Michigan Football: Jake Rudock is an NFL Quarterback

Michigan football quarterback Jake Rudock did’t look like it in the beginning of the season, but he’s got a future in the NFL.

Remember when Michigan opened the 2015 season on the road at Utah, and with a chance to drive and tie the game at 17, Jake Rudock threw an interception that Justin Thomas returned 55 yards for a touchdown?

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It was Rudock’s third pick of the game, and with that we saw the supposed “game manager” turn into a liability.

It remained that way for the entire first month of the season. Rudock went through his first five games at Michigan throwing 6 interceptions to 5 touchdowns. The only reason the Wolverines survived that opening stretch was a reliable ground attack and shut-down defense.

Even in the next two games against Northwestern and Michigan State, Rudock accounted for only one touchdown, and that was on the ground against the Wildcats. He didn’t throw an interception in that time, but he was a non-factor.

Then it’s like a whole new player suited up at quarterback, and instead of a liability, Rudock became an asset. A valuable one.

Through the final five games of the season, Rudock threw 12 touchdowns and only 3 interceptions. It was a complete 180-flip from the first five games.

The numbers alone in the home stretch, though impressive, aren’t enough to propel Rudock to NFL-ready status. What makes him ready for the next level is the progression he made as a passer and decision maker.

Michigan’s offense was very bland through the first half of the season, and a big reason for that was because of Rudock’s inability to lead his receivers. They either had to drop to the ground to make the catch or make such an adjustment that it killed all their momentum.

Along with not being able to lead receivers, Rudock couldn’t throw the deep ball. We heard all about that during the offseason as he was making the transition from Iowa to Michigan, but it immediately became clear why that was such a large criticism of his game. Nothing was on target downfield. It usually wasn’t even close.

The flip switched against Indiana, when Michigan had to keep up with the Hoosiers’ offense. IU has a terrible secondary, which allowed for Rudock’s coming out party. Six touchdowns later we’re talking about one of the greatest single-game performances in school history.

From then on out it wasn’t uncommon for Rudock to connect deeper than 15 yards downfield, which was the unbreakable threshold before that. It also wasn’t uncommon to see Rudock finally leading his receivers and allow them to make something happen after the catch.

Another area where Rudock saw great improvement was his decision making. You can clearly see that in the number of interceptions thrown in the last stretch of the season, but it’s why he was able to cut back on turnovers that has him ready for the NFL.

Rudock used two things to make better decisions: his legs and his progression.

Nobody ever thought of Rudock as being a mobile player, but he demonstrated more than once that he’s got enough speed to make something happen when everything else breaks down.

It even went so far as to warrant the #DenardRudock movement.

Working through his progression better as the season went on was a testament to how comfortable he was getting in the offense. It was evident at first that he was a one-read quarterback. Whether it was there or not, that’s where the ball was going.

Eventually he was moving on to his second and third receivers and making much better decisions because of it.

Rudock’s legs and increased comfort in the offense really turned things around for the Michigan offense.

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The season numbers aren’t there; you don’t look at them and see an NFL quarterback. But when you look at the entire season and notice the progression made from one phase to the next, you see a player who actually can make that leap.