How Every Michigan Quarterback can Win the Starting Job
Michigan's quarterback play throughout the 2019 season with Shea Patterson was up and down. Early on, Patterson got dinged up and was plagued by fumbles. During the middle stretch of the season he was a little inaccurate and refused to keep the ball on zone-reads. Over the course of the final four games, however, he was pretty damn good. He put together a string of three straight games with 300 yards passing and threw 11 touchdown passes against just four interceptions, one of which was on the final play of the game against Alabama.
Jim Harbaugh and Josh Gattis went with Patterson all year and never really looked to give Dylan McCaffrey or Joe Milton a chance to show that they could do a better job. With Patterson now in the NFL, McCaffrey and Milton, and to a lesser extent Cade McNamara and Dan Villari, will battle it out for the starting job.
Here’s how every quarterback on the roster can win it.
Dylan McCaffrey
- Remain healthy
- Improve accuracy
- Lead
McCaffrey hasn't played much during his three years at Michigan but he has still dealt with injuries. In 2018, he broke his collarbone and missed the final four games of the season. Last year, he took a massive hit against Wisconsin resulting in a concussion that caused him to miss at least four games again. McCaffrey is a great runner, but he's got to be smarter when taking hits. If he can stay healthy, he's got a nice skill set to be the starter.
Even though he hasn't played much, McCaffrey has thrown the ball 35 times during his time at Michigan. Unfortunately, he's only completed 18 of those throws, which is just over 50%. He hasn't thrown a pick, but you have to complete a lot more than half of your passes to be an effective starting quarterback in college.
From everything we've heard, McCaffrey has great leadership skills. He took his role as scout team quarterback very seriously and seems to have the respect of all of his teammates. He also comes from a fantastic football family, which gives him some intangibles that a lot of players simply don't have. He knows what it takes to be great and will work extremely hard to achieve those levels. Teammates recognize that and will follow, especially if it's from a quarterback.
Joe Milton
- Improve accuracy
- Take care of the football
- Run effectively
Like McCaffrey, Milton has been a bit sporadic throwing the ball. He's only thrown it 11 times with just six completions. He's also thrown two interceptions. He's got all the arm strength in the world and can make every throw in his sleep. But if he can't put the ball where it needs to be when it needs to be there, that arm strength is useless.
Taking care of the football goes hand in hand with accuracy. So far McCaffrey has been a bit better in that department with no interceptions to his name in about three times as many throws. Milton has had accuracy issues dating back to his high school days, so some wonder if it can be corrected. Incompletions are one thing, but if a quarterback starts throwing it to the other team, they don't get many more opportunities to put it in the air.
Both McCaffrey and Milton have two rushing touchdowns to their name, but McCaffrey has the long, explosive bursts that got so many fans excited about his potential. Milton looks to be a very capable runner, we just haven't seen that big play potential yet. If he has that, and can put it on display with regularity in practice, he becomes more of a weapon overall than McCaffrey because of the elite arm strength.
Cade McNamara
- Show off skills
- Command the huddle
- Be a threat as a runner
McNamara hasn't seen any action in college so the skills referenced are from his high school days.
He's the most decorated quarterback in Nevada high school football history with 12,804 passing yards and 146 career touchdowns. He completed right around 58% of his passes in high school, which is higher than Milton's (52%) but lower McCaffrey's (67%) high school marks. To put it simply, he was dominant as a prep star. Obviously college is a whole new level, but he's got skills and needs to show it in order to be in the mix for the job.
McNamara is younger and physically smaller than both McCaffrey and Milton, so commanding the huddle could be a challenge. He's never been the guy at U-M, even on the scout team, so it's going to be a jump for him to take over and lead older and bigger guys on offense. He was billed as a solid leader coming out of high school, but like the physical side of the game, it's a different animal in college.
We know that McCaffrey and Milton can run the ball, but that was never a big part of McNamara's game. If Josh Gattis is going to continue to progress the offense, the quarterback has to be a running threat. McNamara is probably in fourth place among the quarterbacks as a runner and an athlete, so it's something he'd have to work at and perfect in order to be effective.
Dan Villari
- Wow everyone early
- Prove he belongs
- Play his game
If you put on Villari's high school tape, you'll be wowed. If he can do that, even a couple of times as an incoming freshman, he'll get everyone's attention and put them on notice that he can play.
If he does that, it'll go a long way in proving that he belongs at a place like Michigan. He was not a top-flight recruit and only held offers from Albany, Buffalo, Central Connecticut State, Fordham, Kent State and UMass. He was a late addition to Michigan's class, but that's in the past — he's a Wolverine. It's now up to him to prove that he belongs in the Big Ten with his play, approach at practice and overall attitude as an incoming freshman.
Wowing everyone and proving he belongs are two parts of what will happen if Villari just plays his game. When you watch his tape, you see that "it" factor we always hear about with quarterbacks. He has a knack for keeping plays alive, always looks to turn a routine play into a big one and really seems to be a legitimate threat as a runner. He's got good speed and great moves in the open field for 6-4, 215 pounds. He also seems to have terrific balance that allows him to break tackles and get to the line to gain or end zone. Overall, he just looks like a gamer. If he truly is that to his core, he'll be able to show it early and might surprise some people in year one.
I don't give McNamara or Villari much of a chance to win the job, but you never know. Every year we hear about surprise starters at various positions and in some instances those youngsters or first-time starters become the best players in the country. It's a bit rarer at quarterback, but it happens.
