Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . running backs carrying the ball. Michigan’s top two running backs, Donovan Edwards and Kalel Mullings, had just 14 total carries on Saturday. While they were only mildly productive, Michigan needs to commit to the run game to help out inexperienced quarterback Davis Warren. Michigan can’t just run the ball to run the ball, either; the coaches need to find creative ways to get them the ball and help them be successful.
What’s Michigan’s offensive identity? Obviously, Michigan is still trying to feel out what it’s good at besides hoping a tight end can make a play. With a walk-on quarterback, it needs to be a run-oriented program. With that being said, Michigan needs to commit to more creativity in the run game. This team can’t subsist on 14 total rushing attempts from its top two running backs. Donovan Edwards (8 carries, 41 yards) and Kalel Mullings (6 carries, 25 yards) may not have had great days, but the offensive coordinator (and the offensive-minded head coach) need to figure out creative ways to get them the ball, get them going in the run game, and play complementary offensive football. The offense seems to be very disjointed as the staff appears to be relying on an odd mix of runs and straight dropback passing. They need more misdirection in the run game and they need to get Warren moving a little bit. I don’t think the coaching staff has done a good job of adjusting to its personnel this year.
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PWO QB FTW. Well, it was a mild surprise when it was announced that former walk-on Davis Warren was named the starting quarterback for the season opener over Alex Orji and Jack Tuttle. Orji had received most of the hype in the off-season, and Tuttle is the most experienced. But Tuttle has been dealing with injuries and soreness, so he wasn’t really an option. Rumors started coming out a couple days before the game that Warren would be the guy. He finished 15/25 for 118 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception and graded out as Michigan’s #4 offensive player (69.7 on Pro Football Focus). Overall, I thought Warren was mostly accurate. He overthrew a deep shot to Tyler Morris, and he underthrew Fredrick Morris on an open post route that could have been a touchdown but turned into an interception. There were a lot of checkdowns and short throws, probably by design to make things easy for Warren in his first start. But overall, I thought Warren looked composed and accurate.
Name: Davis Warren Height: 6’2″ Weight: 195 lbs. High school: Suffield (CT) Suffield Academy Position: Quarterback Class: Redshirt junior Jersey number: #16 Last year: I ranked Warren #70 and said he would be a backup quarterback (LINK). He completed 0/5 passes for 1 interception. TTB Rating: N/A
Warren was a walk-on quarterback in the 2021 class – the same class as J.J. McCarthy – and he might be closer to the starting quarterback position than any other walk-on since Nick Sheridan in 2008. After overcoming a serious illness in high school, he was probably written off by many people. But his talent has always been there, and he looked decent in 2022. Unfortunately, an undisclosed injury seemed to sap him a little bit in 2023, and he did not perform well. Going 0-for-5 with 1 interception for the season is . . . well . . . there’s really no way to gloss over it: it’s about as bad as it gets.
But that 2023 performance was probably the pendulum swinging a little too far in the negative direction. Warren was back to looking pretty good in the 2024 spring game, throwing two touchdown passes – one a deep ball to Kendrick Bell and one a scrambling dart to Frederick Moore that Moore turned into a touchdown. Spring games aren’t the same as fall Saturdays in the Big House – or the Horseshoe – but there’s no getting past the fact that Warren has the physical talent to perform.
Word coming out of practices is that Warren is the best passer on the team. What he lacks is experience and playmaking ability with his feet. He’s a decent athlete and more mobile than Cade McNamara, but he’s not a runner. Michigan’s offense will look much different with Warren behind center rather than Orji. All signs seem to be pointing toward Orji to be the starter in 2024, but if he falters or gets injured, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Warren getting a shot. Seventh year senior Jack Tuttle is also in the mix, but Tuttle has supposedly been dealing with an injury during camp – and he’s often been injured in his career – so it seems like Warren has taken control of the #2 spot.
2023 Starter: J.J. McCarthy Loss: McCarthy Returning players: Jack Tuttle (7th), Davis Warren (RS Jr.), Jayden Denegal (RS So.), Alex Orji (RS So.) Newcomer: Jadyn Davis (Fr.) Projected starter: Tuttle
There are a lot of unknowns going into the 2024 season, but first among all of them is the quarterback position. Michigan got a great performance from McCarthy in 2023, who goes down in history as the program’s best college quarterback ever after going 27-1 as a starter and winning a national championship.
But as of right now, Michigan is heading into the season with its cloudiest quarterback situation since perhaps 2009, when freshman Tate Forcier beat out freshman Denard Robinson and 2008 part-time starter Nick Sheridan. Michigan has significantly more experience on its side at the position in 2024, considering Tuttle is a 7th year senior and there are no freshmen – sorry, Jadyn Davis – who truly seem to be in the mix to start.
The first guy to get reps should be Tuttle, who has been named a starter before – albeit at Indiana – and ascended to #2 on the depth chart in 2023, during his first year in Ann Arbor. He completed 15/17 passes for 130 yards and 1 touchdown, a whopping 88.7% completion percentage. And the #1 most impressive thing about him in the spring of 2023 was his willingness and ability to run. He’s a former top-100 recruit, even if he was coming out of high school back when Barack Obama was president (don’t look that up).
The sexy pick is 6’3″, 235 lb. Alex Orji, who was brought in as a quasi single-wing quarterback last year but who didn’t attempt a pass. He’s capable of throwing lasers, which can be seen on his high school film and from last year’s spring game, but it’s noteworthy that the coaching staff didn’t trust him to throw last year. To go from attempting zero passes to becoming a starter would be . . . well . . . the first time since 2009 that Michigan would entrust a quarterback to start who hadn’t attempted a single pass during the previous season.
Offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell says Jayden Denegal (4/5, 50 yards, 1 TD) is the most improved offensive player, but he was a guy who was very raw coming into the program in 2022. Walk-on Davis Warren has looked good at times, but he had a rough go in limited time last season (0/5, 1 INT). Meanwhile, freshman Jadyn Davis is an early enrollee who has a winning pedigree, but his limited size (6’0″, 202), lack of an amazing arm, and lack of difference-making athleticism make him more of a threat to start down the road when experience and knowledge of the offense put him a notch above the field. To play as a freshman, you typically need some athletic trait that sets you apart – size, speed, arm strength – and that’s not Davis’s game.
