SPONSOR NOTE: Tom Brady (yes that Tom Brady) and our friends at Autograph reached out recently looking for a way to get the most deserving fans access to the most exclusive Michigan football rewards curated by Valiant Management Group. Brady asked what would make a good Michigan Fan Flex Challenge and we looked at all you all and said "Uh, Trivia!"

How it works: You answer 12 questions as quickly as you can (it's timed) before Thursday, July 13 at 6PM EDT to secure your spot on the leaderboard. Your performance will be ranked based on the number of correct answers you submit and how quickly you complete the questions. You only get one shot, so make it count and check out the Challenge Rules for more information. Or listen to the man himself:

At the end of the submission period, the top performers will unlock front of the line access to purchase exclusive University of Michigan football rewards curated by our friends at Valiant. Once the competition ends, look out for an email from Autograph notifying you if you are eligible with details to purchase.

We are all going to die soon. I bring terrifying news:

San Diego Lincoln 2025 quarterback Akili Smith Jr., was one of the standouts at Future 50 last month at IMG Academy in Florida. The Top247 prospect said he has a loose top three, not an official group, but the one he’s working with right now and it includes Florida, Michigan and Oregon.

The existence of a recruitable Akili Smith Jr. has caused me to drink from the wrong grail. If I find out there's a JJ McCarthy Jr in the 2026 class I'm going to evaporate.

I'm not joining "Threads." Elon Musk is currently running Twitter into the ground but "Facebook but narrower" is not something I will tolerate, folks. I do not want an algorithm populating my social media feed. I want it to be the maniacs I follow in chronological order. If Bluesky attains critical mass I'll migrate, but the sheer number of people I've blocked on Twitter is a critical advantage for that platform. Someone step in and buy it from Musk, please.

[After THE JUMP: Fred Jackson!]

Continued portaling. A new name in the portal that's relevant:

West Virginia’s Jose Perez hits the portal.

Expect Michigan to be a player here. https://t.co/OcC6SaubBv

— Trilly Donovan (@trillydonovan) July 5, 2023

Perez has been at Gardner-Webb, Marquette, and Manhattan before a sit-out year at WVU. At lower levels he's been a massive-usage 6'5" point guard who gets to the line a ton but is otherwise dubiously efficient. His year at Marquette saw him get four minutes a game and doesn't mean much of anything. Perez is a career 30% three-point shooter, but he probably has some upside there since he was a ball-dominant guy sucking up 33% usage at Manhattan and if he ends up at Michigan he's likely to be a relatively low usage wing.

Michigan needs another 2/3. Perez isn't Caleb Love but he's an interesting prospect.

Bellamy on McCarthy. A JJ McCarthy great leap forward is something Michigan is banking on this year, and Ron Bellamy thinks it'll happen:

Speaking on “In the Trenches,” a Michigan Athletics podcast, Bellamy referred to J.J. McCarthy as “one of the best leaders I’ve been around”

“J.J. can make every throw,” Bellamy said. “He can make every throw, and the most dangerous part about J.J. is he can extend plays. Receivers love that — DBs lose sight of receivers and you’re running down the field open. J.J. is a complete quarterback, and just just watching him go through progressions, just watching him — whatever the coaches put on his plate, he was able to chew it up and digest it and then go out there on the field and execute it.

“We’re super excited about J.J. — especially as a football team, but in particular in our receiver room, we know that we have the best quarterback in America.”

From your lips, etc.

I'm not sure I agree 100% with your policework there. Devin Gardner discussed Kirk Campbell on Sam Webb's show recently, and:

Devin Gardner: “Last night I talked about the conversation I had a couple years ago I think when Kirk Campbell first got on the staff. And Fred Jackson is not just throwing out praise willy nilly. Fred Jackson is pretty stern in his approach on many things. And it was so unprompted. He's just like, 'listen, if you want to know anything about this offense… and he used different words that can't be used on the radio... and he was pointing at Kirk Campbell... he said, 'you need to talk to him if you want to learn anything about this offense.' And that was way before anybody even thought that we needed a new quarterback coach or whatever the case may be.”

I have no doubt that Campbell is a wunderkind and that Gardner's substantially right here, but FRED JACKSON IS NOT JUST THROWING OUT PRAISE WILLY-NILLY?!? Fred Jackson said Avery Horn was "Mike Hart but fast." I was going to make up some sort of entertaining hyperbole there but remembered the actual thing, and decided hyperbole was unnecessary.

Important hockey item. Michigan goalie commit Stephen Peck is coming in next year, and did we know the nickname of Avon Old Farms?

G Stephen Peck of Avon Old Farms headed to Rangers development camp. Michigan commit backstopped Winged Beavers to New England Elite 8 title last season

— Mark Divver (@MarkDivver) June 30, 2023

Winged Beavers! Beavers do not have wings. Avon Old Farms does not care. I'm putting an accent over that E in "winged" in my mind, because Avon Old Farms is fancy.

Various less important hockey items. Adam Fantilli signed with the Blue Jackets, of course. As soon as Anaheim didn't pick him that was likely foreordained. Alas, and good luck in the league.

Arizona State has been accepted into the NCHC, giving a major-college program a home for the first time. That gives the NCHC an awkward nine teams and may open the door for Miami—currently getting crushed—to move to the new CCHA. The linked article addresses that, saying Miami has no plans to relocate, FWIW.

Corey Pronman's initial 2024 mock draft has commit Michael Hage going 17th to Buffalo. Michigan is also after #7 Artyom Levshunov and #19 RJ Emery. College hockey-bound players go 1-2 as BU commit Macklin Celebrini and Minnesota commit Cole Eiserman are the top end of next year's draft.

Connor Earegood projects next year's lines. Michigan's likely to stick BC's former captain on their third pairing, which is a hell of a luxury. The forward corps is not quite as loaded as last year's but Michigan will be considerably more experienced—the only freshman in the top nine, Nick Moldenhauer, already had his D+1 year in Chicago. That's a major change from last year when the majority of the top nine was new to college hockey.

Etc.: Michigan won 13 Big Ten titles this year. Sokay. Birthday distribution in elite hockey players is wild.