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While the Wolverines will have to fill out with six new starters on the offensive side this spring and fall, all eyes will assuredly be on one position:
Quarterback.
With two-year starter Shea Patterson having exhausted his eligibility, the maize and blue will have a new man under center running the offense. And it’s impossible at this juncture to name a front-runner. It might even continue to be impossible after spring ball and through much of fall camp.
Call it an embarrassment of riches, that Michigan now has multiple QBs capable of leading the charge — whether it be Dylan McCaffrey, Joe Milton or even Cade McNamara. But the biggest thing is finding a guy who will come in and consistently make plays. Given that none of the above has starting experience at the college level, it’ll be a challenge for not just the players, but offensive coordinator Josh Gattis in narrowing it down.
Speaking with Jon Jansen on the In the Trenches podcast, Gattis noted that they have to find a way to make things equitable for the competitors, as to properly judge their competence.
It’s the only way that the team will truly be able to determine the new starter.
“The biggest thing we gotta do is we’ve gotta maintain a system that’s gonna be fair, that’s gonna give all the quarterbacks on the roster equal opportunity to push themselves and apply themselves to be able to compete for the job,” Gattis said. “It’s often a challenge during the season because when you have a starter in the past, your backups don’t always get a fair amount of reps – they’re getting them with the twos, with the threes. But they’re not given the same opportunity as the starter, whereas compared to in spring ball, we’ve gotta develop a system of reps and opportunities to allow the quarterbacks on our roster to compete with a fair amount of opportunity of reps. Whether that’s splitting time with the ones, splitting time with the twos by rotation.”
Part of the issue is the development of McNamara, Gattis notes.
While most think of it as a two-man race between McCaffrey and Milton, McNamara has earned the right through what he showed in practice a year ago. If it was a two-quarterback race, it would be an easier proposition, Gattis says.
He explains more about the importance of giving them each a chance to compete and going from there.
“It’s something we’ve gotta be able to manage, and it’s a challenge when you have multiple quarterbacks,” Gattis said. “If the job was just coming down to just two guys, then obviously it’s just a two-way system. We feel Cade has developed. We feel Joe has developed. We’re really excited to see Joe, excited to see Dylan. We gotta figure out a way to get those guys an equal amount of opportunities to show what they can do and lead this team in the direction we need them.”