How many yards will Cade McNamara pass for this year?

While a lot of the focus on Michigan football‘s 2021-22 team is on the defensive side of the ball, and rightfully so, the offense can’t be forgotten.

Michigan football has a lot of talent on that side of the ball, rivals be damned. It may not be as much as Ohio State, but it’s still the second-most talented side of the ball in the conference.

While U-M’s defense will be the focus of many fans and media members this season, the offense should take a major leap forward this fall.

Cade McNamara will be slinging the ball around as QB1 for Michigan football this fall. No, Alan Bowman is not going to come in and take Cade’s job (unless Cade just completely forgets how to throw a football come fall practices). Alan Bowman is literally just an extra arm and a veteran presence, nothing more, nothing less.

With all the QBs that have transferred out of Michigan lately, it is very good to have Alan Bowman as extra depth and in case of injuries, he can potentially start in a game here or there. But this is Cade’s team (at least for now, until J.J. McCarthy is ready to go). So all of these “Alan could potentially still win the starting gig” rumors have to stop.

Anyways, Michigan football brings back a lot of WR talent.

Yes, they lost Nico Collins to the draft this past year, but Ronnie Bell is back (who is very reliable), and although Giles Jackson transferred out, Michigan still has Cornelius Johnson, AJ Henning, Roman Wilson, Mike Sainristil, potential dynamic transfer Daylen Baldwin and the freshman receivers. It really sucks that U-M couldn’t keep Xavier Worthy, but the past is the past, and Michigan still has plenty of talented receivers.

The only thing I am concerned about with the WR group is there is really only one true WR1 and that is Ronnie Bell. And sometimes even Ronnie Bell has been inconsistent at times. That means that the other receivers will probably have to split time to make an impact. I really want at least one other receiver to separate from the others this fall and be Cade’s go-to WR2. Having three is even more ideal but there needs to be at least two.

Cade is an accurate QB. That’s one of his biggest calling cards. I’ve gone on record before and said that Cade is like a Mac Jones-type of player. That’s his ceiling. He doesn’t have the biggest arm as Joe Milton did, but he makes up for that with his accuracy and decision-making.

While we haven’t seen a ton of Cade play QB in the Big Ten, I still think he is slept on. I believe he is one of the more underrated QBs in the Big Ten.

No, I don’t think he will ever be a Trevor Lawrence-type, or even peak Mac Jones, but he still can be very good. I really want him to take the college football world by storm this fall. If he can take that next step, coming in as a former high four-star QB recruit, he can be a top 2-3 QB in the Big Ten no doubt in my mind.

The key to his success though, as I mentioned, is the WR play. The WRs need to help him out, and a few WRs will need to really step up this fall.

In terms of his true potential, if everything goes right (and he doesn’t get injured or struggle) he can definitely pass John Navarre’s single-season Michigan passing yard record of 3,331 from ’03.

To be honest, it’s insane that his record has still stood for this long. I’d say if everything goes right, he’ll pass for around 3,500-3,700 yards. For this to happen though, Cade will need contributions from everyone, including the running backs and tight ends as well. As for his touchdowns and other statistics, 25 TDs with 7 interceptions is what I feel.

Another major thing is the run will have to pop this year. As they say in college football, being able to run opens up the passing game.

That statement is true on so many levels. So U-M fans, he may not be our savior J.J. McCarthy, but I still feel that Cade can be a really good bridge QB for Michigan football for a season or two. Only time will tell though. September can’t come soon enough.