Dave Portnoy on Tuesday finally explained how he got connected to the Ellisons, which in turn allowed Michigan to flip top quarterback recruit, Bryce Underwood.
News broke last week that Underwood had changed his commitment from LSU to Michigan. Underwood is the No. 1 recruit in the 2025 class, so Michigan convincing him to change his commitment was a huge deal.
Additionally, many people connected the dots and figured that Portnoy, who is a Michigan alum, had successfully bought a top QB for his school, just as he said he would.
It was later revealed that Jolin Ellison, the wife of Oracle founder and billionaire Larry Ellison, had delivered Underwood to Michigan.
On the “Barstool College Football Show” Tuesday, Portnoy told the story of how he got connected with the Ellisons. Portnoy said it started after he had publicly stated he would spend millions to buy Michigan a top QB recruit.
“I got a call from the Michigan football team. And they said, ‘hey, there’s this donor who wants to talk to you.’ I said, ‘I’m doing this myself. I don’t need to talk to anybody.’ They said, ‘please, this woman’s a big fan of Barstool, a big fan of you. She’d love to talk to you. Her name is Jolin,'” Portnoy said.
Portnoy said that he later was on a Zoom call with Jolin and Larry and talking about Michigan football. Though Larry Ellison went to Illinois, Jolin went to Michigan and said she didn’t want to go through anything like what she experienced in the Brady Hoke era.
“I can’t stomach waking up on a Saturday knowing that we’re not the best team on the field,” Jolin Ellison apparently told Portnoy.
Portnoy says that led him to set up a call between him, the Ellisons and the Underwoods. They were able to sell Underwood on Michigan and got him to change his commitment.
After Underwood made his announcement last week, Portnoy was receiving credit for the move. The Barstool Sports founder noted that to Jolin, who gave him a great response.
“I texted Jolin, I go ‘I’m getting all this credit. I’m a little uneasy.’ She goes, ‘I don’t need the credit; I need national championships. I need to stack them,'” according to Portnoy.
“I don’t need the credit; I need national championships” might be the greatest line in college football history.
Here is the clip of Portnoy telling the story.
The story of how I met the Ellisons, Bryce Underwood flipped to Michigan, and the future of Michigan NIL changed forever pic.twitter.com/g7chi35bs9
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) November 26, 2024
