Stop Blaming Davis Warren for Michigan football loss to Texas

Reading the Defense

Another problem from the Fresno State game was Warren got locked onto his primary read on a play too often and struggle to read the defense and work through his progression to find the open receiver. Watch the play below and look just at the stripe on the top of Davis' helmet. You can see how he clearly works off his first read, looking at multiple receivers to eventually find Semaj Morgan wide open.

Now the problem here, and the reason the ball is completely overthrown, is Warren never sets his feet which causes his ball placement to be inconsistent and inaccurate. It's putting all these concepts and mechanics together every play while also understanding and directing what every other player on offense is supposed to be doing that gets challenging for any quarterback. The good news, Warren did it at times throughout the game. If you watch the last drive Warren was forced out of the pocket several times, and in the process he always kept his eyes down the field looking for the open man. He showed great ability to evade the Texas pass rush and eventually set his feet and drive the ball. The last drive was what Michigan needs Warren to play like every single down.

It wasn't perfect throughout the game, there were multiple examples of Warren misreading the defense and not being on the same page as his receivers. But to be consistently great at something you first have to just show the ability to do it by being sporadically great. Warren has the ability, it's just about getting more reps and experience.