Alex Orji has an early lead in Michigan football QB race and that's a good thing

Michigan football fall camp has been going on for about a week now. The pads can't come on until the fifth practice but things will be picking up soon in terms of position battles.

The one position battle every Michigan football fan is focused on is quarterback. Three quarterbacks are in serious contention for the job and that's Alex Orji, Davis Warren, and Jack Tuttle.

Jayden Denegal and Jadyn Davis are also in the mix. Davis is a highly-ranked true freshman but it sounds like he'll be redshirting. Denegal would need to take a big jump from the spring in order to seriously contend for the job.

I've said that the best-case scenario for Michigan football is Alex Orji winning the job. He's a dual threat but the former four-star recruit has a dynamic arm. Accuracy needs to improve but Orji has worked on his game constantly this summer and according to Sam Webb of The Michigan Insider, it's made a difference early in camp.

Alex Orji leading Michigan QB competition

Webb wrote that as of the first few days, Orji has been the best quarterback. Jack Tuttle is 100 percent but hasn't been a full-go since before spring ball. There could still be some rust there, although Sherrone Moore praised the throwing of Tuttle this offseason.

Yet, Orji brings a different dynamic, and if he can throw the ball well enough to be the starting quarterback, the running game will be more difficult to stop. That's the bread and butter for the Wolverines. They just need Orji or whoever plays quarterback to move the chains on third down, keep defenses honest, and take care of the ball.

Having a running quarterback will also pay off in the red zone and short-yardage situations. It's what made Urban Meyer's team so maddening. If nothing worked, he'd just run the quarterback and most of the time, found a way to keep moving the chains.

Orji could do the same thing and having to defend Orji/Edwards in the zone read doesn't sound fun for defenses. It's still early and the pads need to come on, but this is a solid development.