Michigan Football: Analyzing the quarterback candidates

With the Michigan football season coming to an end, it’s time to look forward to next season and wonder who will be the next QB.

Having a senior quarterback is both a blessing and a curse. Depending on who you speak with, Shea Patterson could’ve been either, but that’s not what we’re talking about. The veteran leadership is the blessing while knowing that the man under center isn’t coming back is the curse. With the culmination of the season, Michigan football has to deal with the latter.

In a mere two years, after transferring from Ole Miss as a sophomore, Shea accounted for a combined 5,661 yards, 45 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions – which are impressive numbers, but occasionally, numbers can be deceiving.

When you sit on your couch and listen carefully as the commentators list statistical accomplishments, you might conclude that the person they’re referring to is exceptionally gifted at what they do. Patterson, for instance, set records like throwing at least four touchdowns in consecutive games, most passing yards by a Michigan quarterback against Michigan State, and so on and so forth.

But when you look at the history of Michigan football, breaking those records isn’t as tricky as you’d think. Historically, the Wolverines have been a two tight run-first offense that relied very little on the pass. Imagine a military academy offense, but with 50% more run plays inside the tackles.

To prove the point further, Jim, over his four seasons at Michigan, was surpassed by the two-year starter Patterson for total pass yards (5,661, 5,449).

That’s not to say Shea is a bad quarterback. To earn a scholarship and play football at any Division I program you have to have some level of skill; however, sometimes good isn’t enough.

What’s missing?

Jim Harbaugh arrived in Ann Arbor with a target on his back, and it wasn’t the other Big Ten schools or really any college program with the scope, it was the enormous fanbase that expected a resurrection of the Bo Schembechler era.

Well, he’s done that, and then some. Sure, Jim hasn’t found a way to defeat that team down south, but then again, he was a bad call away from doing so.

As to the win totals and bowl games, Jim’s got that in the bag. In his first 11 years, Bo carried an abysmal postseason record of 0-7, and his overall record through his first five was 48-6, one victory greater than his former quarterback turned coach.

Comparisons to the legendary Bo aside, Jim’s time at Michigan football has lacked extraordinary talent at one specific position: Quarterback.

Modern offense

The Wolverines are in desperate need of a speedster with an arm cannon at the quarterback position, and while Shea was sold as just that, he rushed for a total of 476 yards between his time at Ole Miss and UM.

For comparison, we will turn to  Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence; the men who have led their respective teams all the way to the game that matters most. In Joe’s final and Heisman winning season, he beat out Shea’s rushing total by two yards, and we’re not going to into the rest of the numbers between him and Shea.

Finally, we have Trevor Lawrence, who’s the top rusher out of the three with 514 yards. Josh Gattis offense has supplied the blueprints for the next man up to compete with the best, but the question is, who’s is that guy?

The candidates

On the one hand, you have Dylan McCaffrey, a dynamic pocket passer with the legs to outrun even the fittest defensive lineman.

On the other hand, you have Joe Milton who is the same height as Dylan with a full 20 pounds of extra muscle, and although I haven’t seen them race, I’m going to guess he’s the faster of the two – ESPN has their forty times as seven-tenths of a second apart in favor of Milton.

ESPN also tells us these men are almost identical according to the rankings. Both fall inside the ESPN Top 300 at 117 (McCaffrey) and 119 (Milton), and they have indistinguishable Scout Grades.

The significant separation between the two is Dylan is a year ahead of Milton, which might give him a slight edge in terms of experience. Still, both quarterbacks have equal time under the revamped Josh Gattis scheme.

What we learned from gameplay is Dylan earned second-string duties, albeit slightly. McCaffrey threw a total of 20 passes to Milton’s seven.

Who’s the man?

Jim Harbaugh once said: “That is football. It started back when they had leather helmets before they started putting numerals on the side and names on the backs of jerseys — that playing time would be earned. And starting positions would be earned, and your contribution to the team being earned. It’s been that way since the inception of football.”

Who is going to be the guy next fall? Whoever earns it.