Michigan Football: Six observations from fall camp

Chris Breiler | Aug 21, 2024

A Michigan football helmet on the field during warmup at the spring game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, April 20, 2024. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Big Ten Network crew was in Ann Arbor this week to take in Michigan's fall camp and share their observations about what they saw. With less than two weeks before the Wolverines kick off the 2024 season against Fresno State in the Big House, all eyes remain on the quarterback position - which is now a two-man race between senior Davis Warren and junior Alex Orji.

Blue Team quarterback Alex Orji (10) makes a pass against Maize Team during the second half of the spring game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, April 20, 2024. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

Yogi Roth, one of the BTN analysts who had the opportunity to observe fall camp, shared some specific details on what he saw this week.

• QB competition continues and both QBs have elite traits, are highly competitive, and have 'it' factor (when they walk into a room their teammates feel their presence AND they make them better).

• May not have a ton of returning starters, but backups played a ton last year. I don't think experience is as big of an issue as general numbers show.

• Defense is going to be real, again. Elite CB, scheme is going to challenge everyone.

• The new Big Ten has upgraded at QB with four new teams and Michigan faces three of them. Those QBs will test them. Will be fun to watch that element this fall across Big Ten football.

Big thank you to @UMichFootball today. A gifted team with some elite talent.

- QB competition continues & both of the QBs have elite traits, are highly competitive & have It Factor (when they walk into a room their teammates feel their presence AND they make them better.) + I'm… pic.twitter.com/giBtd6lncA

— Yogi Roth (@YogiRoth) August 21, 2024

It's also worth noting that we learned Jack Tuttle is not a major factor in the QB battle right now, as he continues to recover from injury.

"It's not gonna be Jack Tuttle, at least initially," Dave Revsine said on the air. "He's working his back from an injury, so it's a two-man race at quarterback."

Per Michigan On SI's Matthew Lounsberry:

This confirms some of the speculation that has surrounded Michigan's quarterback competition in recent weeks. Tuttle, who missed all of spring practice due to injury, is still struggling with issues surrounding a torn UCL in his elbow that he played through a season ago. The graduate senior, who was granted a seventh season of college eligibility in February, backed up 2023 starter J.J. McCarthy a season ago and completed 15-of-17 pass attempts for 130 yards and a touchdown. He added 35 rushing yards on four carries.

Another interesting tidbit came from former U-M tight end Jake Butt, who's also working as part of the BTN crew.

What I saw was...you're going against that Wink Martindale, Baltimore-scheme defense — very confusing, lot of guys at the line of scrimmage, it's not a clean picture," Butt said. "So, the urgency for these guys is to be mentally sharp. A few times today, they were waiting for the picture to reveal itself. You cannot do that at the college football level and you can't do it against this defense. They've got to get to the point where they are mentally seeing things before they happen and anticipating it. That way, they're on time, because if you're late when Will Johnson's a corner, we saw a pick-six happen. So, the mental aspect is going to be a big deciding factor in this quarterback battle."

- Enjoy more Michigan Wolverines coverage on Michigan Wolverines On SI -

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