Michigan Football: Joe Milton emerging as Wolverines top QB

Michigan football may not be playing this fall, but the Wolverines are still practicing and quarterback Joe Milton is turning heads.

It’s kind of gotten lost in the shuffle, but the Michigan football team is still practicing, despite the lack of a fall season.

Jim Harbaugh and company are essentially treating this as the spring football they didn’t get and are working about 20 hours per week with the team.

The workouts are voluntary. Players were given the chance to go home and some did, before coming back. One guy who’s been there from the start is Joe Milton and he’s turning heads.

Milton is entering his third year in the program and is competing with Dylan McCaffrey for the starting quarterback job.

So far, according to Sam Webb of the Michigan Insider ($), who quotes multiple sources, it hasn’t been all that close and here are the three key quotes he used from those sources:

"“You’d have to be blind not to say Joe was out front right now.”“Joe’s bad days have been some of the best QB days since the offense was put in last year.”“Joe looks special.”"

Michigan football fans have reason to be happy with those comments, even though it’s early and it’s coming from what’s essentially a spring camp.

But still, Milton has definitely made strides from a year ago. We know that watching him work out with Devin Gardner, but him mastering the system was part of taking that next step.

And it sounds like that’s no issue either for Milton. Here’s more from Webb ($):

"“There have been critiques too. One of the latest shared with me was his tendency to predetermine some of his throws. His eval hasn’t been downgraded a ton because of that though. Why, you ask? Because multiple observers have told me “Joe knows the offense now.” And because he knows the offense, he has a much better understanding of where to go with the ball. Plus, he has “special” arm talent that allows him to get the ball places other QB’s can’t.”"

Milton has always been special when it comes to his arm. That’s what made Adam Schefter take notice of him as a freshman a few years ago.

But playing quarterback is more than having an elite arm but the fact that Milton is excelling and has grown in the system is a really good sign, for whenever Michigan plays football again.

Michigan has more than one good QB

While Milton has emerged as the top guy early in camp, others have impressed too and one name Webb mentioned Monday was that of Cade McNamara.

McNamara has been throwing the football much better of late and Webb said he’s even out-performed McCaffrey in a couple of practices according to his sources.

That’s interesting and it’s a positive sign for Michigan. The reality is that either McCaffrey or Milton is likely to transfer at some point. Probably not before the spring season, but likely before next fall.

That will leave Michigan with the remaining quarterback unless Milton really goes off and ends up in the NFL, then maybe McCaffrey would stick around or maybe it would be the J.J. McCarthy show?

Either way, the Wolverines are going to need another veteran arm in the program. Even now, it’s important. What if McCaffrey transferred or there was an injury?

Crazy things happen in college football and having a third quality quarterback is a nice problem to have, so hopefully, McNarama will continue to shine.