Michigan Football: Why Joe Milton shouldn’t play against Rutgers

If Joe Milton ends up being the backup quarterback for Michigan football, then he shouldn’t play this week against Rutgers.

One of the interesting things going on with Michigan football this week is the battle between Brandon Peters and Joe Milton to backup Shea Patterson.

That job did belong to Dylan McCaffrey, but then McCaffrey broke his collarbone against Penn State last weekend. Now if something happens to Patterson, either Peters or Milton will be taking over.

Hopefully, something like that never happens because this has been a wondrous season for Patterson. He has helped lead the Wolverines to eight straight wins and his play the past three weeks has been incredible, making impact plays and also taking care of the football.

McCaffrey was also effective when he was on the field, even against Notre Dame in the opener. But now, the Wolverines won’t have his services. Jim Harbaugh said he would determine who the backup quarterback was this week in practice.

For my money, Milton should be the guy. He’s more talented, he can run and he gives Michigan a better chance to score points consistently. He just seems more dynamic than Peters. But there are other considerations that need to be kept in mind with Milton.

The freshman has played in just one game so far this season and if he plays no more than four games, Michigan football can count this as a redshirt season. That would give him four years of eligibility left. Harbaugh also said this week that the team wants to try and keep that if it can.

That’s why even though I think Milton should be the backup this week, I don’t think he should play in mop-up duty against Rutgers. Why waste a game of eligibility in a blowout win? If he really is the backup UM  should save him for a competitive situation against Indiana, Ohio State and potentially the Big Ten championship game or College Football Playoff.

Sure, it would be nice to get him some snaps. Yet, it’s not worth burning his redshirt. Save Milton for when he is absolutely needed and in the meantime, put him up against the Michigan defense, surely there could be no better preparation for a young quarterback than trying to move the ball against the Wolverines top-ranked defense.

At the very least, Milton isn’t going to learn much against Rutgers. If Michigan is winning by a bunch, he will mostly be handing the ball off, so why not let Peters do that. Let him show what we can do and maybe allow him to get some confidence back.

No matter what though, Michigan football should not waste Milton in a meaningless situation versus Rutgers, not if he really is going to be the backup quarterback the rest of the way.