Michigan Football: 2023 QB options outside of Dante Moore are slim

Now that Dante Moore is trending hard to Oregon football, we look at what that means for Michigan football QB recruiting in 2023. 

If Michigan football does miss on Dante Moore as expected right now, then the Wolverines will shift their attention to other prospects.

Their main focus has been and should continue to be on 2024 five-star Jadyn Davis, who is now the most important recruit on the board in either the 2023 or 2024 class.

Michigan football is about to miss on a second, in-state, five-star QB, and the only way to rectify that is to land a high-ranking QB of its own. Of course, with the state of Michigan’s NIL game, who knows if it’s even possible to land a five-star QB.

But Davis and his father seemed to be really impressed by Michigan. Besides, as we have seen with J.J. McCarthy and Aidan Hutchinson, NIL can happen in a real way at Michigan and if Davis joined the program, his value would be right there with McCarthy’s.

There have been some projections from Rivals’ recruiting experts so far and Michigan football is the leader for Davis according to the On3 prediction machine, but it’s early and as we all know, those sorts of things don’t carry much weight.

Getting Davis back on campus for the recruiting BBQ in July would be massive. That’s the next step on the agenda. Now, let’s get to 2023.

Backup options in 2023 at quarterback

Missing out on Dante Moore is a disaster for Michigan football. Part of the reason is that the Wolverines prioritized him heavily, even more than CJ Carr and we saw how that worked out.

Regardless, it means there is a serious question of whether the Wolverines will land a quarterback in the 2023 class. Our Kyler Kregel broke down some options not long ago, but one of those, four-star Avery Johnson is set to come off the board in early July, so count Michigan out.

The Wolverines have shown some interest in Johnson and were reportedly going to watch him throw and potentially offer but they didn’t and I don’t see any offer in the coming days making much of an impact.

Kansas State is going to keep him home and while there could always be a chance for a flip, it’s not as easy as people think.

Rickie Collins is another name you will hear. He’s committed to Purdue right now and is ranked as the No. 11 QB in the 2023 class. He’s also out of Baton Rouge and when the Tigers miss out on Dante Moore too, my guess is they turn their attention to Collins.

In-state QB Brady Drogosh could be another option. He’s probably the most realistic. He’s ranked 26th among QBs in the 247 sports composite rankings and is 494 overall, as well as the No. 11 player in the state of Michigan.

The Wolverines didn’t offer and back in late April, Cincinnati did and was able to get the commitment of Drogosh less than a week later. So this seems like the best shot for a flip because there isn’t a deep-seated relationship.

The Bearcats are fresh off a playoff berth too and were able to take control quickly. But that was just two months ago, so maybe Michigan football could do the same thing and you have to think an offer from Jim Harbaugh would be impactful for the in-state QB.

Yet, Michigan football hasn’t offered any other QBs yet in 2023 offers because all of the eggs were in the basket of Dante Moore. It was a risky strategy but the Wolverines also have some numbers at the position that made it possible to do.

Not only did U-M take two quarterbacks in 2022 in Alex Orji and Jayden Denegal, but Michigan football also has Davis Warren, a former walk-on who impressed during the spring.

Warren is a sophomore but didn’t play in any games in 2021, so he would be a redshirt freshman. He played well in the spring game and some in the program have said he’s capable of starting in the MAC and with some development, who knows, maybe he could start at Michigan.

The Wolverines are still looking for the guy that’s going to replace J.J. McCarthy who will either leave after 2023 (for the draft) or in 2024 after he graduates. I find it hard to believe he sticks around until 2024 but J.J. is a different cat and it wouldn’t surprise me either.

Ideally, Michigan would have a five-star like Jadyn Davis to replace him, but otherwise, the Wolverines will need one of the other current QBs: Orji, Denegal, or Warren, to step up, and over the next two seasons, they’ll be competing to be that guy.

And with the way Michigan’s QB recruiting is going, one of them might well be the guy.