LOS ANGELES — Though the excitement surrounding Jadyn Davis has died down since he committed to Michigan football in the winter months, the new Wolverines quarterback doesn’t intend to rest on his laurels.
A five-star at the time of his commitment in March 2023, despite impressing on the final day of the Elite 11 in the summer, Davis has seen his star drop, as well as his ranking. But now the prized possession of the maize and blue in the 2024 class is officially wearing a winged helmet, practicing with the team as it prepares to face Alabama in the Rose Bowl on January 1.
Eight early enrollees have made it to Los Angeles to work with their new team during the College Football Playoff semifinal practices, and Davis has made a strong impression on the Michigan defense. At a podium session for the Rose Bowl, sixth-year linebacker Mike Barrett singled Davis out to WolverinesWire as the midyear enrollee who has impressed him the most in practice.
“I saw Jadyn Davis — I was able to see him throw the rock around a couple times,” Barrett said. “He looked good, especially not really even knowing what was going on. Just him going out there and kind of just throwing in a couple of 7-on-7 drills with us. He was out there kind of joining the fray but yeah, he looked pretty good.”
But what’s made him look so good so early? The Wolverines have only had one practice in California to this point, but Barrett saw a poised signal caller who has accuracy and isn’t afraid to make mistakes at this stage.
“His confidence back there in the pocket, his movements,” Barrett said. “Saw him doing some at quarterback drills, his movements in the pocket. Just the smoothness of his release and just his confidence and his throws. I feel like he was out there running with the ones and the twos a couple of times for some of our 7-on-7 drills and the confidence he threw with, that’s kind of the first thing that I saw.
“He wasn’t really scared to throw it away but or scared of somebody getting a PBU or anything like that. He was just out there playing confident.”
Barrett isn’t alone in being impressed by Davis. Junior linebacker Junior Colson also came away from Wednesday’s practice enthused by what he saw, noting that the Michigan offense isn’t exactly an easy concept to grasp. Yet, Davis appears to already have a pretty good handle on it and has made the most of his limited opportunities to date.
“Jadyn Davis has been making great reads, especially like just coming in so he’s now understanding the offense very well, putting the ball in the right spot, putting the ball in the right guys’ hands,” Colson said. “So that’s how you know, you can tell he’s a quick learner. Especially on offense, we have a lot on our offense and being able to understand that.”
Davis will obviously not be making any appearances in the Rose Bowl, and incumbent starter J.J. McCarthy has yet to declare his intentions after the season. But if McCarthy does depart a year early, perhaps Michigan does have its starter in waiting for next year.