Michigan Football: Are Perpetual Quarterback Battles Good?

It’s been a long time since Michigan football entered a season without having some kind of quarterback battle on its hands. Is that a good thing?

Heading into Jim Harbaugh’s third season with Michigan football, he’s going to have to weed through yet another seemingly tight quarterback competition.

In his first offseason, it seemed like just about everyone was involved (Jake Rudock eventually won). Last offseason it was narrowed to Wilton Speight, John O’Korn and Shane Morris (Speight eventually won). This offseason it looks like another three-way competition between Speight, O’Korn and now Brandon Peters.

For what it’s worth, Speight might be the returning starter, but Peters looked like the better quarterback in the spring game.

That’s made me think about the pros and cons of always having to go through a competition at this important position. On one hand, competition is not a bad thing, and that’s true for many reasons. But on the other hand, the simple fact that a tight competition exists tells you there’s uncertainty and that no one is excelling above everyone else.

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If you ever get the chance to ask Harbaugh about this, I would tread lightly. He’ll undoubtedly say something like: “Competition breeds excellence, and Michigan football strives for nothing less than that.” Or something along those lines. You get the idea.

He wouldn’t be wrong either. Pit two people side by side, give them the same task, and watch one eventually become better than the other—and better than they once were themselves. (John Locke smiles in his grave.)

Then again, what’s wrong with already having that one player who has cut himself away from the rest of the pack? Michigan just hasn’t had that in a long time, and it can start to get annoying when you wonder where the really good quarterback is.

I’m going to add an extra layer to this now: Even though you might say you wish Michigan had that standout quarterback who is undeniably the starter going forward, you can’t walk away from the fact that quarterback competitions make offseasons much more entertaining.

And as someone who has to do a lot of writing about Michigan football, I certainly don’t mind it either. Hell, give me a competition at every position.

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This offseason probably won’t play out much differently than the last one did, even down to a third competitor (likely O’Korn) fading away at some point (like Morris did). And when Michigan opens its season against Florida, Harbaugh will beat the holy you-know-what out of somebody’s pads, signaling their victory.

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