Tag: Davis Warren

Previewing the Michigan offense ahead of Oregon’s Week 10 matchup

The Michigan offense has struggled to find its way, but quarterback Davis Warren has settled it down lately as it prepares to face Oregon.

It’s been a trying time for the Michigan offense this season.

The Wolverines have gone through three quarterbacks due to injury or poor play and now they’re down to two signal callers after Jack Tuttle announced his retirement from the game due to concussions.

Head coach Sherrone Moore announced Davis Warren will start against the No. 1 Oregon Ducks, but expect Alex Orji to receive some snaps as well to keep the Oregon defense on its toes.

Warren has been okay this season, but far from great. He has a 67 completion percentage, which is good, but unfortunately for Michigan, he has just three touchdowns to go along with six interceptions.

“Davis (Warren) has earned the opportunity … won the spot and we will continue to roll how we did last game,” Moore said in his weekly Monday news conference.

For the Wolverine offense to succeed against Oregon, it will need to run the ball first and foremost to open up the passing game. Lately, that’s been easier said than done. The Wolverines rushed for just 119 yards in a 24-17 win over rival Michigan State. Their leading rusher, Kalel Mullings, averages 87 yards a game and 5.6 yards per carry.

The passing game has been a bit erratic because of the constant switching at the quarterback position, but tight end Colston Loveland is one of the best tight ends out there. He leads the Wolverines in receiving with 42 catches for 411 yards and four touchdowns.

As for the offensive line, it wouldn’t be a Big Ten offensive line if it wasn’t huge up front and Michigan isn’t any different. It’s led by 342-pound Myles Hinton, a six-year senior. Ducks fans should be very familiar with Hinton as he spent three seasons at Stanford before moving on to Ann Arbor.

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Michigan Wolverines name their starting QB for Week 10 game vs. No. 1 Oregon

Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore has tabbed Davis Warren to start at quarterback against No. 1 Oregon on Saturday.

This story was updated to add new information.

It’s been a challenging first season for the Michigan Wolverines and their first-year head coach Sherrone Moore.

The Wolverines (5-3) have gone through three quarterbacks and are coming off a 24-17 win over Michigan State. Moore has decided on a signal-caller for their big game with No. 1 Oregon in Week 10.

“Davis (Warren) has earned the opportunity … won the spot and we will continue to roll how we did last game,” Moore said in his weekly Monday news conference.

Moore could have gone with Alex Orji, but Warren earned the nod after he was 13-of-19 passing for 123 yards and a touchdown in their last outing.

Jack Tuttle had played in the previous two games before being declared out for the game against Michigan State. The reason was not disclosed, but Tuttle provided it Monday night.

The seventh-year quarterback announced he was medically retiring from football as a result of a fifth concussion. He also revealed his arm had not returned to normal after surgery to repair an ulnar collateral ligament injury.

In his two games this year, he had a 60 completion percentage, 306 yards, two interceptions and one touchdown.

Orji is more of a runner than a passer as he is third on team in rushing with 188 yards on the grounds and a score. As a passer, Orji has a 54% completion rate with 148 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.

Warren is more of a pocket passer with a 67% completion rate (61 of 91), good for 567 yards, but he has three touchdowns to go with his six interceptions.

We will see how he can do against the Ducks’ secondary this week. So far this year, Oregon’s defense has been playing very well, with the No. 12 total defense in the nation. The Ducks have given up an average of 173.8 passing yards per game (16th in the nation).

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Davis Warren didn’t get bitter, he got better after benching

Vast improvement in his return to the starting lineup! #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Fans and media were lamenting Michigan football continuing to start a former walk-on at quarterback after Davis Warren turned out to be a turnover machine in the first three weeks of the season. However, after being benched and not playing for four weeks, Warren returned to the starting lineup and walked of the field a conquering hero.

In the aftermath of the Wolverines’ 24-17 win over rival Michigan State, running back Donovan Edwards couldn’t express his pride over Warren’s performance any higher, giving him a full-throated defense.

“I think that if you go through a lot of like adversity, expectations on you — adversity defines who you are,” Edwards said of Warren. “And this guy right here didn’t flinch, not one bit. And that’s somebody in our huddle that we respect because of the resilience that he’s had. And the media, what the media says about him, and the expectations and all that’s been on him. So I truly respect and I appreciate him, and he deserved the game that he had and especially being able to get his start back, to be able to lead this team to victory, y’all better stop counting him out, man. Because he’s shown time and time again that he overcomes adversity in his personal life and in the football world, that he’s always going to overcome adversity. So stop questioning Davis.”

And overcome adversity, Warren did.

The Leukemia survivor handled his benching in Week 3 like a professional. As his former head coach Jim Harbaugh used to often say, ‘Don’t get bitter, get better.’ And that’s exactly what Warren did. So when he was demoted, Warren didn’t sulk, he didn’t lament his situation. Instead, he got to work — and it paid off.

“I don’t think it wasn’t really a huge adjustment for me,” Warren said. “I felt like I’d always stay prepared. That’s something Coach Campbell talked about, even after Arkansas State was like, ‘This team’s going to need you at some point again, and you got to stay ready.’ And that was just something that I took is it’s not my job to have the perspective on if getting benched was the best thing that ever happened to me, the worst thing, if it was a learning opportunity, if it was something that I always regret. It was just my job to stay ready.

“So I think just having that mental fortitude of like this is just a great opportunity for me to take a step back, get better, learn and just still try to be there for the guys. It was huge and just great to get the win.”

Even so, Warren didn’t spend much time wondering if being benched is what he needed. He spent no hindsight trying to figure out what went wrong in the past. Instead, he put it all aside and focused on the present. And with that, it helped him get out of his own head and helped him play loose when he returned as Michigan’s starter.

“I think that’s natural,” Warren said. “When things don’t go exactly how you want them to, that’s human nature to think that way. But I think, like I said, Coach Campbell did a great job keeping me up and I just turned and was like, hey, not playing. Might as well be turned back into the best practice player I can be again. And I think I had some of my best weeks of practice even when I wasn’t in there as a starter, and just staying ready. And, I think just the way it turned out, I’m just grateful.”

UM reportedly names starting QB for rivalry game vs. MSU

We now know who will be starting at quarterback for the Wolverines in Saturday’s rivalry game against Michigan State

We now know who will start at quarterback for the Michigan Wolverines in Saturday’s rivalry game against Michigan State.

The college football insider for 247Sports, Matt Zenitz, is reporting Michigan will go back to Davis Warren for Saturday night’s game against Michigan State. Warren started the Wolverines’ first three games before being benched. Warren hasn’t played since Week 3.

Warren struggled in his three starts this season for the Wolverines. He was efficient, completing 66.7% of his pass attempts. However, he also had six interceptions against two touchdown passes.

Michigan comes into this game as a slight favorite. The betting line ranged from 3 1/2 to 5 points on Friday night.

Kickoff between the Spartans and Wolverines is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on X @RobertBondy5.

Michigan football expected to start another different QB vs. MSU

Changing things up again. #GoBlue

Sherrone Moore went back to the drawing board once again, reevaluating the state of the Michigan football offense after losing to Illinois, 21-7. But with a potentially season-rectifying rivalry game against Michigan State on Saturday night, Moore is potentially pulling the plug on the short-lived Jack Tuttle experiment and going back to where he started.

According to 247Sports’ Matt Zenitz, Michigan is poised to give the starting quarterback job back to Davis Warren, who started the first three games of the season before his turnover issues caused Moore to change to Alex Orji under center. It is worth noting that in his last game as a starter, Warren went 11-for-14, with his only three incompletions being interceptions against Arkansas State.

Warren was the first quarterback to get the start at the beginning of the season, but he’s also getting the fourth crack at it. If he can get his turnover issues under control, that would be optimal, as he’s still the leading passer despite only having two and a half games to his name. And he also has the leading passing completion percentage. He was 2-1 as a starter with his lone loss coming against Texas in Week 2.

Davis Warren points to practice as indicator that Michigan can push the ball down the field

Love his moxie and confidence. #GoBlue

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.

Final 2024 Michigan football preseason position analysis: Quarterback

Looks like we have a surprise starter. #GoBlue

Primer

There’s been no position more contested for Michigan football this offseason than the starting quarterback. It has been a hotly contested battle with many twists and turns, but here’s what we project come the season opener on Aug. 31.

Projected starter: Davis Warren
Rotation: Alex Orji, Jack Tuttle, Jayden Denegal, Jadyn Davis

Position outlook

Long thought to be Alex Orji’s position to lose, Davis Warren has challenged him throughout both spring ball and fall camp. Jack Tuttle could have been in the mix, but injuries have hindered his progress.

While there has been no announcement yet, rumors started swirling late on Thursday that Davis Warren appears to have won the job. That doesn’t mean it’s ironclad — far from it. If it took Warren until two days before the season opener to win the job — though head coach Sherrone Moore says he wants one starter — given that Orji will assuredly have packages, he could very well wrest away the tenuous starting position. This isn’t necessarily a tryout as it was in 2022 between Cade McNamara and J.J. McCarthy, but the starting job is likely just as precarious as it was that year.

When Tuttle is healthy, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him work his way into the mix or even take over as the starter. The seventh-year player is a former four-star who was the backup last year. Jayden Denegal and freshman Jadyn Davis will likely work into games late, when Michigan has a decided advantage.