Michigan football has a great many questions to answer, not just this fall, but once spring ball kicks off about a month from now.
After nine years with the program, Jim Harbaugh departed for the NFL and the entire defensive staff left as well. There has been substantial player turnover, with quarterback J.J. McCarthy, running back Blake Corum, defensive back Mike Sainristil, the starting offensive line and others leaving for the NFL. The new coaching staff has been hired, with former offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore elevated to the head coaching spot. While there have yet to be many official announcements of his assistants, we know who all of them are at this point.
ESPN weighed in on Wednesday on what each top 25 team’s biggest question to answer this spring is, and for the Michigan Wolverines, it’s all about who will replace J.J. McCarthy under center.
Who will win the Wolverines’ quarterback battle?
With Jim Harbaugh’s mission of bringing a natty back to Ann Arbor now accomplished (and with Harbaugh now the coach of the Los Angeles Chargers), the Wolverines will go through a bit of a reset under new head coach Sherrone Moore. That starts and ends with who will replace J.J. McCarthy at quarterback. Jack Tuttle being approved for a seventh year of eligibility changes the dynamic for Moore. In addition to Tuttle, Jadyn Davis No. 166 in the 2024 ESPN 300), the cycle’s fourth-best dual-threat quarterback, comes into the program as part of a 16th-ranked class and joins Jayden Denegal and Alex Orji on the roster. The beginning of the Moore era will be defined by who gets the keys to the offense.
Much of the offseason hype has been built around Alex Orji and Jayden Denegal for the position. Denegal received late hype around bowl prep, but Orji — who mimicked Jalen Milroe while preparing for Alabama in the Rose Bowl — came in nearly every game as a special package, much like his predecessor, McCarthy, did in 2021.
Tuttle’s return does make things interesting, as does the freshman, Jadyn Davis. But our feeling is it will be one of the aforementioned two, given the upside they provide. Nonetheless, the field will get an opportunity throughout spring ball to impress and perhaps cement themselves as the quarterback of the future. Just as big of a question for us is: who will be the go-to wide receivers?