Predicting 5 key position battles for Michigan football this fall

July is the final month we will have to go without Michigan football as the Wolverines will open their 2024 season against Fresno State on August 31st.

There are plenty of positions up for grabs. After graduating a ton of players and sending 13 draft picks to the NFL, Michigan football has no shortage of players vying for playing time.

In terms of position battles, Michigan football has a few. We'll start with the quarterback position but here's our prediction for how five key position battles will play out for the Wolverines.

Quarterback: Alex Orji over the field

Quarterback is the one position battle everyone is focused on. There's no hiding the quarterback and that position is going to play a huge role in the success or failure of Michigan football in 2024.

I've been clear that Orji winning the job is ideal for Michigan football. Nothing against Davis Warren or Jack Tuttle, but they aren't running options. They can't even do what J.J. McCarthy did.

For years, the lack of a running quarterback hindered Michigan football. McCarthy helped alleviate that the past few seasons, even though I wish he would have been run more, but Orji is the biggest threat to defenses due to his legs.

Tuttle is the biggest threat though. He was a four-star recruit coming out of high school and has started Big Ten games before. He also completed over 80 percent of his passes last season, even though he attempted just 17 passes.

Tuttle has improved since coming to Michigan. He wasn't healthy this spring. He is now and my guess is that the starting job comes down to Tuttle and Orji. Maybe there is even a timeshare to start the season like we saw in 2022, but by the end of the year, Orji will be the guy.