Michigan football has always believed in Alex Orji as a quarterback

There is one big question facing the Michigan football team going into the 2024 season and that's how effective will the quarterback play be?

J.J. McCarthy, a Michigan football legend, is now playing for the Minnesota Vikings. He's out for the 2024 season but the point remains that the Wolverines will have a new starting quarterback.

While Jack Tuttle and Davis Warren are in the mix, the best option for Michigan football has always been Alex Orji. He's got the athleticism to be a dangerous weapon at the position, as long as he can be an effective thrower.

That's something Orji has been out to prove since high school. One thing that drew him to Michigan football was the fact that the Wolverines viewed him as a quarterback. Yes, they used him as a kick returner, but outside of that, he's played quarterback.

Michigan football always believed in Alex Orji as a quarterback

The four-star recruit has all the arm strength you could ask for. Accuracy and being able to read and decipher defenses is the bigger challenge. People always talk about managing the game as though it's a bad thing but that's what Orji needs to do -- manage the game and let his talents shine when the opportunity arises.

"My athleticism was something that at times I felt like I had to shy away from just to prove that I was a quarterback, because in high school, and still since then, there have been plenty of times where people have said because of my body type or my athleticism or my speed or whatever it is, that I wasn't able to play quarterback at a high level," Orji said recently to Sam Webb of The Michigan Insider.

"For a long time, it was always trying to flip that script, and then it kind of became me embracing the fact that I'm athletic, that I'm strong, that I'm a big guy, and that I'm a Black quarterback. It wasn't always easy to embrace that, but through a bit of maturation, it took time to get to that point."

Athleticism is a weapon for Orji. It's what got him on the field last season in the last few games of the season and if Michigan football wins the Big Ten title in 2024, it will likely be due to a breakout season from Orji as much as anything else.