Michigan Football: Has John O’Korn made the case for the starting job?

With every successful drive John O’Korn put together against Purdue, the question of whether he could replace Wilton Speight picked up more speed.

Imagine a week when a quarterback controversy is a safer, easier topic to talk about than whether to stand, kneel, lock arms or stay in the locker room during the National Anthem.

Related Story: Takeaways from Michigan's win over Purdue

That’s where we are as Michigan football enters a bye week with a 4-0 record, after getting a mostly satisfying 28-10 win over newly resurgent Purdue on Saturday.

The question is, has John O’Korn made the case that he should be the starting quarterback when Big Ten play resumes at the Big House on Oct. 10 against Michigan State?

The question may be moot, of course, depending on the severity of Wilton Speight’s injury, suffered toward the end of a lackluster first quarter in West Lafayette. To be honest, though, I was already wondering BEFORE the injury if Speight was going to stay in the game.

His first-quarter play, I have to say, was a lot like his previous 12 quarters in the 2017 season. In a word, unspectacular.

But then, after O’Korn entered the game and after getting himself settled, he clearly provided the missing offensive spark that Michigan needed. Against Purdue, Michigan arguably had its best offensive showing of the season, with 284 yards of passing and a 21-31 completion rate.

And importantly, the Wolverines were 3 for 3 in red-zone conversions which, as far as O’Korn was concerned, ended the worry about that little matter. “We were 3 for 3 in the red zone,” he said after the game. “The work we put in all week as a team paid off.”

I’m not sure we’ve heard the end of that particular conversation, but I think O’Korn is the obvious choice to be Michigan’s quarterback the rest of the way.

I have my concerns, though, and here they are.

Let’s start with O’Korn himself. The fifth-year quarterback had the season of his life back in 2013 when he was with the Houston Cougars of the American Athletic Conference. As we all know by now, he threw for 3,117 yards and 28 touchdowns.

But then he struggled during the 2014 season and eventually lost the starting job to Greg Ward after five games.

So, O’Korn transferred to Michigan, sat out for a season as required under transfer rules, and then from all reports has worked as hard as anyone on the team to win a starting role, which he finally seems to have.

Not to take anything away from O’Korn’s amazing freshman season, but the American Athletic Conference is not the Big Ten.

We’re talking about Navy, Memphis, SMU, Tulsa, and Tulane—the teams in Houston’s West Divison. No disrespect, but there isn’t a top-tier program in the bunch, and nothing compared to programs like Penn State and Ohio State, which still lie ahead for Michigan this season.

Does O’Korn have the ability to lead Michigan at an entirely different level of play? That’s the question keeping me awake at night.

My other concerns have to do with the play calling and the offensive line, which have not seen much of a spark. Installing a new quarterback isn’t going to prevent the leaky pass protection which led to Speight’s injury on Saturday.

And unimaginative play calling is not going to take advantage of the offensive threats and play makers the Wolverines have among the tight ends and wide receivers. The coaching staff still has to find a way to exploit the talent they have on offense, while compensating for some obvious weaknesses.

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Michigan’s offense is still a work in progress, and the addition of a new quarterback is only part of the solution.