For once, Ohio State‘s quarterback situation isn’t perceived as the best in the Big Ten Conference.
Dating back nearly 20 years, OSU has tended to have the best QB under center, as the Buckeyes went from Troy Smith to Todd Boeckmann (the outlier) to Terrelle Pryor to Braxton Miller to J.T. Barrett to Dwayne Haskins to Justin Fields to C.J. Stroud. Now, that team down south will have an unknown commodity starting, likely Kyle McCord, who’s entering his third season.
While nearly every Big Ten school will be starting a new QB (Penn State, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Iowa — though the Hawkeyes have former Michigan starter Cade McNamara), Michigan doesn’t have that problem. It returns J.J. McCarthy, who is coming off of his first year as a starter.
Friend of the site, Bill Bender at Sporting News, put out a power ranking of best QB situations in the conference earlier this month, and when he looks to Ann Arbor, he sees the best situation overall.
1. Michigan
Starter: J.J. McCarthy, junior (13 career starts at Michigan)
Backup: Jack Tuttle, graduate transfer
Situation heading into the fall: Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has the quarterback position figured out. It took a few games, but McCarthy beat out Cade McNamara for the starting job last season. He is 12-1 as a starter and led Michigan to its first victory at Ohio State since 2000 last season. He averaged 255.7 passing yards with eight TDs and three interceptions through Michigan’s last three games. McCarthy is a five-star talent, and projections vary on his potential place in the 2024 NFL Draft. Tuttle provides a veteran presence as a backup, and Michigan locked in five-star quarterback Jadyn Davis for the 2024 recruiting class.
After winning the conference the past two seasons, Michigan football is finally in the pole position in the eyes of pundits and plaudits to win the conference again this year. Of course, both Ohio State and Penn State will provide hurdles, as both have a lot of talent, even if their quarterbacks are unproven as of yet.
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