University of Illinois quarterback Jeff George, Jr. has announced plans to transfer to Michigan as a graduate transfer. He will have two years of eligibility remaining and should be eligible immediately.
Hit the jump for more on George’s transfer.
George grayshirted at Illinois in 2014 and redshirted in 2015. As a redshirt freshman in 2016, he completed 38/94 passes (40.4%) for 470 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 5 interceptions. In 2017 he completed 94/181 passes (51.9%) for 7 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He started nine total games over the past two seasons, and while his completion percentage looks alarmingly low, nobody for the Illini completed more than 56.3% of his passes in either season (that was Chayce Crouch in 2016 on 32 attempts). Illinois was very bad offensively. Was it the quarterback or the coaching or the receivers or the line or the running backs? It’s probably a little of all those things.
George went to Indianapolis (IN) Lawrence Central and was a 247 Composite 2-star, the #105 pro-style quarterback, and #2275 overall. He’s the son of former Illinois and NFL quarterback Jeff George, who was known for his rocket arm and irascible behavior. The younger George does not seem to have the same attitude issues, and here’s a quote from The Wolverine (LINK):
I’m going to Michigan as long as my grad school application gets accepted. I saw it as the best opportunity for me and Coach Harbaugh is giving me the chance to compete, which is all I’m asking for. Also, Michigan is an unbelievable program with great history and I’m looking forward to contributing to that in any way possible.
Here’s the quarterback depth chart by class with George in the fold:
- Jeff George, Jr. (RS Jr.)
- Shea Patterson (Jr.)
- Brandon Peters (RS So.)
- Dylan McCaffrey (RS Fr.)
- Joe Milton (Fr.)
George is very unlikely to beat out Patterson this year, so it’s a matter of whether he’s better than Peters, McCaffrey, and Milton down the road. He doesn’t have a Howitzer for an arm like his dad did, but he still throws a pretty nice ball. On the other hand, I know him best for throwing the only ball that Dymonte Thomas ever intercepted in a Michigan uniform. Let’s hope he can do a lot of this over the next couple seasons:
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Wasn’t Peters at 52%?
“and while his completion percentage looks alarmingly low… “
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Well, yes, but George also had 2016 when he was at 40.4%. Overall, he’s at 48% for his career.
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Question…this takes up a scholarship right? Wouldn’t that mean someone else besides Kekoa and Walker is no longer on the team?
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Someone else is already gone. It just hasn’t been made public yet.
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Thunder, can you elaborate on this a bit? Is it a QB? Is it a guy who we may miss?
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It’s not a QB. Will we miss him? I dunno. Not any more than the two guys who just became public.
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Well, good then. Sounds like it’s not a Devin Asiasi type of player leaving. I’m not upset about Kekoa Crawford and Kareem Walker leaving at all.
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Son of the infamous Jeff (oh no, not Jeff George!) George?
Do we really need this? That’ll be six scholarship QBs on the roster next year, which is at least one too many. We have more pressing needs, and Harbaugh shouldn’t require six candidates to get one quality starter and a decent backup.
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FYI: It’s not clear that he’s coming to be on scholarship. There’s some buzz that he’s transferring to be a walk-on.
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Well, I suppose his dad can afford it..he did have an NFL career, albeit less than stellar…
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