Jake Rudock threw for 6 touchdown passes in 2015, and no other Michigan quarterback was even within one of that record until Shea Patterson’s game against Indiana.
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This is a shell of a team. Life sucks, at least in a football sense. In addition to starting WR Nico Collins and CB Ambry Thomas, who opted out, Michigan was without DE Kwity Paye, DE Aidan Hutchinson, LT Ryan Hayes, and RT Jalen Mayfield. Basically, every guy who looks like a surefire draft pick (at some point) sat out of this game except S Dax Hill. And if you’re counting on a safety to lead your squad to victory, you’re going to be disappointed most of the time.
Name: Cade McNamara Height: 6’1″ Weight: 205 lbs. High school: Reno (NV) Damonte Ranch Position: Quarterback Class: Redshirt freshman Jersey number: #12 Last year: I ranked McNamara #84 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He redshirted. TTB Rating: 65
McNamara took the expected route in 2019 of redshirting. That’s what the vast majority of freshman quarterbacks should do, and Michigan was able to accommodate that by having a senior quarterback in Shea Patterson, a redshirt sophomore in Dylan McCaffrey, and a redshirt freshman in Joe Milton. For the first time in a while, it seemed like Michigan had a pretty decent succession of quarterbacks lined up.
Now Patterson is off to the NFL, while the other guys remain and true freshman Dan Villari joins the QB room. Presumably, McNamara will take over the #3 role that was held by Joe Milton. On the plus side, I have heard some people throw out that McNamara is a dark horse candidate to win the starting job, and one point in his favor is that he fits the mold of a Penn State-style QB (shorter, quick release, somewhat mobile) a little better than McCaffrey, Milton, or Villari. I don’t think that will end up mattering much, so I expect McNamara to be the third guy in, with minimal opportunities to make his mark this season.
I know this seems a little bit late, but since I just wrapped up the final TTB Ratings for 2019, I thought it would be time to share “recruiting awards” for the 2019 class. Feel free to pipe in with your own choices, and you can glance back at, say, the 2016 awards (LINK) to see how I did (what’s up, Andrew David?).
Best Overall Recruit: S Daxton Hill It was a battle to land Hill, who was sought by everyone. Some thought he would go to the home-state Sooners; some thought he would go where his older brother did, Oklahoma State; he was committed to Alabama for a time; and he committed to Michigan twice. He was the #14 overall player to the 247 Composite, and I have him with a 100 as the best safety in the class.
Best Offensive Recruit: RB Zach Charbonnet Charbonnet has great potential to be a stud running back. He’s fast, strong, catches the ball, and can make people miss.