Live at Knights with Chris Wormley, Ava Jordan, Kayli Boozer and FAM Chairman Andy Borowski.

[Hey everybody, Doug Cohen here with Hail Media. Hope you enjoy the interviews and the content we have here tonight at Knight’s Steakhouse in downtown Ann Arbor on the corner of East Liberty and Maynard. Uh I have a conversation for you with Chris Wormley talk about his career, talk about the current team, a lot of great stuff. And we also have two of the current gymnastics uh team members. We have Kayli Boozer and Ava Jordan. They’re going to talk a little bit about gymnastics and their careers at Michigan as well. And I want to say also thanks to our sponsors, uh, Knight’s Steakhouse, obviously, which is where we are here.

Great food, amazing. Um, OLIPOP, a new kind of soda, low sugar compared to the other traditional sodas with plant prebiotic fiber. Love OLIPOP. uh Valiant, maker of Hail Media merch, and there’s going to be more on that coming soon, but you can already get your t-shirts and hoodies. Uh we have the links for you. Um also, Michigan Medicine. Uh there’s a difference between an answer and a Michigan answer to get your Michigan answer. Go to michiganansers.org and A2 Homegirl, EXP Realy, Sher Winrobe.

Uh she knows how to go blue. She knows what it is to be a Michigan fan and she knows real estate especially for parents who are looking for investment properties for their current students. Um, she’s awesome. And also one last shout out to football alumni of Michigan 501c3 nonprofit helping former players fam. One team, one legacy. Enjoy and go blue. Hey everybody, welcome to Hail Media.

We are here at Knight’s Steakhouse downtown in Ann Arbor. 600 East Liberty at the corner of Liberty and Maynard. Amazing food. They’re an Ann Arbor institution, familyowned, started in 1952. Yeah. And I’m joined by Mr. Chris Wormley, otherwise known as Big Worm. Big Worm.

Yeah. What’s going on, man? Hey. All right. All right. We got a crowd. We got a crowd.

Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Gina. Yeah. Happy birthday, Gina.

And happy. Is it your birthday today? Yeah. G, come here, Gina. It’s Gina’s birthday today. She’s here with us at nights. Face the camera and wave to the audience.

This is Gina. Happy birthday, Gina. Having a great time here. Come on down. That’s right. That’s right. It’s my birthday.

It is her birthday. That is true. Um, and this is so so actually this isn’t live. So when they see this, it likely won’t be your birthday anymore. But good enough. It’s good enough. The sentiment is still real and the message still applies.

Come tonight for sure, right? And celebrate the way Gina is celebrating. Yeah. Yeah. There we go. All right. Thank you.

Thank you, Gina. We love the enthusiasm. Love the enthusiasm. Um, you know, some might say it’s an enthusiasm unknown to uh mankind. Mankind. Yes. Right.

That see gets it. Um, okay. So, yeah. So Chris, uh, you and I have gotten to know each other just over the last couple years. Yeah. Yeah. Fun relationship with fam and what you guys are doing with Hail Media and obviously we’re football alumni.

You were few years older, but a few years older. Yes, quite a few actually. Um, but it’s been good. You know, it’s funny cuz I think I think the first time we connected was not this past year’s uh Champion Circle golf outing, but the year before. Yeah, Cardinal right out at St. John’s and as we say all the time and I felt the same way with Chris Howard who’s my partner now in Hail Media like there’s some guys that you meet doesn’t matter if you played years apart you still feel like teammates like from the get and that’s kind of part of the whole Michigan tradition and the culture we have around here we all feel like it’s like fam’s tagline is one team one legacy so it does kind of feel that way you know you kind of went through the same exact experience you feel like you’re feel like you were on the team together even though there’s no way we could be cuz uh I was on the team before you were born. I’m sure.

Probably probably 93. Uh yes, I graduated in ’92. There we go. The year before you came to be. So we’ll date we’ll date Doug here a little bit. That’s fine. Um but yeah, listen, I’ve I’ve admired your career from afar for forever.

Uh from the time that you played here, your time in the NFL. Um and you know, and you’re doing a lot of great things now. like you’re back in town. You’ve got a couple of different podcasts going on. You’re with our friends the Justin Row and Jacqueline over Blue by90. You got a show there. Stadium in Maine. Yeah.

This is your second year doing Stadium in Maine. Second season doing it. And we, you know, kind of like you guys, we talk Michigan football. We bring on guests, uh, former players, current players, and we just chop it up. We try and give our opinions whether whether you guys agree with it or not who are watching it. Uh, is always fun to debate. Um, absolutely.

Yeah, it’s a it’s a fun podcast. A good twist on what we think Michigan football should be. Yep. Yep. And now you’ve got a new one with uh on Champ Media with Jordan Morgan. Yeah, me and J Mo, man. I’ve known J Mo for Oh, we went to school together when he was playing basketball and on those final four teams with with Beline back then.

And uh we we ended up working out together out in Plymouth, Michigan for three or four offseasons when he was overseas coming back over and I was kind of in the beginning stages of my offseason program with with football. Uh and we just kind of stayed in touch. He’s a He’s a local guy from Detroit now. He lives in Ann Arbor with his family. And we’re doing a thing called the lab. Stands for leaders and best with with Chant Media. I like that.

It’s uh it’s very fun. I didn’t know that. I didn’t realize you made it an acronym. Yeah. I didn’t I can’t take credit for it, but Yeah. Oh, that’s very cool. So, the question the real question I have I’ve been thinking about this all day actually is Chris Wormley at Power Forward, Jordan Morgan at Edge Rusher.

Who’s better? I don’t know if Jordan ever played football. It doesn’t matter. I If you put him at edge and you put you at power forward, these are not your sports of of, you know, uh, what’s the word I’m looking for? Expertise. Expertise, per se. They’re they’re not your wheelhouse, per se.

Not what you made your bones in. I will say Jordan is a lot more he’s strong for a basketball player. A lot of basketball players, you know, they they don’t like to touch the weights, but when we were working out, he was wasn’t as strong as I was, but he was right there lifting heavier weight for for a basketball guy. Okay. So, as fluid as he is, then I think I would be a better basketball player than he would be football. You do? I think so.

All right. Well, the gauntlet’s been uh laid down. The trash talk has begun. I’m sure this will go beyond because I’m gonna make that declaration a clip uh to sure guys. Oh, you guys have already talked about we talked about because a lot of guys in in locker rooms, I’m sure you’re tied at Michigan, but like especially in the NFL, those guys borderline delusional in terms of like, oh, I can hit a 95 mph fastball. I can I can go play in I can get a point in the NBA. Yeah.

There is no way in in in hell that you’re doing that. There’s just no way. Right. like and and and kind of vice versa in terms of like basketball players playing football. There’s just no way. Yep. Now, did you have so any of the teams you played for because I remember so when I was living in Cleveland way way way back at the same time that my boy Steve Everett was playing for the Browns, we went down to their building in Berea and they had a racquetball court in their football building. Did you guys have like a full hoop court in any of your facilities or racquetball or any other sports like in the building at any of the teams you played for?

Yeah, Baltimore we had two racquetball courts at least and then we had a half basketball court. Yeah. Now, there wasn’t a whole lot of basketball being played. You know, you take up a few shots before walkthroughs or something, but not many guys were like trying to play one-on-one basketball in the facility, but uh you know, that’s wild. So, all the time tables and I’m sure it never gets competitive at all. [laughter] You’re not allowed to gamble in locker room. I’m going to leave it at that.

But a lot a lot of competitive spirits. Uh our games. That’s funny that there were two racquetball courts there and also in Cleveland. Like what’s with the racket? Wait, was you say that was in Baltimore? Baltimore. I wonder if that was It might have been like a carryover.

It had to have been in Cleveland when they moved to Baltimore because it wasn’t I mean like our GMs were the one like in front office people were the ones that were playing racquetball, right? It was never like the players. Uh so that that could very well be what it is, you know. That’s interesting. You know, Odell moving the team. Yeah. and he was part of that. I don’t know if you know the story, but Steve was Steve got drafted by the Browns, played for Cleveland for three years before they moved to Baltimore.

They talk about that every time we play cuz we playing him twice a year because it was, you know, a division team. Yeah. And they would, you know, Art Modell took the team in the middle of the night, took the semis all down and left. People were like people were like there’s there’s like I think they did a 30 for 30 about that Cleveland staff because Belichick that was Belichick. Yeah. and Nick Saban was on that staff and Kirk Ferentz and Pat Hill and uh who else? Schwartz was on that staff, Jim Schwartz. Um crazy staff and uh and they did a 30 for 30 about that staff and about when they left they interviewed Steve for it and uh they were like people there’s footage of like Steve like hugging people in the dog pound after the last game when his uniform on and people were crying.

I mean, people were bitter and Steve was upset because when he got to when they got to Baltimore, one of their first games in Baltimore, Steve took his helmet off during the game and he had a Cleveland Browns bandana on. I think I remember seeing something like that or hearing the story cuz the thing about especially a guy like Steve, he’s he’s built for Cleveland. Yes. You know, he’s built for like that tough mid Midwestern town. Yes. On Lake Erie, gritty. So for obviously Baltimore is a very gritty city too, but if you you know you spend time there in Cleveland, I’m I’m I’m from Ohio.

Yeah, I get that. I get that that that sentiment of being in Ohio and kind of having that identity, but man, yeah, been crazy. As a Michigan guy, he is a legend forever in Cleveland because of that and because of the fact that he wore a Browns bandana that he got I think he got fined nicely for that, but it made him a hero, you know, forever in in Cleveland. And he was when we were there, not not that we’re turning this into a Steve ever show, but but uh when he was in Cleveland, you know, Slayer t-shirt, bandana, rock and roll hall of fame is there, you know, so yeah. Like we’d go out to the flats and you would just be hanging out talking to anybody and like he was like very beloved Yeah. uh athlete in that town. So anyway, um, and I guess while we’re at it, so, so of the teams that you played for, like how do you compare and contrast, you know, those experiences between the teams? And I know you’ve probably talked about this on your shows, but it’s first time really being exposed to the Hail Media audience.

And I’m curious. Yeah, I mean, I spent most of my time in Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Four years in Baltimore, three years in Pittsburgh. So those are kind of like my main state places. And and when I grew up, I was I was a Steeler fan. Ben Roethlisberger was from Finley, Ohio, super close to to Toledo. Bettis was a was a Detroit guy.

Was uh my favorite player of all time to this day was Troy Polamalu number 43. That’s why I won 43 in college. Oh, I didn’t know that. Um I mean I never played safety before, but just the way he played the game. So I was a Steeler fan. Cleveland was bad when I was growing up. Detroit was really bad growing up.

His father-in-law is a Michigan guy. Oh yeah. Troy Polamalu. I think he married Mike Holmes’s daughter who played here in the 70s. Okay. Yeah. Just little trivia tidbit.

Michigan connection there. That’s right. Paul M. And uh and so when I was growing up, I was, you know, a Steeler fan. Get drafted to Baltimore who they’re like that’s probably the most heated rivalry in in pro in pro football. So I had to kind of flip and flip my switch and being able to play with guys like like Terrell Suggs who I hated but just loved and respected his game and and Flacco and those type of guys. Um, you know, they they were writing my checks.

Um, and getting to play for a guy like John Harbaugh, who right before I spent two seasons with Jim, his brother at Michigan, and they were very similar in how they want football to be played, right? Um, John, I think I’d rather go get a beer with versus Jim is like total football, which I I I loved. I I I respected that a lot. Yeah. Um, but then going to Pittsburgh, uh, I was with Mike Tomlin. That was my favorite coach growing up. Uh, so that was like a childhood dream coming true.

That’s surreal, man, when you get when that happens. What’s that? It’s got to be the weirdest thing the first time you walk into a meeting with Mike Tomlin and he’s your coach now. Yeah, absolutely. It’s it’s crazy. It’s absolutely crazy. And uh I grew up a Michigan fan and got to go to Michigan.

Grew up a Steeler fan. Got to play for them. Wow. And had my best years in Pittsburgh um which is, you know, now that I’m on the other side of football, retired, I’m like, man, that was that was pretty cool. Yeah, that was really cool. Um, but Baltimore took me a little bit to get used to the city. The East Coast, fast-paced, a little more rude.

Yeah. Than than I’m a Midwest guy, so Right. Right. Pittsburgh very very much felt like a Midwest city, you know, steel, iron, that type of grit that I’m used to in Toledo. Um, but man, those those two cities have a special place in my heart. Baltimore and Pittsburgh for sure. That’s cool.

It’s funny. And I personally I’ve never really spent a lot of time in either of those cities. And I’ve been all over the east coast and I’ve spent a lot of time in New York and but I’ I’ve never in DC. Had a brother that went to law school in DC. Never really made my way over to Baltimore. So John Harbaugh I think I told you this too cuz I did you know not only did I live in Cleveland but I did two years throughout Ohio and I was commuting to Cincinnati for a while at the time that John Harbaugh was on the staff at the University of Cincinnati. Okay.

Yeah. and my brothers and my family like Jack Harbaugh was my brother’s position coach here at Michigan when he got here as a freshman in 79. So we’ve known my Harbaugh for a long time and I called John when I was working in Cincinnati. He’s like, “Oh yeah, couldn’t have been more down to earth, you know.” Oh yeah, come on by the building and I’ll show you around. And so I went over there and spent the afternoon with him. That would have been 93 I think. Yeah. Hey Michigan fans, we will be right back.

But first, a word from our sponsor. For generations, Knights Steakhouse has been an Ann Arbor tradition. Familyowned and serving the community since 1952. From hand cut steaks and fresh seafood to classic cocktails and genuine hospitality. Visit Knights on Dexter Avenue or downtown Ann Arbor. Knight’s Steakhouse. Great food, strong drinks.

Ann Arbor tradition. The other thing that you said that I wanted to uh touch on is you talked about the fact that you grew up like hating Terrell Suggs and then you end up being a teammate with him. Well, you and I just hung out down in Youngstown, Ohio. We did. With a bunch Okay. Yeah, there it is. Big game rival shootout with a bunch of Buck guys.

That was pretty cool, wasn’t it? I thought it was great. Yeah. I don’t know. Well, the one person I talked to was Jim Tressel. As soon as as soon as I walked into the welcome reception, I was talking with him and we were actually at a at a a big uh charity dinner down in Toledo. Him and Desmond Howard were were kind of the keynote speakers.

Yeah. Uh I was in the crowd. Um and he was attacking me. Jim was, “You didn’t go to Ohio State. You you should have you you didn’t answer any of my any of my recruiting like letters.” I’m like, “Whoa, Jim.” And I couldn’t I couldn’t defend myself. When I saw him, I was like, man, like I I was, you know, it was between Michigan and Ohio State. I grew up a Michigan fan, but kind of put that to the side when it was recruiting.

Sophomore year, went to a couple games with a with a defensive end from my high school that ended up going to Ohio State. Um, but then I think my sen my junior senior he is fired. Jim does. And they have Luke Fickell and then Urban becomes the head coach. It just was Michigan Brady Hoke. They just beat Ohio State that year. Went to the Sugar Bowl.

Yeah, they went through a little weird transition there for a minute when they had those problems. And I’m like, Jim, like you you you got fired. I don’t know what you want me to say. [laughter] I I can stop talking to you because you you’re no longer the head coach at Ohio State. Uh but that was funny getting to, you know, get to getting to see him over from, you know, haven’t spoken or seen him in, you know, 15 years or whatever it is almost now. Um but yeah, that was just a great event for two great causes. Obviously fam is near and dear to my heart and yours obviously and what that does for former players helping them out.

Um but get together for a great cause and everyone’s cordial. Yeah. And there there was you know not a lot of fighting going on which was great. A lot a lot of trash talking which is always good. Y uh but great to meet a lot of the former players that were golfing with Michigan and their stories and how much love they have for Michigan is is something similar to me and like my my friends that are you know graduated now. Uh, you know, Michigan’s a special place for all of us. Yeah.

And that was cool to see. Yeah. Well, and so I I I had a conversation with Tressel and I had known going in cuz John Kolasar was my teammate here and I think I talked to you about this, but um John Kasar was second generation Michigan player. Kayen, third generation generations of Kolasar who played here. And John John’s dad played high school ball for Jim Tressel’s dad in Mentor, Ohio. Okay. And and I guess John had said that, you know, when he was little, his dad would take him to the Baldwin Wallace games when Jim was playing at Baldwin Wallace.

So they have this history. So Jim Tressel standing right there. I’d always hated Jim Tressel, you know, for a long, long time. Standing right there. He’s the lieutenant governor of Ohio. And I said, “You know what? Well, this is not about all that garbage.

This is I’m I’m going to introduce myself.” Yep. Yep. And so he turned to me and he said, “Hey, what’s your name?” I said, “I’m Doug Cohen. I played on Bo’s last two teams uh in ‘ 88 and ‘ 89.” I said, “One of my teammates was John Kasar.” And he went, “Colasar.” He’s like, “Yeah, know his dad played.” I’m like, “I know. I know the whole story.” That’s the thing about ball coaches though, like the good ones, they remember everything. Everything. Everything.

And I’m like, man, I’m trying to figure out like my my daughter’s teacher’s name, [laughter] you know? But these ball coaches, they know everything and they can give you stats and players and the exact year. And yeah, just those little tidbits like that’s how you know that like these guys are kind of psycho. Kind of psycho, but in a good way. In a good way. Especially the ones that that are successful. Typically, a lot of them, you know, they they they are they care.

They’re they’re doing this for a living to coach and develop, right, young athletes and and they they they care about that. They get it. That’s why they make it their life’s work. You got to be a little crazy to do it. You better care about it and love it if you’re going to be a coach and a good one. And he just seemed like he was really present, you know, in the conversation. And I said to him, I said, “Hey, I got to say, coach, I I did appreciate a lot that you came to Michigan Stadium for Bo’s memorial when he passed cuz Tressel was was there.” And he said, “Well, you know, he meant a lot to us, too.” Which, you know, and he co both coached at Ohio.

There’s so much Well, that that rivalry isn’t whining isn’t isn’t, you know, worth anything if there’s both teams aren’t good, right? And I I was a part of, you know, I went 0 and5 against Ohio State and that was that that stings me, you know. Yeah. and and you know our my my teammates we talk about that and what it what it must have been like to beat Ohio State and never having to do that. So if if the rivalry isn’t alive and well and that’s why you have that such great respect and almost hatred at the same time for for coaches and players. It’s it’s one of those weird things that you kind of need. It’s like a Batman and and and Joker type of thing, right? Like you need that totally that bad guy.

What whatever side you think is the good guy or the bad guy, you need that other side to Right. We’re not really who we are without them. And same vice versa, like they’re not who they are if they don’t have us to compare themselves against and compete against. None of that mattered those two days in Youngstown. Really, we were all kind of brothers in a way from another mother maybe. Yeah. But, you know, combining to to to raise money to help our former teammates.

That was pretty cool. Absolutely. Um, so last thing, let’s let’s talk just get your take a little bit on uh We’d be remiss if we didn’t talk about the team. Yeah. Uh, you know, what do you how you feeling? What are you thinking about Iowa? They kind of hit our number over the years here and there.

They have. Yeah. How you feeling about this weekend? I’m feeling good. And I’ I’ve watched so I’m doing the the pregame show, the radio pregame show for Michigan this weekend. So Jack Miller’s out of town for something. So I’m filling in for him.

And I’ll be Jansen and Brian Bush and and Car over there at the stadium. So I’m doing that. So I’ve been watching a lot of film. Yeah. Tapping back into that. And man, Iowa is Iowa. their defense is always solid. It’s a very boring defense when you just watch it.

But the way that they play so hard and physical and fundamentally sound um is going to present problems to a team that is undisciplined. I’m not saying Michigan is. I’m saying that’s just kind of how they how Iowa’s defense wins. Iowa’s offense, a lot of zone running. They pull a little bit. Um well, I think I think M when I look watch the tape for Michigan, Michigan’s defense is just out of this world the first three weeks. Yeah.

Um, and I think we all kind of knew that they were going to be a solid group, but as the way they’ve been playing so well so fast early on in this season with some with some, you know, coming into the season like what’s that linebacker group going to look like? That was kind of the big question on the defensive side of the ball. That’s kind of been qu, you know, answered in in three weeks. And then to see Michigan’s offense continue to take the steps from week one, which was, I think everybody can agree was unacceptable, right? um to week two having a solid performance against Oklahoma and then kind of that second, third, and fourth quarter of UT last week really really shining um makes me confident that I Michigan’s offense is going to play better than Iowa’s offense. Um and that’s going to probably determine the game right there. Um but I’m excited for these boys to to continue to to change the narrative that hap, you know, from the season’s opener to now where they’re at now. The narrative is starting to shift.

Mhm. Um, but this is Big Ten play. You know how it is. You know how it is to play in the Big Ten, what that means for the teams that are that are associated with the Big Ten and it’s going to be fun. I’m excited to be at the stadium in the press box watching it. And um yeah, Big Ten Balls is what it’s all about. Yeah, absolutely.

No, that’s great. I didn’t know you were filling in. That’s that’s that’s a nice opportunity for you for sure. Um and I I think to your point about the defense, I think it’s kind of played out the way I thought it would going into the season. And I thought the D-line would be really solid. They are. Yes.

I thought the secondary would be really solid. They’re even better than I thought they than Bracy and Snowden. Those guys as additions that defense, those guys are lights out and and they can hit and they can tackle. Um, and those two units being as strong as they are, I feel like has given those line those young linebackers a a chance to kind of be able to get up to speed really fast and be able to fly around and and not feel like they’re, you know, not being protected by the front and having support on the back and it’s allowing them to get really good really fast, which I think was what I was hoping would happen. Okay. Yeah. Absolutely.

Absolutely. Yeah. All right. Well, hey man, thanks for uh for coming out. It was uh it was good to be able to sit down and actually chop this up on a pod. Yeah. And uh looking forward to your continued success and and you being on the radio this week.

I may have to try and tune in after the fact. You know, you can catch the replay. Yeah. I may have to do that. Well, I guess I guess a little side note, I was happy when you said, “Hey, come to Knights.” Because I I went to Knights when I was here. I I still come here with my family now, but Harbaugh his first year is he would bring in Knights to the facility for our pregame meals. Yeah. and he would cook they would cook up 300 ribeye steaks and it was crazy like they bring in these massive massive like grills probably you know 10 ft by 3 or 4t wide.

Yeah. And just cook up steaks for us and we have these massive ribeye steaks for Friday nights. So shout out to nights. Obviously it’s a Ann Arbor staple but that’s that’s like my core memory of nights is ribe eyes. I mean they’ve been fantastic for us to work with and the food’s been great and they also support fam. if they brought in food to a fam tailgate once at least I think once a year over the last few years. So, uh so yeah, we we love we love these guys. So, absolutely, man.

Well, hey, go blue. Go blue, man. Appreciate you. Yeah. Yes. [laughter] All right. Hi, I’m Ava Jordan.

Hi, I’m Kayli Boozer. We’re super excited to be on Hail Media tonight. We’re seniors on the women’s gymnastics team and we’re going to share a little bit about our growing up and our recruiting process. Yeah, I’m from a really small town called Texarkana, Texas. There was only like one gym where I was at. So, we didn’t have like a lot of exposure. Yeah.

In like Texarkana. So, like I don’t know the like whole like gymnastics community in that area was like it was very niche. So, it was like kind of hard like lowly to like relate to kids at school because like everyone was playing like football, basketball, and like whatever main sports, right? Yeah. So many like main sport, especially like football cuz it’s in Texas. And so like I had like nobody in my like hometown to relate to about like my sport at ours except for like one person which was Jocelyn Robertson. She was an Olympic alternate in what was that 2024?

Yeah. 2024. Yeah. So she kind of like helped give me some exposure to college gymnastics because there just was not a lot of representation in my hometown at all. Yeah, it’s awesome though. Now she’s at what? Georgia. Yes, Joselyn at Georgia.

She was had her saw transferred to Georgia and is still like doing that whole like elite process right now. So yeah, I’m from Fishers, Indiana. Um a senior like we said at the University of Michigan. When I was younger, I actually lived in Michigan for 6 years. So kindergarten through fifth grade. I went to Wines Elementary. My dad is LaVall Jordan.

So, he was an assistant basketball coach under John Beilein for a few years. Um, while I was at Michigan, I obviously was very young, but I was doing gymnastics and that was very early years for me. So, I grew up watching Michigan women’s gymnastics, going to their meets. I met Bev Plocki from a very young age. Um, did a lot of the gymnastics camps growing up. That really solidified Michigan in my mind as somewhere that I wanted to be in my future. But as my career went on, after my dad took another coaching job, we moved to Wisconsin.

So my gymnastics career shifted a little bit. I went to a gym that wasn’t as high level and my training was not at the level it needed to be for me to do college gymnastics. So I really struggled with that for a while. And then come my junior year, it was almost like too late to decide. But I started actually training to become a college gymnast and doing the skills that I needed to get recruited. I was what they would call a late bloomer. So, I would say usually gymnasts start recruiting like as soon as they hit their junior year.

It’s on June 15th. It’s pretty early. Some sports don’t start until senior year. It’s like late middle school, have their coaches talking and like sending video. It used to be people would commit when they were like 13 and then they made the rule change for June 15th deadline your junior year which shifted a lot of things for gymnastics in the gymnastics world. But I was a late bloomer. Instead of getting phone calls on June 15th, I was probably in the gym and had gotten zero phone calls and did not reach out to any schools yet.

So, come probably January of that year, um, I guess the following year, I finally decided to start doing some outreach and emailing schools. And one of the schools I emailed was Michigan. And I remember in my email telling Bev like, “I don’t know if she remember me, but I did the camps when I was younger and like my dad is so and so and she knew who I was right away and scheduled a phone call and I came on my first visit in March and I knew this is where I wanted to be. I entertained other schools obviously, but this was like literally felt like home and I loved it here. I ultimately committed to be a walk-on here for the gymnastics team as opposed to taking a full ride scholarship at other universities just because I knew that I was going to love Michigan. I love the people. I love the coaches.

I love like the climate even though the weather sucks sometimes. It gets really cold. Um the academics is just you can’t beat it. So, I knew that for my future it was going to be the best option for me. And yeah, I guess we can talk a little bit about our time here at Michigan as gymnasts now that we’re seniors on the team. But it’s been great so far. We’ve had a great time.

We’ve had a lot of ups and downs. We’ve experienced a lot of change on this team with Bev Plocki retiring this past I guess last summer now. Yeah, it was last summer. Yeah, it’s crazy. So, we experienced a lot. We’ve been through some big changes. Yeah.

Program big changes. Yeah. Personally and like program. Yeah. Cuz you and I have like similar stories in like the recruiting process and then also like the walk-on and scholarship. Yeah. You want to talk about that a little bit?

Yeah. Okay. Well, similar to Ava, like I was not on the receiving end on June 15th. I was like I didn’t even practice that day. I was sitting down and I think I emailed almost every single college that I could think of that had a program and Michigan was not one of them really. But not because I didn’t want to go here. It was because they had the year before they won the national championship.

They won national championships and I was like there’s just no way that they’re going to Yeah. Yeah. No way that they’d ever be interested in me. So I didn’t even bother emailing them. So this would have been Yeah. This was June going into junior year. Yeah.

So emailed bunch of schools. got like a little response, but it was never any school that was like, “Oh, yeah, we’d want you.” Yeah. It was just like coaches would come in and they’d watch my teammate and then they’d like talk to me a little bit, but they didn’t want me. It was just kind of like like you’re good. We’ll think about you. But it was never like, “Oh yeah, like we really want you.” Yeah. And then so yeah, June going into junior year. After junior year, the summer going into my senior year, Bev Plocki came and she watched my teammate, Josyn Robertson, and afterwards, we talked for a little bit.

She gave me her phone number and I called her when I got home and she offered me an official visit and I just remember honestly thinking like, this woman’s crazy. [laughter] I was like, there’s no way that she actually like that’s like there’s no way she actually wants to be on this team. So I was like I went to the visit October of my senior year and then I finally decided it was March two two months before I had to be on campus for a summer program. I finally decided okay like I’ll try it. I still think Bev’s a little crazy for wanting it here when nobody else even offered me a walk-on position. But you know I I’ll trust her. I’ll do it.

Yeah. Um yeah, definitely Rocky Star just like the small town like coming to a place like this especially Michigan. Yeah, following such a high standard. They won Big Ten’s a year before we got here as a team. So that was Yeah, we were I feel like we were both stepping into kind of an unknown environment. We knew it was going to be tough. Like I knew it was going to be tough here at Michigan to compete in, you know, but I wanted that. with like Sierra Brooks and Gabby a big name and like Natalie Boychick had just left and like Nico like there were so many like people that we were like having to follow up and like it was kind of intimidating.

It was honestly intimid especially like also being like a firstgen student like I would have to like and it was scary but I’d have to like go to be if I like needed advice or like any guidance because like my parents didn’t understand like the college life the college life. Yeah. So it like it wasn’t like I could go to my dad and like talk about the athletic side cuz he was big into like a bunch of sports and especially baseball. But in terms of like the academics and like just the overall like college aspect and being a student athlete, I like it was tough. It was an adjustment for sure. So I think all three of us, there’s obviously one more of us in our senior class, but I think we all felt that. Um I will say it was interesting too like thinking about being here as a walk-on in comparison to those big names like Sierra Brooks, Gabby Wilson.

Yes. It was definitely a way of pushing us as gymnasts, but also as people. There was a standard on the women’s gymnastics team as soon as we got here. And now it’s really cool cuz we we have set that standard and we uphold it now as seniors on the team. And I would say like obviously Kaylee and I have both proven ourselves. I have competed vault since my freshman year, bars since my sophomore year, and recently my junior year started competing beam. and hopefully going to continue to compete those three this year and be a contributor there. But through that, both of us have competed enough.

Kaylee doing a vault and doing floor and doing a lot of beam. She’s a beam rockstar if she’s not willing to share, but she’s awesome. We both earned full ride scholarships, which is something that doesn’t happen often, I think. And it’s really cool to go from being a walk-on at one of the best schools in the world and earning a scholarship when nobody thought that that’s what you were going to do when you committed here. I didn’t even think that’s what I was going to do when I came here. Honestly, that’s like not even the hardest part. I will say like getting the scholarship like the work is really hard, but then like the mindset after you get the scholarship is really hard because it’s like you have this like pressure on you.

So like you’ve already proved yourself, but now the pressure is like, okay, can she keep proving herself? And so it’s like I got better to the point where I received a scholarship and now I have to get even better. And so like I feel more pressure now being on scholarship than I was I feel so much more breakfast than I was when I was a walk-on because I think also too like it was like a confidence thing coming into college like a good challenge. Yeah, sure is a good challenge like not threatening. Yeah, not at all freshman year then getting a bunch of competition in sophomore year. Like my skills grew sophomore year get me the scholarship but my confidence still wasn’t there. And I feel like that’s harder to get and that’s why I feel more it’s just harder to keep.

I feel like you can get it but it’s hard to keep it there. Exactly. So I feel more pressure being on scholarship than really being a walk. That’s interesting. I do think I mean it says a lot about us. We’re both very hardworking people. We’ve kind of shaped ourselves into some pretty strong young women here at the University of Michigan.

And I think we can talk a little bit about our team now that we’re, you know, senior leaders on the team, which is really cool. a nice position to be in, which is super fun. We have a really talented team this year. Obviously, last year we had a new head coach, so that was a huge adjustment having Miley Anna instead of Beverly as our head coach. The nice thing was like Miley worked under Bev, so she obviously helped her with that transition. It was pretty smooth, but there was a lot of change and we had to be able to adapt and be flexible when it came to new ideas and new things happening. And we ended up obviously our freshman year we didn’t make it to the the second day of regionals. So the way that it works is you want to explain how like regionals works a little bit?

Yeah. So basically with regionals I can’t remember exactly how many teams I think 32. Okay. So there’s 30 16. There’s a good amount of teams that qualify into regionals. Yeah. Um yeah it’s like bracket play.

Very similar like how March Madness works where like you start with X amount of teams, if you win, you go on and so on and so forth. Yes. But the difference is that the top two teams from every competition move on versus just the top the top team. So it’ll be the say for example, you have four teams and four teams. The top two top two will move on and then they’ll compete against each other. So, it is bracket play, but it’s different because you don’t just have one team advancing, it’s two teams advancing, which is also different from the entirety of season 2 because you’re used to doing dual meet, which is only two teams at a time. Um, and then you transfer into postseason where like Big Tens, regionals, nationals, all of those.

There’s four teams going at one time. The energy is a lot bigger, the crowd is much louder. And so, like Ava said, this is the first year that we made it to the second round of regionals, which was awesome. like such a fun experience. Yeah. And it was in LSU, so the crowd was insane. And I remember like being on the beam and being so excited to be at day two. And then Kalia Lincoln, who is a rock star for LSU, is going at the same time that I’m on beam.

And I’ve never experienced this before in my life. But like the beam actually like rattling and people hear it was the most like nerve-wracking but like exhilarating experience especially because like that was our first time getting to slap our you know name on a sticker and then moving on to the next it was like it is crazy an environment like that’s what we love about regionals is you get to compete against those SEC teams or ACC teams. You get to compete against other conferences. That’s what I love about it. But it is fun when you go to an SEC school who women’s gymnastics is their top earning sport for women’s sports and they pack hack the arena literally like it’s like sold out of a body paint. Yeah. 15,000 plus fans all there to watch the six people that get up on each event to compete. And I don’t think we talked about it but for those who don’t know how gymnastics works. when we are in a meet and we are getting up to compete, we can only compete six athletes on each event and then you only count five scores from those six routines.

So that’s something that’s very different from a lot of sports is we’re not necessarily up there working together like other teams are playing together. We’re competing one at a time. Everyone in that arena stadium is watching that one person competing and you’ll go back and forth with the team like Kayie said when it’s a dual meet. you’ll go back and forth with the team that is there. So, literally every single person in the arena is watching you when you’re getting up to compete and that’s definitely an adjustment when you come in as a freshman learning how to navigate that. And I think we have some really good freshman this year that already seem really good under pressure. I think that’s going to be exciting for us is being able to rely on them a little bit, but also we have so much experience at state. So, yeah, I think we’re really excited for this year.

I personally am I’m excited and like kind of going off of like there’s only like six people that compete on one event and so like I feel like our team like our mindset is like the second the freshman step foot on campus or the second we get any new people like our minds automatically go to like okay as of right now who would the top six be like am I in that top six and I feel like that’s what makes gymnastics so like fun and like that exciting pressure that you spend what is it four months out of the year like thinking about those lineups every single day and wondering like are am I going to be in it? So I think that’s also why like the what’s the word like we were talking about earlier standard standard that’s why the standard is so high here it’s like everybody is literally like pushing each other so like have your like would be like number 10 in the lineup is pushing that number nine is pushing eight seven six five like everybody’s getting better instead of just those top six being like I’m good to never Then I think this is the first year that going into preseason, we just started officials like two weeks ago. This is the first year that we’ve been here that I think maybe both of us can agree that we truly have 18 people that could compete every single event and that’s not normal.

And you know, we have a lot of depth on our team this year, which is exactly what you want going into preseason, going into season. And you know, we have people that are big teams that we’re competing against. You have UCLA who came into the Big Ten conference and won Big Ten championships the last two years. MSU our freshman year. So, we’ve been chasing that for three years now. And I think both of us can agree that this year we are very excited to like actually compete at that level and really really contend for a Big Ten championship because we were talking I want it so bad. Yeah, I know.

We both want it really bad. A lot of our teammates are really really excited for that. So, I think it’s going to be good. Even at the gym the other day, we were talking about how like, you know, we had pe even like Carly and Raina who were still on that national championship team in 2021 last year with us. This is like this team is a blank slate. Like we we’re starting fresh and we have no none of us on the team who’s won a Big Ten championship or a national championship or anything like that. So, I feel like yes, last year like we were ready for it and we were excited, but I think this year we’re so hungry.

It’s like not like we look up at the banners on the ceiling and not a single one of us can say like oh we did that like you know that’s us and it’s motivating. It’s not that we’re looking up there like h I wish. No like we’re after we’re going after it. And I think that’s what’s so exciting about this team right now. Team 51 looking out into the gym and seeing that everyone is working as hard as they possibly can to get us there as a team. And I think we’re super excited with Miley being in her second year. She’s also going to have like her flow of how she wants things to go.

We can already see that happening. Championship experience won two national championships as a gymnast at OU. Yeah. And Wendy was here for the 2021 national championship. So, she knows what it takes. Like she knows exactly what’s got to happen. And they’re definitely a co our coaching staff that’s willing to do what it takes for us to really get there.

So, I think that’s a little blurb, I guess, about us. It’s been super fun talking to you guys, but we’re super excited for the season and we hope you guys tune in and come to some gymnastics meets in Chrysler this year. Yeah. Thank y’all. Go Blue. Hi. Go Blue.

All right. Hey everybody. So, we’re wrapping it up here at Knight’s Steakhouse downtown on East Liberty, but not before a conversation here with my friend Andy Barowski, the president of the board of directors for Football Alumni Michigan. What’s going on, Andy? Yeah, it’s always great to be with you, Doug. always always and at Dyes of all places man you know they’re such a great great organization I mean they’re just a really wonderful group you know uh we’re proud to have them as a sponsor for these absolutely yeah we love it what you I thought you had a thought like you had a salad going with a a steak yeah you got to love the steak you got to figure out a way to get the steak in a few pounds these days but well you know I got to figure out the steak in there somehow yeah I know I know you love your steak it’s all good I had salmon I had salmon burger. I had a salmon sandwich. Two offensive linemen and a line.

There you go. Bean potatoes. So, so let’s talk real quick about what’s been going on with FAM. I mean, we’re three games into the season. So, maybe just an update on what’s going on with FAM and why people should care. You know, we we always want to stay to what our mission was, right? Yeah.

Unite, to engage, to inspire our football guys. And it’s not just our guys, it’s the past, it’s the present, it’s actually even the future. So, uh, continually looking for ways that they can improve what we’re doing and our offering to our guides. I think the big thing though is that we’re also reaching into the community. And so, one of the big things that we’re proud to announce is our strategic partnership in Samaritas. Samaritas. Yes.

And you know, Samaritoss is uh when it comes to human services, the largest and the oldest company uh in Michigan. And uh we’re just really thrilled. Dave Mor and that group has been amazing. Uh we’re looking now we’re doing some ideas for foster kids, working with some ideas, uh do some things through the holidays with them. uh because you know our football day we’ve been blessed to be able to play those games and we also want to give back and I think that’s an important part of what families. Yep. Yep. You know that’s that’s great and I think the fact that we can bring like there’s been a lot of involvement like even just in this Samaritas deal with some other former players who are involved with BAM on the board have relationships with Samaritas.

And it’s been a real group effort, I think, which really kind of defines how we approach just about everything we do, I think. Right. You know, I am so fortunate to have one of the best boards of uh you’ve been able to engage with them. I mean, you know, I think what’s really important to know you talk about football alumni is we are we are really a team and we don’t just think about the team as just football, right? You talk about managers, trainers, support staff, and I am I am really fortunate to have some great managers on our board. And I love managers. You know why?

They work their asses off and they don’t have an ego. They don’t have an I love that. I love that. Uh but no, you know, we really do have and we’re very excited about going to being broken out into committees. Uh we’ve got a lot of exciting and uh and we and you know we got something good. Thanks to you too. We appreciate what you’ve done.

Appreciate that. You know I it’s always been important to me to be involved and you know I’ I’ve been around Michigan football since I was a kid. So I always looked up to guys who played who were older than me who I didn’t play with. And you know as guys as guys age and as guys feel the effects of having played you know there’s there’s guys that need help. you know, there there’s it’s a it’s a meat grinder to play this game at this school and uh and we love it. We don’t most of us would not change a thing about it, but it it’s it’s rough on a lot of guys and not everyone comes out of it in one piece, you know, it really is. And uh I’m reminded of that frequently. And before the the western game on my way to uh to our trail gig where we bring all our brothers together, uh I had to talked about, you know, how we’re going to give money to somebody that was about to be evicted.

And the whole time I’m sitting there, I’m thinking, wow, we’re having this great time in this tailgate. We actually just gave a piece to a brother that that was probably really worried about he wasn’t thinking about whether Michigan was gonna beat Western or not. He was thinking about his is he got a place to stay that night and and that’s when that that purpose really comes in. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like we’re we’re doing that good. We’re really doing something good.

Well, hey, uh wanted to make sure we got that message out there and get an update. The Samaritas thing is great. So, we’ll keep bringing more of that content to everybody just so that they know what we’re working on and you can be involved as well. You can donate to fam. Um, we’ll have the links below underneath the podcast here in the description. And we always include that with just about everything we post on all of our socials because it’s important to us. So, um, thanks again for sitting in for doing this segment with me here.

We appreciate you. You’re one of us, right? We didn’t play quite together. Played with your brother for a year. That’s right. Uh, but, uh, we appreciate everything. help Andy has done for payout and yeah, we really appreciate you because you go to a really good so thank you guys. Good deal.

Thanks Andy. Go blue, man. Go blue. If you like this kind of content, please like, share, follow, and subscribe. And as always, go blue!]