Michigan football’s penultimate regular season game in 2024 couldn’t have had more storylines at quarterback.
Davis Warren was the starter and he had perhaps his best game yet. Alex Orji rode the bench, despite having started multiple games. Bryce Underwood, the No. 1 recruit in the country who had flipped from LSU to Michigan earlier in the week, was on hand (at least publicly) for the first time in nearly a year.
And then there was true freshman Jadyn Davis. Once a five-star recruit, Davis signed a four-star. Expected to be the future of the position at that time, the Charlotte (N.C.) Providence Day signal caller was suddenly an afterthought, even in a game where he got his first (and thus far his only) career snap — a handoff to running back Tavierre Dunlap which went the distance.
It was fair to wonder, in this new age of college football, if that would be it. It used to be all about competition, but now it’s all about instant gratification. Yet, Davis told the Charlotte Observer, despite Underwood signing, and the Wolverines bringing in Fresno State QB Mikey Keene via the transfer portal, that he’s not going anywhere.
“My dad always told me to be where your feet are. I’ve never been scared to compete or anything like that. I know college football is now a true definition of a business. … I’m going to do what is right for me and my family and keep that between us and God. He’s the one who already had that plan written, we’re just walking in that path. That’s where our head space is right now, but as I’m in Ann Arbor, Michigan, I am a fully committed Michigan Wolverine.”
It wouldn’t be surprising, given the limited depth chart, if Davis gets some playing time in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Alabama. Either way, the forgotten man in the room is using the newfound competition as an opportunity instead of looking at it as a detriment.
Davis has four full years of eligibility after this season after redshirting in his freshman year.