Michigan Football: Thoughts on the QB position post spring

Following Michigan football’s spring practices, we are going to break down each position heading into the fall and we start with the quarterbacks. 

The spring didn’t go exactly as planned for Michigan football as far as the quarterback competition was concerned.

Former five-star quarterback J.J. McCarthy and incumbent starter Cade McNamara were supposed to wage a heated battle during spring practices, which would serve as a prelude to the fall quarterback competition.

However, we all know what happened. McCarthy was put on a plan for rest due to some shoulder soreness and during the spring game, he worked only as a holder.

McNamara, by all accounts, played really well this spring, and even though he wasn’t all that spectacular in the spring game, in limited action, there’s no doubt he helped himself this spring.

McNamara and McCarthy have both been working with quarterback gurus and people seem to forget that Cade was once committed to Notre Dame and recruited by Bama. He was a top-10 pro-style QB and a solid four-star.

McNamara also has a lot of moxie. It was on display all last season. He shrugged off a rough finish against Michigan State and drove Michigan football for the game-winning TD at Penn State. He also rebounded from an interception thrown against Ohio State with the beautiful pass up the sideline to Cornelius Johnson to help the Wolverines get back in front.

McNamara is a Big Ten championship-winning starting quarterback as he said recently and taking the job away for him won’t be easy.

What did we learn this spring about Michigan’s quarterbacks?

We learned that the Wolverines have some depth. Davis Warren looks like a promising prospect and a guy worth developing if Michigan can keep him away from the transfer portal.

Alex Orji also offered some excitement in the spring game. He was an underrated addition in the 2022 recruiting class and a kid Michigan flipped from Virginia Tech late.

The Wolverines didn’t land an elite quarterback in the 2022 class, so they wanted to take someone with upside and Orji is it. He can throw and run, and under the direction of Matt Weiss, it would be interesting to see how Michigan used a true dual-threat.

McCarthy is a dual-threat guy too, but I don’t want to see him running a ton when he’s the starting quarterback. It’s great to have that option and he’s stellar at it. But Michigan also doesn’t need to expose him to unnecessary hits.

I wouldn’t immediately count out McCarthy for the starting job this fall but it’s going to be hard to overtake McNamara in fall camp. It will have to be won on the field and I really don’t see Cade making that very easy.

Both guys are going to play this season, especially a lot in those first few games and I don’t think anyone can know for sure what will happen after that.

What we do know, is that Michigan football is in a really good place at the quarterback position.