinois on the road. There's a lot of Illinois fans there. It was a lot of orange in that crowd. Oh, yeah, and it's Nick Boyd feeding into it. This team feeding into Nick Boyd, getting fired up along with them, right? Those are the little things that you love about this team and the way that they're able to win basketball games. I mean, Nick Boyd and John Blackwell, to say that they've been the offense in this tournament so far would be an understatement. They've definitely been the offense in this tournament so far. I mean, you look at both games, they've both been fantastic and they've both carried about as much as they can. Now you need to see some of these other guys come along, right? I need Brady Carrington to have a good game against Michigan. I need to see Austin Rapp have a good game against Michigan today here because you're gonna need it, can't just be Blackwell and Boyd today. It's gotta be a collective effort from these guys because you have a lot of dynamite athletes on the opposite side there. When you look at the Maras and you look at the Lindenburg's, you're going to need your guys to show up. And I don't know what's been going out, Braden Carrington. In this tournament here, he's kind of struggled to start it out here. So hopefully, hopefully he finds his way a little bit. I have, I did write it down in my notes, and I wanted to say this. I've been impressed with Hayden Jones. I've been impressed with him. He shows flashes of being fantastic. There's moments where I can see it. Like, you know, we looked at the guard that was coming in, right? When he was coming to Wisconsin, you looked at the highlights, you looked at the film, and you were like, man, I like the stuff that he has. And then he got to Wisconsin, and it was kind of like an Austin rap situation, but raps play a lot more minutes, right? The physicality wasn't there, right? Off the bat. He was losing the ball. BYU game. I remember that game vividly when he got in and they're like, go get him. They attacked him, took the ball from him. And it was like maybe that was the moment he was going to wake up, right? And now you're seeing an aggressive side to Hayden Jones. You've seen him drive the lane. You've seen him get to the basket, do little things. He had a he had a steal in this game here, had a takeaway, took one away from Illinois there, just ripped it away, took it away to the other end there. I mean, just seeing those little things, the growth of a lot of these guys, Hayden Jones, Austin Rap, Bielowskis. I mean, you couldn't have convinced me that he was a big man coming in. But now you're watching this guy. He's got the physical edge to him. That I mean, this game here, nine rebounds. Him and rap, nine rebounds apiece in this game against uh Illinois yesterday. But to see him progress, to see the way that this team's progressing, some of the guys on it, I absolutely love it. I mean, you've kind of seen that same thing, Christian.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

Yeah, absolutely. I think, and I think we've talked about that kind of beginning of the year. Is Austin Raps coming from what was it, the West Coast Conference, whatever that is, I think like Portland State. That's not the big 10. Uh Hayden Jones coming from New Zealand. I know it was like a like some kind of professional league over there, right? But I think that's not the Big Ten either. They're not used to big, big physical players like we're seeing in the Big Ten. So I think it was definitely an adjustment period for those guys, and I think you're gonna see that all the time. Like when Wisconsin continues to bring either bring in guys from smaller schools, like mid-major teams, or oh, from overseas, right? Like we got another one coming in. Uh his name escapes me. I just I was literally just thinking about it as we're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 23:37

Is it ball?

SPEAKER_01 23:38

Yeah, uh Jackson Ball, Jackson Ball, thank you. Jackson Ball's another kid from New Zealand coming that they think he's maybe a little more talented than Hayden Jones is, which is awesome. But I think you can you have to temper your expectations because they have to adjust to Big Ten basketball. And I think now we're finally seeing Hayden Jones. He's getting more run, too, with Jack Janicki being out. But uh I like we said, Bealyowskis and Austin Rap have kind of been forced to grow up a little bit and kind of forced to adapt a little faster because we have to have them play. Obviously, Bealyalskis has been starting a majority of the season, and I think it's been like really helpful for rap to come off the bench, kind of like Carrington, right? Yeah, it's been maybe he can go run against the twos a little more rather than just always a team starting five like he would have if he was starting. So I think that can maybe give them some confidence a little bit, and then you have those games where you're just on fire, and we've seen both of them have games where they just like light it up from three, or they just have really good games that give them some confidence, and then they can just build off of that. So I think they're in a good spot right now, and as long as Winter gets healthy and they are they're back by the the uh NCAA tournament next week. I I don't know. They're again, they're such a volatile team. I could easily see them having a game like they did today against Illinois, but not necessarily adapting and just living and dying by three and crashing or making it to the final four. So it's yeah, I don't know. It's but it's exciting to watch, and that's what I love. So I'm I'm gonna I'm just gonna enjoy it while I can.

SPEAKER_02 25:06

The best part is is how wide the spectrum is for the Badgers. Like they they could easily be bounced out in the first round because they just go cold and can't shoot, or they could go to the final four just because that's how good they can shoot when they get rolling. It's crazy to think like that, but that's the way this badger team is. But a game like this today, or yesterday, should I say, against Illinois, a game like that against Illinois yesterday without Nolan Winter, that made me have a lot more confidence that they could find a way, especially when they weren't hitting threes and they were still able to find a way to put up 91 points and win that game, only hitting 10 threes. Yeah, I that's that's an impressive effort.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

Absolutely.

Michigan Preview And Seeding Reality

SPEAKER_02 25:48

But yeah, oh goodness, I had a cough there. I had a cough there. Christian was Christian had a dynamite drop in there to cover me up there on my cough. But anyways, anyways, Michigan coming out today here for the Badgers. That'll be a what one o'clock start there, I believe. One o'clock start for the Big Ten tournament. Is it one or two?

SPEAKER_01 26:04

I I think it's noon.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

Is it noon? It better not be noon. I can't.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

I looked at ESPN it said noon, but it's noon.

SPEAKER_02 26:12

Well, that's what I it says noon on ESP. I thought it said, well, maybe it was one.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

I think they adapt to our central time stuff. So yeah, I think it's noon they play. Because there's only because there's only what two games tomorrow? Yeah, so they don't have to start so early. It's like noon and three or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 26:27

Noon today. So, right? Basically, we're done at 11 here. An hour from now. There you go. An hour from now. Basically, an hour from now. There you go. You can catch the badge taking a Michigan. I mean, what do you think, Christian? Do they pull it off? Do they find a way to beat Michigan twice and go to the Big Ten championship game?

SPEAKER_01 26:44

I would like to say yes, but I think that Washington game probably took some out of it, right? Holding them off, and then the Illinois game going to OT, as dramatic as it was. I think they're gonna be their legs are gonna be dead. And I think Michigan, I know they kind of had a tough game against Ohio State yesterday, too, but they're just so good, so deep and so talented. I mean, unless we get hot and which we very well could, you know, but unless we get absolutely on fire and just hit a ton of threes, I just I don't know. And I you know what, and honestly, I'm okay if they lose anyway, because everybody knows the committee is already got their minds made up about their brackets by now, anyway, by the semifinals. It doesn't matter if we lose, and even if we lose to Michigan, that's not gonna hurt our seeding if we beat them. I would like to say it would help, but I don't think it will because I think the committee already is like, yep, Wisconsin's a five seed, and they're just gonna no matter what, we can win the whole tournament, we'll still be a five seed. So yeah, honestly, I don't want to be that guy. Obviously, the competitor me, we want to win the whole thing, but I also think what if we had an extra day off of rest, you know, after we could lose this, and that'd be okay because then we get some extra rest. Because we've seen the badgers go to the Big Ten championship the last two years, come out, and then they just don't look hot right in the first round, you know, or the second round. You know, I mean they just don't have the legs, so I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 28:05

If they lose, it's not the end of the world. Yeah, if they lose, it's not the end of the world. I think if you find a just you don't want to see them get blown out, right? You want to see a good game today. That's what you're looking for. So if it's a close right, if it's a close good game against Michigan today, you're okay. If it's a blowout, okay, I'm upset about it because I don't want to get blown out by Michigan. I won't get blown out by anybody. So I want to see a good game today out of the Badgers, and whatever happens, happens after that. There, I mean, honestly, like you said, like we were talking about, we were texting back and forth. The Big Ten tournament means absolutely nothing when you get to the semifinal and you get to the final because the committee's already got the darn thing figured out at this point here, because you're gonna either lose to a good team, or well, you're either gonna beat a good team or lose to a good team, and you're a good team. So that's the way it always shakes out, it seems like. So odds are you lose to Michigan, you won't drop a seed line. If you beat Michigan, you won't even jump a seed line. So that's just where you're gonna be at right now. But if you do beat Michigan, this team's gonna be looked at underneath of a whole nother light. Come selection Sunday. This team is gonna be looked at like this team could go to the final four, no doubt in my mind. Gum Sunday there. So, Christian, I gotta run here. Let people know how to find you out there across social media.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

As always, you can find all the stuff I do at uh Christian Borman. I post all of it on there. Otherwise, uh hop on over to badgerbacker.com and check out all my work.

Packers Free Agency Opens Up

SPEAKER_02 29:18

Make sure you guys subscribe to the Badger Backer. It's free. You can get alerts. I get them to my email when he posts them out there, and then I can check out previews, recaps, the what ifs, all that kind of stuff. Make sure you check them out there, the Badger Backer. So when we come back, we're gonna talk a little packers. We'll be right back here on Wisconsin Sports on the Go. Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage. I'm your host, Trage, as we're coming back in here on this Saturday. I hope you guys are enjoying your Saturday so far here. If you guys miss any portion of the show here today, make sure you listen across all podcast platforms next day. We'll get into it. We guys can hear it there, and then we talk Wednesdays too. That show ends up on the podcast platforms. You missed that one there. So we're gonna get into the Packers here, talk a little bit about the free agents signing, some of the guys that are going elsewhere. Some big things happening for the Packers right now. There was some interesting ones. You know, Rasheed Walker ends up elsewhere with the Panthers. We're gonna get into all that kind of stuff. But I kind of want to put a bow on the Badgers here for the day. Put a bow on the Badgers, what we just talked about there with Christian. Badgers with Michigan coming up today here. The big emphasis on this game today for the Badgers is end of the day, no matter what, it was a successful Big Ten tournament. You won your first game against Washington. You got to win against Illinois. Now you're taking on top seed in Michigan. No matter win or lose today, I'd love to see the Badgers win, go to the Big Ten Championship. I'd love to see that. Love to see them beat Michigan twice this season, be one of the only teams to beat them, right? Them and Duke, but beat them twice, that would be even more impressive. But if they lose, it's not the end of the world. It's not the end of the world. Like everybody out there, Badger fans, if they lose today here to Michigan, don't freak out. It's not the end of the world. Now, if it's a blowout, maybe we're gonna come on here, be upset on Wednesday. That's okay. We have a right. We have a right to be upset. But, and you have a right to be upset, I guess, either way. But at the end of the day, this game against Michigan today, if you lose it, you made it to the semifinals. You're gonna you're in the NCAA tournament no matter what. And honestly, like we said, gonna end up most likely as a five seed. You're not gonna really bump a seed line by beating Michigan or drop by losing to him. So, end of the day, it's all good. But here we go. Umer is on. Umr. How are we doing on this Saturday?

SPEAKER_03 31:25

Yeah, I'm hyped, man. I'm happy. It's Saturday, it's the weekend. I'm just catching up on shows, catching up on uh movies and video games, and on top of that, too, we have you know friends coming over this weekend. So looking forward to that, and just you know, just a good weekend. You know, wife's off and she's you know having a spa day. So I'm happy. I'm happy. I can't complain. How about you, man? How you doing?

Why Let Rasheed Walker Walk

SPEAKER_02 31:44

Well, we're doing good here. We're doing good, just preparing for the weather, preparing for the uh two feet of snow that's gonna show up here. Everybody's freaking out. The end of the it's like it's like the end of the world. It's like the end of the world. We're gonna get two feet of snow here, and it's gonna be crazy. I will agree. It's gonna be crazy to get that much snow in that short amount of time. So hopefully everybody's safe out there, able to, you know. I got my grocery shopping done on Friday there, so I avoided having to go out on Sunday because I mean, you look at the travel impacts that they show, and it's like Saturday night, would not recommend it. Sunday at all, would not recommend it. Monday morning, would not recommend it. It's like, yeah, okay, I get it. Don't go anywhere. So that's okay. I'll stay home. I'll stay home, I'll sit, I'll watch Selection Sunday. It'll be great. I'll watch the selection show that night there. I'll hopefully sleep in. It'll be great. It'll be great there. But then I probably won't sleep in. So that's just how it goes, right? That's just how it goes. So we got some backers to talk about here today. Lots of stuff happening. Lots of stuff happening. The interesting one. I saw a lot of people talking about this one, Hummer. Rasheed Walker signs with the Panthers. Now, it's not like it was a massive deal. What was it? One year, 10 mil. It was nothing big. Yeah, it was nothing major there for him. And there was a lot of Packer fans out there saying, well, for one, you know, because I was kind of going into the weekend and I was thinking about what Rasheed Walker hasn't signed anywhere. And when they we were going into the offseason, everybody was saying, well, there isn't a lot of people out there for the tackles, right? There's no tackles out there. So Rasheed Walker's probably gonna get a big payday. But then I think a lot of teams watched the tape, and a lot of people saw the penalties, and a lot of people saw the mistake, you know, those little things. And well, we called a lack of effort. I don't know what other people would call it, but we called it a lack of effort there towards the end of the year. I think a lot of people watched that and they said, Well, do we really want to bring this guy into the system? Because in a contract year, this is what we saw, and it wasn't pretty. So I think a lot of teams watched that at the end of the day, and this is why we saw the contract that he got there from the Panthers. More of a contract to bet on himself, I guess, and try to get better, look better, and then get a bigger one next year there, but just a small deal. And a lot of people saying, Well, why didn't the Packers bring it back? Be honest with you, I didn't want it back. I really didn't want to deal with the headache again. It was a downhill slope last season there for the Packers. And like we've talked about for years now, it's penalties, right? It's penalties on top of penalties. And when you have a guy like Rasheed, who just seemed to be always in that mix, sometimes it's okay to cut, it's it's okay to cut ties. Move on. You have Jordan Morgan. I know everybody's freaking out because his arms are three inches too short, and that's just baffling to people that he could actually succeed at a position being shorter in the arms. I find it crazy, Ummer, because it's like he's had three inch short arms, you know, too short of arms for his whole career, and he's still made it to the NFL. So he's done something right to this point. So why is it gonna hurt him that much now? He can find a way to succeed with what he's got. Maybe he doesn't, maybe he doesn't. I'm hoping he does. I'm hoping he does now that they just let him play left tackle, just let him sit there and just learn the position, succeed at the position. That's what we want to see. So, I'm I mean, are you kind of surprised that Rasheed Walker only got one year 10 mil? And were you kind of with these other Packer fans who are like, oh, maybe we could have brought him back because I just don't, I didn't want him back. I just wanted to cut ties and just start fresh.

SPEAKER_03 34:59

I mean, honestly, I was happy he was gone. I wouldn't I didn't want him back either. His last game with us was atrocious. He was probably one of the reasons why there was so much constant pressure on Jordan Love and I mean the whole offensive line failed, but he was his tape in those last few games was horrible. That's probably probably the reason why he's on a proof of deal right now on the Panthers. And it's funny where Josh Nyman, who literally left us to go become a starter with the Panthers, retired just a couple days ago. And then now they brought in Rasheed Walker. So clearly they do like our offensive linemen. I think uh him only getting a one-year,$10 million deal probably plays into the fact of what his tape looked like last year. Truthfully, though, I wanted him to get like a multi-year deal because that would help with our compensatory picks. But the fact that that's what it is, we'll probably get a fifth or a sixth-round pick for him next year. End of the day, the reason why you drafted Jordan Morgan was to be your left tackle of the future. It's time to see if he could really do that. Last year, he actually won the job, but because of injuries across the line and the fact that Rasheed Walker was not as versatile as Jordan Morgan was claimed to be, because of that, he was kept a left tackle and Morgan was put everywhere, which I think like kind of messed with his confidence. I'm hoping now he's a left tackle, he's only a left tackle, and I'm happy that he's gone. Again, I think there's a lot of players that have left. It's gonna be multiple, it's addition by subtraction. I think he, Corey Walker, probably the main two ones I feel like will be addition by subtraction. There's other guys where I am going to miss them, you know. Also, Nate Hobbs, addition by subtraction. Uh uh, but like uh JJ Igambare, King Z Igambare, I didn't want to lose him. Uh Zayn Anderson, I wanted to keep him. Um, there's a couple guys I was like, all right, but the funny, and then Elton Jenkins, that's another guy that I did want to keep him, though. You know, I'm I I see why they let him go because his play was taking a little bit of a hit. Again, what I loved was every single free agent that left, not a single one of them went to the NFC North.

unknown 36:46

Right.

SPEAKER_03 36:46

And I thought that was pretty cool. You know, and as much as I love Aaron Jones, he definitely made a point to go to Minnesota. And it's funny, this year he took a pay cut to stay in Minnesota. He refused to take a pay cut with us, but he he took one with them, which I think is kind of funny. So, back to your original question. I'm happy Walker's gone. I wish the best of luck to him, but honestly, I was over his play. I think you and me have watched him play enough times where he would get bull rushed and he would just knock the dude to the ground. Like he wouldn't like it. I never saw Dbach ever play left tackle the way Rasheed Walker did. And I mean that in a way where like I just didn't feel like even though he was a you know, Rasheed Walker is another guy, came out of Penn State, played left tackle his whole career. Again, he just I don't know, I just didn't. I I hope the best for him, but I'm happy he's gone.

SPEAKER_02 37:29

Jones took just off topic, I guess. But Jones took a pay cut once, I think. I think he took it now. I think he took a hometown discount once, and then I think the second time is when he turned down.

SPEAKER_03 37:40

Did he take a discount?

SPEAKER_02 37:41

I thought he took one one time, and I I could be wrong, but I thought he took one one time, and then the second time I thought he turned it down.

SPEAKER_03 37:47

And that's when they had their whole now, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:50

Their whole falling out. Because I think that's why he turned it down the second time. He's like, You guys are really gonna cut my bay for you know another time here, and I think that's what it was. I think he took one once, and then the second time there wasn't he can't stay healthy anyways.

SPEAKER_03 38:01

He's a he's an amazing player, he's an amazing dude, but he just can't stay healthy. Like, I don't know which one we do, right?

Tight Ends And Development Questions

SPEAKER_02 38:05

Like, right, no, I agree. I agree, like, but I I also don't like I don't dislike players, you know. Zanarius Smith was kind of weird because he went to every team trying to beat the last team that he got cut from or whatever it was. But you know, I like Brett Favre. I didn't have a problem with him going to Minnesota because I was like, yeah, he wants to beat up on the Packers. Good for him. Like, that's where he wants to go. He wants to go back and prove that he can still play. Whatever. Aaron Jones, if he wants to prove that he can still beat up on the Packers, go for it. Like, that's I I invite it, I guess. I'm more I'm like that. I just I just invite it. You feel like you were spiding, go out there and prove. Prove that you were better than the guy that they brought in. I would completely agree with you there. I mean, out of that list of guys who left, the only guy that I guess really I liked Quay. I I I saw so much potential in Quay watching him play. And then there was also times where I saw this just isn't working, it's not clicking. One game it looks great, and the next game he can't get off of a block or he's blowing past the play. He was good in pass coverage, but his run defense at times was suspect, or sometimes his run defense was great. Like he would go through phases, and that was the worst part because I I really wanted to see him do good because he had moments, right? And he he kind of learned from a couple years ago when he had the you know on the field issues, right? And then came back. And I thought he was more of a leader than he was more calm, he's more settled, right? I think this last season we saw a moment where somebody got up in his face, pulled his face mask, something like that. He kind of just like walked away. And you saw the you saw the growth in Quay Walker when he was in Green Bay. So I I kind of grew to like him, but at the same time, understand why he left, understand why the Packers didn't spend all the money to bring him back, right? Because that was a big contract that he got dueled out there from the Raiders. So, and I mean, all hats off to him. He gets to go play with Nicobe Dean, good for him, gets to go with his college teammate, back with the Raiders, good for him. Hopefully, all hopefully he does great out there with the Raiders. Hopefully, the Raiders and him find a way to win some football games out there in that really tough AFC West. So, I mean, like I said, good for all these guys, hopefully getting fresh starts out there. Um, outside of that, let's see, who else did the big ones here? They brought back Josh Wiley. We were talking about the tight end room and if they were thin at the tight end room, right? And we talked about this for weeks, and a lot of people were talking about maybe going out and getting somebody or drafting somebody to fill in that tight end room. You have Tucker Kraft in there already, and then you have Musgrave to talk about, right? Now you bring back Josh Wiley, and I liked what Wiley did in the limited time that he had. It wasn't like I think he was expected to be Tucker Kraft, which was the hard thing, right? But if you could have him come in and be uh, you know, fill in for Musgrave, right? Be more of a blocking tight end for you a little bit there. I think it works out. I think Wiley works out in that kind of fit. I just think when he came in H back roll, yeah. Right, right. When he came in, Kraft was hurt and it was like, okay, Wiley, you gotta be the guy now. And it was never going to be that. Wiley isn't that, he isn't Tucker Kraft, but I think getting him back, I like it. I like it. It's a good solid piece to keep in there behind those other two guys. Hopefully, Musgrave progresses through the offseason. You're like, that's what we're hoping for. You finally start to see that potential. That's there, right? Musgrave. It's like Quay Walker, right? Me and my love for Musgrave or my it's like Quay Walker. I can see where it's, I can see, I can see it. You can see the talent, right? You can see the ball, the catching skill of everything that Musgrave has, the route running, you can see it. It's just when it's gonna come, when it's gonna all come together. Yeah, it's like when he's going to be that complete player. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's such the that's the hard part with the Packers right now. Is and that's what I've had problems with, I guess, is player development of some of these guys. Because the progression of some of these offensive linemen, the progression of some of these like tight ends, like we're talking about, or receivers, right? Because the receiver is the big one for me. I don't know, honestly, did any of Christian Watson's been playing really well. Reed's production through the years hasn't really gotten better.

SPEAKER_03 42:04

He's been banged up, he's been banged up, which doesn't mean he's he's legitimate.

SPEAKER_02 42:08

But like the progression of some of these guys, the the mistake, you know, you look at the mistakes, right? The wrong route running, or you know, all the drop passes, those little things. Jordan Love with his feet get a little happy at times. We talk about all those little things with this team. Now, I think Jordan Love's cleaned up a lot of his mistakes and a lot of his problems through the years now. But you look at the offensive line and the growth of some of them guys, you look at the linebacker room there, like Quay Walker. I just don't know if I ever saw the growth of some of these guys. I don't know if I've seen it out of them. And that's where I guess my issue would come in with the Packers is development of players. So hopefully, now that you bring in basically a new coaching staff, right? Because everybody either left with halfly or is just elsewhere now, hopefully bringing in this new coaching staff. Or yeah, right, right. Manion walks out the door too. Hopefully, bringing in some of these new guys. Maybe that brings new voices in there, helps with development. I I like the idea. I don't know, Amr, if you're kind of in that same boat, of bringing guys who were previously at the college level. Because I feel like they they they know the college kids' mind a little bit better, right?

SPEAKER_03 43:09

Yeah, younger minds.

SPEAKER_02 43:10

First, like a Bill Belichick or somebody who's been in the league for a while now, and they're like, I've been dealing with these 30-year-olds for a while now. When you have a guy who's been working with the 20, 21-year-old guy for a little while, they know how to get to those guys, they know how to relate to those guys, they know how to get to a personal level because there is a lot of that goes into, you know, talking about Matt LaFleur, and all the players say he's a great players coach, right? And everybody loves him and this kind of stuff. Now I need him to be a little more demanding and be a little more of an iron fist in the locker room. But being that guy too, it it needs to go hand in hand. You gotta be able to relate to the players, you gotta be able to get down personal with them a little bit there, and then also be their coach at the same time. It's a hard balance to be. I don't know. Is that is that wrong, I'm or to say it that way? You gotta have that balance when you're in there, where you're not just like boom, boom, boom. You gotta be able to talk to these guys, be able to understand these guys, what they're going through too, and then to be able To help them on the field with their development.

New Coaches And Veteran Leadership

SPEAKER_03 44:02

Yeah, I I think that uh getting the guys from a college level makes a lot of sense considering the fact that we were the youngest team in the NFL for so many years. And this year, we do have some veterans now that we're bringing in, which I think is a smart move. I think Jason Wooldy must have told, must have scared Goody into getting some 30-year-old guys, or in this case, Franklin who's 28 and Hargrave, who's like, you know, 32. Um, but for me, I think it's a I think it's a great move. I think and you look at Ganon, Ganon's a young coach too. He's not an old guy either, right? He's been in the league forever, but he's a young dude. Well, he's like in his 30s, right? So for me, I think you need to find people that A, like you said, can be relatable, but then also be able to teach, right? And I think sometimes you have older coaches who are not relatable, but they can teach well, right? And unfortunately, if you can't find a way to connect with these younger folks, it's hard for that. In our line, in my line of work, it's no different. Like when you bring in people, you're normally going to get people between ages of 25 to 30. You have to be able to find a way to uh relate to them and be able to adapt and then also make things relatable. I'm sorry, not relatable, I said relatable, but try to find ways that when they learn something, it makes sense to them, right? Because the younger your generation, if you can't keep them engaged, their attention spans completely out the window, right? And so for me, having the newer, newer staff on the offense, on the defense, I think is gonna be a good thing for us. And again, we're going back to what you said previously. I like Quay too. Don't get me wrong, I was a big Quay fan coming out of Georgia. Problem was is that I felt like a lot of his uh his best production came because he was next to N'Kobe Dean. I'm not saying N'Kobe Dean was the kind of dude that just was able to bring the best out of Quay, right? I think you're gonna see that when he goes to Las Vegas. But with us, uh he was never really in a leadership role in Georgia. Like maybe he might have been a captain, but N'Kobe Dean was a true leader of that defense, right? And so for me, like again, I like Quay, but I just felt like there was always something missing, and after all these years, just never developed. Now, is that on him or is that on our linebacker coaches, right? Yeah, so now it's like, all right, well, we got a new linebacker coach, we got you know the defensive coordinator for Virginia Tech. You know, we have a brand new staff when it comes to the whole defense, and I'm just really looking forward to seeing just like the development of a lot of our younger players and seeing what Franklin and Hargrave can bring to help kind of like solidify the defense line and linebacker core because again, our linebackers are young too, right? Is that uh uh Isaiah McDuffie, Hopper, as well as Edrin Cooper. Having Franklin there, who's a veteran, who's done this before, who's a seventh-round pick with a chip on his shoulder. I mean, if you hear his interviews, like that piss and vinegar that he has in him is exactly what we need, right? And then Hargrave, I mean, he's proven he's a Super Bowl champ. So he knows he's yeah, he is super no. Is he a Super Bowl champ? I think he's a Super Bowl champ. Maybe I'll figure it out. I think I could score you up, I could be blank. But all I know is that again, you have these guys that have been successful in the league, have had the resume, have the pedigree, and then you have a coaching staff that believes in them as well, too. Because don't forget, Franklin and Hargrave both played for Gannon in Philly and Indianapolis. So for me, I'm really looking forward to seeing how this younger coaching staff can really bring in some new intensity and some new uh development with our players.

Defensive Tackle Depth Wishlist

SPEAKER_02 47:05

Oh no, Hargrave lost both. He was in two Super Bowls. Oh, he was in he was with the uh Eagles when they lost in 2023. Yep, and then he was with the 49ers when they lost. Oh man, that sucks. So he lost to the Chiefs twice. So I mean, he knows yeah, well, there was a problem with the Chiefs there for a while. But I you know, I completely agree with you. Personalities are huge, right? You gotta be able to get because everybody's got a personality, and nowadays every player's personality is very different. They all have different tempers, you gotta deal with, you gotta deal with all that kind of stuff. So having coaches that can relate is definitely huge in there. So, you know, just kind of thinking while you're talking about how Quay Walker's best years were with N'Kobe Dean, maybe that's you know, because he kind of talked about the Packers failed him, right? That's kind of what he was talking about there. They did, you know, thinking about it, you had Edrin Cooper next to him. Cooper's young. So now, like you said, you have Cooper trying to learn the league. You have Quay who needs somebody to really guide him out there, right? And help him out. Doesn't really work out for him. Now, if this Franklin signing would have happened, I don't know, two years ago, like they would have brought him in from the Colts two years ago, maybe that would have looked a lot better, right? Maybe that would have been the the uh the key to him there if they brought in Zegar Franklin a couple years ago. He's a little bit more of a veteran. Put him next to Quay Walker. Maybe a guy like that would have helped Quay Walker in his development and get him into the right spots, and you would have seen a different side to Quay. So I don't know. Everybody leaves the Packers and says that the Packers hurt them or didn't do right by him. It sounds like Campbell all over again there with Quay Walker. So I mean, yes, Quay Walker goes out the door and says that the Packers didn't do right by him. I don't know what any of that means anymore. But yeah, yeah, you know, just kind of listening to what you had to say there about Nicobe Dean being next to him there. Maybe it is partly the personnel bringing him into the right spot and having the right guy. You gotta have the right guys in the room, right? And that's what we're talking about on the defense here for the Packers, bringing in those veterans and bringing in a guy like Hargrave, bringing in a guy like Xavier Franklin, having those guys in the room to be able to help these young guys, that is something that the Packers lacked. So I could see if that's Quay's reasoning. I could see that that was definitely a one of the things that we've talked about is having more veteran guys, some older guys in the room. Now, you know, we talk about Hargrave coming in, he's been fantastic throughout the years. You know, you and I were talking about it, and he was in Flora's assistant over there, and that's why the run didn't look that great for him there. Was he didn't look that their run defense wasn't great in general, so Hargrave wasn't gonna look good and they're running that 3-4. But now, are you targeting? See, I'm still in the Calais Campbell, I'm still in the Calais Campbell camp right now. I'm still there. I don't know what his projected like contract is, or you know, because everybody has those projections out there of what he could make in the open market. I don't know what his projected uh cap it would be or anything like that, but I like having another guy. You know, you have Devontae Wyatt and you have Hargrave, those are your two main guys, right? But then behind that, if you have Carl Brooks and Calais Campbell, that's pretty good depth room. That's really good depth. And then you're bringing in guys, you have Stackhouse and Brinson still in the room. I don't know if you're not going to carry probably six defensive tackles, even though at the end of the day I would because of injuries and everything like that. Absolutely wild in defensive tackle room, right? But I mean, just looking at it, I would still look to bring in a guy like Colias Campbell. I would not be done if on the Packers because we noticed last year when you lost Devontae Wyatt, everything was terrible. If you have Goliath Campbell, now maybe say knock on wood, one of these guys gets banged up. You can slip one of them guys in. You feel comfortable. You feel more comfortable than bringing in Carl Brooks or Stackhouse or Brinson, one of those guys. I believe who's back to Jonathan Ford is back too. Yeah, Jonathan's. They're resigning him. More of a depth piece, right? Nothing really crazy with him, but I could definitely see bringing in another guy would be a good thing for the Packers. So anything else you want to add real quick here, before we got to wrap it up.

Special Teams Gets Real Attention

SPEAKER_03 50:59

Last thing I want to add is I think uh Benjamin St. Juice is gonna be a pretty good addition for us. And I am very, very, very, very excited for Sky Moore. I I don't need him to cut him before you know final cuts like they did with Mark, uh, what's his name? Miko Hardman. You you bring in Sky, you let him be there for the whole year, and you let him just be your pick kick returner and punt returner, and you just let him thrive. I don't care if he if he has a fumble, okay, fine. It's all good. It happens to the best of them. End of the day, I just want him back there. I don't want us to be playing all these musical chair games with the punt returner and kick returner and the freaking onside kicks. I don't want any of that. No, no, no. It needs to be Sky More and only Sky More, and I cannot wait. And I'm hoping this uh anchor dude, uh Orchid or Acord, Acorde, Acor guy can get this job done, man. I'm just you know what? I'm just ready for the draft, and I'm ready for the football season start, man. I know it's I know it's March, but dude, this year's going by quick, and honestly, I'm really, really looking forward to the draft. I think I might go to the draft this year because it's in Pittsburgh, so I'm looking forward to that too. So we'll see how it goes. Um, but yeah, man, I'm excited. I'm very excited.

SPEAKER_02 52:02

I completely agree. I make these signings have been really nice, really nice. I think Goody still might have something up his sleeve yet to make one more little splash move in there, and then get the draft on top of that. So, I mean, I like the way it's heading right now. I like the cuts that they've made, I like the guys they've brought in. So now we just wait and see. We'll keep talking about it as the weeks go on here. So, Amor, thank you as always. Let the people know where to find you out there across social media.

SPEAKER_03 52:26

Oh man, you can find me at uh uh AMAR3455 on Twitter next. You can find me at AMRAMAR345 on Instagram, and then of course Coast Coast Packers everywhere else, man.

Wrap Up And Badgers Reminder

SPEAKER_02 52:36

Make sure you guys check him out. He's got fantastic stuff there across social media. He's talking packers, he's getting in arguments with bear fans. That's all you need to know about us. He's all over the place on social media. So when we come back from the break, we're gonna wrap it up for the day. We'll be right back here on Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage. I'm your host, Trage, as we're coming back in here on this Saturday, wrapping it up for the day here. If you guys missed any portion of the show here today, make sure you listen next day across all the podcast platforms out there, Wisconsin Sports on the Go Trades, like, subscribe, follow. Also, go over to the Facebook page, check out the link to our storefronts. You can buy a t-shirt, sweatshirt, hat, stocking cap, whatever you need, and part of the proceeds go to Warm Kids, Wisconsin to help a kid stay warm in the winter season. So, got into a last it is the last segment we were talking with Ummer there, and he brought up a really, a really good point in the last portion of that segment. They're talking about bringing in Sky Moore, the wide receiver slash kick returner, pult returner. Um, bringing him in. I like the emphasis that the Packers are putting on special teams in free agency here. That they did go out and do something, right? Didn't just go to the draft and try to find a random guy. Didn't say, well, maybe we'll have Romeo Dobbs, and you know, Dobbs gone now, but you know what I mean. Have a wide receiver go back there and return kicks. Bringing in a guy who's a specialist like Sky Moore and have him go back there and be the guy. I love that. I absolutely love that. So I just wanted to bring that up. Just a huge emphasis that I wanted to see them do was put an effort into special teams, and that is exactly what they did here in the offseason. So love to see it there. Badgers have Michigan coming up today. Can't wait to watch that game. Going for two wins against Michigan this season. One of the only teams to beat them this year, outside of Duke, only team in the Big Ten to beat him, and it was in Ann Arbor. That team in Michigan is gonna be looking for a little bit of payback. Wisconsin, oh man, this is gonna be a this gonna be a tall task. And like I said earlier, if they win, fantastic. We rejoice. If they lose, it's okay. It's okay. Greg Gard haters out there. You don't need to storm to the social medias and tell me why he needs to be fired if they lose to Michigan. We don't need that. This is a team in Michigan who's really good. You beat him once this year. Now you're on another, you're on a neutral floor this time. Yes, if they beat him, fantastic. We're talking great about it. If they lose by 30, we're gonna have a lot of bad things to say. But if it's a close game, you lose this one, it's not the end of the world. Honestly, seed line-wise, going into March Madness, you're probably on the five line, sixth line, whatever it is. If you beat Michigan, you're still there. If you lose to Michigan, you're still there. The committee, I don't think, really puts into the semifinals or finals of the Big Ten tournament. They really don't care. So Badgers, Michigan, coming up today, noon hour from now. We're probably gonna be jumping into the pregame show with Matt LePay and Brian Butcher pretty soon. So, with that, that's about all we have for today. I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your Saturday and the rest of your weekend. But until we talk again next Wednesday, see ya.