There’s little clarity on who Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore will trot out under center against Arkansas State in Week 3. Moore teased outright backing Davis Warren as QB1 but never got there – leaving the door open for Alex Orji to outperform the incumbent starter in practice.
“I think really, you don't wanna, like I told them, it's all about, we're gonna have urgency but we're not gonna panic,” Moore said (h/t Maize&BlueReview). “And I go back to last year of, you know, we had JJ who was an established quarterback but he threw three picks in the game and you could have easily panicked and said, yeah, let's take JJ out. But for us, it's gonna be for the whole process for us to work together. You know, we can't just, we can't panic and make these changes all of a sudden.
“We just gotta make sure we do what we can that's best for the team. And if we go through practice this week and we feel like somebody else is better at a certain position, then yeah, we'll make those changes. Whoever we think's gonna help Michigan win, that's who we're gonna help play.”
Warren looked like a perfectly fine JJ McCarthy replacement against Texas until the Longhorns turned the tide; in the second quarter when Warren was picked off by Andrew Mukuba with 8:24 on the clock.
Warren didn’t look like the kind of QB who’d get Michigan past Ohio State in the 31-12 loss to Texas. Or Oregon.Or USC. Or even Washington. Giving Orji a shot against a heavy underdog like Arkansas State would at least show Moore what he has in his room.
A competition may be needed against the Red Wolves and into Big Ten play. Moore stopped short of saying there’s one going on, but he also stopped short of saying Warren was definitively QB1.
So Michigan’s back to square one and at the status in the QB competition the Wolverines were at in fall camp. Same two-deep but with the creeping feeling that if there’s two QBs, there’s truly none.
