Tag: steve threet

Ranking Michigan’s Quarterbacks

Drew Henson (image via Detroit News)

This was originally posted on March 17, 2017. It has been updated following the 2022 season.

Sports fans love to debate the greatness of players and rank them in order from most revered to most despised. And while despised probably doesn’t fit any of these players, since they played for the University of Michigan, we all have our favorites. I have endeavored to achieve the un-possible: Rank all of Michigan’s starting quarterbacks.

Okay, that’s too tall of a task for me right now. I’m working up to it. So I’m only going back to 1995, which was the beginning of the Lloyd Carr era. That’s the earliest full coaching tenure where I can count on my recollections of Michigan football. I was a big fan of Bo Schembechler, Gary Moeller, and the Michigan Wolverines before then, but I’ll be damned if I say I was aware enough to understand what was happening on the field.

This ranking only takes into account what the quarterbacks achieved wearing the winged helmet. High school highlight tapes and NFL performance aren’t taken into account. (After all, we can agree that Tom Brady is far and away the best quarterback who ever played the game of football, and that includes Uncle Rico.)

So if you were starting a season with your pick of any Michigan QB since 1995, which one would you take?

On with the show:

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Former Michigan Athlete of the Week: Tom Brady

In the New England Patriots’ season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals (a team that includes Dhani Jones, Leon Hall, and Morgan Trent), Tom Brady finished 25/35 for 258 yards and 3 touchdowns.  The Patriots won the game by a score of 38-24.

Honorable mention: Former Wolverine Steven Threet earns honorable mention honors for the second week in a row.  The starting quarterback for Arizona State, he led the Sun Devils to a 41-20 victory over Northern Arizona.  Threet ended the day 33/49 passing with 369 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions.

Former Michigan Athlete of the Week: Ryan Mallett

Former Michigan quarterback Ryan Mallett transferred to Arkansas after his freshman season in 2007. He had a stellar redshirt sophomore season in 2009, and he’s in the conversation as a Heisman front-runner in 2010. On Saturday he was 21/24 for 301 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception against Tennessee Tech.

Honorable mention: Another former Michigan quarterback, Steve Threet, started for Arizona State against Portland State on Saturday. Threet was 14/21 for 239 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception in a 54-9 victory. He also rushed 3 times for 24 yards.

2009 Countdown: #36 Nick Sheridan

Name: Nick Sheridan
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 218 lbs.
High School: Saline High School in Saline, MI
Position: Quarterback
Class: RS junior
Jersey Number: #8
2008 statistics: 63-for-137 passing, 46% completion percentage, 610 yards, 2 TDs, 5 INTs
Prediction for 2009: Backup quarterback

The subject of much debate both in 2008 and 2009, Sheridan has performed admirably both on the field and in interviews. A former walk-on who just happened to be there when a black hole developed at quarterback for the Wolverines, Sheridan started the opener last year and almost immediately gave way to Steve Threet. Threet’s inability to stay healthy led to more playing time for Sheridan on the way to a 3-9 season.

Reports out of camp are that Sheridan has a better command of the offense than either Tate Forcier or Denard Robinson, which only makes sense. But I doubt Sheridan will play much this year at all. I think one of the freshmen (probably Tate Forcier) will start the opener against Western Michigan, and the other freshman will play. Sheridan could be a steadying influence at some point this season if Michigan gets into a game where both freshmen are skittish and having off days; at the very least, Sheridan should be able to make the run game go and hit some bubble screens. But that’s about all we can really expect from Sheridan, whose talent is overmatched at this level.

Steve Threet, ex-Wolverine

Coming out of high school in 2007 as the #9 pro-style quarterback in the nation, he went to Georgia Tech. It’s still unclear why he didn’t continue his career as a Yellowjacket, but he transferred to Michigan after winter semester, supposedly to be the heir of the heir of Chad Henne. And that’s exactly what he was. Henne graduated after the 2007 season and Ryan Mallett was anointed the starter…until Mallett decided to transfer to Arkansas. Suddenly, a team that had four 4- and 5-star quarterbacks on its roster in summer 2007 (Henne, Mallett, Threet, and Jason Forcier, who transferred to Stanford) was down to one.

The rumor is that Threet will end up at North Dakota State. I feel bad for Threet in a way, because this is not the way he saw his dream unfolding. At the same time, his notion of commitment is suspect. If he does indeed attend North Dakota State, that will be his third school in three years. I never heard a bad thing about the kid’s attitude while he was at Michigan, other than that he was having a hard time picking up the offense. He’s a hard worker, and he’s been through a lot. Hopefully he’ll be successful at North Dakota State and be the second coming of Matt Gutierrez.