Michigan Football: Could playing two QBs work for Wolverines?

Michigan football coaches feel good about their quarterback battle. However, with little time to prep for the season, playing two QBs is viable.

If there is one topic just about every Michigan football fan is interested in right now, it’s the upcoming quarterback battle for the Wolverines heading into the 2020 season.

Recently, offensive coordinator Josh Gattis called it a three-horse race between Dylan McCaffrey, Joe Milton and Cade McNamara. McCaffrey is a redshirt junior, Milton a redshirt sophomore and McNamara a redshirt freshman.

While many have speculated on who the next starting quarterback will be, Michael Spath of Wolverines Digest, quoting sources within the program, that said, anyone, saying they know, doesn’t actually know anything.

"“You just don’t know because of the separation, and anyone telling you ‘This guy leads or that guy leads’ is just guessing or lying because we won’t know until they come back together, get in pads and throw against Don Brown’s defense.”"

That makes sense and I don’t think anything is settled right now. And not to discount McNarama, who as the article points out, put up some gaudy high school numbers. But he doesn’t have the size of either Milton or McCaffrey, the athleticism or the arm strength.

That doesn’t mean he won’t be a quality quarterback. It just means it’s going to be tough for him to beat out the likes of McCaffrey and Milton, who are each being treated as dark horses for the Heisman depending on who wins the job.

But then again, according to Wolverine Digest, it’s going to be tough for the coaching staff to decide upon a starter.

"“That’s for two reasons – 1) I think the coaches want to extend this competition as long as they can, to give all the quarterbacks an equal shot, and to keep them invested in the program 2) they have different skill sets, especially if it’s Joe and Dylan, and there’s a scenario in which you could play both consistently.”"

The last sentence is the one that caught my eye. It’s not the first time someone has speculated both could play a lot this season, it’s I view I’ve held for a while. Michigan coaches are going to want to keep that other quarterback around if possible and engaged, at least for the rest of the season. Neither is proven, so just because one guy opens as the starter, doesn’t mean the season will end that way.

However, since McCaffrey is a skilled runner and Milton has that elite arm strength, it’s possible they could complement each other really well on the field. Jim Harbaugh and Josh Gattis would have to be ingenious about how they made it work, but it’s possible.

At the very least it seems the coaches are going to give both Milton and McCaffrey the chance to show what they can do, on the field, in live game action. Let them both play until one of them plays well enough that they can’t be taken off the field.