Former UAB big man Yaxel Lendeborg chose to come to Ann Arbor to play his final year of college basketball. He went through the draft process, but the skilled, do-it-all player felt like it was best to play under coach Dusty May for one year.

Playing for UAB, Lendeborg's competition level wasn't as high as it's going to be playing in the Big Ten Conference. He averaged over 17 points and 11 rebounds last year for the Blazers, and while fans can expect similar numbers this year, Lendeborg is excited for the challenges of Big Ten ball.

Talking with the media on Sunday, Lendeborg revealed that the team he is excited to play the most is rival Michigan State. The UAB transfer is new to the in-state rivalry, but he noted he has already seen some smack talk from the Spartans, and he hopes to propel Michigan to two wins this season against MSU.

"Yeah, Michigan State is number one," said Lendeborg. "I definitely want to play that game. I’ve been hearing a lot about them. They went 0-2 last year. We’re going to look to go 2-0 this year. So I have that game marked on my calendar for sure.

"Back-and-forth talk," Lendeborg said on any talk with MSU. "There hasn’t been much social media talk with the players, but I know I’ve seen a lot of posts on TikTok, and they’ve been talking smack about us, so I’m excited. First play, I’m talking smack to whoever on the court. It’s going to be fun."

But in order for the Wolverines to be on top of the Big Ten and win the key games this season, Michigan will need some fresh faces to step up. The Wolverines had plenty of energy from last year's true freshman LJ Cason off the bench. With Michigan bringing in five freshmen this offseason -- including Oscar Goodman -- Lendeborg shared what he has seen so far from three of them.

"Winters [Grady] is a great shooter," the UAB transfer said. "Trey [McKenney] does not look like a freshman at all, so it’s been very interesting. I love playing with Winters, a guy that can get off as quick as he can, as quick as possible. I feel like he’s going to be a 40% shooter. It’s been great. I’ve been really happy, and Ricky [Liburd] as well. Ricky’s been pretty good, too. Super strong, super athletic, super fast. He plays with a lot of energy all the time, too, so it’s been great."

While the Wolverines could see some sort of role out of Grady and Liburd, the one freshman most Michigan fans are excited to see is the former five-star McKenney. Lendeborg stated again that McKenney doesn't look like a freshman and he believes the sky is the limit for the highly-touted prospect.

"Yeah, no, he doesn’t feel like a freshman," Lendeborg stated. "He’s not built like a freshman. Super skilled scorer, super good defensively as well, super strong. It’s very interesting to be a part of that, just playing with him. I’m excited to see what he can do during the season, and I have high hopes for him as well."