Michigan Football: Remember The Wilton Speight Heisman Talk?

Just one week removed from Jim Harbaugh vamping up the Heisman talk for Michigan football quarterback Wilton Speight, we can forget about it.

Remember the talk last week about Michigan football quarterback Wilton Speight being considered for the Heisman Trophy this year? Well, you can forget about that.

Coming off a 59-3 demolition of Maryland last week, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh was asked about linebacker Jabrill Peppers’ chances at the Heisman, and Harbaugh said, “They might want to also look at the quarterback too [meaning Speight]. The way he’s been playing all season, it’s time to throw his hat into the ring.”

It was a nice gesture. After a big victory in a conference game, why not throw in a good word for your quarterback? After all, Speight deserved it. He had 362 passing yards against Maryland and was named Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week.

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Maybe the pressure was too much for the 6-foot-6, 243-pound red-shirt sophomore quarterback from Virginia.

Everyone expected Speight to develop like Jake Rudock, who came to the Wolverines from the Hawkeyes in 2015, won a quarterback competition, and surprised everyone, maybe including himself, by getting the start in his first game as a Wolverine and then becoming better and better as the season went along.

By the time Rudock made it to the Citrus Bowl last January against Florida State, he was very nearly unstoppable, throwing for 278 yards in the 41-7 win. Rudock even looked as though he had a future in the NFL. (For the record, Rudock was drafted by the Detroit Lions, had a few good moments in the preseason, but has not played this year in the regular season.)

Unfortunately, that’s not been Speight’s trajectory. Speight won this year’s quarterback competition and has looked good at times—great even—but on Saturday in Iowa City he was awful. Let’s just say it. He was 11 for 26 passing with only 103 yards. In two fourth-quarter opportunities to drive the ball downfield and get the win, one drive ended with an interception and the other with a three-and-out.

On that first drive, Speight had his favorite receiver, Amara Darboh, out in front of his defender by at least two steps. It looked to everyone like a 51-yard touchdown play and just the game-changing play that Michigan desperately needed to stay undefeated, but instead Speight threw it over Darboh’s head. Speight wasn’t sharp all night.

Maybe Speight had an off night. Maybe he’ll come back strong next week against Indiana. We can hope so. To be fair, he certainly wasn’t getting help from anyone else on offense. Chris Evans had only 52 yards rushing, and Jake Butt had 39 yards receiving. Not what we have come to expect from those two.

And of course the penalties and the problems on special teams didn’t help either.

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Let’s hope Harbaugh and the other members of the coaching staff can get Speight back on track. He’s only got one more game before traveling to the Horseshoe in Columbus, and he is going to need the game of his life there if Michigan is going to win the Big Ten championship.

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