Breaking down Michigan football QB Davis Warren against Fresno State

What He Needs to Improve

I want to be clear that Warren had a solid game for a first time starter. The mistakes we saw are fixable and he has a ton of talent. These are simply the things that are going to allow him to elevate this Michigan football offense to what we've grown used to the last few years.

I also think though that Warren will tell you that Saturday was not his best performance. There are two big things that I noticed that he needs to clean up. First, he struggled to read the defense post-snap. A great example of this was on a play early in the third quarter. After a holding penalty, Michigan football comes to the line with a 2nd and 17 at the Fresno State 41 yard line.

Michigan football lines up in a spread formation with three receivers to one side of the field. They're going to run a slot fade concept out of this set. Fresno State shows Cover 1 pre-snap. If you're lost all you need to know is that based on what play Michigan is running and how Fresno State lines up Davis Warren is expecting to throw the ball deep to Sophomore receiver Semaj Morgan running a slot fade route.

The problem is that the defense shifts as the ball is snapped into a cover 3 look, which leads to them covering Morgan and leaving Youngstown State Transfer CJ Charleston wide open. Warren doesn't recognize this however and overthrows Morgan for an incompletion instead of getting the ball to CJ Charleston. Michigan would have to settle for a long field goal on the drive.

This was emblematic of what we saw all night from Warren. He wasn't making adjustments post-snap and struggled to move through his reads -- often locking onto his first read instead of looking for his second and third option on the play. Keep in mind this was his first start and honestly exactly what you'd expect given that. This is a tough offense for a quarterback and everyone should expect it to take some time for Warren to settle in and be comfortable running it.