Daily Brews: ESPN analyst ‘can’t wrap head around’ Jim Harbaugh losing to Ryan Day

Friends, tomorrow there will be college football on our screens and we will be another day closer to Michigan opening up the 2019 season. Let’s close out the week of Brews on a high note, shall we?

Marcus Spears can’t see Jim Harbaugh losing to Ryan Day

Former NFL player and ESPN analyst Marcus Spears is calling his shot, saying that Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines will get over the hump and defeat Ohio State this season. And he says if they don’t, well, there’s a conversation to be had about the future.

“Harbaugh will get it done this year,” Spears said on ESPN’s Get Up!. “Bringing in (Josh) Gattis, Shea Patterson another year in the system, and I also believe Harbaugh is more open to letting this offense kind of be an advantage for the guys that are actually in the offense.

“I just can’t wrap around my mind that Harbaugh is going to lose to Ryan Day. If this was Urban Meyer — he’s gotten the pass because of Urban Meyer, not because of the players — because this was Urban Meyer’s team that was beating him. Now, you bring in a first-year head coach and a transfer quarterback that hadn’t seen a lot of time? You lose this game, Harbaugh will be on the hot seat at Michigan.”

His overall take here is not all that far-fetched, but should Michigan have 9-10 wins heading into the Ohio State game, Harbaugh’s seat might get warm, but he’s not going anywhere unless the bottom falls out, which he’s proven won’t happen. At worst, they remain frustratingly close and Lucy pulls the football away from Charlie Brown again. At best, maybe we’re talking about trophies Michigan has not won in a decade and a half. We’ll see!

Wolverines in the NFL currently

It was a newsworthy night for former Wolverines playing in NFL preseason games on opposite ends of the spectrum. We will start with the good news.

Chase Winovich, who was selected in the third round by the New England Patriots, started for the team in preseason game No. 3, which is considered the “dress rehearsal” game for the regular season. His chances of playing early not only are high, but he could wind up being one of the engines that makes the defense go. Sound familiar?

His defensive line mate last season, Rashan Gary — who was a first round pick of the Green Bay Packers — has not had as good of a preseason and had a rough outing on Thursday night, being carted off the field with an apparent head/neck injury. It does not seem too serious and his agency tweeted out that he will be fine.

Wolverines that might be in the NFL soon

ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. has posted a Big Board for the 2020 cycle and the Wolverines are pretty well represented on there early on.

Ben Bredeson is currently ranked as the No. 1 senior guard, while Sean McKeon is the No. 4-ranked senior tight end. Cesar Ruiz comes in as the No. 3 center in Kiper’s underclassman rankings.

The full rankings can be seen here, but it is an ESPN+ article that requires a subscription. It was a bit of a surprise to not see any of the wide receivers mentioned, but that could change as we move through the season.

National Brews

• Former Georgia transfer and Washington quarterback Jacob Eason has been named the starting quarterback for the Huskies heading into 2019 after sitting out 2018 while waiting to be eligible. Once on Michigan’s radar, his career began at Georgia before an injury gave way to the Jake Fromm era, which in turn eventually caused Justin Fields to transfer to Ohio State for this season. Dominos falling all over the place here.
• In other quarterback transfer news, former Notre Dame signal-caller Brandon Wimbush has been named the starter at UCF.
• Kentucky will be honoring former quarterback and school legend Jared Lorenzen, who passed away earlier this summer, on Oct. 12 in what is sure to be an emotional day in Lexington.

That’s it for this week. When you come back on Monday, we will have some really awesome stuff to announce to kickoff game week. Hope to see you soon!