ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It wasn’t a bad showing, but it wasn’t one that inspired confidence in the Michigan football offense, either.
Former walk-on Davis Warren got the start at quarterback for the Wolverines in Week 1 over expected starter Alex Orji. He went 15-for-25 for 118 yards, one touchdown and one interception. But given the vanilla state of the offense — Michigan uncharacteristically didn’t use many motions and also spent a lot of his passes in short game and screens — it appeared that the Wolverines were more focused on getting him in rhythm than it was airing it out. With Texas on deck, it does stand to reason that Michigan would want to win the game without showing much.
Still, Warren felt that he left a lot of plays on the field, but points to what he’s been able to do in practice against the elite Michigan defense as an indicator of what he and the offense are capable of.
“Definitely a few things here and there, lacked some details and precision of the pass game that starts with me as the quarterback to do a better job of that — and left some meat on the bone,” Warren said. “But, I felt like it was the same kind of way in fall camp — started, kind of just took a little time to get going, but once we started rolling and had confidence in each other, it was an explosive offense, and explosive plays all over the place.
“And those are the keys, those 15-plus-yard pass plays. And if we can kind of get those going a little bit more, I have a ton of confidence in the guys that we can do that, everyone, whether it’s Colston, Semaj, T. Mo., Peyton, Kendrick, Marlin, all those guys. So I’m just really excited to get back to work this week. Got a real great opportunity, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
According to PFF, Warren was best when not playing on screens or play actions, but as far as the offense itself went, though those plays were executed, they were the least successful.
Warren says that the plan isn’t to stay in the horizontal passing game and that Michigan will work vertically. Despite the disjointed nature of the offense, he’s confident that, based on what he’s seen in practice, things will work out for the Wolverines in short order.
“We’re going to push the ball down the field when the defense gives us a chance to so,” Warren said. “We did in practice a ton, and I know it’s going to come. Just got to be patient and make those throws when they get there. And I’m not concerned or worried that we’re not going to push the ball down the field. I know we have the playmakers to do it, and the best way to do that is just stay ahead of the sticks.
“So the more we can stay ahead of the sticks and just keep going, the more that play action is going to open up, and different things like that.”
Warren will face a much taller task than even his predecessor, J.J. McCarthy, did once he became the starter. That’s because No. 3 Texas is coming to town on Saturday with a noon kickoff slated at The Big House.