Michigan Football: Jake Rudock Goes Out in a Perfect Way

Michigan football quarterback Jake Rudock had quite the journey this season with the Wolverines, and it ended in a perfect way against Florida.

I’ve written before about Jake Rudock, talking about his maturation within the offense and the overall progression we’ve seen since the beginning of the season. And today against Florida in the Citrus Bowl, he ended his one-year stint with the Wolverines in a glorious way.

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Rudock finished his final collegiate game 20 of 31 through the air with 278 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 41-7 win. Most importantly, he didn’t commit a single turnover. Rudock also added 29 yards on the ground.

But it wasn’t just this single game that makes it so perfect. It’s perfect because it was the culmination of one hell of a journey.

As we’re often able to do with players, we can break down Rudock’s season into three categories, just like a story: beginning, middle and end.

Here’s what it looked like:

Beginning (first five games)

Middle (next two games)

End (final 6 games)

Season Stats

Rudock became the second quarterback in program history to throw for at least 3,000 yards.

Seriously? Look at those first seven games! He was on pace for 2,418 yards and a miserable 9-to-11 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Instead we’re talking about one of the great seasons in Michigan football history.

Michigan’s 10-3 season owes a lot to Rudock, and so does any fan who appreciated it along the way. I said recently that Rudock is an NFL quarterback, and I wholeheartedly believe that.

Some players have a tough decision to make at the end of the season: stay or go pro. Rudock never had such a decision to make. He transferred to Ann Arbor knowing it was going to be his fifth and final year as a collegiate quarterback. Whether that makes it easier, I don’t know, but Rudock made the very most of his opportunity.

If you haven’t gotten a chance yet, take a few minutes to read “The Guys Call Me ‘Dad’,” written by Rudock for The Players’ Tribune. In it he offers a glimpse of the incredible and often challenging journey he’s endured.

He writes, in part:

"I’ll be honest. When you’re a quarterback in the Big Ten conference, the prospect of playing in the NFL is always somewhere in the back of your mind. You don’t really think about it because it’s so far down the road, and if you don’t take care of your business day to day and week to week, that dream will never come to fruition. But the idea is always there. And by transferring — especially as a fifth-year senior — you feel like those chances slip a little bit. Any time you’re going to a new place, it’s tough. Learning people’s names. Understanding the city. Balancing school, athletics and everything else you’re doing. But earning teammates’ trust is the most difficult part of transferring, especially as a quarterback. So the moment I stepped on the Michigan campus, I wanted to show everyone that I was going to work hard every single day — during summer workouts, lifting weights, conditioning. I made it a point to throw with the guys outside of organized team activities to work on timing and chemistry."

For Rudock to finish his college career with such a great game against what was statistically one of the best defenses in the country this season was exactly the way it should’ve happened.

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Who knows where Rudock is headed next, but his one year at Michigan was something very special. We won’t soon forget it.