Michigan Football: An In-Depth Look at the Quarterbacks

Michigan football may have settled on a starting quarterback, but there is still plenty of intrigue at the position.

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Here’s a sentence I did not think I would be writing around this time last year: Jake Rudock, after one of the most successful passing seasons in Michigan football history, is gone to the NFL after being drafted in the sixth round by the Lions. For the second consecutive year, the Wolverines have a first-year starter under center.

Quarterback is the biggest positional question mark on an otherwise pretty solid roster. Under Jim Harbaugh and Jedd Fisch’s tutelage will be John O’Korn, Wilton Speight, Shane Morris, Alex Malzone, and Brandon Peters. At first glance that seems like a whole lot of guys for one still-unfilled position. Barring an insane series of injuries you only really need to know about Speight, who started versus Hawaii and John O’Korn.

Between what the coaching staff has said about Morris and the snippets of action we’ve seen this offseason, it seems like Morris was still too raw to really compete for the starting job.

(Quick aside: I think that the University, Dave Brandon, Brady Hoke, Al Borges, and Doug Nussmeier should set up some sort of fund that goes directly to Shane Morris and Devin Gardner. Look at this. Morris was never right after that game. He was thrust into live action too early because the coaching staff had no idea what the hell it was doing. Gardner was pulled after getting crushed all game–setting him up as a potential scapegoat if Morris went on to light it up. He didn’t. Morris sustained what looked to be a serious concussion and the staff kept him in even as his teammates were holding him up and waving over trainers. Both quarterbacks came out of high school as big time recruits with big time tools, but the coaching staff treated their skill sets like leopard seals treat penguins. Make those whose obliviousness/incompetence bordered on malice pay the two doomed-from-the-start quarterbacks the NFL league minimum for five years. Okay, that wasn’t quick, but I feel much better now.)

Alex Malzone will almost certainly not see the field this year.

Brandon Peters should redshirt, but the freshman has people singing his praises.

It was a two man race between O’Korn and Speight. Jim Harbaugh said it was close, but in the end, we didn’t find out until just before kickoff.

With that said, here is a look at each quarterback for the 2016 season.

Wilton Speight

We’ll start with Speight, who, ended up being his pick. It always seemed that Rudock was the experienced one-year rental that could play until O’Korn (a Houston transfer) was eligible, but Speight forced himself into the conversation, and won the starting job.

Speight takes us back to the good old days of 6’6, 240 pound quarterbacks who had big arms and absolutely no mobility. We haven’t seen a whole lot of Speight in meaningful game time, but I can sense that the Navarre is strong with this one.

He filled in for an injured Rudock against Minnesota and Ohio State. In both contests he looked totally overwhelmed for a solid chunk of his time on the field, but managed to calm down a little. He led a game winning drive against Minnesota that culminated in a beautiful connection with Jehu Chesson:

That’s an incredibly difficult throw in an incredibly hostile environment. A moderately better version of Minnesota-Game Speight (10-13 135 yards, 3 TD’s) is probably the best case scenario for the beginning weeks of the season. That’s fine, though, because the out of conference schedule is sooooft. Hopefully he can build some confidence and work out some kinks in timing before everything gets turned up a notch.

As for his actual game, Speight is going to manage the game and probably take a couple shots downfield every game. He won’t lose games, but he’ll need help to win them. At 6’6, look for Jake Butt and him to have a very cozy relationship. Speight can see over the line and survey traffic and Butt can just go up and grab passes out of the air; the fact that Speight isn’t afraid to step up in the pocket and looked to have surprisingly good awareness also helps.

There’s a lot to with here for Harbaugh and Fisch, and, knowing them, there’s no reason to assume Speight won’t progress throughout the season. He already has a pretty quick release, a good enough arm to get it out to the sidelines and down the field, and size. Couple that with the best collection of skill players that Michigan has had since 2007, and all of the sudden things aren’t looking too bad.

John O’Korn

O’Korn was the presumptive 2016 starter at the end of last season, but at least for now, he’s riding pine, except when Michigan football is up big. O’Korn transferred from Houston after a stellar-for-a-freshman year and a disastrous sophomore year in a new scheme under a new coaching staff.

Which version of the former Cougar is in Ann Arbor? Definitely not the sophomore version; between roster, scheme, and coaching turnover, the combination of scenarios that led to him completely cratering will not be replicated. However, he almost certainly won’t be the freshman version either. He threw for over 3,000 yards and tossed 28 touchdown to just 10 interceptions and looked pretty good doing it at times:

Unfortunately, you have to understand the Houston offense like we understand the Loyola Marymount’s “System”. O’Korn threw the ball 446 (!) times as a freshman. That’s not going to happen this year, starter or not. Rudock threw the ball 389 times last season, and that itself was something of an outlier in Michigan history. O’Korn also averaged just around seven yards per attempt and completed less than 60% of his passes, which is kind of middling for an offense like Houston’s. Also, the fact that he transferred specifically to start this season and got beat out by someone who was already in the program doesn’t bode particularly well.

Still, O’Korn seems to have a high ceiling, something Speight has yet to demonstrate. He’s a solid 30 pounds lighter than Speight and you can tell by the way he moves in and out of the pocket. Harbaugh has shown that he can work with quarterbacks of all stripes, but he does seem to like players that can move effectively. Andrew Luck, Alex Smith, Colin Kaepernick, etc. Even Jake Rudock showed some nice escapability on a handful of drive-saving scrambles.

O’Korn is well suited for a chaos: he can move, he has a cannon arm, and isn’t afraid to throw into traffic. Unfortunately, this offense won’t be chaotic. He can open up a playbook in ways Speight simply can’t, but it seems like the coaching staff decided that they don’t need any more wrinkles than they already have. Before the season, I would have bet that O’Korn have started. He throws a better ball than Speight and doesn’t sacrifice too much size in exchange for his superior mobility, but, alas.

Brandon Peters

Peters should redshirt this season, but he’s probably the other guy worth mentioning. He was the top quarterback out of the state of Indiana last year and enrolled early at U of M. From all reports, he’s going to be a really, really good player. He has a big arm, good mechanics, quick feet, and good vertical speed; all that’s left is to put it all together over the next year or two.

He probably has more raw talent than any other signal caller on the roster, but he’s at least a year away. Still, remember that name. Oh, and go read this too.

The Rest

We talked about Morris earlier. He lined up at slot receiver a couple times for a few snaps during the spring game (and I think during the season last year, but I couldn’t find video proof), but he insists he’s still a quarterback. Still, that’s probably about as much intrigue as you can expect from Morris this year.

Alex Malzone is a Brady Hoke quarterback recruit, so he might be doomed, but there’s time yet. He’s buried way down below Morris and as redshirt freshman quarterback he’s going to fit in kind of oddly going forward with Peters pushing him and a senior Wilton Speight ahead of him. He wasn’t a highly rated recruit, he’s only 6’2, and he has stiff competition. Not exactly an encouraging combination.

Next: Top 10 Michigan Running Backs of All Time

Michael Sessa is an enormous eighteen year old that should also redshirt.