Don’t buy the talk of a quarterback competition because when the fall rolls around Michigan football will have Shea Patterson starting at quarterback.
There are a lot of Michigan football fans that want to see a real competition at quarterback, one that eventually sees Shea Patterson get replaced as the starting quarterback.
The only problem with that is that Patterson is still the best quarterback on the roster and no amount of competition, whether it’s real or not, is going to change that.
Patterson is going to be the starting quarterback for Michigan football next season and outside of a major injury, there really is no doubt about it.
Dylan McCaffrey is a talented kid and so is Joe Milton. But neither are as good as Patterson right now and even though he didn’t finish as well as he could have, Patterson still had a really good year last season.
It’s funny how quickly people forget winning 10 straight games including three straight over ranked teams. The touchdown pass to Donovan Peoples-Jones, which broke open the Michigan State game was another iconic moment and one that Michigan fans should cherish.
Instead, they blame Patterson for some of the offensive issues, when the real issue has been the playcalling.
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Patterson certainly could have played better against both Ohio State and Florida. But both of those games gave us an in-depth look at what happens when Michigan can’t beat teams physically.
The Wolverines played at a deliberately slow pace because they thought they could overpower everyone and it made them incredibly predictable on offense. Still, Patterson threw for more than 2,200 yards and accounted for 25 total touchdowns while having just seven interceptions.
And with the news that Patterson is looking very comfortable in the new offense installed by Josh Gattis, it’s hard to see how anyone, even McCaffrey can realistically push for the job.
“(Patterson) is acing the offense right now,” Tight end Nick Eubanks said to the Detroit Free Press. “That’s who most of the guys go to if they need help with the concepts of the offense. Yeah, he’s acing it.”
Patterson has earned it. He has a great rapport with all of the wide receivers and he has proven he can win in clutch situations like he did last season at Northwestern.
Obviously, he has areas he needs to improve and while the scheme wasn’t great, Patterson also needs to play better against Ohio State. He knows that and that’s also why he came back — to win that game.
That’s the mindset I want the quarterback of Michigan football to have and the quarterback of this team, like it or not, is Patterson.
For better or worse, Michigan has hitched its wagon to him and unless something drastic happens, it’s hard to see that changing at all this season. Patterson is going to be the quarterback and that makes it up to him to deliver.